dialogue_id
stringlengths 36
36
| wikipedia_page_title
stringlengths 3
61
| background
stringlengths 33
1.48k
| section_title
stringlengths 2
162
| context
stringlengths 1.36k
9.79k
| turn_ids
sequence | questions
sequence | followups
sequence | yesnos
sequence | answers
dict | orig_answers
dict | wikipedia_page_text
stringlengths 236
146k
⌀ | wikipedia_page_refs
list | gpt4_answers
sequence | gpt4_answers_consistent_check
sequence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C_961f9ec0ea2f41b2a8acbed7bc07c0e2_0 | A. R. Gurney | Gurney was born on November 1, 1930 in Buffalo, New York to Albert Ramsdell Gurney, Sr. (1896-1977), who was president of Gurney, Becker and Bourne, an insurance and real estate company in Buffalo, and Marion Spaulding (1908-2001). His parents had three children, of which Gurney was the middle: (1) Evelyn Gurney Miller (b. 1929), (2) Albert Ramsdell Gurney, Jr. (b. 1930), and (3) Stephen S. Gurney (b. 1933). | Themes | Gurney's plays often explore the theme of declining upper-class "WASP" (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) life in contemporary America. The Wall Street Journal has called his works "penetratingly witty studies of the WASP ascendancy in retreat." Several of his works are loosely based on his patrician upbringing, including The Cocktail Hour and Indian Blood. The New York Times drama critic Frank Rich, in his review of The Dining Room, wrote, "As a chronicler of contemporary America's most unfashionable social stratum -- upper-middle-class WASPs, this playwright has no current theatrical peer." In his 1988 play, "The Cocktail Hour", the lead character tells her playwright son that theater critics "don't like us.... They resent us. They think we're all Republicans, all superficial and all alcoholics. Only the latter is true." The New York Times described the play as witty observations about a nearly extinct patrician class that regards psychiatry as an affront to good manners, underpaid hired help as a birthright. In a 1989 interview with the New York Times, Gurney said, "Just as it's mentioned in The Cocktail Hour,' my great-grandfather hung up his clothes one day and walked into the Niagara River and no one understood why." Gurney added that "he was a distinguished man in Buffalo. My father could never mention it, and it affected the family well into the fourth generation as a dark and unexplainable gesture. It made my father and his father desperate to be accepted, to be conventional, and comfortable. It made them commit themselves to an ostensibly easy bourgeois world. They saw it so precariously, but the reason was never mentioned. I first learned about it after my father died." Gurney told the Washington Post in 1982: WASPs do have a culture -- traditions, idiosyncrasies, quirks, particular signals and totems we pass on to one another. But the WASP culture, or at least that aspect of the culture I talk about, is enough in the past so that we can now look at it with some objectivity, smile at it, and even appreciate some of its values. There was a closeness of family, a commitment to duty, to stoic responsibility, which I think we have to say weren't entirely bad." CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_961f9ec0ea2f41b2a8acbed7bc07c0e2_0_q#0",
"C_961f9ec0ea2f41b2a8acbed7bc07c0e2_0_q#1",
"C_961f9ec0ea2f41b2a8acbed7bc07c0e2_0_q#2",
"C_961f9ec0ea2f41b2a8acbed7bc07c0e2_0_q#3"
] | [
"Did A.R. Gurney ever produce romantic plays?",
"What other kind of plays did he write?",
"What is a patrician upbringing?",
"did he ever act in his plays?"
] | [
0,
2,
0,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
242
],
[
1751
],
[
2206
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Gurney's plays often explore the theme of declining upper-class \"WASP\" (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) life in contemporary America."
],
[
"Several of his works are loosely based on his patrician upbringing, including The Cocktail Hour and Indian Blood."
],
[
"WASPs do have a culture -- traditions, idiosyncrasies, quirks, particular signals and totems we pass on to one another."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
242,
1751,
2206
],
"texts": [
"Gurney's plays often explore the theme of declining upper-class \"WASP\" (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) life in contemporary America.",
"Several of his works are loosely based on his patrician upbringing, including The Cocktail Hour and Indian Blood.",
"WASPs do have a culture -- traditions, idiosyncrasies, quirks, particular signals and totems we pass on to one another.",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Albert Ramsdell Gurney Jr. (November 1, 1930 – June 13, 2017) (sometimes credited as Pete Gurney) was an American playwright, novelist and academic.
Gurney was known is for plays including The Dining Room (1982), Sweet Sue (1986/7), The Cocktail Hour (1988), and for his Pulitzer Prize nominated play Love Letters (1988). His series of plays about upper-class WASP life in contemporary America have been called "penetratingly witty studies of the WASP ascendancy in retreat."
Early life
Gurney was born on November 1, 1930 in Buffalo, New York to Albert Ramsdell Gurney Sr. (1896–1977), who was president of Gurney, Becker and Bourne, an insurance and real estate company in Buffalo, and Marion Spaulding (1908-2001). His parents had three children, of which Gurney was the middle: (1) Evelyn Gurney Miller (b. 1929), (2) Albert Ramsdell Gurney Jr. (b. 1930), and (3) Stephen S. Gurney (b. 1933).
His maternal grandparents were Elbridge G. Spaulding (1881–1974) and Marion Caryl Ely (1887–1971). Ely was the daughter of William Caryl Ely (1856–1921), politician and lawyer, Member of the New York State Assembly in 1883. Gurney's 2x great-grandfather was Elbridge G. Spaulding (1809–1897), a former Mayor of Buffalo, NY State Treasurer, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives who supported the idea for the first U.S. currency not backed by gold or silver, thus credited with helping to keep the Union economy afloat during the Civil War.
Gurney attended the private school Nichols School in Buffalo and graduating from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He attended Williams College, graduating in 1952, and the Yale School of Drama, graduating in 1958, after which he began teaching Humanities at MIT.
Career
In 1959, following graduation from Yale, Gurney taught English and Latin at a day school, Belmont Hill School, in Belmont, Massachusetts for one year. He then joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a professor of humanities (1960–96) and professor of literature (1970–96).
He began writing plays such as Children and The Middle Ages while at MIT, but it was his great success with The Dining Room that allowed him to write full-time. After The Dining Room, Gurney wrote a number of plays, most of them concerning WASPs of the American northeast. While at Yale, Gurney also wrote Love in Buffalo, the first musical ever produced at the Yale School of Drama. Since then, he is known to be a prolific writer, always writing something.
His first play in New York, which ran for just one performance in October 1968, The David Show, premiered at the Players' Theater on MacDougal Street. The play was cut after its first show by sneers from the entire press except for two enthusiasts, Edith Oliver in The New Yorker and another from the Village Voice.
His 2015 play, Love and Money, is about a mature woman making plans to dispose of her fortune, and the twists that ensue. The world premiere was at New York's Signature Theatre in August 2015. Before that, The Grand Manner, a play about his real life encounter with famed actress Katharine Cornell in her production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, was produced and performed by Lincoln Center for the summer of 2010. It was also produced in Buffalo by the Kavinoky Theatre. He appeared in several of his plays including The Dining Room and most notably Love Letters.
Personal life
In June, 1957, Gurney married Molly Goodyear. They lived in Boston until 1983, when they moved their family to New York to be near the theater, television, and publishers while he was on sabbatical from MIT. Together, they had four children:
George Goodyear Gurney, who married Constance "Connie" Lyman Warren in 1985.
Amy Ramsdell Gurney, who married Frederick Snow Nicholas III in 1985.
Evelyn "Evie" R. Gurney, who married Christopher Bumcrot
Benjamin Gurney
Gurney's father, Albert Ramsdell Gurney Sr., died in 1977 and Molly's mother, Sarah Norton, died in 1978. After their deaths, his mother, Marion, married Molly's father, George, and remained married until Marion's death in 2001, followed by George's death in 2002.
Death
Gurney died at his home in Manhattan, on June 13, 2017, at the age of 86.
Awards and honors
In 2006, Gurney was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In 2007, Gurney received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a master American dramatist.
Gurney was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2016 Obie Awards presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Village Voice.
Literary work
Themes
Gurney's plays often explore the theme of declining upper-class "WASP" (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) life in contemporary America. The Wall Street Journal has called his works "penetratingly witty studies of the WASP ascendancy in retreat." Several of his works are loosely based on his patrician upbringing, including The Cocktail Hour and Indian Blood. The New York Times drama critic Frank Rich, in his review of The Dining Room, wrote, "As a chronicler of contemporary America's most unfashionable social stratum — upper-middle-class WASPs, this playwright has no current theatrical peer."
In his 1988 play, "The Cocktail Hour", the lead character tells her playwright son that theater critics "don't like us.... They resent us. They think we're all Republicans, all superficial and all alcoholics. Only the latter is true." The New York Times described the play as witty observations about a nearly extinct patrician class that regards psychiatry as an affront to good manners, underpaid hired help as a birthright.
In a 1989 interview with The New York Times, Gurney said, "Just as it's mentioned in The Cocktail Hour,' my great-grandfather hung up his clothes one day and walked into the Niagara River and no one understood why." Gurney added that "he was a distinguished man in Buffalo. My father could never mention it, and it affected the family well into the fourth generation as a dark and unexplainable gesture. It made my father and his father desperate to be accepted, to be conventional, and comfortable. It made them commit themselves to an ostensibly easy bourgeois world. They saw it so precariously, but the reason was never mentioned. I first learned about it after my father died."
Gurney told The Washington Post in 1982:
WASPs do have a culture — traditions, idiosyncrasies, quirks, particular signals and totems we pass on to one another. But the WASP culture, or at least that aspect of the culture I talk about, is enough in the past so that we can now look at it with some objectivity, smile at it, and even appreciate some of its values. There was a closeness of family, a commitment to duty, to stoic responsibility, which I think we have to say weren't entirely bad."
Plays
Ancestral Voices
Another Antigone ()
Big Bill
Black Tie ()
Buffalo Gal
A Cheever Evening (based on stories by John Cheever; )
Children ()
The Cocktail Hour ()
The Comeback ()
Crazy Mary
Darlene
The David Show
The Dining Room ()
Family Furniture
Far East
The Fourth Wall ()
The Golden Age ()
The Golden Fleece
The Grand Manner ()
The Guest Lecturer
Heresy
Human Events
Indian Blood
Labor Day ()
Later Life ()
The Love Course ()
Love Letters ()
The Middle Ages ()
Mrs. Farnsworth
Office Hours ()
O Jerusalem
The Old Boy ()
The Old One-Two ()
The Open Meeting
Overtime ()
The Perfect Party ()
Post Mortem
The Problem
The Rape of Bunny Stuntz ()
Richard Cory ()
Scenes from American Life
Screen Play
"Squash"
The Snow Ball (based on his novel; )
Sweet Sue ()
Sylvia ()
The Wayside Motor Inn ()
What I Did Last Summer ()
Who Killed Richard Cory? ()
Novels
Gurney has also written several novels, including:
The Snow Ball (1984)
The Gospel According to Joe (1974)
Entertaining Strangers (1977)
Early American (1996)
Screenplays
The House of Mirth (1972)
Sylvia (1995)
References
External links
A. R. Gurney at The Literary Encyclopedia
A. R. Gurney Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Category:1930 births
Category:2017 deaths
Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:American male dramatists and playwrights
Category:American male novelists
Category:American opera librettists
Category:Goodyear family (New York)
Category:MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty
Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Category:Writers from Buffalo, New York
Category:St. Paul's School (New Hampshire) alumni
Category:Williams College alumni
Category:Novelists from Connecticut
Category:Yale University alumni
Category:Yale School of Drama alumni
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:21st-century American male writers
Category:Novelists from Massachusetts | [] | [
"The context does not provide information on whether A.R. Gurney ever produced romantic plays.",
"The context does not provide information on any other types of plays that A.R. Gurney wrote apart from those that explore the theme of declining upper-class \"WASP\" (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) life in contemporary America.",
"A patrician upbringing refers to being raised in a high social class or aristocratic environment. The term \"patrician\" historically refers to the ruling class in Ancient Rome. When A.R. Gurney mentions his \"patrician upbringing,\" he is referring to his upbringing in a privileged or upper-class environment.",
"The context does not provide information on whether A.R. Gurney ever acted in his plays."
] | [
"No",
"No",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_961f9ec0ea2f41b2a8acbed7bc07c0e2_1 | A. R. Gurney | Gurney was born on November 1, 1930 in Buffalo, New York to Albert Ramsdell Gurney, Sr. (1896-1977), who was president of Gurney, Becker and Bourne, an insurance and real estate company in Buffalo, and Marion Spaulding (1908-2001). His parents had three children, of which Gurney was the middle: (1) Evelyn Gurney Miller (b. 1929), (2) Albert Ramsdell Gurney, Jr. (b. 1930), and (3) Stephen S. Gurney (b. 1933). | Career | In 1959, following graduation from Yale, Gurney taught English and Latin at a day school, Belmont Hill School, in Belmont, Massachusetts for one year. He then joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a professor of humanities (1960-96) and professor of literature (1970-96). He began writing plays such as Children and The Middle Ages while at MIT, but it was his great success with The Dining Room that allowed him to write full-time. After The Dining Room, Gurney wrote a number of plays, most of them concerning WASPs of the American northeast. While at Yale, Gurney also wrote Love in Buffalo, the first musical ever produced at the Yale School of Drama. Since then, he is known to be a prolific writer, always writing something. His first play in New York, which ran for just one performance in October 1968, The David Show, premiered at the Players' Theater on MacDougal Street. The play was cut after its first show by sneers from the entire press except for two enthusiasts, Edith Oliver in The New Yorker and another from the Village Voice. His 2015 play, Love and Money, is about a mature woman making plans to dispose of her fortune, and the twists that ensue. The world premiere was at New York's Signature Theatre in August 2015. Before that, The Grand Manner, a play about his real life encounter with famed actress Katharine Cornell in her production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, was produced and performed by Lincoln Center for the summer of 2010. It was also produced in Buffalo by the Kavinoky Theatre. He appeared in several of his plays including The Dining Room and most notably Love Letters. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_961f9ec0ea2f41b2a8acbed7bc07c0e2_1_q#0",
"C_961f9ec0ea2f41b2a8acbed7bc07c0e2_1_q#1",
"C_961f9ec0ea2f41b2a8acbed7bc07c0e2_1_q#2",
"C_961f9ec0ea2f41b2a8acbed7bc07c0e2_1_q#3"
] | [
"When did his career begin?",
"Did he have success with the early plays he wrote?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"What was his most popular pay?"
] | [
2,
2,
0,
2
] | [
2,
0,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
283
],
[
357
],
[
1266
],
[
556
]
],
"texts": [
[
"He began writing plays such as Children and The Middle Ages while at MIT,"
],
[
"but it was his great success with The Dining Room that allowed him to write full-time."
],
[
"The Grand Manner, a play about his real life encounter with famed actress Katharine Cornell in her production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra,"
],
[
"While at Yale, Gurney also wrote Love in Buffalo, the first musical ever produced at the Yale School of Drama."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
283,
357,
1266,
556
],
"texts": [
"He began writing plays such as Children and The Middle Ages while at MIT,",
"but it was his great success with The Dining Room that allowed him to write full-time.",
"The Grand Manner, a play about his real life encounter with famed actress Katharine Cornell in her production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra,",
"While at Yale, Gurney also wrote Love in Buffalo, the first musical ever produced at the Yale School of Drama."
]
} | Albert Ramsdell Gurney Jr. (November 1, 1930 – June 13, 2017) (sometimes credited as Pete Gurney) was an American playwright, novelist and academic.
Gurney was known is for plays including The Dining Room (1982), Sweet Sue (1986/7), The Cocktail Hour (1988), and for his Pulitzer Prize nominated play Love Letters (1988). His series of plays about upper-class WASP life in contemporary America have been called "penetratingly witty studies of the WASP ascendancy in retreat."
Early life
Gurney was born on November 1, 1930 in Buffalo, New York to Albert Ramsdell Gurney Sr. (1896–1977), who was president of Gurney, Becker and Bourne, an insurance and real estate company in Buffalo, and Marion Spaulding (1908-2001). His parents had three children, of which Gurney was the middle: (1) Evelyn Gurney Miller (b. 1929), (2) Albert Ramsdell Gurney Jr. (b. 1930), and (3) Stephen S. Gurney (b. 1933).
His maternal grandparents were Elbridge G. Spaulding (1881–1974) and Marion Caryl Ely (1887–1971). Ely was the daughter of William Caryl Ely (1856–1921), politician and lawyer, Member of the New York State Assembly in 1883. Gurney's 2x great-grandfather was Elbridge G. Spaulding (1809–1897), a former Mayor of Buffalo, NY State Treasurer, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives who supported the idea for the first U.S. currency not backed by gold or silver, thus credited with helping to keep the Union economy afloat during the Civil War.
Gurney attended the private school Nichols School in Buffalo and graduating from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He attended Williams College, graduating in 1952, and the Yale School of Drama, graduating in 1958, after which he began teaching Humanities at MIT.
Career
In 1959, following graduation from Yale, Gurney taught English and Latin at a day school, Belmont Hill School, in Belmont, Massachusetts for one year. He then joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a professor of humanities (1960–96) and professor of literature (1970–96).
He began writing plays such as Children and The Middle Ages while at MIT, but it was his great success with The Dining Room that allowed him to write full-time. After The Dining Room, Gurney wrote a number of plays, most of them concerning WASPs of the American northeast. While at Yale, Gurney also wrote Love in Buffalo, the first musical ever produced at the Yale School of Drama. Since then, he is known to be a prolific writer, always writing something.
His first play in New York, which ran for just one performance in October 1968, The David Show, premiered at the Players' Theater on MacDougal Street. The play was cut after its first show by sneers from the entire press except for two enthusiasts, Edith Oliver in The New Yorker and another from the Village Voice.
His 2015 play, Love and Money, is about a mature woman making plans to dispose of her fortune, and the twists that ensue. The world premiere was at New York's Signature Theatre in August 2015. Before that, The Grand Manner, a play about his real life encounter with famed actress Katharine Cornell in her production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, was produced and performed by Lincoln Center for the summer of 2010. It was also produced in Buffalo by the Kavinoky Theatre. He appeared in several of his plays including The Dining Room and most notably Love Letters.
Personal life
In June, 1957, Gurney married Molly Goodyear. They lived in Boston until 1983, when they moved their family to New York to be near the theater, television, and publishers while he was on sabbatical from MIT. Together, they had four children:
George Goodyear Gurney, who married Constance "Connie" Lyman Warren in 1985.
Amy Ramsdell Gurney, who married Frederick Snow Nicholas III in 1985.
Evelyn "Evie" R. Gurney, who married Christopher Bumcrot
Benjamin Gurney
Gurney's father, Albert Ramsdell Gurney Sr., died in 1977 and Molly's mother, Sarah Norton, died in 1978. After their deaths, his mother, Marion, married Molly's father, George, and remained married until Marion's death in 2001, followed by George's death in 2002.
Death
Gurney died at his home in Manhattan, on June 13, 2017, at the age of 86.
Awards and honors
In 2006, Gurney was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In 2007, Gurney received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a master American dramatist.
Gurney was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2016 Obie Awards presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Village Voice.
Literary work
Themes
Gurney's plays often explore the theme of declining upper-class "WASP" (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) life in contemporary America. The Wall Street Journal has called his works "penetratingly witty studies of the WASP ascendancy in retreat." Several of his works are loosely based on his patrician upbringing, including The Cocktail Hour and Indian Blood. The New York Times drama critic Frank Rich, in his review of The Dining Room, wrote, "As a chronicler of contemporary America's most unfashionable social stratum — upper-middle-class WASPs, this playwright has no current theatrical peer."
In his 1988 play, "The Cocktail Hour", the lead character tells her playwright son that theater critics "don't like us.... They resent us. They think we're all Republicans, all superficial and all alcoholics. Only the latter is true." The New York Times described the play as witty observations about a nearly extinct patrician class that regards psychiatry as an affront to good manners, underpaid hired help as a birthright.
In a 1989 interview with The New York Times, Gurney said, "Just as it's mentioned in The Cocktail Hour,' my great-grandfather hung up his clothes one day and walked into the Niagara River and no one understood why." Gurney added that "he was a distinguished man in Buffalo. My father could never mention it, and it affected the family well into the fourth generation as a dark and unexplainable gesture. It made my father and his father desperate to be accepted, to be conventional, and comfortable. It made them commit themselves to an ostensibly easy bourgeois world. They saw it so precariously, but the reason was never mentioned. I first learned about it after my father died."
Gurney told The Washington Post in 1982:
WASPs do have a culture — traditions, idiosyncrasies, quirks, particular signals and totems we pass on to one another. But the WASP culture, or at least that aspect of the culture I talk about, is enough in the past so that we can now look at it with some objectivity, smile at it, and even appreciate some of its values. There was a closeness of family, a commitment to duty, to stoic responsibility, which I think we have to say weren't entirely bad."
Plays
Ancestral Voices
Another Antigone ()
Big Bill
Black Tie ()
Buffalo Gal
A Cheever Evening (based on stories by John Cheever; )
Children ()
The Cocktail Hour ()
The Comeback ()
Crazy Mary
Darlene
The David Show
The Dining Room ()
Family Furniture
Far East
The Fourth Wall ()
The Golden Age ()
The Golden Fleece
The Grand Manner ()
The Guest Lecturer
Heresy
Human Events
Indian Blood
Labor Day ()
Later Life ()
The Love Course ()
Love Letters ()
The Middle Ages ()
Mrs. Farnsworth
Office Hours ()
O Jerusalem
The Old Boy ()
The Old One-Two ()
The Open Meeting
Overtime ()
The Perfect Party ()
Post Mortem
The Problem
The Rape of Bunny Stuntz ()
Richard Cory ()
Scenes from American Life
Screen Play
"Squash"
The Snow Ball (based on his novel; )
Sweet Sue ()
Sylvia ()
The Wayside Motor Inn ()
What I Did Last Summer ()
Who Killed Richard Cory? ()
Novels
Gurney has also written several novels, including:
The Snow Ball (1984)
The Gospel According to Joe (1974)
Entertaining Strangers (1977)
Early American (1996)
Screenplays
The House of Mirth (1972)
Sylvia (1995)
References
External links
A. R. Gurney at The Literary Encyclopedia
A. R. Gurney Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Category:1930 births
Category:2017 deaths
Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:American male dramatists and playwrights
Category:American male novelists
Category:American opera librettists
Category:Goodyear family (New York)
Category:MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty
Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Category:Writers from Buffalo, New York
Category:St. Paul's School (New Hampshire) alumni
Category:Williams College alumni
Category:Novelists from Connecticut
Category:Yale University alumni
Category:Yale School of Drama alumni
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:21st-century American male writers
Category:Novelists from Massachusetts | [] | [
"Gurney began writing plays such as Children and The Middle Ages while at MIT, which he joined in 1960.",
"The context does not provide specific information on the success of his early plays.",
"Yes, several interesting aspects mentioned in the article include:\n\n1. Gurney's teaching tenure at Yale and MIT, where he was a professor of humanities and literature.\n2. His success with the play The Dining Room, which allowed him to write full-time.\n3. His work primarily focusing on the WASPs of the American northeast.\n4. Gurney's contribution to Yale School of Drama with Love in Buffalo, the first musical ever produced there.\n5. His first play in New York, The David Show, which only ran for one performance, but was praised by Edith Oliver in The New Yorker and another critic from the Village Voice.\n6. His play based on his encounter with famed actress Katharine Cornell, The Grand Manner.\n7. His appearance in several of his own plays such as The Dining Room and Love Letters.",
"The context does not provide information on which of Gurney's plays was the most popular."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"No"
] |
C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_1 | Benjamin Henry Latrobe | Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 - September 3, 1820) was a British subject and neoclassical architect who emigrated to the United States. He was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in the new United States, drawing on influences from his travels in Italy, as well as British and French Neoclassical architects such as Claude Nicolas Ledoux. In his thirties, he emigrated to the new United States and designed the United States Capitol, on "Capitol Hill" in Washington, D.C., as well as the Old Baltimore Cathedral or The Baltimore Basilica, (later renamed the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary). It is the first Roman Catholic Cathedral constructed in the United States. | England | Latrobe returned to England in 1784, and was apprenticed to John Smeaton, an engineer known for designing Eddystone Lighthouse. Then in 1787 or 1788, he worked in the office of neoclassical architect Samuel Pepys Cockerell for a brief time. In 1790, Latrobe was appointed Surveyor of the Public Offices in London, and established his own private practice in 1791. Latrobe was commissioned in 1792 to design Hammerwood Park, near East Grinstead in Sussex, his first independent work, and he designed nearby Ashdown House in 1793. Latrobe was involved in construction of the Basingstoke Canal in Surrey, together with engineers John Smeaton and William Jessop. In spring 1793, Latrobe was hired to plan improvements to the River Blackwater from Maldon to Beeleigh, so that the port of Maldon could compete with the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation, which bypassed the town. The project lasted until early 1795, when Parliament denied approval of his plan. Latrobe had problems getting payment for his work on the project, and faced bankruptcy. In February 1790, Latrobe married Lydia Sellon, and they lived a busy social life in London. The couple had a daughter (Lydia Sellon Latrobe) and a son (Henry Sellon Boneval Latrobe), before she died giving birth during November 1793. Lydia had inherited her father's wealth, which in turn was to be left to the children through a trust with the children's uncles, but never ended up going to the children. In 1795, Latrobe suffered a breakdown and decided to emigrate to America, departing on November 25 aboard the Eliza. In America, Latrobe was known for his series of topological and landscape watercolors; the series started with a view of the White Cliffs of the south coast of England viewed from the Eliza. The series was preceded by a watercolor of East Grinstead, dated September 8, 1795. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_1_q#0",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_1_q#1",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_1_q#2",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_1_q#3",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_1_q#4",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_1_q#5",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_1_q#6",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_1_q#7",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_1_q#8",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_1_q#9",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_1_q#10"
] | [
"When di d he go to england?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Did he have a family?",
"Did htey divorce?",
"Did the child live?",
"What ele happened in england?",
"What caused the break down?",
"Did he avoid bankrucy?",
"Was england a good place for him?",
"What was is practice off?",
"Did he build in england?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
2,
1,
0,
0,
1,
0,
2,
0
] | [
2,
0,
0,
1,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
1044
],
[
1137
],
[
1235
],
[
1844
],
[
1451
],
[
955
],
[
1844
],
[
241
],
[
364
],
[
659
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Latrobe returned to England in 1784,"
],
[
"In February 1790, Latrobe married Lydia Sellon,"
],
[
"The couple had a daughter (Lydia Sellon Latrobe) and a son (Henry Sellon Boneval Latrobe"
],
[
"she died giving birth during November 1793."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"In 1795, Latrobe suffered a breakdown and decided to emigrate to America, departing on November 25 aboard the Eliza."
],
[
"Latrobe had problems getting payment for his work on the project, and faced bankruptcy."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"In 1790, Latrobe was appointed Surveyor of the Public Offices in London, and established his own private practice in 1791."
],
[
"Latrobe was commissioned in 1792 to design Hammerwood Park, near East Grinstead in Sussex, his first independent work, and he designed nearby Ashdown House in 1793."
],
[
"In spring 1793, Latrobe was hired to plan improvements to the River Blackwater from Maldon to Beeleigh,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
1044,
1137,
1235,
1844,
1451,
955,
1844,
241,
364,
659
],
"texts": [
"Latrobe returned to England in 1784,",
"In February 1790, Latrobe married Lydia Sellon,",
"The couple had a daughter (Lydia Sellon Latrobe) and a son (Henry Sellon Boneval Latrobe",
"she died giving birth during November 1793.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"In 1795, Latrobe suffered a breakdown and decided to emigrate to America, departing on November 25 aboard the Eliza.",
"Latrobe had problems getting payment for his work on the project, and faced bankruptcy.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"In 1790, Latrobe was appointed Surveyor of the Public Offices in London, and established his own private practice in 1791.",
"Latrobe was commissioned in 1792 to design Hammerwood Park, near East Grinstead in Sussex, his first independent work, and he designed nearby Ashdown House in 1793.",
"In spring 1793, Latrobe was hired to plan improvements to the River Blackwater from Maldon to Beeleigh,"
]
} | Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 – September 3, 1820) was an Anglo-American neoclassical architect who emigrated to the United States. He was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in the new United States, drawing on influences from his travels in Italy, as well as British and French Neoclassical architects such as Claude Nicolas Ledoux. In his thirties, he emigrated to the new United States and designed the United States Capitol, on "Capitol Hill" in Washington, D.C., as well as the Old Baltimore Cathedral or The Baltimore Basilica, (later renamed the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary). It is the first Cathedral constructed in the United States for any Christian denomination. Latrobe also designed the largest structure in America at the time, the "Merchants' Exchange" in Baltimore. With extensive balconied atriums through the wings and a large central rotunda under a low dome which dominated the city, it was completed in 1820 after five years of work and endured into the early twentieth century.
Latrobe emigrated in 1796, initially settling in Virginia where he worked on the Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond. Latrobe then moved to Philadelphia where he established his practice. In 1803, he was hired as Surveyor of the Public Buildings of the United States, and spent much of the next fourteen years working on projects in the new national capital of Washington, D.C., (in the newly-laid out Federal capital of the District of Columbia) where he served as the second Architect of the Capitol. He also was responsible for the design of the White House porticos. Latrobe spent the later years of his life in New Orleans, Louisiana working on a waterworks project, and died there in 1820 from yellow fever.
Latrobe has been called the "father of American architecture". He was the uncle of Charles La Trobe, who was the first Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria in Australia.
Biography
Latrobe was born on May 1, 1764, at the Fulneck Moravian Settlement, near Pudsey in the city of Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. His parents were the Reverend Benjamin Latrobe, a leader of the Moravian Church who was of Huguenot (French Protestant) ancestry, and Anna Margaretta Antes whose father was German and whose maternal line was Dutch. Antes was born in the American colony of Pennsylvania, but was sent to England by her father, a wealthy landowner, to attend a Moravian school at Fulneck.
Latrobe's father, who was responsible for all Moravian schools and establishments in Britain, had an extensive circle of friends in the higher ranks of society. He stressed the importance of education, scholarship, and the value of social exchange; while Latrobe's mother instilled in her son a curiosity and interest in America. From a young age, Benjamin Henry Latrobe enjoyed drawing landscapes and buildings. He was a brother of Moravian leader and musical composer Christian Ignatius Latrobe.
In 1776, at the age of 12, Latrobe was sent away to the Moravian School at Niesky in Silesia near the border of Saxony and Poland. At age eighteen, he spent several months traveling around Germany, and then joined the Royal Prussian Army, becoming close friends with a distinguished officer in the United States Army. Latrobe also may have served briefly in the Austrian Imperial Army, and suffered some injuries or illness. After recovering, he embarked on a continental "Grand Tour", visiting eastern Saxony, Paris, Italy, and other places. Through his education and travels, Latrobe mastered German, French, ancient and modern Greek, and Latin. He had advanced ability in Italian and Spanish and some knowledge of Hebrew. Latrobe was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815.
His son, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, II, (sometimes referred to as "Junior"), also worked as a civil engineer. In 1827, he joined the newly organized Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and designed the longest, most challenging bridge on its initial route: the curving Thomas Viaduct, (the third of four multi-arched "viaducts").
Another son, John Hazlehurst Boneval Latrobe (1803–1891), was a noted civic leader, lawyer, author, historian, artist, inventor, sometime architect, intellectual, and social activist in Maryland While Park Commissioner for the City of Baltimore he co-founded the Baltimore Zoo. Among his inventions and patents, he invented the Latrobe Stove, also known as the "Baltimore Heater", a cast iron coal fired parlor heater.
A grandson, Charles Hazlehurst Latrobe (1834–1902), Benjamin Henry Latrobe II's son, continued the tradition of architect and engineer building bridges for the city of Baltimore and for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Charles Hazlehurst fought on the side of the confederacy during the Civil War.
Another grandson, Ferdinand Claiborne Latrobe, was a seven-term mayor of Baltimore.
Latrobe Park in south Baltimore is named for the family, as is Latrobe Park, New Orleans, in the French Quarter.
Travels
England
Latrobe returned to England in 1784, and was apprenticed to John Smeaton, an engineer known for designing Eddystone Lighthouse. Then in 1787 or 1788, he worked in the office of neoclassical architect Samuel Pepys Cockerell for a brief time. In 1790, Latrobe was appointed Surveyor of the Public Offices in London, and established his own private practice in 1791. Latrobe was commissioned in 1792 to design Hammerwood Lodge, near East Grinstead in Sussex, his first independent work, and he designed nearby Ashdown House in 1793. Latrobe was involved in construction of the Basingstoke Canal in Surrey, together with engineers John Smeaton and William Jessop. In spring 1793, Latrobe was hired to plan improvements to the River Blackwater from Maldon to Beeleigh, so that the port of Maldon could compete with the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation, which bypassed the town. The project lasted until early 1795, when Parliament denied approval of his plan. Latrobe had problems getting payment for his work on the project, and faced bankruptcy.
In February 1790, Latrobe married Lydia Sellon, and they lived a busy social life in London. The couple had a daughter (Lydia Sellon Latrobe) and a son (Henry Sellon Boneval Latrobe), before she died giving birth during November 1793. Lydia had inherited her father's wealth, which in turn was to be left to the children through a trust with the children's uncles, but never ended up going to the children. In 1795, Latrobe suffered a breakdown and decided to emigrate to America, departing on November 25 aboard the Eliza.
In America, Latrobe was known for his series of topological and landscape watercolors; the series started with a view of the White Cliffs of the south coast of England viewed from the Eliza. The series was preceded by a watercolor of East Grinstead, dated September 8, 1795.
Virginia
Latrobe arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, in mid-March 1796 after a harrowing four-month journey aboard the ship, which was plagued with food shortages under near-starvation conditions. Latrobe initially spent time in Norfolk, where he designed the "William Pennock House," then set out for Richmond in April 1796. Soon after arriving in Virginia, Latrobe became friends with Bushrod Washington, nephew of President George Washington, along with Edmund Randolph and other notable figures. Through Bushrod Washington, Latrobe was able to pay a visit to Mount Vernon to meet with the president in the summer of 1796.
Latrobe's first major project in the United States was the State Penitentiary in Richmond, commissioned in 1797. The penitentiary included many innovative ideas in penal reform, then being espoused by Thomas Jefferson and various other figures, including cells arranged in a semicircle, that allowed for easy surveillance, as well as improved living conditions for sanitation and ventilation. He also pioneered the use of solitary confinement in the Richmond penitentiary. While in Virginia, Latrobe worked on the Green Spring mansion near Williamsburg, which had been built by Governor Sir William Berkeley in the seventeenth century but fell into disrepair after the American Revolutionary War. Latrobe created designs for Fort Nelson in Virginia in 1798. He also made drawings for a number of houses that were not built, including the "Mill Hill" plantation house near Richmond.
After spending a year in Virginia, the novelty of being in a new place wore off, and Latrobe was lonely and restless in Virginia. Giambattista Scandella, a friend, suggested Philadelphia as an ideal location for him. In April 1798, Latrobe visited Philadelphia for the first time, meeting with Bank of Pennsylvania president Samuel J. Fox, and presented to him a design for a new bank building. At the time, the political climate in Philadelphia was quite different than Virginia, with a strong division between the Federalists and Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans, along with anti-French sentiment, thus the city was not entirely welcoming for Latrobe. On his way to Philadelphia, Latrobe passed through the national capital city of Washington, D.C., then under construction (congress and the president would not arrive until the year 1800), where he met with the first architect of the capitol, William Thornton, and viewed the United States Capitol for the first time. He stopped by Washington again on his way back to Richmond. Latrobe remained in Richmond, Virginia, until November 1798, when his design was selected for the Bank of Pennsylvania. He moved to Philadelphia, so that he could supervise the construction, although he continued to do occasional projects for clients in Virginia.
Philadelphia
By the time he arrived in Philadelphia, Latrobe's two friends, Scandella and Volney, had left due to concerns regarding the Alien and Sedition Acts, but Latrobe made friends with some of their acquaintances at the American Philosophical Society. Latrobe submitted several papers to the society, on his geology and natural history observations, and became a member of the society in 1799. With his charming personality, Latrobe quickly made other friends among the influential financial and business families in Philadelphia, and became close friends with Nicholas Roosevelt, a talented steam-engine builder who would help Latrobe in his waterworks projects.
Latrobe's first major project in Philadelphia was to design the Bank of Pennsylvania, which was the first example of Greek Revival architecture in the United States. It was demolished in 1870. This commission is what convinced him to set up his practice in Philadelphia, where he developed his reputation.
Latrobe also was hired to design the Center Square Water Works in Philadelphia. The Pump House, located on the common at Broad and Market Streets (now the site of Philadelphia City Hall), was designed by Latrobe in a Greek Revival style. It drew water from the Schuylkill River, a mile away, and contained two steam engines that pumped it into wooden tanks in its tower. Gravity then fed the water by wooden mains into houses and businesses. Following his work on the Philadelphia water works project, Latrobe worked as an engineer of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
In addition to Greek Revival designs, Latrobe also used Gothic Revival designs in many of his works, including the 1799 design of Sedgeley, a country mansion in Philadelphia. The Gothic Revival style was used in Latrobe's design of the Philadelphia Bank building as well, which was built in 1807 and demolished in 1836. As a young architect, Robert Mills worked as an assistant with Latrobe from 1803 until 1808 when he set up his own practice.
While in Philadelphia, Latrobe married Mary Elizabeth Hazlehurst (1771–1841), in 1800. The couple had several children together.
Washington, D.C.
In the United States, Latrobe quickly achieved eminence as the first professional architect working in the country. Latrobe was a friend of Thomas Jefferson, influencing Jefferson's design for the University of Virginia. Latrobe also knew James Monroe, as well as New Orleans architect and pirate, Barthelemy Lafon, was Aaron Burr's preferred architect, and he trained architect William Strickland.
In 1803, Jefferson hired Latrobe as Surveyor of the Public Buildings of the United States, and to work as superintendent of construction of the United States Capitol. As construction of the capitol was already underway, Latrobe was tasked to work with William Thornton's plans, which Latrobe criticized. In an 1803 letter to Vice President Aaron Burr, he characterized the plans and work done as "faulty construction". Nonetheless, President Thomas Jefferson insisted that Latrobe follow Thornton's design for the capitol.
Although Latrobe's major work was overseeing construction of the United States Capitol, he also was responsible for numerous other projects in Washington. In 1804, became chief engineer in the United States Navy. As chief surveyor, Latrobe was responsible for the Washington Canal. Latrobe faced bureaucratic hurdles in moving forward with the canal, with the directors of the company rejecting his request for stone locks. Instead, the canal was built with wooden locks, which were subsequently destroyed in a heavy storm in 1811. Latrobe also designed the main gate of the Washington Navy Yard. Latrobe worked on other transportation projects in Washington, D.C., including the Washington and Alexandria Turnpike, which connected Washington with Alexandria, as well as a road connecting with Frederick, Maryland, and a third road, the Columbia Turnpike going through Bladensburg to Baltimore. Latrobe also provided consulting on the construction of the Washington Bridge across the Potomac River in a way that would not impede navigation and commerce to Georgetown.
Benjamin Latrobe was responsible for several other projects located around Lafayette Square, including St. John's Episcopal Church, Decatur House, and the White House porticos. Private homes designed by Latrobe include commissions by John P. Van Ness and Peter Casanove.
In June 1812, construction of the Capitol came to a halt with the outbreak of the War of 1812 and the failure of the First Bank of the United States. During the war, Latrobe relocated to Pittsburgh, and returned to Washington in 1815, as Architect of the Capitol, charged with responsibility of rebuilding the capitol after it was destroyed in the war. Latrobe was given more freedom in rebuilding the capitol, to apply his own design elements for the interior. Through much of Latrobe's time in Washington, he remained involved with his private practice to some extent and with other projects in Philadelphia and elsewhere. His clerk of works, John Lenthal, often urged Latrobe to spend more time in Washington.
By 1817, Latrobe had provided President James Monroe with complete drawings for the entire building. He resigned as Architect of the Capitol on November 20, 1817, and without this major commission, Latrobe faced difficulties and was forced into bankruptcy. Latrobe left Washington, for Baltimore in January 1818.
Latrobe left Washington with pessimism, with the city's design contradicting many of his ideals. Latrobe disliked the Baroque-style plan for the city, and other aspects of L'Enfant's plan, and resented having to conform to Thornton's plans for the Capitol Building. One of the greatest problems with the overall city plan, in the view of Latrobe, was its vast interior distances, and Latrobe considered the Washington Canal as a key factor that, if successful, could help alleviate this issue. Latrobe also had concerns about the city's economic potential, and argued for constructing a road connecting Washington with Frederick to the northwest to enhance economic commerce through Washington.
New Orleans
Latrobe saw great potential for growth in New Orleans, situated at the mouth of the Mississippi River, with the advent of the steamboat and great interest in steamboat technology. Latrobe's first project in New Orleans was the first New Orleans United States Customs building, constructed in 1807.
In 1810 Latrobe sent his son, Henry Sellon "Boneval" Latrobe, to the city to present a plan for a waterworks system to the New Orleans city council. Latrobe's plan for the waterworks system was based on that of Philadelphia, which he earlier designed. The system in Philadelphia was created as a response to yellow fever epidemics affecting the city. Latrobe's system used steam pumps to move water from the Schuylkill River to a reservoir, located upstream; so that gravity could be used to transmit the water from there to residents in the city. The New Orleans waterworks project also was designed to desalinate water, using steam-powered pumps. While in New Orleans, Latrobe's son participated in the Battle of New Orleans against British forces in 1815, and took on other projects including building a lighthouse, a new Charity Hospital, and the French Opera House.
New Orleans agreed to commission the waterworks project in 1811, although Latrobe was not ready to take on the project immediately and faced financial problems in securing enough investors for the project. His work on the United States Capitol was completed shortly before the War of 1812 started, ending his source of steady income. During the war Latrobe unsuccessfully tried several wartime schemes to make money, including some steamboat projects. In 1814, Latrobe partnered with Robert Fulton in a steamship venture based at Pittsburgh. While in Pittsburgh, Latrobe designed and built a theater for the Circus of Pepin and Breschard. After the U. S. Capitol and White House were burned by the British Army, Latrobe remained in Washington to help with rebuilding, and Latrobe's son took on much of the work for the New Orleans waterworks project.
Latrobe faced further delays trying to get an engine built for the waterworks, which he finally accomplished in 1819. The process of designing and constructing the waterworks system in New Orleans spanned eleven years. In addition to this project, Latrobe designed the central tower of the St. Louis Cathedral, which was his last architectural project.
Latrobe died September 3, 1820, from yellow fever, while working in Louisiana. He was buried in the Protestant section of the Saint Louis Cemetery in New Orleans, where his eldest son, architect Henry Sellon Boneval Latrobe (1792–1817), had been buried three years earlier, having also succumbed to yellow fever.
Architecture
Influences
While studying in Germany, Latrobe was mentored by Baron Karl von Schachmann, a classical scholar interested in art and collecting. Around 1783, Latrobe made the decision to become an architect, a decision influenced by the baron. While Latrobe was in Germany, a new architectural movement, led by Carl Gotthard Langhans and others, was emerging with return to more Classical or Vitruvian designs.
In 1784, Latrobe set off on a Grand Tour around Europe, visiting Paris where the Panthéon, a church dedicated to St. Genevieve, was nearing completion. The Panthéon in Paris, designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot and Jean-Baptiste Rondelet, represented an early example of Neoclassicism. At that time, Claude Nicolas Ledoux was designing numerous houses in France, in Neoclassical style. Latrobe also visited Rome, where he was impressed by the Roman Pantheon and other ancient structures with Greek influence. Influential architects in Britain, at the time when Latrobe returned in 1784, adhered to a number of different styles. Sir William Chambers was at the forefront, designing in Palladianism style, while Chambers' rival, Robert Adam's designs had Roman influence, in a style known as Adam style. Latrobe was not interested in either the Palladian nor Adam style, but Neoclassicalism also was being introduced to Great Britain at the time by George Dance the Younger. Other British architects, including John Soane and Henry Holland, also designed in the Neoclassical style while Latrobe was in London.
During his European tour, Latrobe gathered ideas on how American cities should be designed. He suggested city blocks be laid out as thin rectangles, with the long side of the blocks oriented east-west so that as many houses as possible could face south. For a city to succeed, he thought it needed to be established only in places with good prospects for commerce and industrial growth, and with a good water supply.
Public health was another key consideration of Latrobe, who believed that the eastern shores of rivers were unhealthy, due to prevailing direction of the wind, and recommended cities be built on the western shores of rivers.
Greek Revival in America
Latrobe brought from England influences of British Neoclassicism, and was able to combine it with styles introduced by Thomas Jefferson, to devise an American Greek Revival style. John Summerson described the Bank of Pennsylvania, as an example of how Latrobe "married English Neo-Classicism to Jeffersonian Neo-Classicism [and] ... from that moment, the classical revival in America took on a national form". The American form of Greek Revival architecture that Latrobe developed became associated with political ideals of democracy—a meaning that was less apparent in Britain. The direct link between the Greek Revival architecture and American democracy has been disputed by recent scholars such as W. Barksdale Maynard, who sees the Greek Revival as an international phenomenon.
Selected works
Houses
When Latrobe began private practice in England, his first projects were alterations to existing houses, designing Hammerwood Park, and designing Ashdown House, East Sussex. Alterations completed early in his career may have included Tanton Hall, Sheffield Park, Frimley, and Teston Hall, although these homes have since been altered and it is difficult now to isolate Latrobe's work in the current designs. His designs were simpler than was typical at the time, and had influences of Robert Adam. Features in his designs often included as part of the front porticos, Greek ionic columns, as used in Ashdown House, or doric columns, seen in Hammerwood Park.
The book, The Domestic Architecture of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, lists buildings he designed in England, including Grade II* listed Alderbury House (late 1800s) in Wiltshire. This structure had previously been misattributed to James Wyatt. It has been described as "one of Wiltshire’s most elegant Georgian country houses".
Latrobe continued to design houses after he emigrated to the United States, mostly using Greek Revival designs. Four houses still stand that Latrobe designed: the Decatur House in Washington, D.C.; Adena in Chillicothe, Ohio; the Pope Villa in Lexington, Kentucky; and the Sedgeley Porter's house in Philadelphia. As one of Latrobe's most avant-garde designs, the Pope Villa has national significance for its unique design. He also introduced Gothic Revival architecture to the United States with the design of Sedgeley. The mansion was built in 1799 and demolished in 1857; however, the stone Porter's house at Sedgeley remains as his only extant building in Philadelphia. A theme seen in many of Latrobe's designs is plans with squarish-dimensions and a central, multi-story hall with a cupola to provide lighting, which was contrary to the popular trend of the time of building houses with long narrow plans.
Personal life
First wife: Lydia Sellon (1760-1793)
Lydia Sellon Mary Latrobe (1791-1878) m. Nicholas James Roosevelt
Henry Sellon Boneval Latrobe (1792-1817)
Unnamed (1793)
Second wife: Mary Elizabeth Hazlehurst (1771-1841)
Juliana Latrobe (1801)
John Hazlehurst Boneval Latrobe (1803-1891)
Juliana Elizabeth Boneval Latrobe (1804-1890)
Mary Agnes Latrobe (1805-1806)
Benjamin Henry Latrobe Jr. (1806-1878)
Louisa Latrobe (1808)
Notes
References
Klotter, James C., and Daniel Rowland, eds. Bluegrass Renaissance: The History and Culture of Central Kentucky, 1792–1852 (University Press of Kentucky; 2012) 371 pages; emphasis on Benjamin Henry Latrobe and "neoclassical" Lexington
External links
Fine Arts Library Image Collection – University of Pennsylvania
Library of Congress, Jefferson Building East Corridor mosaics
Benjamin Latrobe: America's First Architect on PBS
Benjamin Henry LaTrobe Sketches of Fishes, 1796–1797, 1882 from the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Category:American neoclassical architects
Category:British neoclassical architects
Category:Architects of the United States Capitol
Category:1764 births
Category:1820 deaths
Category:American ecclesiastical architects
Category:Architects of cathedrals
Category:Gothic Revival architects
Category:English ecclesiastical architects
Category:Federalist architects
Category:Greek Revival architects
Category:American surveyors
Category:English surveyors
Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society
Category:Members of the American Antiquarian Society
Category:English emigrants to the United States
Category:English people of the Moravian Church
Category:People educated at Fulneck School
Category:People from Pudsey
Category:Prussian Army personnel
Category:Burials in Louisiana
Category:Deaths from yellow fever
Category:Infectious disease deaths in Louisiana
Category:Latrobe, Pennsylvania
Category:18th-century American people
Category:18th-century English architects
Category:Architects from Leeds
Category:Latrobe family | [] | null | null |
C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0 | Benjamin Henry Latrobe | Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 - September 3, 1820) was a British subject and neoclassical architect who emigrated to the United States. He was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in the new United States, drawing on influences from his travels in Italy, as well as British and French Neoclassical architects such as Claude Nicolas Ledoux. In his thirties, he emigrated to the new United States and designed the United States Capitol, on "Capitol Hill" in Washington, D.C., as well as the Old Baltimore Cathedral or The Baltimore Basilica, (later renamed the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary). It is the first Roman Catholic Cathedral constructed in the United States. | Virginia | Latrobe arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, in mid-March 1796 after a harrowing four-month journey aboard the ship, which was plagued with food shortages under near-starvation conditions. Latrobe initially spent time in Norfolk, where he designed the "William Pennock House," then set out for Richmond, Virginia, in April 1796. Soon after arriving in Virginia, Latrobe became friends with Bushrod Washington, nephew of President George Washington, along with Edmund Randolph and other notable figures. Through Bushrod Washington, Latrobe was able to pay a visit to Mount Vernon to meet with the president in the summer of 1796. Latrobe's first major project in the United States was the State Penitentiary in Richmond, commissioned in 1797. The penitentiary included many innovative ideas in penal reform, then being espoused by Thomas Jefferson and various other figures, including cells arranged in a semicircle, similar, but not identical to Jeremy Bentham's panopticon, that allowed for easy surveillance, as well as improved living conditions for sanitation and ventilation. He also pioneered the use of solitary confinement in the Richmond penitentiary. While in Virginia, Latrobe worked on the Green Spring mansion near Williamsburg, which had been built by Governor Sir William Berkeley in the seventeenth century but fell into disrepair after the American Revolutionary War. Latrobe created designs for Fort Nelson in Virginia in 1798. He also made drawings for a number of houses that were not built, including the "Mill Hill" plantation house near Richmond. After spending a year in Virginia, the novelty of being in a new place wore off, and Latrobe was lonely and restless in Virginia. Giambattista Scandella, a friend, suggested Philadelphia as an ideal location for him. In April 1798, Latrobe visited Philadelphia for the first time, meeting with Bank of Pennsylvania president Samuel J. Fox, and presented to him a design for a new bank building. At the time, the political climate in Philadelphia was quite different than Virginia, with a strong division between the Federalists and Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans, along with anti-French sentiment, thus the city was not entirely welcoming for Latrobe. On his way to Philadelphia, Latrobe passed through the national capital city of Washington, D.C., then under construction (congress and the president would not arrive until the year 1800), where he met with the first architect of the capitol, William Thornton, and viewed the United States Capitol for the first time. He stopped by Washington again on his way back to Richmond. Latrobe remained in Richmond, Virginia, until November 1798, when his design was selected for the Bank of Pennsylvania. He moved to Philadelphia, so that he could supervise the construction, although he continued to do occasional projects for clients in Virginia. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0_q#0",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0_q#1",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0_q#2",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0_q#3",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0_q#4",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0_q#5",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0_q#6",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0_q#7",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0_q#8",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0_q#9",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0_q#10",
"C_d5feaffe27ea4330818d179fa4d55c29_0_q#11"
] | [
"when did Latrobe live in Virginia?",
"Did he design any other houses in Norfolk?",
"How long did it take to build the penitentiary?",
"Where did Latrobe go after his time in Norfolk?",
"What are some other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Did he go somewhere else after that year in Virginia?",
"What did he do in Philadelphia?",
"Did Fox like the design?",
"Did fox hire Latrobe to design the bank building?",
"Did he design any other buildings?",
"how long did he stay in Philadelphia?",
"did he have any family with him?"
] | [
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
1,
0,
1,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
0,
2,
2,
0,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
182
],
[
623
],
[
2863
],
[
28
],
[
1565
],
[
1782
],
[
1846
],
[
1758
],
[
2863
],
[
2719
],
[
2539
],
[
403
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Latrobe initially spent time in Norfolk, where he designed the \"William Pennock House,"
],
[
"Latrobe's first major project in the United States was the State Penitentiary in Richmond, commissioned in 1797."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Virginia,"
],
[
"After spending a year in Virginia, the novelty of being in a new place wore off, and Latrobe was lonely and restless in Virginia."
],
[
"In April 1798, Latrobe visited Philadelphia for the first time,"
],
[
"meeting with Bank of Pennsylvania president Samuel J. Fox, and presented to him a design for a new bank building."
],
[
"ideal"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"He moved to Philadelphia, so that he could supervise the construction, although he"
],
[
"He stopped by Washington again on his way back to Richmond."
],
[
"nephew"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
182,
623,
2863,
28,
1565,
1782,
1846,
1758,
2863,
2719,
2539,
403
],
"texts": [
"Latrobe initially spent time in Norfolk, where he designed the \"William Pennock House,",
"Latrobe's first major project in the United States was the State Penitentiary in Richmond, commissioned in 1797.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Virginia,",
"After spending a year in Virginia, the novelty of being in a new place wore off, and Latrobe was lonely and restless in Virginia.",
"In April 1798, Latrobe visited Philadelphia for the first time,",
"meeting with Bank of Pennsylvania president Samuel J. Fox, and presented to him a design for a new bank building.",
"ideal",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"He moved to Philadelphia, so that he could supervise the construction, although he",
"He stopped by Washington again on his way back to Richmond.",
"nephew"
]
} | Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 – September 3, 1820) was an Anglo-American neoclassical architect who emigrated to the United States. He was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in the new United States, drawing on influences from his travels in Italy, as well as British and French Neoclassical architects such as Claude Nicolas Ledoux. In his thirties, he emigrated to the new United States and designed the United States Capitol, on "Capitol Hill" in Washington, D.C., as well as the Old Baltimore Cathedral or The Baltimore Basilica, (later renamed the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary). It is the first Cathedral constructed in the United States for any Christian denomination. Latrobe also designed the largest structure in America at the time, the "Merchants' Exchange" in Baltimore. With extensive balconied atriums through the wings and a large central rotunda under a low dome which dominated the city, it was completed in 1820 after five years of work and endured into the early twentieth century.
Latrobe emigrated in 1796, initially settling in Virginia where he worked on the Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond. Latrobe then moved to Philadelphia where he established his practice. In 1803, he was hired as Surveyor of the Public Buildings of the United States, and spent much of the next fourteen years working on projects in the new national capital of Washington, D.C., (in the newly-laid out Federal capital of the District of Columbia) where he served as the second Architect of the Capitol. He also was responsible for the design of the White House porticos. Latrobe spent the later years of his life in New Orleans, Louisiana working on a waterworks project, and died there in 1820 from yellow fever.
Latrobe has been called the "father of American architecture". He was the uncle of Charles La Trobe, who was the first Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria in Australia.
Biography
Latrobe was born on May 1, 1764, at the Fulneck Moravian Settlement, near Pudsey in the city of Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. His parents were the Reverend Benjamin Latrobe, a leader of the Moravian Church who was of Huguenot (French Protestant) ancestry, and Anna Margaretta Antes whose father was German and whose maternal line was Dutch. Antes was born in the American colony of Pennsylvania, but was sent to England by her father, a wealthy landowner, to attend a Moravian school at Fulneck.
Latrobe's father, who was responsible for all Moravian schools and establishments in Britain, had an extensive circle of friends in the higher ranks of society. He stressed the importance of education, scholarship, and the value of social exchange; while Latrobe's mother instilled in her son a curiosity and interest in America. From a young age, Benjamin Henry Latrobe enjoyed drawing landscapes and buildings. He was a brother of Moravian leader and musical composer Christian Ignatius Latrobe.
In 1776, at the age of 12, Latrobe was sent away to the Moravian School at Niesky in Silesia near the border of Saxony and Poland. At age eighteen, he spent several months traveling around Germany, and then joined the Royal Prussian Army, becoming close friends with a distinguished officer in the United States Army. Latrobe also may have served briefly in the Austrian Imperial Army, and suffered some injuries or illness. After recovering, he embarked on a continental "Grand Tour", visiting eastern Saxony, Paris, Italy, and other places. Through his education and travels, Latrobe mastered German, French, ancient and modern Greek, and Latin. He had advanced ability in Italian and Spanish and some knowledge of Hebrew. Latrobe was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815.
His son, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, II, (sometimes referred to as "Junior"), also worked as a civil engineer. In 1827, he joined the newly organized Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and designed the longest, most challenging bridge on its initial route: the curving Thomas Viaduct, (the third of four multi-arched "viaducts").
Another son, John Hazlehurst Boneval Latrobe (1803–1891), was a noted civic leader, lawyer, author, historian, artist, inventor, sometime architect, intellectual, and social activist in Maryland While Park Commissioner for the City of Baltimore he co-founded the Baltimore Zoo. Among his inventions and patents, he invented the Latrobe Stove, also known as the "Baltimore Heater", a cast iron coal fired parlor heater.
A grandson, Charles Hazlehurst Latrobe (1834–1902), Benjamin Henry Latrobe II's son, continued the tradition of architect and engineer building bridges for the city of Baltimore and for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Charles Hazlehurst fought on the side of the confederacy during the Civil War.
Another grandson, Ferdinand Claiborne Latrobe, was a seven-term mayor of Baltimore.
Latrobe Park in south Baltimore is named for the family, as is Latrobe Park, New Orleans, in the French Quarter.
Travels
England
Latrobe returned to England in 1784, and was apprenticed to John Smeaton, an engineer known for designing Eddystone Lighthouse. Then in 1787 or 1788, he worked in the office of neoclassical architect Samuel Pepys Cockerell for a brief time. In 1790, Latrobe was appointed Surveyor of the Public Offices in London, and established his own private practice in 1791. Latrobe was commissioned in 1792 to design Hammerwood Lodge, near East Grinstead in Sussex, his first independent work, and he designed nearby Ashdown House in 1793. Latrobe was involved in construction of the Basingstoke Canal in Surrey, together with engineers John Smeaton and William Jessop. In spring 1793, Latrobe was hired to plan improvements to the River Blackwater from Maldon to Beeleigh, so that the port of Maldon could compete with the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation, which bypassed the town. The project lasted until early 1795, when Parliament denied approval of his plan. Latrobe had problems getting payment for his work on the project, and faced bankruptcy.
In February 1790, Latrobe married Lydia Sellon, and they lived a busy social life in London. The couple had a daughter (Lydia Sellon Latrobe) and a son (Henry Sellon Boneval Latrobe), before she died giving birth during November 1793. Lydia had inherited her father's wealth, which in turn was to be left to the children through a trust with the children's uncles, but never ended up going to the children. In 1795, Latrobe suffered a breakdown and decided to emigrate to America, departing on November 25 aboard the Eliza.
In America, Latrobe was known for his series of topological and landscape watercolors; the series started with a view of the White Cliffs of the south coast of England viewed from the Eliza. The series was preceded by a watercolor of East Grinstead, dated September 8, 1795.
Virginia
Latrobe arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, in mid-March 1796 after a harrowing four-month journey aboard the ship, which was plagued with food shortages under near-starvation conditions. Latrobe initially spent time in Norfolk, where he designed the "William Pennock House," then set out for Richmond in April 1796. Soon after arriving in Virginia, Latrobe became friends with Bushrod Washington, nephew of President George Washington, along with Edmund Randolph and other notable figures. Through Bushrod Washington, Latrobe was able to pay a visit to Mount Vernon to meet with the president in the summer of 1796.
Latrobe's first major project in the United States was the State Penitentiary in Richmond, commissioned in 1797. The penitentiary included many innovative ideas in penal reform, then being espoused by Thomas Jefferson and various other figures, including cells arranged in a semicircle, that allowed for easy surveillance, as well as improved living conditions for sanitation and ventilation. He also pioneered the use of solitary confinement in the Richmond penitentiary. While in Virginia, Latrobe worked on the Green Spring mansion near Williamsburg, which had been built by Governor Sir William Berkeley in the seventeenth century but fell into disrepair after the American Revolutionary War. Latrobe created designs for Fort Nelson in Virginia in 1798. He also made drawings for a number of houses that were not built, including the "Mill Hill" plantation house near Richmond.
After spending a year in Virginia, the novelty of being in a new place wore off, and Latrobe was lonely and restless in Virginia. Giambattista Scandella, a friend, suggested Philadelphia as an ideal location for him. In April 1798, Latrobe visited Philadelphia for the first time, meeting with Bank of Pennsylvania president Samuel J. Fox, and presented to him a design for a new bank building. At the time, the political climate in Philadelphia was quite different than Virginia, with a strong division between the Federalists and Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans, along with anti-French sentiment, thus the city was not entirely welcoming for Latrobe. On his way to Philadelphia, Latrobe passed through the national capital city of Washington, D.C., then under construction (congress and the president would not arrive until the year 1800), where he met with the first architect of the capitol, William Thornton, and viewed the United States Capitol for the first time. He stopped by Washington again on his way back to Richmond. Latrobe remained in Richmond, Virginia, until November 1798, when his design was selected for the Bank of Pennsylvania. He moved to Philadelphia, so that he could supervise the construction, although he continued to do occasional projects for clients in Virginia.
Philadelphia
By the time he arrived in Philadelphia, Latrobe's two friends, Scandella and Volney, had left due to concerns regarding the Alien and Sedition Acts, but Latrobe made friends with some of their acquaintances at the American Philosophical Society. Latrobe submitted several papers to the society, on his geology and natural history observations, and became a member of the society in 1799. With his charming personality, Latrobe quickly made other friends among the influential financial and business families in Philadelphia, and became close friends with Nicholas Roosevelt, a talented steam-engine builder who would help Latrobe in his waterworks projects.
Latrobe's first major project in Philadelphia was to design the Bank of Pennsylvania, which was the first example of Greek Revival architecture in the United States. It was demolished in 1870. This commission is what convinced him to set up his practice in Philadelphia, where he developed his reputation.
Latrobe also was hired to design the Center Square Water Works in Philadelphia. The Pump House, located on the common at Broad and Market Streets (now the site of Philadelphia City Hall), was designed by Latrobe in a Greek Revival style. It drew water from the Schuylkill River, a mile away, and contained two steam engines that pumped it into wooden tanks in its tower. Gravity then fed the water by wooden mains into houses and businesses. Following his work on the Philadelphia water works project, Latrobe worked as an engineer of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
In addition to Greek Revival designs, Latrobe also used Gothic Revival designs in many of his works, including the 1799 design of Sedgeley, a country mansion in Philadelphia. The Gothic Revival style was used in Latrobe's design of the Philadelphia Bank building as well, which was built in 1807 and demolished in 1836. As a young architect, Robert Mills worked as an assistant with Latrobe from 1803 until 1808 when he set up his own practice.
While in Philadelphia, Latrobe married Mary Elizabeth Hazlehurst (1771–1841), in 1800. The couple had several children together.
Washington, D.C.
In the United States, Latrobe quickly achieved eminence as the first professional architect working in the country. Latrobe was a friend of Thomas Jefferson, influencing Jefferson's design for the University of Virginia. Latrobe also knew James Monroe, as well as New Orleans architect and pirate, Barthelemy Lafon, was Aaron Burr's preferred architect, and he trained architect William Strickland.
In 1803, Jefferson hired Latrobe as Surveyor of the Public Buildings of the United States, and to work as superintendent of construction of the United States Capitol. As construction of the capitol was already underway, Latrobe was tasked to work with William Thornton's plans, which Latrobe criticized. In an 1803 letter to Vice President Aaron Burr, he characterized the plans and work done as "faulty construction". Nonetheless, President Thomas Jefferson insisted that Latrobe follow Thornton's design for the capitol.
Although Latrobe's major work was overseeing construction of the United States Capitol, he also was responsible for numerous other projects in Washington. In 1804, became chief engineer in the United States Navy. As chief surveyor, Latrobe was responsible for the Washington Canal. Latrobe faced bureaucratic hurdles in moving forward with the canal, with the directors of the company rejecting his request for stone locks. Instead, the canal was built with wooden locks, which were subsequently destroyed in a heavy storm in 1811. Latrobe also designed the main gate of the Washington Navy Yard. Latrobe worked on other transportation projects in Washington, D.C., including the Washington and Alexandria Turnpike, which connected Washington with Alexandria, as well as a road connecting with Frederick, Maryland, and a third road, the Columbia Turnpike going through Bladensburg to Baltimore. Latrobe also provided consulting on the construction of the Washington Bridge across the Potomac River in a way that would not impede navigation and commerce to Georgetown.
Benjamin Latrobe was responsible for several other projects located around Lafayette Square, including St. John's Episcopal Church, Decatur House, and the White House porticos. Private homes designed by Latrobe include commissions by John P. Van Ness and Peter Casanove.
In June 1812, construction of the Capitol came to a halt with the outbreak of the War of 1812 and the failure of the First Bank of the United States. During the war, Latrobe relocated to Pittsburgh, and returned to Washington in 1815, as Architect of the Capitol, charged with responsibility of rebuilding the capitol after it was destroyed in the war. Latrobe was given more freedom in rebuilding the capitol, to apply his own design elements for the interior. Through much of Latrobe's time in Washington, he remained involved with his private practice to some extent and with other projects in Philadelphia and elsewhere. His clerk of works, John Lenthal, often urged Latrobe to spend more time in Washington.
By 1817, Latrobe had provided President James Monroe with complete drawings for the entire building. He resigned as Architect of the Capitol on November 20, 1817, and without this major commission, Latrobe faced difficulties and was forced into bankruptcy. Latrobe left Washington, for Baltimore in January 1818.
Latrobe left Washington with pessimism, with the city's design contradicting many of his ideals. Latrobe disliked the Baroque-style plan for the city, and other aspects of L'Enfant's plan, and resented having to conform to Thornton's plans for the Capitol Building. One of the greatest problems with the overall city plan, in the view of Latrobe, was its vast interior distances, and Latrobe considered the Washington Canal as a key factor that, if successful, could help alleviate this issue. Latrobe also had concerns about the city's economic potential, and argued for constructing a road connecting Washington with Frederick to the northwest to enhance economic commerce through Washington.
New Orleans
Latrobe saw great potential for growth in New Orleans, situated at the mouth of the Mississippi River, with the advent of the steamboat and great interest in steamboat technology. Latrobe's first project in New Orleans was the first New Orleans United States Customs building, constructed in 1807.
In 1810 Latrobe sent his son, Henry Sellon "Boneval" Latrobe, to the city to present a plan for a waterworks system to the New Orleans city council. Latrobe's plan for the waterworks system was based on that of Philadelphia, which he earlier designed. The system in Philadelphia was created as a response to yellow fever epidemics affecting the city. Latrobe's system used steam pumps to move water from the Schuylkill River to a reservoir, located upstream; so that gravity could be used to transmit the water from there to residents in the city. The New Orleans waterworks project also was designed to desalinate water, using steam-powered pumps. While in New Orleans, Latrobe's son participated in the Battle of New Orleans against British forces in 1815, and took on other projects including building a lighthouse, a new Charity Hospital, and the French Opera House.
New Orleans agreed to commission the waterworks project in 1811, although Latrobe was not ready to take on the project immediately and faced financial problems in securing enough investors for the project. His work on the United States Capitol was completed shortly before the War of 1812 started, ending his source of steady income. During the war Latrobe unsuccessfully tried several wartime schemes to make money, including some steamboat projects. In 1814, Latrobe partnered with Robert Fulton in a steamship venture based at Pittsburgh. While in Pittsburgh, Latrobe designed and built a theater for the Circus of Pepin and Breschard. After the U. S. Capitol and White House were burned by the British Army, Latrobe remained in Washington to help with rebuilding, and Latrobe's son took on much of the work for the New Orleans waterworks project.
Latrobe faced further delays trying to get an engine built for the waterworks, which he finally accomplished in 1819. The process of designing and constructing the waterworks system in New Orleans spanned eleven years. In addition to this project, Latrobe designed the central tower of the St. Louis Cathedral, which was his last architectural project.
Latrobe died September 3, 1820, from yellow fever, while working in Louisiana. He was buried in the Protestant section of the Saint Louis Cemetery in New Orleans, where his eldest son, architect Henry Sellon Boneval Latrobe (1792–1817), had been buried three years earlier, having also succumbed to yellow fever.
Architecture
Influences
While studying in Germany, Latrobe was mentored by Baron Karl von Schachmann, a classical scholar interested in art and collecting. Around 1783, Latrobe made the decision to become an architect, a decision influenced by the baron. While Latrobe was in Germany, a new architectural movement, led by Carl Gotthard Langhans and others, was emerging with return to more Classical or Vitruvian designs.
In 1784, Latrobe set off on a Grand Tour around Europe, visiting Paris where the Panthéon, a church dedicated to St. Genevieve, was nearing completion. The Panthéon in Paris, designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot and Jean-Baptiste Rondelet, represented an early example of Neoclassicism. At that time, Claude Nicolas Ledoux was designing numerous houses in France, in Neoclassical style. Latrobe also visited Rome, where he was impressed by the Roman Pantheon and other ancient structures with Greek influence. Influential architects in Britain, at the time when Latrobe returned in 1784, adhered to a number of different styles. Sir William Chambers was at the forefront, designing in Palladianism style, while Chambers' rival, Robert Adam's designs had Roman influence, in a style known as Adam style. Latrobe was not interested in either the Palladian nor Adam style, but Neoclassicalism also was being introduced to Great Britain at the time by George Dance the Younger. Other British architects, including John Soane and Henry Holland, also designed in the Neoclassical style while Latrobe was in London.
During his European tour, Latrobe gathered ideas on how American cities should be designed. He suggested city blocks be laid out as thin rectangles, with the long side of the blocks oriented east-west so that as many houses as possible could face south. For a city to succeed, he thought it needed to be established only in places with good prospects for commerce and industrial growth, and with a good water supply.
Public health was another key consideration of Latrobe, who believed that the eastern shores of rivers were unhealthy, due to prevailing direction of the wind, and recommended cities be built on the western shores of rivers.
Greek Revival in America
Latrobe brought from England influences of British Neoclassicism, and was able to combine it with styles introduced by Thomas Jefferson, to devise an American Greek Revival style. John Summerson described the Bank of Pennsylvania, as an example of how Latrobe "married English Neo-Classicism to Jeffersonian Neo-Classicism [and] ... from that moment, the classical revival in America took on a national form". The American form of Greek Revival architecture that Latrobe developed became associated with political ideals of democracy—a meaning that was less apparent in Britain. The direct link between the Greek Revival architecture and American democracy has been disputed by recent scholars such as W. Barksdale Maynard, who sees the Greek Revival as an international phenomenon.
Selected works
Houses
When Latrobe began private practice in England, his first projects were alterations to existing houses, designing Hammerwood Park, and designing Ashdown House, East Sussex. Alterations completed early in his career may have included Tanton Hall, Sheffield Park, Frimley, and Teston Hall, although these homes have since been altered and it is difficult now to isolate Latrobe's work in the current designs. His designs were simpler than was typical at the time, and had influences of Robert Adam. Features in his designs often included as part of the front porticos, Greek ionic columns, as used in Ashdown House, or doric columns, seen in Hammerwood Park.
The book, The Domestic Architecture of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, lists buildings he designed in England, including Grade II* listed Alderbury House (late 1800s) in Wiltshire. This structure had previously been misattributed to James Wyatt. It has been described as "one of Wiltshire’s most elegant Georgian country houses".
Latrobe continued to design houses after he emigrated to the United States, mostly using Greek Revival designs. Four houses still stand that Latrobe designed: the Decatur House in Washington, D.C.; Adena in Chillicothe, Ohio; the Pope Villa in Lexington, Kentucky; and the Sedgeley Porter's house in Philadelphia. As one of Latrobe's most avant-garde designs, the Pope Villa has national significance for its unique design. He also introduced Gothic Revival architecture to the United States with the design of Sedgeley. The mansion was built in 1799 and demolished in 1857; however, the stone Porter's house at Sedgeley remains as his only extant building in Philadelphia. A theme seen in many of Latrobe's designs is plans with squarish-dimensions and a central, multi-story hall with a cupola to provide lighting, which was contrary to the popular trend of the time of building houses with long narrow plans.
Personal life
First wife: Lydia Sellon (1760-1793)
Lydia Sellon Mary Latrobe (1791-1878) m. Nicholas James Roosevelt
Henry Sellon Boneval Latrobe (1792-1817)
Unnamed (1793)
Second wife: Mary Elizabeth Hazlehurst (1771-1841)
Juliana Latrobe (1801)
John Hazlehurst Boneval Latrobe (1803-1891)
Juliana Elizabeth Boneval Latrobe (1804-1890)
Mary Agnes Latrobe (1805-1806)
Benjamin Henry Latrobe Jr. (1806-1878)
Louisa Latrobe (1808)
Notes
References
Klotter, James C., and Daniel Rowland, eds. Bluegrass Renaissance: The History and Culture of Central Kentucky, 1792–1852 (University Press of Kentucky; 2012) 371 pages; emphasis on Benjamin Henry Latrobe and "neoclassical" Lexington
External links
Fine Arts Library Image Collection – University of Pennsylvania
Library of Congress, Jefferson Building East Corridor mosaics
Benjamin Latrobe: America's First Architect on PBS
Benjamin Henry LaTrobe Sketches of Fishes, 1796–1797, 1882 from the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Category:American neoclassical architects
Category:British neoclassical architects
Category:Architects of the United States Capitol
Category:1764 births
Category:1820 deaths
Category:American ecclesiastical architects
Category:Architects of cathedrals
Category:Gothic Revival architects
Category:English ecclesiastical architects
Category:Federalist architects
Category:Greek Revival architects
Category:American surveyors
Category:English surveyors
Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society
Category:Members of the American Antiquarian Society
Category:English emigrants to the United States
Category:English people of the Moravian Church
Category:People educated at Fulneck School
Category:People from Pudsey
Category:Prussian Army personnel
Category:Burials in Louisiana
Category:Deaths from yellow fever
Category:Infectious disease deaths in Louisiana
Category:Latrobe, Pennsylvania
Category:18th-century American people
Category:18th-century English architects
Category:Architects from Leeds
Category:Latrobe family | [] | [
"Latrobe lived in Virginia from his arrival in mid-March 1796 until November 1798.",
"The context does not provide information on whether Latrobe designed any other houses in Norfolk.",
"The context does not provide information on how long it took to build the penitentiary.",
"After his time in Norfolk, Latrobe went to Richmond, Virginia.",
"The text provides some interesting aspects about Benjamin Henry Latrobe's life and career, including his four-month harrowing journey on a ship and his contributions to American architecture such as designing the State Penitentiary in Richmond. The article mentions his innovative ideas for penal reform, which he incorporated into the design of the penitentiary such as cells arranged in a semicircle and improved living conditions for sanitation and ventilation. The text also highlights his friendships with notable figures like Bushrod Washington and Edmund Randolph, his visit to Philadelphia and his difficulties settling there due to the prevailing political climate, and his work on the Bank of Pennsylvania. His travels to and interest in Washington D.C., which was still under construction, also seem significant.",
"Yes, after spending a year in Virginia, he visited Philadelphia for the first time in April 1798. Eventually, he relocated to Philadelphia in November 1798 to supervise the construction of his design for the Bank of Pennsylvania.",
"In Philadelphia, Latrobe's design was selected for the Bank of Pennsylvania. He moved to the city to supervise the construction of the new bank building. However, the context also mentions that he continued to do occasional projects for clients in Virginia.",
"The context does not provide information on whether Samuel J. Fox, the Bank of Pennsylvania president, liked Latrobe's design.",
"The context doesn't specify who exactly hired Latrobe to design the Bank of Pennsylvania. However, it does mention that after meeting with Samuel J. Fox, the president of the Bank of Pennsylvania and presenting his design, Latrobe's design was selected for the Bank of Pennsylvania.",
"Yes, in addition to the State Penitentiary in Richmond and the Bank of Pennsylvania, Latrobe also designed the \"William Pennock House\" in Norfolk, the Green Spring mansion near Williamsburg, and Fort Nelson in Virginia. He also made drawings for a few other houses that were not built, including the \"Mill Hill\" plantation house near Richmond.",
"The context does not provide information on how long Latrobe stayed in Philadelphia.",
"The context does not provide information on whether Latrobe had any family with him."
] | [
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"no",
"no"
] |
C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0 | Alejandro Jodorowsky | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (Spanish: [ale'xandro xodo'rofski]; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker. Active since 1948, in seventy years of his artistic career Jodorowsky has experienced it in almost all creative forms: writer (in his five facets: novelist, storyteller, poet, playwright and essayist), film director and producer, actor of cinema and theatre, playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, film editor, comics writer, musician, soundtrack composer, philosopher, puppeteer, mime, psychologist and psychoanalyst, draughtsman, painter, eventually sculptor and spiritual guru. Best known for his avant-garde films, he has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation". Born to Jewish-Ukrainian parents in Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. | Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990-2011) | In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down. Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, the website, announced that on 1 May 2007, Anchor Bay released a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les tetes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing the perfect complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by Abkco, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but could not find investors for the project. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers". In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MOMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0_q#0",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0_q#1",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0_q#2",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0_q#3",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0_q#4",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0_q#5",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0_q#6",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0_q#7",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_0_q#8"
] | [
"What was his first fil in 1990 called",
"What award did he win",
"What does this stand for",
"What award did he win",
"Did they show his films",
"What did this mean",
"Who said that",
"What is hhis title",
"What is his next achievement"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
186
],
[
110
],
[
75
],
[
28
],
[
117
],
[
304
],
[
289
],
[
258
],
[
2739
]
],
"texts": [
[
"El Topo"
],
[
"CUFF"
],
[
"Chicago Underground Film Festival"
],
[
"Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award"
],
[
"Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status."
],
[
"it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down."
],
[
"Bryan Wendorf,"
],
[
"According to festival director"
],
[
"Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
186,
110,
75,
28,
117,
304,
289,
258,
2739
],
"texts": [
"El Topo",
"CUFF",
"Chicago Underground Film Festival",
"Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award",
"Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status.",
"it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.",
"Bryan Wendorf,",
"According to festival director",
"Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective"
]
} | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French avant-garde filmmaker. Best known for his 1970s films El Topo and The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
Born to Jewish-Ukrainian parents in Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro Mimico, in 1947. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth Michelly. From 1960 onwards he divided his time between Mexico City and Paris, where he co-founded Panic Movement, a surrealist performance art collective that staged violent and shocking theatrical events. In 1966 he created his first comic strip, Anibal 5, and in 1967 he directed his first feature film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal in Mexico, eventually being banned.
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit. After a cancelled attempt at filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family film Tusk (1980); the surrealist horror Santa Sangre (1989); the failed blockbuster The Rainbow Thief (1990); and the first two films in a planned five-film autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016).
Jodorowsky is also a comic book writer, most notably penning the science fiction series The Incal throughout the 1980s, which has been described as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written. Other comic books he has written include The Technopriests and Metabarons. Jodorowsky has also extensively written and lectured about his own spiritual system, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism", which borrows from alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. His son Cristóbal has followed his teachings on psychoshamanism; this work is captured in the feature documentary Quantum Men, directed by Carlos Serrano Azcona.
Early life and education
Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in the coastal town of Tocopilla, Chile, to parents who were Jewish immigrants from Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) and other cities of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). His father, Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann, was a merchant, who was largely abusive to his wife Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi, and at one time accused her of flirting with a customer. Angered, he subsequently beat and raped her, getting her pregnant, which led to the birth of Alejandro. Because of this brutal conception, Sara both hated her husband and disliked her son, telling him that "I cannot love you" and rarely showing him tenderness. Alejandro also had an elder sister, Raquel Jodorowsky, but disliked her, for he believed that she was selfish, doing "everything to expel me from the family so that she could be the centre of attention." Alongside his dislike for his family, he also held contempt for many of the local people, who viewed him as an outsider because of his status as the son of immigrants, and also for the American mining industrialists who worked locally and treated the Chilean people badly. It was this treatment at the hands of Americans that led to his later condemnation of American imperialism and neo-colonialism in Latin America in several of his films. Nonetheless, he liked his local area and was greatly unhappy when he was forced to leave it at the age of nine years old, something for which he blamed his father. His family subsequently moved to the city of Santiago, Chile.
He immersed himself in reading, and also began writing poetry, having his first poem published when he was sixteen years old, alongside associating with such Chilean poets as Nicanor Parra, Stella Díaz Varín and Enrique Lihn. Becoming interested in the political ideology of anarchism, he began attending college, studying psychology and philosophy, but stayed for only two years. After dropping out, and having an interest in theatre and particularly mime, he took up employment as a clown in a circus and began a career as a theatre director. Meanwhile, in 1947 he founded his own theatrical troupe, the Teatro Mimico, which by 1952 had fifty members, and the following year he wrote his first play, El Minotaura (The Minotaur). Nonetheless, Jodorowsky felt that there was little for him left in Chile, and so that year he moved to Paris.
It was while in Paris that Jodorowsky began studying mime with Étienne Decroux and joined the troupe of one of Decroux's students, Marcel Marceau. It was with Marceau's troupe that he went on a world tour, and wrote several routines for the group, including "The Cage" and "The Mask Maker". After this, he returned to theatre directing, working on the music hall comeback of Maurice Chevalier in Paris. In 1957, Jodorowsky turned his hand to filmmaking, creating Les têtes interverties (The Severed Heads), a 20-minute adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. It consisted almost entirely of mime and told the surreal story of a head-swapping merchant who helps a young man find courtship success. Jodorowsky played the lead role. The director Jean Cocteau admired the film and wrote an introduction for it. It was considered lost until a print of the film was discovered in 2006.
In 1960, Jodorowsky moved to Mexico, where he settled down in Mexico City. Nonetheless, he continued to return occasionally to France, on one occasion visiting the Surrealist artist André Breton, but he was disillusioned in that he felt Breton had become somewhat conservative in his old age. Continuing his interest in surrealism, in 1962 he founded the Panic Movement along with Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor. The movement aimed to go beyond conventional surrealist ideas by embracing absurdism. Its members refused to take themselves seriously, while laughing at those critics who did. In 1966 he produced his first comic strip, Anibal 5, which was related to the Panic Movement. The following year he created a new feature film, Fando y Lis, loosely based on a play written by Fernando Arrabal, who was working with Jodorowsky on performance art at the time. Fando y Lis premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, where it instigated a riot amongst those objecting to the film's content, and subsequently it was banned in Mexico.
It was in Mexico City that he encountered Ejo Takata (1928–1997), a Zen Buddhist monk who had studied at the Horyuji and Shofukuji monasteries in Japan before traveling to Mexico via the United States in 1967 to spread Zen. Jodorowsky became a disciple of Takata and offered his own house to be turned into a zendo. Subsequently, Takata attracted other disciples around him, who spent their time in meditation and the study of koans. Eventually, Takata instructed Jodorowsky that he had to learn more about his feminine side, and so he went and befriended the English surrealist Leonora Carrington, who had recently moved to Mexico.
Career
El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974)
In 1970, Jodorowsky released the film El Topo, which sometimes is known in English as The Mole, which he had both directed and starred in. An acid western, El Topo tells the story of a wandering Mexican bandit and gunslinger, El Topo (played by Jodorowsky), who is on a search for spiritual enlightenment, taking his young son along with him. Along the way, he violently confronts a number of other individuals, before finally being killed and being resurrected to live within a community of deformed people who are trapped inside a mountain cave. Describing the work, he stated that "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill." Knowing how Fando y Lis had caused such a scandal in Mexico, Jodorowsky decided not to release El Topo there, instead focusing on its release in other countries across the world, including Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States. It was in New York City where the film would play as a "midnight movie" for several months at Ben Barenholtz's Elgin Theater. It attracted the attention of rock musician and countercultural figure John Lennon, who thought very highly of it, and convinced the president of The Beatles' company Apple Corps, Allen Klein, to distribute it in the United States.
Klein agreed to give Jodorowsky $1 million to go toward creating his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain, released in 1973. It has been suggested that The Holy Mountain may have been inspired by René Daumal's Surrealist novel Mount Analogue. The Holy Mountain was another complex, multi-part story that featured a man credited as "The Thief" and equated with Jesus Christ, a mystical alchemist played by Jodorowsky, seven powerful business people representing seven of the planets (Venus and the six planets from Mars to Pluto), a religious training regimen of spiritual rebirth, and a quest to the top of a holy mountain for the secret of immortality. During the completion of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky received spiritual training from Oscar Ichazo of the Arica School, who encouraged him to take LSD and guided him through the subsequent psychedelic experience. Around the same time (2 November 1973), Jodorowsky participated in an isolation tank experiment conducted by John Lilly.
Shortly thereafter, Allen Klein demanded that Jodorowsky create a film adaptation of Pauline Réage's classic novel of female masochism, Story of O. Klein had promised this adaptation to various investors. Jodorowsky, who had discovered feminism during the filming of The Holy Mountain, refused to make the film, going so far as to leave the country to escape directing duties. In retaliation, Allen Klein made El Topo and The Holy Mountain, to which he held the rights, completely unavailable to the public for more than 30 years. Jodorowsky frequently decried Klein's actions in interviews.
Soon after the release of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky gave a talk at the Teatro Julio Castillo, University of Mexico on the subject of koans (despite the fact that he initially had been booked on the condition that his talk would be about cinematography), at which Ejo Takata appeared. After the talk, Takata gave Jodorowsky his kyosaku, believing that his former student had mastered the art of understanding koans.
Dune and Tusk (1975–1980)
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights to Frank Herbert's epic 1965 science fiction novel Dune and asked Jodorowsky to direct a film version. Jodorowsky planned to cast the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, in what would have been his only speaking role as a film actor, in the role of Emperor Shaddam IV. Dalí agreed when Jodorowsky offered to pay him a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; Welles only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming. The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's son, Brontis Jodorowsky, 12 years old at the start of pre-production. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd and Magma. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction publications, Jean Giraud (Mœbius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Métal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Frank Herbert travelled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phonebook", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. The production for the film collapsed when no film studio could be found willing to fund the movie to Jodorowsky's terms. The aborted production was chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, directed by Frank Pavich. Subsequently, the rights for filming were sold to Dino De Laurentiis, who employed the American filmmaker David Lynch to direct, creating the film Dune in 1984. The documentary does not include any original film footage of what was to be Jodorowsky's Dune but does make extraordinary claims as to the influence this unmade film had on other actual science fiction films, such as Star Wars, Alien, The Terminator, Flash Gordon and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
After the collapse of the Dune project, Jodorowsky completely changed course and, in 1980, premiered his children's fable Tusk, shot in India. Taken from Reginald Campbell's novel Poo Lorn of the Elephants, the film explores the soul-mate relationship between a young British woman living in India and a highly prized elephant. The film exhibited little of the director's outlandish visual style and was never given wide release.
Later, in January 2023, Frank Pavich, director of the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, published an essay in The New York Times related to Jodorowsky's Dune (and more) that involved artwork generated by artificial intelligence (A.I.) programming.
Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990)
In 1989, Jodorowsky completed the Mexican-Italian production Santa Sangre (Holy Blood). The film received limited theatrical distribution, putting Jodorowsky back on the cultural map despite its mixed critical reviews. Santa Sangre was a surrealistic slasher film with a plot like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Robert Wiene's The Hands of Orlac. It featured a protagonist who, as a child, saw his mother lose both her arms, and as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim. Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors.
He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky a chance to work with the "movie stars" Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, the executive producer, Alexander Salkind, effectively curtailed most of Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations, threatening to fire him on the spot if anything in the script was changed (Salkind's wife, Berta Domínguez D., wrote the screenplay).
That same year (1990), Jodorowsky and his family returned to France to live.
Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990–2011)
In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.
Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, it was announced online that Anchor Bay would release a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis on 1 May 2007. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les têtes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing a suitable complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by ABKCO, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but did not find investors for the project.
In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers".
In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MoMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011.
The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–present)
In August 2011, Alejandro arrived in a town in Chile where he grew up, also the setting of his autobiography The Dance of Reality, to promote an autobiographical film based upon his book.
On 31 October 2011, Halloween night, the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) honored Jodorowsky by showing The Holy Mountain. He attended and spoke about his work and life. The next evening, he presented El Topo at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center.
Alejandro has stated that after finishing The Dance of Reality he was preparing to shoot his long-gestating El Topo sequel, Abel Cain. By January 2013, Alejandro finished filming on The Dance of Reality and entered into post-production. Alejandro's son and co-star in the film, Brontis, claimed the film was to be finished by March 2013, and that the film was "very different than the other films he made". On 23 April, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the Film Festival in Cannes. coinciding with The Dance of Reality premiered alongside the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, which premiered in May 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, creating a "Jodorowsky double bill".
In 2015, Jodorowsky began a new film entitled Endless Poetry, the sequel to his last "auto-biopic", The Dance of Reality. His Paris-based production company, Satori Films, launched two successful crowdfunding campaigns to finance the film. The Indiegogo campaign has been left open indefinitely, receiving donations from fans and movie-goers in support of the independent production. The film was shot between June and August 2015, in the streets of Matucana in Santiago, Chile, where Jodorowsky lived for a period in his life. The film portrays his young adulthood in Santiago, years during which he became a core member of the Chilean poetic avant-garde alongside artists such as Hugo Marín, Gustavo Becerra, Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra and others. Jodorowsky's son Adan Jodorowsky plays him as an adult; and Brontis Jodorowsky plays as his father, Jaime. Jeremias Herskovitz, from The Dance of Reality, portrays Jodorowsky as a teenager. Pamela Flores plays as Sara (his mother) and Stella Díaz Varín (poet and young Jodorowsky's girlfriend). Leandro Taub portrays Jodorowsky's best friend, the poet and novelist Enrique Lihn. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2016. Variety's review was overwhelmingly positive, calling it "...the most accessible movie he has ever made, and it may also be the best."
During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, Jodorowsky announced his plans to finally make The Son of El Topo as soon as financial backing is obtained.
Other work
Jodorowsky released a 12" vinyl with the Original Soundtrack of Zarathustra (Discos Tizoc, Mexico, 1970).
Comics
Jodorowsky started his comic career in Mexico with the creation of Anibal 5 series in mid-1966 with illustrations by Manuel Moro. He also drew his own comic strip in the weekly series Fabulas pánicas that appeared in the Mexican newspaper, El Heraldo de México. He also wrote original stories for at least two or three other comic books in Mexico during those days: Los insoportables Borbolla was one of them. After his fourth film, Tusk, he started The Incal, with Jean Giraud (Mœbius). This graphic novel has its roots deep in the tarot and its symbols, e.g., the protagonist of The Incal, John Difool, is linked to the Fool card. The Incal (which would branch off into a prequel and sequel) forms the first in a sequence of several science fiction comic book series, all set in the same space opera Jodoverse (or "Metabarons Universe") published by Humanoids Publishing.
Comic books set in this milieu are Incal (trilogy: Before the Incal / Incal / Final Incal), Metabarons (trilogy: Castaka / The Caste of the Metabarons / Weapons of the Metabaron), and The Technopriests and also an RPG adaptation, The Metabarons Roleplaying Game. Many ideas and concepts derived from Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Dune (which he would have been loosely based upon Frank Herbert's original novel) are featured in this universe.
Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, claiming that the 1997 film borrowed graphic and story elements from The Incal, but they lost their case. The suit was plagued by ambiguity since Mœbius had willingly participated in the creation of the film, having been hired by Besson as a contributing artist, but had done so without gaining the approval of Incal co-creator Jodorowsky, whose services Besson did not call upon. For more than a decade, Jodorowsky pressured his publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés to sue Luc Besson for plagiarism, but the publisher refused, fearing the inevitability of the outcome. In a 2002 interview with the Danish comic book magazine Strip!, Jodorowsky stated that he considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas.
Other comics by Jodorowsky include the Western Bouncer illustrated by Francois Boucq, Juan Solo (Son of the Gun), and Le Lama blanc (The White Lama), the latter were illustrated by Georges Bess.
Le Cœur couronné (The Crowned Heart, translated into English as The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart), a racy satire on religion set in contemporary times, won Jodorowsky and his collaborator, Jean Giraud, the 2001 Haxtur Award for Best Long Strip. He is currently working on a new graphic novel for the U.S. market.
Jodorowsky's comic book work also appears in Taboo volume 4 (ed. Stephen R. Bissette), which features an interview with the director, designs for his version of Frank Herbert's Dune, comic storyboards for El Topo, and a collaboration with Moebius with the illustrated Eyes of the Cat.
Jodorowsky collaborated with Milo Manara in Borgia (2006), a graphic novel about the history of the House of Borgia.
Psychomagic
Jodorowsky spent almost a decade reconstructing the original form of the Tarot de Marseille. From this work he moved into more therapeutic work in three areas: psychomagic, psychogenealogy and initiatic massage. Psychomagic aims to heal psychological wounds suffered in life. This therapy is based on the belief that the performance of certain acts can directly act upon the unconscious mind, releasing it from a series of traumas, some of which practitioners of the therapy believe are passed down from generation to generation. Psychogenealogy includes the studying of the patient's personality and family tree in order to best address their specific sources. It is similar, in its phenomenological approach to genealogy, to the Constellations pioneered by Bert Hellinger.
Jodorowsky has several books on his therapeutic methods, including Psicomagia: La trampa sagrada (Psychomagic: The Sacred Trap) and his autobiography, La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality), which he was filming as a feature-length film in March 2012. To date, he has published more than 23 novels and philosophical treatises, along with dozens of articles and interviews. His books are widely read in Spanish and French, but are for the most part unknown to English-speaking audiences.
For a quarter of a century, Jodorowsky held classes and lectures for free, in cafés and universities all over the city of Paris. Typically, such courses or talks would begin on Wednesday evenings as tarot divination lessons, and would culminate in an hour-long conference, also free, where at times hundreds of attendees would be treated to live demonstrations of a psychological "arbre généalogique" ("tree of genealogy") involving volunteers from the audience. In these conferences, Jodorowsky would pave the way to building a strong base of students of his philosophy, which deals with understanding the unconscious as the "over-self", composed of many generations of family relatives, living or deceased, acting on the psyche, well into adult lives, and causing compulsions. Of all his work, Jodorowsky considers these activities to be the most important of his life. Though such activities only take place in the insular world of Parisian cafés, he has devoted thousands of hours of his life to teaching and helping people "become more conscious," as he puts it.
Since 2011 these talks have dwindled to once a month and take place at the Librairie Les Cent Ciels in Paris.
His film Psychomagic, a Healing Art premiered in Lyon on 3 September 2019. It was then released on streaming services on 1 August 2020.
Influences and impact
He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence; other artistic influences included Jean-Luc Godard, Sergio Leone, Erich von Stroheim, Buster Keaton, George Gurdjieff, Antonin Artaud, and Luis Buñuel. He has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Darren Aronofsky, Taika Waititi, Guillermo del Toro, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jan Kounen, Dennis Hopper, Eric Andre, and Kanye West.
Fans included musicians Peter Gabriel, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta, Brann Dailor of Mastodon, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore (of the pop-duo Empire of the Sun). Wes Borland, guitarist of Limp Bizkit, said that the film Holy Mountain was a big influence on him, especially as a visual artist, and that the concept album Lotus Island of his band Black Light Burns was a tribute to it.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in the ending titles of his 2011 film Drive, and dedicated his 2013 Thai crime thriller, Only God Forgives, to Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky also appeared in the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, directed by Refn's wife Liv, giving the couple a tarot reading.
Argentinean actor Leandro Taub thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in his book La Mente Oculta, for which Jodorowsky wrote the prologue.
Personal life
Jodorowsky's first wife was the actress Valérie Trumblay. They divorced in 1982. He is currently married to the artist and costume designer Pascale Montandon.
He has five children: Brontis Jodorowsky, an actor who worked with his father in El Topo, The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry; Teo (d. 1995), who appeared in Santa Sangre; Cristóbal (d.2022), a psychoshaman and an actor (interpreter in Santa Sangre and the main character in the shamanic documentary Quantum Men); Eugenia Jodorowsky; and the youngest, Adan Jodorowsky, a musician known by his stage name of Adanowsky. The fashion model Alma Jodorowsky is the granddaughter of Alejandro.
On his religious views, Jodorowsky has called himself an "atheist mystic".
He does not drink or smoke, and has stated that he does not eat red meat or poultry because he "does not like corpses", basing his diet on vegetables, fruits, grains and occasionally marine products.
In 2005, Jodorowsky officiated at the wedding of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.
Criticism and controversy
When Jodorowsky's first feature film, Fando y Lis, premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the screening was controversial and erupted into a riot, due to its graphic content. Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine, and when the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but more fights broke out, and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the controversy provided a great deal of fodder for the Mexican newspapers.
In regard to the making of El Topo, Jodorowsky allegedly stated in the early 1970s:
In the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, Jodorowsky states:
As a result of these alleged statements, Jodorowsky has been criticised. Matt Brown of Screen Anarchy wrote that "it's easier to wall off a certain type of criminality behind the buffer of time—sure, Alejandro Jodorowsky is on the record in his book on the making of the film as having raped Mara Lorenzo while making El Topo—though he later denied it—but nowadays he's just that hilarious old kook from Jodorowsky's Dune!" Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com called Jodorowsky "an artist who condones rape as a means to an end for the purpose of creating art. A man who seems to believe that rape is something that women 'need' if they can't accept male sexual power on their own". Jude Doyle of Elle wrote that Jodorowsky "has been teasing the idea of an unsimulated rape scene in his cult classic film El Topo for decades ... though he's elsewhere described the unsimulated sex in that scene as consensual", and went on to state that the quote "has not endangered his status as an avant-garde icon".
On 26 June 2017, Jodorowsky released a statement on his Facebook account in response to the question: "Did you rape an actress during the filming of El Topo?" The following excerpts are from said statement:
Filmography
Acting roles
Documentary appearances
Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only (1991)
The Jodorowsky Constellation (1994)
NWR (2012)
Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)
My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (2015)
Psychomagic, a Healing Art (2019)
Bibliography
Selected bibliography of comics, novels and non-fiction writings:
Graphic novels and comics
The Panic Fables (; 1967–1970), comic strip published in El Heraldo de México.
The Eyes of the Cat (1978)
The Jealous God (1984)
The Magical Twins (1987)
Anibal 5 (1990)
Diosamente (1992)
Moonface (1992)
Angel Claws (1994)
Son of the Gun (1995)
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart (1998)
The Shadow's Treasure (1999)
Bouncer (2001)
The White Lama (2004)
Borgia (2004)
Screaming Planet (2006)
Royal Blood (2010)
Showman Killer (2010)
Pietrolino (2013)
The Son of El Topo (2016), incomplete series.
Knights of Heliopolis (2017)
Jodoverse
Beginning with The Incal in 1981, Jodorowsky has co-written and produced a series of linked comics series and graphic novels () for the French-language market known colloquially as the Jodoverse. The series was initially developed with Jean Giraud using concepts and designs created for Jodorowky's unfinished Dune project.
The Incal (1981–1988)
Before the Incal (1988–1995)
The Metabarons (1992–2003)
The Technopriests (1998–2006)
Megalex (1999–2008)
After the Incal (2000), incomplete series.
Metabarons Genesis: Castaka (2007–2013)
Weapons of the Metabaron (2008)
Final Incal (2008–2014), revised version of the After the Incal series with new art and text.
The Metabaron (2015–2018)
Fiction
Jodorowsky's Spanish-language novels translated into English include:
Where the Bird Sings Best (1992)
Albina and the Dog Men (1999)
The Son of Black Thursday (1999)
Non-fiction
Psychomagic (1995)
The Dance of Reality (2001)
The Way of Tarot (2004), with Marianne Costa
The Spiritual Journey (2005)
The Manual of Psychomagic (2009)
Metageneaology (2012), with Marianne Costa
pascALEjandro: Alchemical Androgynous (2017), with Pascale Montandon
References
Sources
Further reading
Cobb, Ben (2007). Anarchy and Alchemy: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Persistence of Vision 6), ed. Louise Brealey, pref. Alan Jones, int. Stephen Barber. London, April 2007 / New York, August 2007, Creation Books.
Coillard, Jean-Paul (2009), De la cage au grand écran. Entretiens avec Alejandro Jodorowsky, Paris. K-Inite Editions.
Chignoli, Andrea (2009), Zoom back, Camera! El cine de Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santiago de Chile, Uqbar Editores.
Dominguez Aragones, Edmundo (1980). Tres extraordinarios: Luis Spota, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emilio "Indio" Fernández; Mexicali, Mexico DF, Juan Pablos Editor. P. 109–146.
Gonzalez, Házael (2011), Alejandro Jodorowsky: Danzando con la realidad, Palma de Mallorca, Dolmen Editorial.
Larouche, Michel (1985). Alexandre Jodorowsky, cinéaste panique, París, ça cinéma, Albatros.
Moldes, Diego, (2012). Alejandro Jodorowsky, Madrid, Col. Signo e Imagen / Cineastas, Ediciones Cátedra. Prologue by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Monteleone, Massimo (1993). La Talpa e la Fenice. Il cinema di Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bologna, Granata Press.
External links
Jodorowsky publications in Métal Hurlant. BDoubliées
Jodorowsky albums. Bedetheque
Jodorowsky publications in English. Europeancomics.net
Category:1929 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century alchemists
Category:20th-century atheists
Category:21st-century alchemists
Category:21st-century atheists
Category:Chilean comics writers
Category:Chilean emigrants to France
Category:Chilean expatriates in Mexico
Category:Chilean film directors
Category:Chilean experimental filmmakers
Category:Esotericists
Category:French-language film directors
Category:French comics writers
Category:French film directors
Category:Chilean mimes
Category:Chilean surrealist artists
Category:Chilean surrealist writers
Category:French surrealist artists
Category:French surrealist writers
Category:Surrealist filmmakers
Category:Horror film directors
Category:Anarchist writers
Category:Chilean speculative fiction writers
Category:Chilean autobiographers
Category:Chilean Ashkenazi Jews
Category:Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Category:Jewish anarchists
Category:Jewish atheists
Category:Jewish feminists
Category:Jewish mimes
Category:20th-century mystics
Category:Naturalized citizens of France
Category:Chilean occultists
Category:People from Tocopilla
Category:Chilean performance artists
Category:Psychedelic drug advocates
Category:Psychotherapists
Category:Tarot readers | [] | null | null |
C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_1 | Alejandro Jodorowsky | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (Spanish: [ale'xandro xodo'rofski]; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French filmmaker. Active since 1948, in seventy years of his artistic career Jodorowsky has experienced it in almost all creative forms: writer (in his five facets: novelist, storyteller, poet, playwright and essayist), film director and producer, actor of cinema and theatre, playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, film editor, comics writer, musician, soundtrack composer, philosopher, puppeteer, mime, psychologist and psychoanalyst, draughtsman, painter, eventually sculptor and spiritual guru. Best known for his avant-garde films, he has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation". Born to Jewish-Ukrainian parents in Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. | Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981-1990) | In 1982 Jodorowsky divorced his wife. In 1989, Jodorowsky completed the Mexican-Italian production Santa Sangre (Holy Blood). The film received limited theatrical distribution, putting Jodorowsky back on the cultural map despite its mixed critical reviews. Santa Sangre was a surrealistic slasher film with a plot like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Robert Wiene's "The Hands of Orlac". It featured a protagonist who, as a child, saw his mother lose both her arms, and as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim. Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors. He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky a chance to work with the "movie stars" Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, the executive producer, Alexander Salkind, effectively curtailed most of Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations, threatening to fire him on the spot if anything in the script was changed (Salkind's wife, Berta Dominguez D., wrote the screenplay). That same year (1990), Jodorowsky and his family returned to live in France. In 1995, Alejandro's son, Teo, died in an accident while his father was busy preparing for a trip to Mexico City to promote his new book. Upon arriving in Mexico City, he gave a lecture at the Julio Castillo Theatre where once again he met Ejo Takata, who at this time had moved into a poor suburb of the city where he had continued to teach meditation and Zen. Takata would die two years later, and Jodorowsky would never get to see his old friend again. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_1_q#0",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_1_q#1",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_1_q#2",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_1_q#3",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_1_q#4",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_1_q#5",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_1_q#6",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_1_q#7",
"C_beba32b7d5a84d95bf24ade3480043d3_1_q#8"
] | [
"What family issues was he facing",
"what year was this",
"What year did he begin working again",
"What film was this",
"What is the film compared too",
"What other mvie is it compared too",
"What is the movie about",
"Who acted in the film",
"What did he do next"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
8
],
[
3
],
[
42
],
[
100
],
[
348
],
[
376
],
[
479
],
[
570
],
[
624
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Jodorowsky divorced his wife."
],
[
"1982"
],
[
"1989,"
],
[
"Santa Sangre (Holy Blood"
],
[
"Psycho"
],
[
"The Hands of Orlac"
],
[
"as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim."
],
[
"Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors."
],
[
"He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
8,
3,
42,
100,
348,
376,
479,
570,
624
],
"texts": [
"Jodorowsky divorced his wife.",
"1982",
"1989,",
"Santa Sangre (Holy Blood",
"Psycho",
"The Hands of Orlac",
"as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim.",
"Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors.",
" He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky"
]
} | Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French avant-garde filmmaker. Best known for his 1970s films El Topo and The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
Born to Jewish-Ukrainian parents in Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry. Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro Mimico, in 1947. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth Michelly. From 1960 onwards he divided his time between Mexico City and Paris, where he co-founded Panic Movement, a surrealist performance art collective that staged violent and shocking theatrical events. In 1966 he created his first comic strip, Anibal 5, and in 1967 he directed his first feature film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal in Mexico, eventually being banned.
His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit. After a cancelled attempt at filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family film Tusk (1980); the surrealist horror Santa Sangre (1989); the failed blockbuster The Rainbow Thief (1990); and the first two films in a planned five-film autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016).
Jodorowsky is also a comic book writer, most notably penning the science fiction series The Incal throughout the 1980s, which has been described as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written. Other comic books he has written include The Technopriests and Metabarons. Jodorowsky has also extensively written and lectured about his own spiritual system, which he calls "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism", which borrows from alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. His son Cristóbal has followed his teachings on psychoshamanism; this work is captured in the feature documentary Quantum Men, directed by Carlos Serrano Azcona.
Early life and education
Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in the coastal town of Tocopilla, Chile, to parents who were Jewish immigrants from Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) and other cities of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). His father, Jaime Jodorowsky Groismann, was a merchant, who was largely abusive to his wife Sara Felicidad Prullansky Arcavi, and at one time accused her of flirting with a customer. Angered, he subsequently beat and raped her, getting her pregnant, which led to the birth of Alejandro. Because of this brutal conception, Sara both hated her husband and disliked her son, telling him that "I cannot love you" and rarely showing him tenderness. Alejandro also had an elder sister, Raquel Jodorowsky, but disliked her, for he believed that she was selfish, doing "everything to expel me from the family so that she could be the centre of attention." Alongside his dislike for his family, he also held contempt for many of the local people, who viewed him as an outsider because of his status as the son of immigrants, and also for the American mining industrialists who worked locally and treated the Chilean people badly. It was this treatment at the hands of Americans that led to his later condemnation of American imperialism and neo-colonialism in Latin America in several of his films. Nonetheless, he liked his local area and was greatly unhappy when he was forced to leave it at the age of nine years old, something for which he blamed his father. His family subsequently moved to the city of Santiago, Chile.
He immersed himself in reading, and also began writing poetry, having his first poem published when he was sixteen years old, alongside associating with such Chilean poets as Nicanor Parra, Stella Díaz Varín and Enrique Lihn. Becoming interested in the political ideology of anarchism, he began attending college, studying psychology and philosophy, but stayed for only two years. After dropping out, and having an interest in theatre and particularly mime, he took up employment as a clown in a circus and began a career as a theatre director. Meanwhile, in 1947 he founded his own theatrical troupe, the Teatro Mimico, which by 1952 had fifty members, and the following year he wrote his first play, El Minotaura (The Minotaur). Nonetheless, Jodorowsky felt that there was little for him left in Chile, and so that year he moved to Paris.
It was while in Paris that Jodorowsky began studying mime with Étienne Decroux and joined the troupe of one of Decroux's students, Marcel Marceau. It was with Marceau's troupe that he went on a world tour, and wrote several routines for the group, including "The Cage" and "The Mask Maker". After this, he returned to theatre directing, working on the music hall comeback of Maurice Chevalier in Paris. In 1957, Jodorowsky turned his hand to filmmaking, creating Les têtes interverties (The Severed Heads), a 20-minute adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. It consisted almost entirely of mime and told the surreal story of a head-swapping merchant who helps a young man find courtship success. Jodorowsky played the lead role. The director Jean Cocteau admired the film and wrote an introduction for it. It was considered lost until a print of the film was discovered in 2006.
In 1960, Jodorowsky moved to Mexico, where he settled down in Mexico City. Nonetheless, he continued to return occasionally to France, on one occasion visiting the Surrealist artist André Breton, but he was disillusioned in that he felt Breton had become somewhat conservative in his old age. Continuing his interest in surrealism, in 1962 he founded the Panic Movement along with Fernando Arrabal and Roland Topor. The movement aimed to go beyond conventional surrealist ideas by embracing absurdism. Its members refused to take themselves seriously, while laughing at those critics who did. In 1966 he produced his first comic strip, Anibal 5, which was related to the Panic Movement. The following year he created a new feature film, Fando y Lis, loosely based on a play written by Fernando Arrabal, who was working with Jodorowsky on performance art at the time. Fando y Lis premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, where it instigated a riot amongst those objecting to the film's content, and subsequently it was banned in Mexico.
It was in Mexico City that he encountered Ejo Takata (1928–1997), a Zen Buddhist monk who had studied at the Horyuji and Shofukuji monasteries in Japan before traveling to Mexico via the United States in 1967 to spread Zen. Jodorowsky became a disciple of Takata and offered his own house to be turned into a zendo. Subsequently, Takata attracted other disciples around him, who spent their time in meditation and the study of koans. Eventually, Takata instructed Jodorowsky that he had to learn more about his feminine side, and so he went and befriended the English surrealist Leonora Carrington, who had recently moved to Mexico.
Career
El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974)
In 1970, Jodorowsky released the film El Topo, which sometimes is known in English as The Mole, which he had both directed and starred in. An acid western, El Topo tells the story of a wandering Mexican bandit and gunslinger, El Topo (played by Jodorowsky), who is on a search for spiritual enlightenment, taking his young son along with him. Along the way, he violently confronts a number of other individuals, before finally being killed and being resurrected to live within a community of deformed people who are trapped inside a mountain cave. Describing the work, he stated that "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill." Knowing how Fando y Lis had caused such a scandal in Mexico, Jodorowsky decided not to release El Topo there, instead focusing on its release in other countries across the world, including Mexico's northern neighbour, the United States. It was in New York City where the film would play as a "midnight movie" for several months at Ben Barenholtz's Elgin Theater. It attracted the attention of rock musician and countercultural figure John Lennon, who thought very highly of it, and convinced the president of The Beatles' company Apple Corps, Allen Klein, to distribute it in the United States.
Klein agreed to give Jodorowsky $1 million to go toward creating his next film. The result was The Holy Mountain, released in 1973. It has been suggested that The Holy Mountain may have been inspired by René Daumal's Surrealist novel Mount Analogue. The Holy Mountain was another complex, multi-part story that featured a man credited as "The Thief" and equated with Jesus Christ, a mystical alchemist played by Jodorowsky, seven powerful business people representing seven of the planets (Venus and the six planets from Mars to Pluto), a religious training regimen of spiritual rebirth, and a quest to the top of a holy mountain for the secret of immortality. During the completion of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky received spiritual training from Oscar Ichazo of the Arica School, who encouraged him to take LSD and guided him through the subsequent psychedelic experience. Around the same time (2 November 1973), Jodorowsky participated in an isolation tank experiment conducted by John Lilly.
Shortly thereafter, Allen Klein demanded that Jodorowsky create a film adaptation of Pauline Réage's classic novel of female masochism, Story of O. Klein had promised this adaptation to various investors. Jodorowsky, who had discovered feminism during the filming of The Holy Mountain, refused to make the film, going so far as to leave the country to escape directing duties. In retaliation, Allen Klein made El Topo and The Holy Mountain, to which he held the rights, completely unavailable to the public for more than 30 years. Jodorowsky frequently decried Klein's actions in interviews.
Soon after the release of The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky gave a talk at the Teatro Julio Castillo, University of Mexico on the subject of koans (despite the fact that he initially had been booked on the condition that his talk would be about cinematography), at which Ejo Takata appeared. After the talk, Takata gave Jodorowsky his kyosaku, believing that his former student had mastered the art of understanding koans.
Dune and Tusk (1975–1980)
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights to Frank Herbert's epic 1965 science fiction novel Dune and asked Jodorowsky to direct a film version. Jodorowsky planned to cast the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, in what would have been his only speaking role as a film actor, in the role of Emperor Shaddam IV. Dalí agreed when Jodorowsky offered to pay him a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen; Welles only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming. The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's son, Brontis Jodorowsky, 12 years old at the start of pre-production. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd and Magma. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction publications, Jean Giraud (Mœbius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Métal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Frank Herbert travelled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phonebook", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. The production for the film collapsed when no film studio could be found willing to fund the movie to Jodorowsky's terms. The aborted production was chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, directed by Frank Pavich. Subsequently, the rights for filming were sold to Dino De Laurentiis, who employed the American filmmaker David Lynch to direct, creating the film Dune in 1984. The documentary does not include any original film footage of what was to be Jodorowsky's Dune but does make extraordinary claims as to the influence this unmade film had on other actual science fiction films, such as Star Wars, Alien, The Terminator, Flash Gordon and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
After the collapse of the Dune project, Jodorowsky completely changed course and, in 1980, premiered his children's fable Tusk, shot in India. Taken from Reginald Campbell's novel Poo Lorn of the Elephants, the film explores the soul-mate relationship between a young British woman living in India and a highly prized elephant. The film exhibited little of the director's outlandish visual style and was never given wide release.
Later, in January 2023, Frank Pavich, director of the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, published an essay in The New York Times related to Jodorowsky's Dune (and more) that involved artwork generated by artificial intelligence (A.I.) programming.
Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990)
In 1989, Jodorowsky completed the Mexican-Italian production Santa Sangre (Holy Blood). The film received limited theatrical distribution, putting Jodorowsky back on the cultural map despite its mixed critical reviews. Santa Sangre was a surrealistic slasher film with a plot like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Robert Wiene's The Hands of Orlac. It featured a protagonist who, as a child, saw his mother lose both her arms, and as an adult let his own arms act as hers, and so was forced to commit murders at her whim. Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors.
He followed in 1990 with a very different film, The Rainbow Thief. Though it gave Jodorowsky a chance to work with the "movie stars" Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, the executive producer, Alexander Salkind, effectively curtailed most of Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations, threatening to fire him on the spot if anything in the script was changed (Salkind's wife, Berta Domínguez D., wrote the screenplay).
That same year (1990), Jodorowsky and his family returned to France to live.
Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990–2011)
In 2000, Jodorowsky won the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF). Jodorowsky attended the festival and his films were shown, including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, which at the time had grey legal status. According to festival director Bryan Wendorf, it was an open question of whether CUFF would be allowed to show both films, or whether the police would show up and shut the festival down.
Until 2007, Fando y Lis and Santa Sangre were the only Jodorowsky works available on DVD. Neither El Topo nor The Holy Mountain were available on videocassette or DVD in the United States or the United Kingdom, due to ownership disputes with distributor Allen Klein. After settlement of the dispute in 2004, however, plans to re-release Jodorowsky's films were announced by ABKCO Films. On 19 January 2007, it was announced online that Anchor Bay would release a box set including El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and Fando y Lis on 1 May 2007. A limited edition of the set includes both the El Topo and The Holy Mountain soundtracks. And, in early February 2007, Tartan Video announced its 14 May 2007, release date for the UK PAL DVD editions of El Topo, The Holy Mountain, and the six-disc box set which, alongside the aforementioned feature films, includes the two soundtrack CDs, as well as separate DVD editions of Jodorowsky's 1968 debut feature Fando y Lis (with his 1957 short La cravate a.k.a. Les têtes interverties, included as an extra) and the 1994 feature-length documentary La constellation Jodorowsky. Notably, Fando y Lis and La cravate were digitally restored extensively and remastered in London during late 2006, thus providing a suitable complement to the quality restoration work undertaken on El Topo and The Holy Mountain in the States by ABKCO, and ensuring that the presentation of Fando y Lis is a significant improvement over the 2001 Fantoma DVD edition. Prior to the availability of these legitimate releases, only inferior quality, optically censored, bootleg copies of both El Topo and The Holy Mountain have been circulated on the Internet and on DVD.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jodorowsky attempted to make a sequel to El Topo, called at different times The Sons of El Topo and Abel Cain, but did not find investors for the project.
In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Jodorowsky said he intended his next project to be a gangster film called King Shot. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in November 2009, however, Jodorowsky revealed that he was unable to find the funds to make King Shot, and instead would be entering preparations on Sons of El Topo, for which he claimed to have signed a contract with "some Russian producers".
In 2010, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City staged the first American cinema retrospective of Alejandro Jodorowsky entitled Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky would attend the retrospective and hold a master class on art as a way of transformation. This retrospective would inspire the museum MoMA PS1 to present the exhibition Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain in 2011.
The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–present)
In August 2011, Alejandro arrived in a town in Chile where he grew up, also the setting of his autobiography The Dance of Reality, to promote an autobiographical film based upon his book.
On 31 October 2011, Halloween night, the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) honored Jodorowsky by showing The Holy Mountain. He attended and spoke about his work and life. The next evening, he presented El Topo at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center.
Alejandro has stated that after finishing The Dance of Reality he was preparing to shoot his long-gestating El Topo sequel, Abel Cain. By January 2013, Alejandro finished filming on The Dance of Reality and entered into post-production. Alejandro's son and co-star in the film, Brontis, claimed the film was to be finished by March 2013, and that the film was "very different than the other films he made". On 23 April, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere at the Film Festival in Cannes. coinciding with The Dance of Reality premiered alongside the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune, which premiered in May 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, creating a "Jodorowsky double bill".
In 2015, Jodorowsky began a new film entitled Endless Poetry, the sequel to his last "auto-biopic", The Dance of Reality. His Paris-based production company, Satori Films, launched two successful crowdfunding campaigns to finance the film. The Indiegogo campaign has been left open indefinitely, receiving donations from fans and movie-goers in support of the independent production. The film was shot between June and August 2015, in the streets of Matucana in Santiago, Chile, where Jodorowsky lived for a period in his life. The film portrays his young adulthood in Santiago, years during which he became a core member of the Chilean poetic avant-garde alongside artists such as Hugo Marín, Gustavo Becerra, Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra and others. Jodorowsky's son Adan Jodorowsky plays him as an adult; and Brontis Jodorowsky plays as his father, Jaime. Jeremias Herskovitz, from The Dance of Reality, portrays Jodorowsky as a teenager. Pamela Flores plays as Sara (his mother) and Stella Díaz Varín (poet and young Jodorowsky's girlfriend). Leandro Taub portrays Jodorowsky's best friend, the poet and novelist Enrique Lihn. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2016. Variety's review was overwhelmingly positive, calling it "...the most accessible movie he has ever made, and it may also be the best."
During an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, Jodorowsky announced his plans to finally make The Son of El Topo as soon as financial backing is obtained.
Other work
Jodorowsky released a 12" vinyl with the Original Soundtrack of Zarathustra (Discos Tizoc, Mexico, 1970).
Comics
Jodorowsky started his comic career in Mexico with the creation of Anibal 5 series in mid-1966 with illustrations by Manuel Moro. He also drew his own comic strip in the weekly series Fabulas pánicas that appeared in the Mexican newspaper, El Heraldo de México. He also wrote original stories for at least two or three other comic books in Mexico during those days: Los insoportables Borbolla was one of them. After his fourth film, Tusk, he started The Incal, with Jean Giraud (Mœbius). This graphic novel has its roots deep in the tarot and its symbols, e.g., the protagonist of The Incal, John Difool, is linked to the Fool card. The Incal (which would branch off into a prequel and sequel) forms the first in a sequence of several science fiction comic book series, all set in the same space opera Jodoverse (or "Metabarons Universe") published by Humanoids Publishing.
Comic books set in this milieu are Incal (trilogy: Before the Incal / Incal / Final Incal), Metabarons (trilogy: Castaka / The Caste of the Metabarons / Weapons of the Metabaron), and The Technopriests and also an RPG adaptation, The Metabarons Roleplaying Game. Many ideas and concepts derived from Jodorowsky's planned adaptation of Dune (which he would have been loosely based upon Frank Herbert's original novel) are featured in this universe.
Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, claiming that the 1997 film borrowed graphic and story elements from The Incal, but they lost their case. The suit was plagued by ambiguity since Mœbius had willingly participated in the creation of the film, having been hired by Besson as a contributing artist, but had done so without gaining the approval of Incal co-creator Jodorowsky, whose services Besson did not call upon. For more than a decade, Jodorowsky pressured his publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés to sue Luc Besson for plagiarism, but the publisher refused, fearing the inevitability of the outcome. In a 2002 interview with the Danish comic book magazine Strip!, Jodorowsky stated that he considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas.
Other comics by Jodorowsky include the Western Bouncer illustrated by Francois Boucq, Juan Solo (Son of the Gun), and Le Lama blanc (The White Lama), the latter were illustrated by Georges Bess.
Le Cœur couronné (The Crowned Heart, translated into English as The Madwoman of the Sacred Heart), a racy satire on religion set in contemporary times, won Jodorowsky and his collaborator, Jean Giraud, the 2001 Haxtur Award for Best Long Strip. He is currently working on a new graphic novel for the U.S. market.
Jodorowsky's comic book work also appears in Taboo volume 4 (ed. Stephen R. Bissette), which features an interview with the director, designs for his version of Frank Herbert's Dune, comic storyboards for El Topo, and a collaboration with Moebius with the illustrated Eyes of the Cat.
Jodorowsky collaborated with Milo Manara in Borgia (2006), a graphic novel about the history of the House of Borgia.
Psychomagic
Jodorowsky spent almost a decade reconstructing the original form of the Tarot de Marseille. From this work he moved into more therapeutic work in three areas: psychomagic, psychogenealogy and initiatic massage. Psychomagic aims to heal psychological wounds suffered in life. This therapy is based on the belief that the performance of certain acts can directly act upon the unconscious mind, releasing it from a series of traumas, some of which practitioners of the therapy believe are passed down from generation to generation. Psychogenealogy includes the studying of the patient's personality and family tree in order to best address their specific sources. It is similar, in its phenomenological approach to genealogy, to the Constellations pioneered by Bert Hellinger.
Jodorowsky has several books on his therapeutic methods, including Psicomagia: La trampa sagrada (Psychomagic: The Sacred Trap) and his autobiography, La danza de la realidad (The Dance of Reality), which he was filming as a feature-length film in March 2012. To date, he has published more than 23 novels and philosophical treatises, along with dozens of articles and interviews. His books are widely read in Spanish and French, but are for the most part unknown to English-speaking audiences.
For a quarter of a century, Jodorowsky held classes and lectures for free, in cafés and universities all over the city of Paris. Typically, such courses or talks would begin on Wednesday evenings as tarot divination lessons, and would culminate in an hour-long conference, also free, where at times hundreds of attendees would be treated to live demonstrations of a psychological "arbre généalogique" ("tree of genealogy") involving volunteers from the audience. In these conferences, Jodorowsky would pave the way to building a strong base of students of his philosophy, which deals with understanding the unconscious as the "over-self", composed of many generations of family relatives, living or deceased, acting on the psyche, well into adult lives, and causing compulsions. Of all his work, Jodorowsky considers these activities to be the most important of his life. Though such activities only take place in the insular world of Parisian cafés, he has devoted thousands of hours of his life to teaching and helping people "become more conscious," as he puts it.
Since 2011 these talks have dwindled to once a month and take place at the Librairie Les Cent Ciels in Paris.
His film Psychomagic, a Healing Art premiered in Lyon on 3 September 2019. It was then released on streaming services on 1 August 2020.
Influences and impact
He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence; other artistic influences included Jean-Luc Godard, Sergio Leone, Erich von Stroheim, Buster Keaton, George Gurdjieff, Antonin Artaud, and Luis Buñuel. He has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson, David Lynch, Darren Aronofsky, Taika Waititi, Guillermo del Toro, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jan Kounen, Dennis Hopper, Eric Andre, and Kanye West.
Fans included musicians Peter Gabriel, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta, Brann Dailor of Mastodon, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore (of the pop-duo Empire of the Sun). Wes Borland, guitarist of Limp Bizkit, said that the film Holy Mountain was a big influence on him, especially as a visual artist, and that the concept album Lotus Island of his band Black Light Burns was a tribute to it.
Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in the ending titles of his 2011 film Drive, and dedicated his 2013 Thai crime thriller, Only God Forgives, to Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky also appeared in the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, directed by Refn's wife Liv, giving the couple a tarot reading.
Argentinean actor Leandro Taub thanks Alejandro Jodorowsky in his book La Mente Oculta, for which Jodorowsky wrote the prologue.
Personal life
Jodorowsky's first wife was the actress Valérie Trumblay. They divorced in 1982. He is currently married to the artist and costume designer Pascale Montandon.
He has five children: Brontis Jodorowsky, an actor who worked with his father in El Topo, The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry; Teo (d. 1995), who appeared in Santa Sangre; Cristóbal (d.2022), a psychoshaman and an actor (interpreter in Santa Sangre and the main character in the shamanic documentary Quantum Men); Eugenia Jodorowsky; and the youngest, Adan Jodorowsky, a musician known by his stage name of Adanowsky. The fashion model Alma Jodorowsky is the granddaughter of Alejandro.
On his religious views, Jodorowsky has called himself an "atheist mystic".
He does not drink or smoke, and has stated that he does not eat red meat or poultry because he "does not like corpses", basing his diet on vegetables, fruits, grains and occasionally marine products.
In 2005, Jodorowsky officiated at the wedding of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.
Criticism and controversy
When Jodorowsky's first feature film, Fando y Lis, premiered at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival, the screening was controversial and erupted into a riot, due to its graphic content. Jodorowsky had to leave the theatre by sneaking outside to a waiting limousine, and when the crowd outside the theatre recognized him, the car was pelted with rocks. The following week, the film opened to sell-out crowds in Mexico City, but more fights broke out, and the film was banned by the Mexican government. Jodorowsky himself was nearly deported and the controversy provided a great deal of fodder for the Mexican newspapers.
In regard to the making of El Topo, Jodorowsky allegedly stated in the early 1970s:
In the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, Jodorowsky states:
As a result of these alleged statements, Jodorowsky has been criticised. Matt Brown of Screen Anarchy wrote that "it's easier to wall off a certain type of criminality behind the buffer of time—sure, Alejandro Jodorowsky is on the record in his book on the making of the film as having raped Mara Lorenzo while making El Topo—though he later denied it—but nowadays he's just that hilarious old kook from Jodorowsky's Dune!" Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com called Jodorowsky "an artist who condones rape as a means to an end for the purpose of creating art. A man who seems to believe that rape is something that women 'need' if they can't accept male sexual power on their own". Jude Doyle of Elle wrote that Jodorowsky "has been teasing the idea of an unsimulated rape scene in his cult classic film El Topo for decades ... though he's elsewhere described the unsimulated sex in that scene as consensual", and went on to state that the quote "has not endangered his status as an avant-garde icon".
On 26 June 2017, Jodorowsky released a statement on his Facebook account in response to the question: "Did you rape an actress during the filming of El Topo?" The following excerpts are from said statement:
Filmography
Acting roles
Documentary appearances
Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only (1991)
The Jodorowsky Constellation (1994)
NWR (2012)
Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)
My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (2015)
Psychomagic, a Healing Art (2019)
Bibliography
Selected bibliography of comics, novels and non-fiction writings:
Graphic novels and comics
The Panic Fables (; 1967–1970), comic strip published in El Heraldo de México.
The Eyes of the Cat (1978)
The Jealous God (1984)
The Magical Twins (1987)
Anibal 5 (1990)
Diosamente (1992)
Moonface (1992)
Angel Claws (1994)
Son of the Gun (1995)
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart (1998)
The Shadow's Treasure (1999)
Bouncer (2001)
The White Lama (2004)
Borgia (2004)
Screaming Planet (2006)
Royal Blood (2010)
Showman Killer (2010)
Pietrolino (2013)
The Son of El Topo (2016), incomplete series.
Knights of Heliopolis (2017)
Jodoverse
Beginning with The Incal in 1981, Jodorowsky has co-written and produced a series of linked comics series and graphic novels () for the French-language market known colloquially as the Jodoverse. The series was initially developed with Jean Giraud using concepts and designs created for Jodorowky's unfinished Dune project.
The Incal (1981–1988)
Before the Incal (1988–1995)
The Metabarons (1992–2003)
The Technopriests (1998–2006)
Megalex (1999–2008)
After the Incal (2000), incomplete series.
Metabarons Genesis: Castaka (2007–2013)
Weapons of the Metabaron (2008)
Final Incal (2008–2014), revised version of the After the Incal series with new art and text.
The Metabaron (2015–2018)
Fiction
Jodorowsky's Spanish-language novels translated into English include:
Where the Bird Sings Best (1992)
Albina and the Dog Men (1999)
The Son of Black Thursday (1999)
Non-fiction
Psychomagic (1995)
The Dance of Reality (2001)
The Way of Tarot (2004), with Marianne Costa
The Spiritual Journey (2005)
The Manual of Psychomagic (2009)
Metageneaology (2012), with Marianne Costa
pascALEjandro: Alchemical Androgynous (2017), with Pascale Montandon
References
Sources
Further reading
Cobb, Ben (2007). Anarchy and Alchemy: The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Persistence of Vision 6), ed. Louise Brealey, pref. Alan Jones, int. Stephen Barber. London, April 2007 / New York, August 2007, Creation Books.
Coillard, Jean-Paul (2009), De la cage au grand écran. Entretiens avec Alejandro Jodorowsky, Paris. K-Inite Editions.
Chignoli, Andrea (2009), Zoom back, Camera! El cine de Alejandro Jodorowsky, Santiago de Chile, Uqbar Editores.
Dominguez Aragones, Edmundo (1980). Tres extraordinarios: Luis Spota, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Emilio "Indio" Fernández; Mexicali, Mexico DF, Juan Pablos Editor. P. 109–146.
Gonzalez, Házael (2011), Alejandro Jodorowsky: Danzando con la realidad, Palma de Mallorca, Dolmen Editorial.
Larouche, Michel (1985). Alexandre Jodorowsky, cinéaste panique, París, ça cinéma, Albatros.
Moldes, Diego, (2012). Alejandro Jodorowsky, Madrid, Col. Signo e Imagen / Cineastas, Ediciones Cátedra. Prologue by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Monteleone, Massimo (1993). La Talpa e la Fenice. Il cinema di Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bologna, Granata Press.
External links
Jodorowsky publications in Métal Hurlant. BDoubliées
Jodorowsky albums. Bedetheque
Jodorowsky publications in English. Europeancomics.net
Category:1929 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century alchemists
Category:20th-century atheists
Category:21st-century alchemists
Category:21st-century atheists
Category:Chilean comics writers
Category:Chilean emigrants to France
Category:Chilean expatriates in Mexico
Category:Chilean film directors
Category:Chilean experimental filmmakers
Category:Esotericists
Category:French-language film directors
Category:French comics writers
Category:French film directors
Category:Chilean mimes
Category:Chilean surrealist artists
Category:Chilean surrealist writers
Category:French surrealist artists
Category:French surrealist writers
Category:Surrealist filmmakers
Category:Horror film directors
Category:Anarchist writers
Category:Chilean speculative fiction writers
Category:Chilean autobiographers
Category:Chilean Ashkenazi Jews
Category:Chilean people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Category:Jewish anarchists
Category:Jewish atheists
Category:Jewish feminists
Category:Jewish mimes
Category:20th-century mystics
Category:Naturalized citizens of France
Category:Chilean occultists
Category:People from Tocopilla
Category:Chilean performance artists
Category:Psychedelic drug advocates
Category:Psychotherapists
Category:Tarot readers | [] | [
"Alejandro Jodorowsky was facing several family issues during this period. In 1982, he divorced his wife. He had multiple sons, several of whom he recruited as actors in his films. In 1990, Jodorowsky and his family returned to live in France. The most significant family issue he faced was the death of his son, Teo, in 1995 in an accident.",
"The year referenced in the passage regarding the death of Alejandro Jodorowsky's son Teo is 1995.",
"Based on the text, Alejandro Jodorowsky completed the film \"Santa Sangre\" in 1989 which put him back on the cultural map, so he began working again in, or possibly before, 1989.",
"The film that Alejandro Jodorowsky completed in 1989 is called \"Santa Sangre\" (Holy Blood).",
"The film \"Santa Sangre\" is compared to a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's \"Psycho\" and Robert Wiene's \"The Hands of Orlac\".",
"The film \"Santa Sangre\" is also compared to Robert Wiene's \"The Hands of Orlac\".",
"\"Santa Sangre\" is a surrealistic slasher film. Its plot involves a protagonist who, as a child, witnessed his mother lose both her arms. As an adult, he lets his arms act as hers, resulting in him being forced to commit murders at her whim.",
"Several of Jodorowsky's sons were recruited as actors for the film \"Santa Sangre\". No other specific actors are mentioned in the context provided.",
"After completing \"Santa Sangre,\" Jodorowsky made a very different film in 1990, called \"The Rainbow Thief.\" He worked on this film with actors Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif. However, Jodorowsky's artistic inclinations were largely curtailed by the executive producer, Alexander Salkind. That same year, Jodorowsky and his family returned to live in France."
] | [
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_0 | Jason Leonard | Jason Leonard (born 14 August 1968) is an English former rugby union player, and has been the president of the Rugby Football Union since 2015. Nicknamed The Fun Bus, Leonard was a prop forward who won 114 caps for England and five for the British and Irish Lions. His total of 119 was a world record until 2006, when it was surpassed by George Gregan. Leonard played in England teams which won four Grand Slams (1991, 1992, 1995 and 2003) and the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and was part of the British and Irish Lions squad that won the test series during their 1997 tour of South Africa. | 1995-1997 | With Dick Best no longer England head coach, the RFU appointed well-known and highly successful Bath coach Jack Rowell as his replacement. There was much speculation amongst many established England players as to what changes the new coach would bring to the England setup, particularly one with such close ties to a successful Bath Rugby Club. Rowell claimed he would rid England of the cautious, forward-dominated 10-man game which had done so well for them earlier in the decade, and play running rugby more similar to Bath's. Leonard kept his place in the England team, which now included several new players such as Mike Catt, Ben Clarke, Victor Ubogu, Steve Ojomoh (all Bath players) and Tim Rodber. In the 1995 Five Nations, Leonard won a record (for a prop) 38th cap for England, playing against Scotland, and the victory meant his third Grand Slam. England held high hopes for the upcoming Rugby World Cup in South Africa. At the World Cup, England were drawn in Pool B, generally regarded as one of the easier groups in the competition. However, England experienced setbacks, gaining only narrow victories over Argentina (24-18) and Italy (27-20). In England's final pool match against Western Samoa, Leonard was rested and his record of 40 consecutive England caps ended. England won that match 44-22 and also won the subsequent quarter-final against Australia 25-22, before losing the semi-final to New Zealand 29-45 and finishing the tournament in fourth place. In November 1996, Leonard skippered England for the first time, against Argentina at Twickenham. The game was very close, with Argentina taking a narrow lead close to full-time. From a rolling maul, Leonard scored a try to level the scores, and a Mike Catt penalty won the game 20-18. The try remains Leonard's only score for England. In the 1996-1997 season, Leonard began to play for England at tighthead prop (number 3) to make room for Leicester Tigers loosehead prop (number 1), Graham Rowntree, and in 1997, Leonard was selected for his second British and Irish Lions tour, this time to South Africa. In September 1997, the RFU appointed Clive Woodward as head coach. The Autumn internationals saw England playing Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Against Australia, Leonard found himself selected at loosehead prop again, with Wasps' Will Green winning his first cap at tighthead. For the remaining two tests, Leonard was moved back to tighthead. The ability to scrummage effectively on either side of the scrum proved to be one of Leonard's great assets. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_0_q#0",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_0_q#1",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_0_q#2",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_0_q#3",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_0_q#4",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_0_q#5",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_0_q#6",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_0_q#7",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_0_q#8"
] | [
"What happened in 1995?",
"Did he do anything else in 1995?",
"Who beat the record?",
"What happened in 96?",
"How did that turn out?",
"What was the next game?",
"Did he do well there?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Why did they hold high hopes?"
] | [
0,
2,
1,
2,
2,
1,
1,
0,
0
] | [
2,
0,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
706
],
[
1156
],
[
2549
],
[
1477
],
[
1676
],
[
1813
],
[
1992
],
[
859
],
[
981
]
],
"texts": [
[
"In the 1995 Five Nations, Leonard won a record (for a prop) 38th cap for England,"
],
[
"). In England's final pool match against Western Samoa, Leonard was rested and his record of 40 consecutive England caps ended."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"In November 1996, Leonard skippered England for the first time, against Argentina at Twickenham."
],
[
"Leonard scored a try to level the scores, and a Mike Catt penalty won the game 20-18."
],
[
"In the 1996-1997 season, Leonard began to play for England at tighthead prop (number 3) to make room for Leicester Tigers loosehead prop ("
],
[
"Leonard was selected for his second British and Irish Lions tour, this time to South Africa."
],
[
"England held high hopes for the upcoming Rugby World Cup in South Africa."
],
[
"generally regarded as one of the easier groups in the competition."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
706,
1156,
2549,
1477,
1676,
1813,
1992,
859,
981
],
"texts": [
"In the 1995 Five Nations, Leonard won a record (for a prop) 38th cap for England,",
"). In England's final pool match against Western Samoa, Leonard was rested and his record of 40 consecutive England caps ended.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"In November 1996, Leonard skippered England for the first time, against Argentina at Twickenham.",
"Leonard scored a try to level the scores, and a Mike Catt penalty won the game 20-18.",
"In the 1996-1997 season, Leonard began to play for England at tighthead prop (number 3) to make room for Leicester Tigers loosehead prop (",
"Leonard was selected for his second British and Irish Lions tour, this time to South Africa.",
"England held high hopes for the upcoming Rugby World Cup in South Africa.",
"generally regarded as one of the easier groups in the competition."
]
} | Jason Leonard (born 14 August 1968) is an English former rugby union player. He won a then-record 114 caps for England men’s rugby team during a 14-year international career.
A prop, Leonard played club rugby for Barking RFC, Saracens and Harlequins. He played in England teams which won four Grand Slams (1991, 1992, 1995 and 2003) and the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and played for the British & Irish Lions on three tours, winning five more caps. He was part of the Lions squad that won the test series during their 1997 tour of South Africa.
He was awarded the MBE for services to rugby in 2002, and an OBE after England's Rugby World Cup success. He was also inducted to the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2014.
Since his retirement in 2004, Leonard has been active in the governance of rugby. He was President of the RFU (2015–2016), and Chairman of the British & Irish Lions (2019–2022), succeeded by Ieuan Evans.
In 2008, Leonard joined Besso Group, and has since worked as a senior advisor for the established Lloyd's broker. Leonard has launched his own special event service, the FunBus.
Club rugby
Leonard's lengthy career straddled both the amateur and professional eras and he had a job as a carpenter. He began playing for his home club, Barking and his school teams as a youth, and as his playing talents became recognised, interest was shown by London club Saracens, where he moved in 1989. Following a year at Saracens, he moved to Harlequins, where he stayed until his professional retirement in May 2004, making a total of 290 appearances for the team.
England career
1990–1993
Leonard won his first cap on 28 July 1990, against Argentina in Buenos Aires. At the age of 22 he was the youngest prop forward to ever play for England. The visitors were made to feel unwelcome, however, as the game was played on the 8th anniversary of the Falklands War. Leonard describes in his autobiography that the crowd were throwing oranges (among other things) at the England players. The most interesting object he saw on the pitch was a bathroom tap. England eventually won the game 25–12; it proved a baptism of fire for the young Leonard.
Leonard played his whole England career in a largely dominant pack and in his early career played with established forwards such as Brian Moore, Wade Dooley, Dean Richards, Mick Skinner, Mike Teague and Peter Winterbottom. The England pack of this era helped England Rugby win much success, often playing a limited 10-man game that suited the large and physical England forwards.
During this period, England won back-to-back Grand Slams in 1991 and 1992. Despite losing the opening pool match to New Zealand 18–12, England made it to the Rugby World Cup Final in 1991, losing 12–6 to pre-tournament favourites Australia. In that game, England played open rugby, like they had in the Five Nations in 1990, although it was the forward-dominated 10-man game which earlier in 1991 had won them the Five Nations Grand Slam, as well as the quarter-final against France and semi-final against Scotland.
Against Wales in 1992, Leonard suffered a neck injury: he experienced a numbing sensation in his right arm, but had no idea he had ruptured a vertebra in his neck, so played out the remainder of the match. Later, he required emergency surgery, where bone from his hip had to be grafted into his neck. Leonard's career was in grave doubt, after only 10 tests. Due to brilliant surgery and his rehabilitation regime, however, he made a full recovery, winning his 11th cap against Canada at Twickenham that autumn without missing an England test.
In 1993, Leonard was selected for his first British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand.
1995–1997
With Dick Best no longer England head coach, the RFU appointed well-known and highly successful Bath coach Jack Rowell as his replacement. There was much speculation amongst many established England players as to what changes the new coach would bring to the England setup, particularly one with such close ties to a successful Bath Rugby Club. Rowell claimed he would rid England of the cautious, forward-dominated 10-man game which had done so well for them earlier in the decade, and play running rugby more similar to Bath's. Leonard kept his place in the England team, which now included several new players such as Mike Catt, Ben Clarke, Victor Ubogu, Steve Ojomoh (all Bath players) and Tim Rodber. In the 1995 Five Nations, Leonard won a record (for a prop) 38th cap for England, playing against Scotland, and the victory meant his third Grand Slam.
England held high hopes for the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. At the World Cup, England were drawn in Pool B, generally regarded as one of the easier groups in the competition. However, England experienced setbacks, gaining only narrow victories over Argentina (24–18) and Italy (27–20). In England's final pool match against Western Samoa, Leonard was rested and his record of 40 consecutive England caps ended. England won that match 44–22 and also won the subsequent quarter-final against Australia 25–22, before losing the semi-final to New Zealand 29–45 and finishing the tournament in fourth place.
In November 1996, Leonard skippered England for the first time, against Argentina at Twickenham. The game was very close, with Argentina taking a narrow lead close to full-time. From a rolling maul, Leonard scored a try to level the scores, and a Mike Catt penalty won the game 20–18. The try remains Leonard's only score for England.
In the 1996–1997 season, Leonard began to play for England at tighthead prop (number 3) to make room for Leicester Tigers loosehead prop (number 1), Graham Rowntree, and in 1997, Leonard was selected for his second British and Irish Lions tour, this time to South Africa.
In September 1997, the RFU appointed Clive Woodward as head coach. The Autumn internationals saw England playing Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Against Australia, Leonard found himself selected at loosehead prop again, with Wasps' Will Green winning his first cap at tighthead. For the remaining two tests, Leonard was moved back to tighthead. The ability to scrummage effectively on either side of the scrum proved to be one of Leonard's great assets.
1998–2003
Leonard continued to be an England regular under Woodward. In 1999, England competed in the Rugby World Cup, hosted this time by Wales. World Cup matches were also played throughout the rest of the British Isles and in France. England had shown signs of improvement under Woodward, who had been looking to play a more expansive game, but were denied a Grand Slam prior to the World Cup due to Neil Jenkins' boot and a last-minute try by Scott Gibbs. This, however, was to be the first of four consecutive near-misses.
In the 1999 World Cup, England were drawn in Pool 2 with New Zealand, Italy and Tonga, but were knocked out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage by South Africa.
The new Millennium saw Leonard break several records; he surpassed Rory Underwood as England's most capped player with his 86th cap against Argentina in November 2000. 12 months later against Romania he overtook former New Zealand captain Sean Fitzpatrick as the world's most-capped forward in his 93rd appearance.
For the 2000 Autumn internationals, Leonard was dropped to the bench and replaced by Graham Rowntree. In 2001, although England had scored 28 tries in their first four Six Nations matches, they lost the fifth to Ireland after the match had been rescheduled. 2001 also saw a tour of the British and Irish Lions, coached by Graham Henry, to Australia. The Wallabies won the Test series 2–1, though the Lions had convincingly won the first Test and were in the driving seat at half-time during the second Test in Melbourne. After this, England began to notch up regular victories against the big guns of the Southern Hemisphere (New Zealand, South Africa and Australia), culminating in the 2003 World Cup.
On 15 February 2003, Jason Leonard became the first-ever forward to make 100 international appearances, when he started against France in a Six Nations clash. He was also the first Englishman and overall third player (after Philippe Sella and David Campese) to achieve this feat.
In March, Jason played a key role in securing England's Grand Slam with a win over Ireland at Lansdowne Road. In August he captained England for the second time in World Cup warm-up match, crushing Wales 43–9 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. It was Leonard's proven ability to play both loose-head and tight-head and experience which earned him a spot in England's World Cup Squad. During the tournament, he made appearances in all seven matches of the 2003 World Cup, including the semi-final against France where he overtook Phillipe Sella as the world's most-capped player. During the 2003 tournament, Leonard appeared in his second World Cup final as a second-half substitute for tight-head prop Phil Vickery, playing a vital role in reducing England's high penalty count at the scrum. The then coach Clive Woodward later wrote in his autobiography that Leonard's introduction was the key substitution which helped England to win the match.
Leonard played one more match for England in the 2004 Six Nations Championship against Italy before announcing his retirement as the (then) most-capped player of all time with 114 caps for England and five for the British and Irish Lions.
Charity
Leonard has worked with and supported numerous charities throughout his career. He has been holding Annual Dinners since 2004, which have to date raised over £2 million for charities and good causes.
In 2014, he founded The Atlas Foundation, which exists to help deprived children around the world work towards a better future through rugby communities and initiatives. So far over £1 million has been raised, and over 50,000 children have been supported.
Jason spends an enormous amount of time working on behalf of many other charities to support fundraising and raise awareness for their causes.
Miscellaneous
Jason Leonard was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2000 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel.
Until 5 August 2011, when it was renamed "Southend City on Sea", a class 357 EMU train (number 357 003) operated by c2c on the London, Tilbury and Southend line had the nameplate "Jason Leonard". The line serves his hometown of Barking, East London.
In 2012, Leonard was the second recipient of "The Prince Obolensky Award" presented by the Prince Obolensky Association to people associated with the game of Rugby Union who embody the "Corinthian Spirit".
See also
List of rugby union test caps leaders
References
External links
Jason Leonard Official Website
Jason Leonard's Funbus
The Atlas Foundation
Category:1968 births
Category:Living people
Category:Barbarian F.C. players
Category:Barking Rugby Football Club players
Category:British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England
Category:England international rugby union players
Category:English rugby union players
Category:Harlequin F.C. players
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Rugby union players from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Category:People from Barking, London
Category:Rugby union props
Category:Saracens F.C. players
Category:World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees | [
{
"text": "This is a list of the appearance leaders in men's rugby union test matches, listing the 79 players with over one hundred test caps. Rugby union requires only one nation to recognise a match as a test in order for it to be included in test statistics for that nation. The British and Irish Lions and Pacific Islanders do not represent a single country, but they are selected by a group of national unions and are recognised as test teams. Some national teams have sometimes granted test caps for matches against teams such as the invitational Barbarians side; these are included only if the union granted test caps for a particular match.\n\nList\n\nNotes\n\nSee also\n List of leading rugby union test try scorers\n List of leading rugby union test point scorers\n List of leading international rugby union drop goal scorers\n International rugby union player records\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nScrum.com\n\nCaps\nCaps",
"title": "List of rugby union test caps leaders"
}
] | [
"In 1995, Jack Rowell was appointed as the new England head coach and Leonard continued to be part of the team which included several new players. Leonard won a record 38th cap for England in the Five Nations, playing against Scotland and this victory led to his third Grand Slam. Additionally, the Rugby World Cup took place in South Africa and England reached the semi-finals but eventually finished in fourth place.",
"The context does not provide any additional information about Leonard's activities in 1995.",
"The text does not provide information on who beat Leonard's record.",
"In November 1996, Leonard captained England for the first time in a match against Argentina at Twickenham. In this game, Leonard scored a try that leveled the scores, leading to a game-winning penalty from Mike Catt. This was Leonard's only score for England ever.",
"The game against Argentina in which Leonard captained England in November 1996 ended in a narrow victory for England. Leonard's try leveled the scores, and a subsequent penalty by Mike Catt gave England a 20-18 win.",
"The context does not provide information about the next game after England's match against Argentina in November 1996.",
"The context does not provide information on how Leonard performed in any games following the match against Argentina in November 1996.",
"The context does provide some interesting aspects about Leonard's career. For instance, his ability to play effectively as both a tighthead prop (number 3) and a loosehead prop (number 1) which is considered one of Leonard's great assets. Also, Leonard was selected for his second British and Irish Lions tour in 1997. The context also discusses England's performance in the 1995 Rugby World Cup where the team finished in fourth place.",
"England held high hopes for the upcoming Rugby World Cup in South Africa due to the changes made to the game strategy by the new coach, Jack Rowell, who aspired to create a more dynamic, running rugby game. Moreover, England had been successful in the 1995 Five Nations where they won, given them confidence and momentum heading into the World Cup."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"no",
"No",
"No"
] |
C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_1 | Jason Leonard | Jason Leonard (born 14 August 1968) is an English former rugby union player, and has been the president of the Rugby Football Union since 2015. Nicknamed The Fun Bus, Leonard was a prop forward who won 114 caps for England and five for the British and Irish Lions. His total of 119 was a world record until 2006, when it was surpassed by George Gregan. Leonard played in England teams which won four Grand Slams (1991, 1992, 1995 and 2003) and the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and was part of the British and Irish Lions squad that won the test series during their 1997 tour of South Africa. | 1990-1994 | Leonard won his first cap in a 'friendly' on 28 July 1990, against Argentina at Buenos Aires. At the age of 21 he was the youngest prop forward to ever play for England. The visitors were made to feel unwelcome, however, as the game was played on the 8th anniversary of the Falklands War. Leonard describes in his autobiography that the crowd were throwing oranges (among other things) at the England players. The most interesting object he saw on the pitch was a bathroom tap. England eventually won the game 25-12; it proved a baptism of fire for the young Leonard. Leonard played his whole England career in a largely dominant pack and in his early career played with established forwards such as Brian Moore, Wade Dooley, Dean Richards, Mick Skinner, Mike Teague and Peter Winterbottom. The England pack of this era helped England Rugby win much success, often playing a limited 10-man game which suited the large and physical England forwards. During this period, England won back-to-back Grand Slams in 1991 and 1992. Despite losing the opening pool match to New Zealand 18-12, England made it to the Rugby World Cup Final in 1991, losing 12-6 to pre-tournament favourites Australia. In that game, England played open rugby, like they had in the Five Nations in 1990, although it was the forward-dominated 10-man game which earlier in 1991 had won them the Five Nations Grand Slam, as well as the quarter-final against France and semi-final against Scotland. The front row of Leonard, Brian Moore and Jeff Probyn was fearsome, and the England scrum was famously solid, with this trio able to more than hold their own against any front row in world. Against Wales in 1992, Leonard suffered a neck injury: he experienced a numbing sensation in his right arm, but had no idea he had ruptured a vertibrae in his neck, so played out the remainder of the match. Later, he required emergency surgery, where bone from his hip had to be grafted into his neck. Leonard's career was in grave doubt, after only 10 tests. Due to brilliant surgery and his rehabilitation regime, however, he made a full recovery, winning his 11th cap against Canada at Twickenham that autumn without missing an England test. It is worth noting that in those days when the RFU was an amateur sporting body, Leonard was only compensated with a mere PS800. In 1993, Leonard was selected for his first British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_1_q#0",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_1_q#1",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_1_q#2",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_1_q#3",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_1_q#4",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_1_q#5",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_1_q#6",
"C_a1f86948a7c9496aaf146f17ba9a21db_1_q#7"
] | [
"What was something that happened in 1990?",
"Were there other winds in 1990?",
"What happened in 1991?",
"Did Leonard play an important role in these wins?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"How bad was the injury?",
"How long did it take to recover?",
"Did he play again?"
] | [
2,
1,
0,
2,
0,
0,
2,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
2,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
2421
],
[
970
],
[
1483
],
[
1657
],
[
1781
],
[
2421
],
[
1825
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Leonard won his first cap in a 'friendly' on 28 July 1990,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"England won back-to-back Grand Slams in 1991"
],
[
"Leonard, Brian Moore and Jeff Probyn was fearsome, and the England scrum was famously solid, with this trio able to more than hold their own against any"
],
[
"Against Wales in 1992, Leonard suffered a neck injury:"
],
[
"he had ruptured a vertibrae in his neck,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"played out the remainder of the match."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
2421,
970,
1483,
1657,
1781,
2421,
1825
],
"texts": [
"Leonard won his first cap in a 'friendly' on 28 July 1990,",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"England won back-to-back Grand Slams in 1991",
"Leonard, Brian Moore and Jeff Probyn was fearsome, and the England scrum was famously solid, with this trio able to more than hold their own against any",
"Against Wales in 1992, Leonard suffered a neck injury:",
"he had ruptured a vertibrae in his neck,",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"played out the remainder of the match."
]
} | Jason Leonard (born 14 August 1968) is an English former rugby union player. He won a then-record 114 caps for England men’s rugby team during a 14-year international career.
A prop, Leonard played club rugby for Barking RFC, Saracens and Harlequins. He played in England teams which won four Grand Slams (1991, 1992, 1995 and 2003) and the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and played for the British & Irish Lions on three tours, winning five more caps. He was part of the Lions squad that won the test series during their 1997 tour of South Africa.
He was awarded the MBE for services to rugby in 2002, and an OBE after England's Rugby World Cup success. He was also inducted to the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2014.
Since his retirement in 2004, Leonard has been active in the governance of rugby. He was President of the RFU (2015–2016), and Chairman of the British & Irish Lions (2019–2022), succeeded by Ieuan Evans.
In 2008, Leonard joined Besso Group, and has since worked as a senior advisor for the established Lloyd's broker. Leonard has launched his own special event service, the FunBus.
Club rugby
Leonard's lengthy career straddled both the amateur and professional eras and he had a job as a carpenter. He began playing for his home club, Barking and his school teams as a youth, and as his playing talents became recognised, interest was shown by London club Saracens, where he moved in 1989. Following a year at Saracens, he moved to Harlequins, where he stayed until his professional retirement in May 2004, making a total of 290 appearances for the team.
England career
1990–1993
Leonard won his first cap on 28 July 1990, against Argentina in Buenos Aires. At the age of 22 he was the youngest prop forward to ever play for England. The visitors were made to feel unwelcome, however, as the game was played on the 8th anniversary of the Falklands War. Leonard describes in his autobiography that the crowd were throwing oranges (among other things) at the England players. The most interesting object he saw on the pitch was a bathroom tap. England eventually won the game 25–12; it proved a baptism of fire for the young Leonard.
Leonard played his whole England career in a largely dominant pack and in his early career played with established forwards such as Brian Moore, Wade Dooley, Dean Richards, Mick Skinner, Mike Teague and Peter Winterbottom. The England pack of this era helped England Rugby win much success, often playing a limited 10-man game that suited the large and physical England forwards.
During this period, England won back-to-back Grand Slams in 1991 and 1992. Despite losing the opening pool match to New Zealand 18–12, England made it to the Rugby World Cup Final in 1991, losing 12–6 to pre-tournament favourites Australia. In that game, England played open rugby, like they had in the Five Nations in 1990, although it was the forward-dominated 10-man game which earlier in 1991 had won them the Five Nations Grand Slam, as well as the quarter-final against France and semi-final against Scotland.
Against Wales in 1992, Leonard suffered a neck injury: he experienced a numbing sensation in his right arm, but had no idea he had ruptured a vertebra in his neck, so played out the remainder of the match. Later, he required emergency surgery, where bone from his hip had to be grafted into his neck. Leonard's career was in grave doubt, after only 10 tests. Due to brilliant surgery and his rehabilitation regime, however, he made a full recovery, winning his 11th cap against Canada at Twickenham that autumn without missing an England test.
In 1993, Leonard was selected for his first British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand.
1995–1997
With Dick Best no longer England head coach, the RFU appointed well-known and highly successful Bath coach Jack Rowell as his replacement. There was much speculation amongst many established England players as to what changes the new coach would bring to the England setup, particularly one with such close ties to a successful Bath Rugby Club. Rowell claimed he would rid England of the cautious, forward-dominated 10-man game which had done so well for them earlier in the decade, and play running rugby more similar to Bath's. Leonard kept his place in the England team, which now included several new players such as Mike Catt, Ben Clarke, Victor Ubogu, Steve Ojomoh (all Bath players) and Tim Rodber. In the 1995 Five Nations, Leonard won a record (for a prop) 38th cap for England, playing against Scotland, and the victory meant his third Grand Slam.
England held high hopes for the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. At the World Cup, England were drawn in Pool B, generally regarded as one of the easier groups in the competition. However, England experienced setbacks, gaining only narrow victories over Argentina (24–18) and Italy (27–20). In England's final pool match against Western Samoa, Leonard was rested and his record of 40 consecutive England caps ended. England won that match 44–22 and also won the subsequent quarter-final against Australia 25–22, before losing the semi-final to New Zealand 29–45 and finishing the tournament in fourth place.
In November 1996, Leonard skippered England for the first time, against Argentina at Twickenham. The game was very close, with Argentina taking a narrow lead close to full-time. From a rolling maul, Leonard scored a try to level the scores, and a Mike Catt penalty won the game 20–18. The try remains Leonard's only score for England.
In the 1996–1997 season, Leonard began to play for England at tighthead prop (number 3) to make room for Leicester Tigers loosehead prop (number 1), Graham Rowntree, and in 1997, Leonard was selected for his second British and Irish Lions tour, this time to South Africa.
In September 1997, the RFU appointed Clive Woodward as head coach. The Autumn internationals saw England playing Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Against Australia, Leonard found himself selected at loosehead prop again, with Wasps' Will Green winning his first cap at tighthead. For the remaining two tests, Leonard was moved back to tighthead. The ability to scrummage effectively on either side of the scrum proved to be one of Leonard's great assets.
1998–2003
Leonard continued to be an England regular under Woodward. In 1999, England competed in the Rugby World Cup, hosted this time by Wales. World Cup matches were also played throughout the rest of the British Isles and in France. England had shown signs of improvement under Woodward, who had been looking to play a more expansive game, but were denied a Grand Slam prior to the World Cup due to Neil Jenkins' boot and a last-minute try by Scott Gibbs. This, however, was to be the first of four consecutive near-misses.
In the 1999 World Cup, England were drawn in Pool 2 with New Zealand, Italy and Tonga, but were knocked out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage by South Africa.
The new Millennium saw Leonard break several records; he surpassed Rory Underwood as England's most capped player with his 86th cap against Argentina in November 2000. 12 months later against Romania he overtook former New Zealand captain Sean Fitzpatrick as the world's most-capped forward in his 93rd appearance.
For the 2000 Autumn internationals, Leonard was dropped to the bench and replaced by Graham Rowntree. In 2001, although England had scored 28 tries in their first four Six Nations matches, they lost the fifth to Ireland after the match had been rescheduled. 2001 also saw a tour of the British and Irish Lions, coached by Graham Henry, to Australia. The Wallabies won the Test series 2–1, though the Lions had convincingly won the first Test and were in the driving seat at half-time during the second Test in Melbourne. After this, England began to notch up regular victories against the big guns of the Southern Hemisphere (New Zealand, South Africa and Australia), culminating in the 2003 World Cup.
On 15 February 2003, Jason Leonard became the first-ever forward to make 100 international appearances, when he started against France in a Six Nations clash. He was also the first Englishman and overall third player (after Philippe Sella and David Campese) to achieve this feat.
In March, Jason played a key role in securing England's Grand Slam with a win over Ireland at Lansdowne Road. In August he captained England for the second time in World Cup warm-up match, crushing Wales 43–9 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. It was Leonard's proven ability to play both loose-head and tight-head and experience which earned him a spot in England's World Cup Squad. During the tournament, he made appearances in all seven matches of the 2003 World Cup, including the semi-final against France where he overtook Phillipe Sella as the world's most-capped player. During the 2003 tournament, Leonard appeared in his second World Cup final as a second-half substitute for tight-head prop Phil Vickery, playing a vital role in reducing England's high penalty count at the scrum. The then coach Clive Woodward later wrote in his autobiography that Leonard's introduction was the key substitution which helped England to win the match.
Leonard played one more match for England in the 2004 Six Nations Championship against Italy before announcing his retirement as the (then) most-capped player of all time with 114 caps for England and five for the British and Irish Lions.
Charity
Leonard has worked with and supported numerous charities throughout his career. He has been holding Annual Dinners since 2004, which have to date raised over £2 million for charities and good causes.
In 2014, he founded The Atlas Foundation, which exists to help deprived children around the world work towards a better future through rugby communities and initiatives. So far over £1 million has been raised, and over 50,000 children have been supported.
Jason spends an enormous amount of time working on behalf of many other charities to support fundraising and raise awareness for their causes.
Miscellaneous
Jason Leonard was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2000 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel.
Until 5 August 2011, when it was renamed "Southend City on Sea", a class 357 EMU train (number 357 003) operated by c2c on the London, Tilbury and Southend line had the nameplate "Jason Leonard". The line serves his hometown of Barking, East London.
In 2012, Leonard was the second recipient of "The Prince Obolensky Award" presented by the Prince Obolensky Association to people associated with the game of Rugby Union who embody the "Corinthian Spirit".
See also
List of rugby union test caps leaders
References
External links
Jason Leonard Official Website
Jason Leonard's Funbus
The Atlas Foundation
Category:1968 births
Category:Living people
Category:Barbarian F.C. players
Category:Barking Rugby Football Club players
Category:British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England
Category:England international rugby union players
Category:English rugby union players
Category:Harlequin F.C. players
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Rugby union players from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Category:People from Barking, London
Category:Rugby union props
Category:Saracens F.C. players
Category:World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees | [
{
"text": "This is a list of the appearance leaders in men's rugby union test matches, listing the 79 players with over one hundred test caps. Rugby union requires only one nation to recognise a match as a test in order for it to be included in test statistics for that nation. The British and Irish Lions and Pacific Islanders do not represent a single country, but they are selected by a group of national unions and are recognised as test teams. Some national teams have sometimes granted test caps for matches against teams such as the invitational Barbarians side; these are included only if the union granted test caps for a particular match.\n\nList\n\nNotes\n\nSee also\n List of leading rugby union test try scorers\n List of leading rugby union test point scorers\n List of leading international rugby union drop goal scorers\n International rugby union player records\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nScrum.com\n\nCaps\nCaps",
"title": "List of rugby union test caps leaders"
}
] | null | null |
C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_1 | J. Paul Getty | Jean Paul Getty (; December 15, 1892 - June 6, 1976) was an American-British industrialist. He founded the Getty Oil Company, and in 1957 Fortune magazine named him the richest living American, while the 1966 Guinness Book of Records named him as the world's richest private citizen, worth an estimated $1.2 billion (approximately $9.05 billion in 2017). At his death, he was worth more than $6 billion (approximately $25.80 billion in 2017). | Kidnapping of grandson John Paul Getty III | On July 10, 1973, in Rome, 'Ndrangheta kidnappers abducted Getty's 16-year-old grandson, John Paul Getty III, and demanded by telephone a $17 million payment (approximately $93.7 million in 2017) for the young man's safe return. However, "the family suspected a ploy by the rebellious teenager to extract money from his miserly grandfather." John Paul Getty Jr. asked his father for the money, but was refused. In November 1973, an envelope containing a lock of hair and a human ear arrived at a daily newspaper. The second demand had been delayed three weeks by an Italian postal strike. The demand threatened that Paul would be further mutilated unless the victims paid $3.2 million (approximately $17.6 million in 2017): "This is Paul's ear. If we don't get some money within 10 days, then the other ear will arrive. In other words, he will arrive in little bits." When the kidnappers finally reduced their demands to $3 million (approximately $16.5 million in 2017), Getty senior agreed to pay no more than $2.2 million (approximately $12.1 million in 2017) - the maximum that would be tax-deductible. He lent his son the remaining $800,000 (approximately $4.4 million in 2017) at 4% interest. Paul III was found alive in a Lauria filling station, in the province of Potenza, shortly after the ransom was paid. After his release Paul III called his grandfather to thank him for paying the ransom but, it is claimed, Getty refused to come to the phone. Nine people associated with 'Ndrangheta were later arrested for the kidnapping, but only two were convicted. Paul III was permanently affected by the trauma and became a drug addict. After a stroke brought on by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol in 1981, Paul III was rendered speechless, nearly blind and partially paralyzed for the rest of his life. He died 30 years later on February 5, 2011, at the age of 54. Getty defended his initial refusal to pay the ransom on two points. First, he argued that to submit to the kidnappers' demands would immediately place his other fourteen grandchildren at the risk of copy-cat kidnappers. He added: The second reason for my refusal was much broader-based. I contend that acceding to the demands of criminals and terrorists merely guarantees the continuing increase and spread of lawlessness, violence and such outrages as terror-bombings, "skyjackings" and the slaughter of hostages that plague our present-day world. (Getty, 1976, p. 139). CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_1_q#0",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_1_q#1",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_1_q#2",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_1_q#3",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_1_q#4",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_1_q#5",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_1_q#6"
] | [
"When was his grandson kidnapped?",
"What did the kidnappers want?",
"Why was he the target?",
"how old was his grandson?",
"How did they know he was really kidnapped or not?",
"Was his grandson ever injured?",
"Where did they keep him?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
3
],
[
114
],
[
238
],
[
67
],
[
1458
],
[
1567
],
[
2444
]
],
"texts": [
[
"July 10, 1973,"
],
[
"demanded by telephone a $17 million payment (approximately $93.7 million in 2017"
],
[
"\"the family suspected a ploy by the rebellious teenager to extract money from his miserly grandfather.\""
],
[
"16-year-old"
],
[
"Nine people associated with 'Ndrangheta were later arrested for the kidnapping, but only two were convicted."
],
[
"Paul III was permanently affected by the trauma and became a drug addict."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
3,
114,
238,
67,
1458,
1567,
2444
],
"texts": [
"July 10, 1973,",
"demanded by telephone a $17 million payment (approximately $93.7 million in 2017",
"\"the family suspected a ploy by the rebellious teenager to extract money from his miserly grandfather.\"",
"16-year-old",
"Nine people associated with 'Ndrangheta were later arrested for the kidnapping, but only two were convicted.",
"Paul III was permanently affected by the trauma and became a drug addict.",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Jean Paul Getty Sr. (; December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American-born British petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the patriarch of the Getty family. A native of Minneapolis, he was the son of pioneer oilman George Getty. In 1957, Fortune magazine named him the richest living American, while the 1966 Guinness Book of Records named him as the world's richest private citizen, worth an estimated $1.2 billion (approximately $ billion in ). At his death, he was worth more than $6 billion (approximately $ billion in ). A book published in 1996 ranked him as the 67th richest American who ever lived, based on his wealth as a percentage of the concurrent gross national product.
Despite his vast wealth, Getty was infamously frugal, notably negotiating his grandson's kidnapping ransom in 1973. He had five children and divorced five times. Getty was an avid collector of art and antiquities. His collection formed the basis of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles; more than $661 million of his estate was left to the museum after his death. He established the J. Paul Getty Trust in 1953. The trust, which is the world's wealthiest art institution, operates the J. Paul Getty Museum Complexes: the Getty Center, the Getty Villa and the Getty Foundation, the Getty Research Institute, as well as the Getty Conservation Institute.
Early life and education
Getty was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Sarah Catherine McPherson (Risher) and George Getty, who was an attorney in the insurance industry. Getty was raised as a Methodist by his parents; his father was a devout Christian Scientist, and both were strict teetotalers. He was of part Scottish descent. In 1903, when Getty was 10 years old, George Getty traveled to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and bought the mineral rights for 1,100 acres of land. The Getty family subsequently moved to Bartlesville, where J. Paul Getty attended the Garfield School. Within a few years Getty had established wells on the land that were producing 100,000 barrels of crude oil a month.
As newly minted millionaires, the family moved to Los Angeles but J. Paul Getty later returned to Oklahoma. At age 14, Getty attended Harvard Military School for a year, followed by Polytechnic High School, where he was given the nickname "Dictionary Getty" because of his love of reading. He became fluent in French, German and Italian. Getty was also conversational in Spanish, Greek, Arabic and Russian. A love of the classics led Getty to acquire reading proficiency in Ancient Greek and Latin.
He enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, but did not complete a degree. Enamored with Europe after traveling abroad with his parents in 1910, Getty enrolled at the University of Oxford on November 28, 1912. A letter of introduction by then-President of the United States William Howard Taft enabled him to gain independent instruction from tutors at Magdalen College. Although he was not registered at Magdalen, he claimed the aristocratic students "accepted me as one of their own" and he fondly boasted of the friends he made, including the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom. He obtained a diploma in economics and political science from Oxford in June 1913, then spent months traveling throughout Europe and Egypt before meeting his parents in Paris and returning with them to America in June 1914.
Career
In the autumn of 1914, George Getty gave his son $10,000 to invest in expanding the family's oil field holdings in Oklahoma. The first lot he bought, the Nancy Taylor No. 1 Oil Well Site near Haskell, Oklahoma, was crucial to his early financial success. The well struck oil in August 1915 and by the next summer the 40 percent net production royalty he accrued from it had made him a millionaire.
In 1919, Getty returned to business in Oklahoma. During the 1920s, he added about $3 million to his already sizable estate. His succession of marriages and divorces so distressed his father that Getty inherited only $500,000 of the $10 million fortune his father left at the time of his death in 1930. Getty was left with one-third of the stock from George Getty Inc., while his mother received the remaining two-thirds, giving her a controlling interest.
In 1936, Getty's mother convinced him to contribute to the establishment of a $3.3 million investment trust, called the Sarah C. Getty Trust, to ensure the family's ever-growing wealth could be channeled into a tax-free, secure income for future generations of the Getty family. The trust enabled Getty to have easy access to ready capital, which he was funneling into the purchase of Tidewater Petroleum stock.
Shrewdly investing his resources during the Great Depression, Getty acquired Pacific Western Oil Corporation and began the acquisition (completed in 1953) of the Mission Corporation, which included Tidewater Oil and Skelly Oil. In 1967, Getty merged these holdings into Getty Oil.
In 1948–1949, Getty paid Ibn Saud $9.5 million in cash, guaranteed $1 million a year, and a royalty of 55 cents a barrel for the Saudi Arabian Neutral Zone concession, which was 2.5 times more of what other major oil companies were paying in the Middle East at the time.
Oil was finally discovered in March 1953. Since 1953, Getty's gamble produced 16 million barrels a year, which contributed greatly to the fortune responsible for making him one of the richest people in the world.
Getty's wealth and ability to speak Arabic enabled his unparalleled expansion into the Middle East. Getty owned the controlling interest in about 200 businesses, including Getty Oil. Getty owned Getty Oil, Getty Inc., George F. Getty Inc., Pacific Western Oil Corporation, Mission Corporation, Mission Development Company, Tidewater Oil, Skelly Oil, Mexican Seaboard Oil, Petroleum Corporation of America, Spartan Aircraft Company, Spartan Cafeteria Company, Minnehoma Insurance Company, Minnehoma Financial Company, Pierre Hotel, Pierre Marques Hotel, a 15th-century palace and nearby castle at Ladispoli on the coast northwest of Rome, a Malibu ranch home, and Sutton Place, a 72-room mansion near Guildford, Surrey.
Art collection
Getty's first forays into collecting began in the late 1930s, when he took inspiration from the collection of 18th-century French paintings and furniture owned by the landlord of his New York City penthouse, Amy Guest, a relation of Sir Winston Churchill. A fan of 18th-century France, Getty began buying furniture from the period at reduced prices because of the depressed art market. He wrote several books on collecting, including Europe and the 18th Century (1949), Collector's Choice: The Chronicle of an Artistic Odyssey through Europe (1955) and The Joys of Collecting (1965). His stinginess limited the range of his collecting because he refused to pay full price. Getty's companion in later life, Penelope Kitson, said "Paul was really too mean ever to allow himself to buy a great painting." Nonetheless, at the time of his death he owned more than 600 items valued at more than $4 million, including paintings by Rubens, Titian, Gainsborough, Renoir, Tintoretto, Degas, and Monet. During the 1950s, Getty's interests shifted to Greco-Roman sculpture, which led to the building of the Getty Villa in the 1970s to house the collection. These items were transferred to the Getty Museum and the Getty Villa in Los Angeles after his death.
Marriages, divorces and children
Getty was a notorious womanizer from the time of his youth, something that horrified his conservative Christian parents. His lawyer, Robin Lund, once said that, "Paul could hardly ever say 'no' to a woman, or 'yes' to a man." Lord Beaverbrook had called him "Priapic" and "ever-ready" in his sexual habits.
In 1917, when he was 25, a paternity suit was filed against Getty in Los Angeles by Elsie Eckstrom, who claimed he was the father of her daughter, Paula. Eckstrom claimed that Getty had taken her virginity and fathered the child, while his legal team tried to undermine her credibility by claiming that she had a history of promiscuity. Getty agreed to a settlement of $10,000, upon which Eckstrom left town with the baby.
Getty was married and divorced five times. He had five sons with four of his wives:
Jeanette Demont (married 1923 – divorced 1926); one son, George F. Getty II (1924–1973).
Allene Ashby (1926–1928); no children. Getty met 17-year-old Ashby, the daughter of a Texas rancher, in Mexico City while he was studying Spanish and overseeing his family's business interests. They eloped to Cuernavaca, Mexico, but the marriage was bigamous as he was not yet divorced from Jeanette. The two quickly decided to dissolve the union while still in Mexico.
Adolphine Helmle (1928–1932); one son, Jean Ronald Getty (1929–2009), whose son, Christopher Ronald Getty, married Pia Miller, sister of Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece. Like his first and second wives, Adolphine was 17 years old when Getty met her in Vienna. She was the daughter of a prominent German doctor who was opposed to her marrying the twice-divorced, 36-year-old Getty. The two eloped to Cuernavaca, where he had married Allene Ashby, then settled in Los Angeles. Following the birth of their son, Getty lost interest in her and her father convinced her to return to Germany with their child in 1929. After a protracted and contentious battle, their divorce was finalized in August 1932, with Adolphine receiving a huge sum for punitive damages and full custody of Ronald.
Ann Rork (1932–1936); two sons, John Paul Getty Jr. (1932–2003) and Gordon Peter Getty (born 1933). Getty was introduced to Rork when she was 14 years old, but she did not become his romantic partner until she was 21 in 1930. Because he was in the midst of his divorce from Adolphine, the couple had to wait two years before they married. He was largely absent during their marriage, staying for long stretches of time in Europe. She sued him for divorce in 1936 alleging emotional abuse and neglect. She described an incident while the two were abroad in Italy in which she claimed Getty forced her to climb to view the crater of Mount Vesuvius while she was pregnant with their first son. The court decided in her favor and she was awarded $2,500 per month alimony plus $1,000 each in child support for her sons.
Louise Dudley "Teddy" Lynch (1939–1958); one son, Timothy Ware Getty (1946–1958).
In 2013 at age 99, Getty's fifth wife, Louise, known as Teddy Getty Gaston, published a memoir reporting how Getty had scolded her for spending money too freely in the 1950s on the treatment of their six-year-old son, Timmy, who had become blind from a brain tumor. Timmy died at age 12, and Getty, living in England apart from his family who were in the U.S., did not attend the funeral. Gaston divorced Getty that year. Teddy Gaston died in April 2017 at the age of 103.
Getty was quoted as saying "A lasting relationship with a woman is only possible if you are a business failure," and, "I hate to be a failure. I hate and regret the failure of my marriages. I would gladly give all my millions for just one lasting marital success."
Kidnapping of grandson John Paul Getty III
In Rome on July 10, 1973, 'Ndrangheta kidnappers abducted Getty's 16-year-old grandson, John Paul Getty III, and demanded a $17 million (equivalent to $ in ) payment for his safe return. However, the family suspected a ploy by the rebellious teenager to extract money from his miserly grandfather. John Paul Getty Jr. asked his father for the money, but was refused, arguing that his 13 other grandchildren could also become kidnap targets if he paid.
In November 1973, an envelope containing a lock of hair and a human ear arrived at a daily newspaper. The second demand had been delayed three weeks by an Italian postal strike. The demand threatened that Paul would be further mutilated unless the victims paid $3.2 million. The demand stated "This is Paul's ear. If we don't get some money within 10 days, then the other ear will arrive. In other words, he will arrive in little bits."
When the kidnappers finally reduced their demands to $3 million, Getty agreed to pay no more than $2.2 million (equivalent to $ in ), the maximum that would be tax-deductible. He lent his son the remaining $800,000 at four percent interest. Getty's grandson was found alive on December 15, 1973, in a Lauria filling station, in the province of Potenza, shortly after the ransom was paid. After his release, the younger Getty called his grandfather to thank him for paying the ransom but Getty refused to come to the phone. Nine people associated with 'Ndrangheta were later arrested for the kidnapping, but only two were convicted. Getty III was permanently affected by the trauma and became a drug addict. After a stroke, brought on by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol in 1981, Getty III was rendered speechless, nearly blind and partially paralyzed for the rest of his life. He died on February 5, 2011, at the age of 54.
Getty defended his initial refusal to pay the ransom on two points. He argued that his 13 other grandchildren could also become kidnap targets if he paid, and also stated, "The second reason for my refusal was much broader-based. I contend that acceding to the demands of criminals and terrorists merely guarantees the continuing increase and spread of lawlessness, violence and such outrages as terror-bombings, "skyjackings" and the slaughter of hostages that plague our present-day world."
Nine of the kidnappers were apprehended, including Girolamo Piromalli and Saverio Mammoliti, high-ranking members of the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia organization in Calabria. Two of the kidnappers were convicted and sent to prison; the others were acquitted for lack of evidence, including the 'Ndrangheta bosses. Most of the ransom money was never recovered.
Reputation for frugality
Many anecdotal stories exist of Getty's reputed thriftiness and parsimony, which struck observers as comical, even perverse, because of his extreme wealth. The two most widely known examples are his reluctance to pay his grandson's $17 million kidnapping ransom, and a notorious pay-phone he had installed at Sutton Place. A darker incident was his fifth wife's claim that Getty had scolded her for spending too much on their terminally ill son's medical treatment, though he was worth tens of millions of dollars at the time. He was well known for bargaining on almost everything to obtain the lowest possible price, including suites at luxury hotels and virtually all purchases of artwork and real estate. In 1959, Sutton Place, a 72-room mansion, was purchased from George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 5th Duke of Sutherland, for £60,000, about half of what the Duke paid for it 40 years earlier.
Getty's secretary claimed that Getty did his laundry by hand because he did not want to pay for his clothes to be laundered. When his shirts became frayed at the cuffs, he would trim the frayed part instead of purchasing new shirts.
Re-using stationery was another obsession of Getty's. He had a habit of writing responses to letters on the margins or back sides and mailing them back, rather than using a new sheet of paper. He also carefully saved and re-used manila envelopes, rubber bands and other office supplies.
When Getty took a group of friends to a dog show in London, he made them walk around the block for 10 minutes until the tickets became half-priced at 5 pm, because he did not want to pay the full 5 shillings per head.
Getty moved to Sutton Place in part because the cost of living was cheaper than in London, where he had resided at the Ritz. He once boasted to American columnist Art Buchwald that it cost 10 cents for a rum and coke at Sutton Place, whereas at the Ritz it was more than a dollar.
Getty drove his own car to work every day.
Author John Pearson attributed part of Getty's extreme penny-pinching to the Methodist sensibility of Getty's upbringing, which emphasized modest living and personal economy. His business acumen was also a major factor in Getty's thriftiness. "He would allow himself no self-indulgence in the purchase of a place to live, a work of art, even a piece of furniture, unless he could convince himself that it would appreciate in value."
Getty claimed his frugality towards others was a response to people taking advantage of him and not paying their fair share. "It's not the money I object to, it's the principle of the thing that bothers me ..."
Coin-box telephone
Getty famously had a payphone installed at Sutton Place, helping to seal his reputation as a miser. Getty placed dial-locks on all the regular telephones, limiting their use to authorized staff, and the coin-box telephone was installed for others. In his autobiography, he described his reasons:
When speaking in a televised interview with Alan Whicker in February 1963, Getty said that he thought guests would want to use a payphone. After 18 months, Getty explained, "the in-and-out traffic flow at Sutton subsided. Management and operation of the house settled into a reasonable routine. With that, the pay-telephone [was] removed, and the dial-locks were taken off the telephones in the house."
Later years and death
On June 30, 1960, Getty threw a 21st birthday party for a relative of his friend, the 16th Duke of Norfolk, which served as a housewarming party for the newly purchased Sutton Place. Party goers were irritated by Getty's stinginess, such as not providing cigarettes and relegating everyone to using creosote portable toilets outside. At about 10 p.m. the party descended into pandemonium as party crashers arrived from London, swelling the already overcrowded halls and causing an estimated £20,000 in damage. A valuable silver ewer by the 18th century silversmith Paul de Lamerie was stolen, but returned anonymously when the London newspapers began covering the theft. The failure of the event made Getty the object of ridicule and he never threw another large party again.
Getty remained an inveterate hard worker, boasting at age 74 that he often worked 16 to 18 hours per day overseeing his operations across the world. The value of Getty Oil shares quadrupled during the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War of October 1973, which caused a worldwide oil shortage for years. Getty's earnings topped $25.8 million in 1975.
Getty met the English interior designer Penelope Kitson in the 1950s and entrusted her with decorating his homes and the public rooms of the oil tankers he was launching. From 1960, Kitson resided in a cottage on the grounds of Sutton Place. Getty and Kitson maintained a platonic relationship and Getty held her in high respect and trust.
Getty's insatiable appetite for sex also continued into his 80s. He used an experimental drug, H3, to maintain his potency. Mistresses who resided at Sutton Place included the married Mary Teissier, a distant cousin of the last Tsar of Russia, Lady Ursula d'Abo, who had close connections to the British Royal Family, and Nicaraguan-born Rosabella Burch.
The New York Times wrote of Getty's domestic arrangement: "[Getty] ended his life with a collection of desperately hopeful women, all living together in his Tudor mansion in England, none of them aware that his favorite pastime was rewriting his will, changing his insultingly small bequests: $209 a month to one, $1,167 to another." Only Kitson received a significant bequest upon Getty's death, receiving 5,000 shares of Getty Oil, which doubled in value during the 1980s, and a $1,167 monthly income.
Getty died of heart failure at the age of 83 on June 6, 1976, in Sutton Place near Guildford, Surrey.
Media portrayals
Rudy De Luca portrayed Getty in the 1991 Mel Brooks film Life Stinks, in which Brooks plays a real estate tycoon who took a bet that he couldn't live in the streets as a derelict for a month, who then several times throughout the film runs into a homeless man who claims to be Getty in a similar situation but neither believe each other. It's never confirmed if this was supposed to actually be Getty, or just a homeless person with a personality disorder, but is credited as "J. Paul Getty".
Christopher Plummer portrayed Getty in the 2017 film All the Money in the World, which dramatizes the kidnapping of his grandson. Getty was originally portrayed by Kevin Spacey, but after sexual misconduct allegations surfaced against Spacey ahead of the film's premiere, Plummer was cast to re-film his scenes. For his performance, Plummer received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
The kidnapping is also dramatized in the first season of the American anthology drama series Trust, where Getty is portrayed by Donald Sutherland.
Quotations
J. Paul Getty has one entry in the 8th Edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.
“If you can actually count your money, then you are not really a rich man.”
Published works
Getty, J. Paul. The history of the bigger oil business of George F.S. F. and J. Paul Getty from 1903 to 1939. Los Angeles?, 1941,
Getty, J. Paul. Europe in the Eighteenth Century. [Santa Monica, Calif.]: privately printed, 1949,
Le Vane, Ethel, and J. Paul Getty. Collector's Choice: The Chronicle of an Artistic Odyssey through Europe. London: W.H. Allen, 1955,
Getty, J. Paul. My Life and Fortunes. New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1963,
Getty, J. Paul. The Joys of Collecting. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1965,
Getty, J. Paul. How to be Rich. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1965,
Getty, J. Paul. The Golden Age. New York: Trident Press, 1968,
Getty, J. Paul. How to be a Successful Executive. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1971,
Getty, J. Paul. As I See It: The Autobiography of J. Paul Getty. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, 1976. ,
See also
List of richest Americans in history
List of wealthiest historical figures
References
Further reading
Hewins, Ralph. The Richest American: J. Paul Getty. New York: Dutton, 1960.
Lund, Robina. The Getty I Knew. Kansas City: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1977. .
Miller, Russell. The House of Getty. New York: Henry Holt, 1985. .
de Chair, Somerset Struben. Getty on Getty: a man in a billion. London: Cassell, 1989. .
Pearson, John. Painfully Rich: J. Paul Getty and His Heirs. London: Macmillan, 1995. .
Wooster, Martin Morse. Philanthropy Hall of Fame, J. Paul Getty. philanthropyroundtable.org.
External links
J. Paul Getty diaries, 1938–1946, 1948–1976 finding aid, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.
J. Paul Getty family collected papers, 1880s–1989, undated (bulk 1911–1977) finding aid, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.
J. Paul Getty and Ashby sisters papers, 1926-1992, finding aid, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.
Category:1892 births
Category:1976 deaths
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
Category:American art collectors
Category:American autobiographers
Category:American business writers
Category:American businesspeople in the oil industry
Category:American billionaires
Category:American emigrants to England
Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent
Category:American philanthropists
Category:Businesspeople from Los Angeles
Category:Businesspeople from Minneapolis
Category:Businesspeople from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure
Category:English people of Irish descent
Category:Museum founders
J. Paul
J
Category:John H. Francis Polytechnic High School alumni
Category:Philanthropists from California
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni | [
{
"text": "J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is jay (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon variant jy . When used in the International Phonetic Alphabet for the voiced palatal approximant, it may be called yod or jod (pronounced or ).\n\nHistory \n\nThe letter J used to be used as the swash letter I, used for the letter I at the end of Roman numerals when following another I, as in XXIIJ or xxiij instead of XXIII or xxiii for the Roman numeral twenty-three. A distinctive usage emerged in Middle High German. Gian Giorgio Trissino (1478–1550) was the first to explicitly distinguish I and J as representing separate sounds, in his Ɛpistola del Trissino de le lettere nuωvamente aggiunte ne la lingua italiana (\"Trissino's epistle about the letters recently added in the Italian language\") of 1524. Originally, 'I' and 'J' were different shapes for the same letter, both equally representing , , and ; however, Romance languages developed new sounds (from former and ) that came to be represented as 'I' and 'J'; therefore, English J, acquired from the French J, has a sound value quite different from (which represents the initial sound in the English language word \"yet\").\n\nPronunciation and use\n\nEnglish \nIn English, most commonly represents the affricate . In Old English, was represented orthographically with (an alternative representation of the Old English spelling is ; there is no meaningful difference as in Old English was simply the regular form of the letter G, called Insular G). In Middle English, scribes began to use (later ) to represent word-initial under the influence of Old French, which had a similar phoneme deriving from Latin (for example, iest and later jest), while the same sound in other positions could be spelled as (for example, hedge). The first English language books to make a clear distinction in writing between and were the King James Bible 1st Revision Cambridge 1629 and an English grammar book published in 1633.\n\nLater, many other uses of (later ) were added in loanwords from French and other languages (e.g. adjoin, junta). In loanwords such as bijou or Dijon, may represent , as in modern French. In some loanwords, including raj, Azerbaijan, Taj Mahal, and Beijing, the regular pronunciation is actually closer to the native pronunciation, making the use of an instance of hyperforeignism, a type of hypercorrection. Occasionally, represents the original sound, as in Hallelujah and fjord (see Yodh for details). In words of Spanish origin, such as jalapeño, English speakers usually pronounce as the voiceless glottal fricative , an approximation of the Spanish pronunciation of (usually transcribed as a voiceless velar fricative , although some varieties of Spanish use glottal ).\n\nIn English, is the fourth least frequently used letter in words, being more frequent only than , , and . It is, however, quite common in proper nouns, especially personal names.\n\nOther languages\n\nGermanic and Eastern-European languages \nThe great majority of Germanic languages, such as German, Dutch, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, use for the palatal approximant , which is usually represented by the letter in English. Notable exceptions are English, Scots and (to a lesser degree) Luxembourgish. also represents in Albanian, and those Uralic, Slavic and Baltic languages that use the Latin alphabet, such as Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Polish, Czech, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovenian, Latvian and Lithuanian. Some related languages, such as Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian, also adopted into the Cyrillic alphabet for the same purpose. Because of this standard, the lower case letter was chosen to be used in the IPA as the phonetic symbol for the sound.\n\nRomance languages \nIn the Romance languages, has generally developed from its original palatal approximant value in Latin to some kind of fricative. In French, Portuguese, Catalan (except Valencian), and Romanian it has been fronted to the postalveolar fricative (like in English measure). In Valencian and Occitan it has the same sound as in English, . In Spanish, by contrast, it has been both devoiced and backed from an earlier to a present-day or , with the actual phonetic realization depending on the speaker's dialect.\n\nGenerally, ⟨j⟩ is not commonly present in modern standard Italian spelling. Only proper nouns (such as Jesi and Letojanni), Latin words (Juventus), or those borrowed from foreign languages have . The proper nouns and Latin words are pronounced as the palatal approximant , while words borrowed from foreign languages tend to follow that language's pronunciation of . Until the 19th century, was used instead of in diphthongs, as a replacement for final -ii, and in vowel groups (as in Savoja); this rule was quite strict in official writing. is also used to render in dialectal spelling, e.g. Romanesco dialect (garlic; cf. Italian aglio ). The Italian novelist Luigi Pirandello used in vowel groups in his works written in Italian; he also wrote in his native Sicilian language, which still uses the letter to represent (and sometimes also [dʒ] or [gj], depending on its environment).\n\nOther European Languages \n\nThe Maltese language is a Semitic language, not a Romance language; but has been deeply influenced by them (especially Sicilian) and it uses for the sound /j/ (cognate of the Semitic yod).\n\nIn Basque, the diaphoneme represented by has a variety of realizations according to the regional dialect: (the last one is typical of Gipuzkoa).\n\nNon-European languages \nAmong non-European languages that have adopted the Latin script, stands for in Turkish and Azerbaijani, for in Tatar. stands for in Indonesian, Somali, Malay, Igbo, Shona, Oromo, Turkmen, and Zulu. It represents a voiced palatal plosive in Konkani, Yoruba, and Swahili. In Kiowa, stands for a voiceless alveolar plosive, .\n\n stands for in the romanization systems of most of the languages of India such as Hindi and Telugu and stands for in the romanization of Japanese and Korean.\n\nFor Chinese languages, stands for in Mandarin Chinese Pinyin system, the unaspirated equivalent of (). In Wade–Giles, stands for Mandarin Chinese . Pe̍h-ōe-jī of Hokkien and Tâi-lô for Taiwanese Hokkien, stands for and , or and , depending on accents. In Jyutping for Cantonese, stands for .\n\nThe Royal Thai General System of Transcription does not use the letter , although it is used in some proper names and non-standard transcriptions to represent either or (the latter following Pali/Sanskrit root equivalents).\n\nIn romanized Pashto, represents ځ, pronounced .\n\nIn Greenlandic and in the Qaniujaaqpait spelling of the Inuktitut language, is used to transcribe .\n\nFollowing Spanish usage, represents or similar sounds in many Latin-alphabet-based writing systems for indigenous languages of the Americas, such as in Mayan languages (ALMG alphabet) and a glottal fricative [h] in some spelling systems used for Aymara.\n\nRelated characters \n\n 𐤉 : Semitic letter Yodh, from which the following symbols originally derive\n I i : Latin letter I, from which J derives\n ȷ : Dotless j\n ᶡ : Modifier letter small dotless j with stroke\n ᶨ : Modifier letter small j with crossed-tail\n IPA-specific symbols related to J: \n Uralic Phonetic Alphabet-specific symbols related to J:\n\n J with diacritics: Ĵ ĵ J̌ ǰ Ɉ ɉ J̃ j̇̃\n\nComputing codes \n\n1 Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.\n\nUnicode also has a dotless variant, ȷ (U+0237). It is primarily used in Landsmålsalfabet and in mathematics. It is not intended to be used with diacritics since the normal j is softdotted in Unicode (that is, the dot is removed if a diacritic is to be placed above; Unicode further states that, for example i+ ¨ ≠ ı+¨ and the same holds true for j and ȷ).\n\nIn Unicode, a duplicate of 'J' for use as a special phonetic character in historical Greek linguistics is encoded in the Greek script block as ϳ (Unicode U+03F3). It is used to denote the palatal glide in the context of Greek script. It is called \"Yot\" in the Unicode standard, after the German name of the letter J. An uppercase version of this letter was added to the Unicode Standard at U+037F with the release of version 7.0 in June 2014.\n\nWingdings smiley issue \nIn the Wingdings font by Microsoft, the letter \"J\" is rendered as a smiley face (this is distinct from the Unicode code point U+263A, which renders as ☺︎). In Microsoft applications, \":)\" is automatically replaced by a smiley rendered in a specific font face when composing rich text documents or HTML email. This autocorrection feature can be switched off or changed to a Unicode smiley.\n\nOther uses\n In international licence plate codes, J stands for Japan.\n In mathematics, j is one of the three imaginary units of quaternions.\n Also in mathematics, j is one of the three unit vectors. \n In the Metric system, J is the symbol for the joule, the SI derived unit for energy.\n In some areas of physics, electrical engineering and related fields, j is the symbol for the imaginary unit (the square root of −1) (in other fields the letter i is used, but this would be ambiguous as it is also the symbol for current).\n A J can be a slang term for a joint (marijuana cigarette)\n\nOther representations\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n \n \n \n\nCategory:ISO basic Latin letters",
"title": "J"
}
] | [
"His grandson was kidnapped on July 10, 1973.",
"The kidnappers initially wanted a $17 million payment for the safe return of John Paul Getty III. The amount was later reduced to $3 million.",
"The text does not provide a specific reason why John Paul Getty III was the target of the kidnapping.",
"His grandson, John Paul Getty III, was 16 years old when he was kidnapped.",
"The confirmation of the real kidnapping came in November 1973, when an envelope containing a lock of hair and a human ear arrived at a daily newspaper along with a second demand for ransom, threatening further mutilation of Paul III if the demanded amount was not paid.",
"Yes, his grandson was injured. The kidnappers sent an envelope containing a lock of hair and a human ear as evidence of their willingness to harm him. After his release, Paul III later suffered permanent effects from the traumatic event and eventually became a drug addict. He had a stroke in 1981 caused by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol which left him speechless, nearly blind and partially paralyzed for the rest of his life.",
"The text does not provide information on where the kidnappers kept John Paul Getty III during his abduction."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_0 | J. Paul Getty | Jean Paul Getty (; December 15, 1892 - June 6, 1976) was an American-British industrialist. He founded the Getty Oil Company, and in 1957 Fortune magazine named him the richest living American, while the 1966 Guinness Book of Records named him as the world's richest private citizen, worth an estimated $1.2 billion (approximately $9.05 billion in 2017). At his death, he was worth more than $6 billion (approximately $25.80 billion in 2017). | Later years & death | On June 30, 1960, Getty threw a 21st birthday party for a relation of his friend, the 16th Duke of Norfolk, which served as a housewarming party for the newly-purchased Sutton Place. 1,200 guests consisting of the cream of British society were invited. Party goers were irritated by Getty's stinginess, such as not providing cigarettes and relegating everyone to using creosote portable toilets outside. At about 10pm the party descended into pandemonium as party crashers arrived from London, swelling the already overcrowded halls, causing an estimated L20,000 in damages. A valuable silver ewer by the 18th century silversmith Paul de Lamerie was stolen, but returned anonymously when the London newspapers began covering the theft. The failure of the event made the newly-arrived Getty the object of ridicule, and he never threw another large party again. Getty remained an inveterate hard worker, boasting at age 74 that he often worked 16 to 18 hours per day overseeing his operations across the world. The Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War of October 1973 caused a worldwide oil shortage for years to come. In this period, the value of Getty Oil shares quadrupled, with Getty enjoying personal earnings of $25.8 million in 1975 (appr. $120 million in 2018 USD). His insatiable appetite for women and sex also continued well into his 80s. He used an experimental drug, "H3", to maintain his potency. Getty met the English interior designer Penelope Kitson in the 1950s and entrusted her with decorating his homes and the public rooms of the oil tankers he was launching. From 1960 she resided in a cottage on the grounds of Sutton Place, and, though she did not have a sexual relationship with him, Getty held her in high respect and trust. Other mistresses who resided at Sutton Place included the married Mary Teissier, a distant cousin of the last Tsar of Russia, Lady Ursula d'Abo, who had close connections to the British Royal Family, and Nicaraguan-born Rosabella Burch. The New York Times wrote of Getty's domestic arrangement that: "[Getty] ended his life with a collection of desperately hopeful women, all living together in his Tudor mansion in England, none of them aware that his favorite pastime was rewriting his will, changing his insultingly small bequests: $209 a month to one, $1,167 to another." Only Penelope Kitson received a handsome bequest upon Getty's death: 5,000 Getty Oil shares (appr. $826,500 in 1976), which doubled in value during the 1980s, and a $1,167 monthly income. Getty died June 6, 1976, in Sutton Place near Guildford, Surrey, England. He was buried in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles County, California at the Getty Villa. The gravesite is not open to the public. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_0_q#0",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_0_q#1",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_0_q#2",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_0_q#3",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_0_q#4",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_0_q#5",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_0_q#6",
"C_fcbf8b88a7c949eba5b4bfd5a87492b7_0_q#7"
] | [
"What did he do in later years?",
"What type of operations did he run?",
"What else did he do during those years?",
"What did the drug do?",
"What year did he die?",
"What did he die from?",
"What state was he living in at time of death?",
"Where was he buried?"
] | [
0,
1,
0,
1,
0,
1,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
966
],
[
1010
],
[
1265
],
[
1374
],
[
2520
],
[
1981
],
[
2711
],
[
2583
]
],
"texts": [
[
"overseeing his operations across the world."
],
[
"The Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War of October 1973 caused a worldwide oil shortage for years to come. In this period, the value of Getty Oil shares quadrupled,"
],
[
"His insatiable appetite for women and sex also continued well into his 80s. He used an experimental drug, \"H3"
],
[
"\", to maintain his potency."
],
[
"June 6, 1976,"
],
[
"The New York Times wrote of Getty's domestic arrangement that: \"[Getty] ended his life with a collection of desperately hopeful women, all living together in his Tudor mansion"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"He was buried in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
966,
1010,
1265,
1374,
2520,
1981,
2711,
2583
],
"texts": [
"overseeing his operations across the world.",
"The Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War of October 1973 caused a worldwide oil shortage for years to come. In this period, the value of Getty Oil shares quadrupled,",
"His insatiable appetite for women and sex also continued well into his 80s. He used an experimental drug, \"H3",
"\", to maintain his potency.",
"June 6, 1976,",
"The New York Times wrote of Getty's domestic arrangement that: \"[Getty] ended his life with a collection of desperately hopeful women, all living together in his Tudor mansion",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"He was buried in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles"
]
} | Jean Paul Getty Sr. (; December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American-born British petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the patriarch of the Getty family. A native of Minneapolis, he was the son of pioneer oilman George Getty. In 1957, Fortune magazine named him the richest living American, while the 1966 Guinness Book of Records named him as the world's richest private citizen, worth an estimated $1.2 billion (approximately $ billion in ). At his death, he was worth more than $6 billion (approximately $ billion in ). A book published in 1996 ranked him as the 67th richest American who ever lived, based on his wealth as a percentage of the concurrent gross national product.
Despite his vast wealth, Getty was infamously frugal, notably negotiating his grandson's kidnapping ransom in 1973. He had five children and divorced five times. Getty was an avid collector of art and antiquities. His collection formed the basis of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles; more than $661 million of his estate was left to the museum after his death. He established the J. Paul Getty Trust in 1953. The trust, which is the world's wealthiest art institution, operates the J. Paul Getty Museum Complexes: the Getty Center, the Getty Villa and the Getty Foundation, the Getty Research Institute, as well as the Getty Conservation Institute.
Early life and education
Getty was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Sarah Catherine McPherson (Risher) and George Getty, who was an attorney in the insurance industry. Getty was raised as a Methodist by his parents; his father was a devout Christian Scientist, and both were strict teetotalers. He was of part Scottish descent. In 1903, when Getty was 10 years old, George Getty traveled to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and bought the mineral rights for 1,100 acres of land. The Getty family subsequently moved to Bartlesville, where J. Paul Getty attended the Garfield School. Within a few years Getty had established wells on the land that were producing 100,000 barrels of crude oil a month.
As newly minted millionaires, the family moved to Los Angeles but J. Paul Getty later returned to Oklahoma. At age 14, Getty attended Harvard Military School for a year, followed by Polytechnic High School, where he was given the nickname "Dictionary Getty" because of his love of reading. He became fluent in French, German and Italian. Getty was also conversational in Spanish, Greek, Arabic and Russian. A love of the classics led Getty to acquire reading proficiency in Ancient Greek and Latin.
He enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, but did not complete a degree. Enamored with Europe after traveling abroad with his parents in 1910, Getty enrolled at the University of Oxford on November 28, 1912. A letter of introduction by then-President of the United States William Howard Taft enabled him to gain independent instruction from tutors at Magdalen College. Although he was not registered at Magdalen, he claimed the aristocratic students "accepted me as one of their own" and he fondly boasted of the friends he made, including the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom. He obtained a diploma in economics and political science from Oxford in June 1913, then spent months traveling throughout Europe and Egypt before meeting his parents in Paris and returning with them to America in June 1914.
Career
In the autumn of 1914, George Getty gave his son $10,000 to invest in expanding the family's oil field holdings in Oklahoma. The first lot he bought, the Nancy Taylor No. 1 Oil Well Site near Haskell, Oklahoma, was crucial to his early financial success. The well struck oil in August 1915 and by the next summer the 40 percent net production royalty he accrued from it had made him a millionaire.
In 1919, Getty returned to business in Oklahoma. During the 1920s, he added about $3 million to his already sizable estate. His succession of marriages and divorces so distressed his father that Getty inherited only $500,000 of the $10 million fortune his father left at the time of his death in 1930. Getty was left with one-third of the stock from George Getty Inc., while his mother received the remaining two-thirds, giving her a controlling interest.
In 1936, Getty's mother convinced him to contribute to the establishment of a $3.3 million investment trust, called the Sarah C. Getty Trust, to ensure the family's ever-growing wealth could be channeled into a tax-free, secure income for future generations of the Getty family. The trust enabled Getty to have easy access to ready capital, which he was funneling into the purchase of Tidewater Petroleum stock.
Shrewdly investing his resources during the Great Depression, Getty acquired Pacific Western Oil Corporation and began the acquisition (completed in 1953) of the Mission Corporation, which included Tidewater Oil and Skelly Oil. In 1967, Getty merged these holdings into Getty Oil.
In 1948–1949, Getty paid Ibn Saud $9.5 million in cash, guaranteed $1 million a year, and a royalty of 55 cents a barrel for the Saudi Arabian Neutral Zone concession, which was 2.5 times more of what other major oil companies were paying in the Middle East at the time.
Oil was finally discovered in March 1953. Since 1953, Getty's gamble produced 16 million barrels a year, which contributed greatly to the fortune responsible for making him one of the richest people in the world.
Getty's wealth and ability to speak Arabic enabled his unparalleled expansion into the Middle East. Getty owned the controlling interest in about 200 businesses, including Getty Oil. Getty owned Getty Oil, Getty Inc., George F. Getty Inc., Pacific Western Oil Corporation, Mission Corporation, Mission Development Company, Tidewater Oil, Skelly Oil, Mexican Seaboard Oil, Petroleum Corporation of America, Spartan Aircraft Company, Spartan Cafeteria Company, Minnehoma Insurance Company, Minnehoma Financial Company, Pierre Hotel, Pierre Marques Hotel, a 15th-century palace and nearby castle at Ladispoli on the coast northwest of Rome, a Malibu ranch home, and Sutton Place, a 72-room mansion near Guildford, Surrey.
Art collection
Getty's first forays into collecting began in the late 1930s, when he took inspiration from the collection of 18th-century French paintings and furniture owned by the landlord of his New York City penthouse, Amy Guest, a relation of Sir Winston Churchill. A fan of 18th-century France, Getty began buying furniture from the period at reduced prices because of the depressed art market. He wrote several books on collecting, including Europe and the 18th Century (1949), Collector's Choice: The Chronicle of an Artistic Odyssey through Europe (1955) and The Joys of Collecting (1965). His stinginess limited the range of his collecting because he refused to pay full price. Getty's companion in later life, Penelope Kitson, said "Paul was really too mean ever to allow himself to buy a great painting." Nonetheless, at the time of his death he owned more than 600 items valued at more than $4 million, including paintings by Rubens, Titian, Gainsborough, Renoir, Tintoretto, Degas, and Monet. During the 1950s, Getty's interests shifted to Greco-Roman sculpture, which led to the building of the Getty Villa in the 1970s to house the collection. These items were transferred to the Getty Museum and the Getty Villa in Los Angeles after his death.
Marriages, divorces and children
Getty was a notorious womanizer from the time of his youth, something that horrified his conservative Christian parents. His lawyer, Robin Lund, once said that, "Paul could hardly ever say 'no' to a woman, or 'yes' to a man." Lord Beaverbrook had called him "Priapic" and "ever-ready" in his sexual habits.
In 1917, when he was 25, a paternity suit was filed against Getty in Los Angeles by Elsie Eckstrom, who claimed he was the father of her daughter, Paula. Eckstrom claimed that Getty had taken her virginity and fathered the child, while his legal team tried to undermine her credibility by claiming that she had a history of promiscuity. Getty agreed to a settlement of $10,000, upon which Eckstrom left town with the baby.
Getty was married and divorced five times. He had five sons with four of his wives:
Jeanette Demont (married 1923 – divorced 1926); one son, George F. Getty II (1924–1973).
Allene Ashby (1926–1928); no children. Getty met 17-year-old Ashby, the daughter of a Texas rancher, in Mexico City while he was studying Spanish and overseeing his family's business interests. They eloped to Cuernavaca, Mexico, but the marriage was bigamous as he was not yet divorced from Jeanette. The two quickly decided to dissolve the union while still in Mexico.
Adolphine Helmle (1928–1932); one son, Jean Ronald Getty (1929–2009), whose son, Christopher Ronald Getty, married Pia Miller, sister of Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece. Like his first and second wives, Adolphine was 17 years old when Getty met her in Vienna. She was the daughter of a prominent German doctor who was opposed to her marrying the twice-divorced, 36-year-old Getty. The two eloped to Cuernavaca, where he had married Allene Ashby, then settled in Los Angeles. Following the birth of their son, Getty lost interest in her and her father convinced her to return to Germany with their child in 1929. After a protracted and contentious battle, their divorce was finalized in August 1932, with Adolphine receiving a huge sum for punitive damages and full custody of Ronald.
Ann Rork (1932–1936); two sons, John Paul Getty Jr. (1932–2003) and Gordon Peter Getty (born 1933). Getty was introduced to Rork when she was 14 years old, but she did not become his romantic partner until she was 21 in 1930. Because he was in the midst of his divorce from Adolphine, the couple had to wait two years before they married. He was largely absent during their marriage, staying for long stretches of time in Europe. She sued him for divorce in 1936 alleging emotional abuse and neglect. She described an incident while the two were abroad in Italy in which she claimed Getty forced her to climb to view the crater of Mount Vesuvius while she was pregnant with their first son. The court decided in her favor and she was awarded $2,500 per month alimony plus $1,000 each in child support for her sons.
Louise Dudley "Teddy" Lynch (1939–1958); one son, Timothy Ware Getty (1946–1958).
In 2013 at age 99, Getty's fifth wife, Louise, known as Teddy Getty Gaston, published a memoir reporting how Getty had scolded her for spending money too freely in the 1950s on the treatment of their six-year-old son, Timmy, who had become blind from a brain tumor. Timmy died at age 12, and Getty, living in England apart from his family who were in the U.S., did not attend the funeral. Gaston divorced Getty that year. Teddy Gaston died in April 2017 at the age of 103.
Getty was quoted as saying "A lasting relationship with a woman is only possible if you are a business failure," and, "I hate to be a failure. I hate and regret the failure of my marriages. I would gladly give all my millions for just one lasting marital success."
Kidnapping of grandson John Paul Getty III
In Rome on July 10, 1973, 'Ndrangheta kidnappers abducted Getty's 16-year-old grandson, John Paul Getty III, and demanded a $17 million (equivalent to $ in ) payment for his safe return. However, the family suspected a ploy by the rebellious teenager to extract money from his miserly grandfather. John Paul Getty Jr. asked his father for the money, but was refused, arguing that his 13 other grandchildren could also become kidnap targets if he paid.
In November 1973, an envelope containing a lock of hair and a human ear arrived at a daily newspaper. The second demand had been delayed three weeks by an Italian postal strike. The demand threatened that Paul would be further mutilated unless the victims paid $3.2 million. The demand stated "This is Paul's ear. If we don't get some money within 10 days, then the other ear will arrive. In other words, he will arrive in little bits."
When the kidnappers finally reduced their demands to $3 million, Getty agreed to pay no more than $2.2 million (equivalent to $ in ), the maximum that would be tax-deductible. He lent his son the remaining $800,000 at four percent interest. Getty's grandson was found alive on December 15, 1973, in a Lauria filling station, in the province of Potenza, shortly after the ransom was paid. After his release, the younger Getty called his grandfather to thank him for paying the ransom but Getty refused to come to the phone. Nine people associated with 'Ndrangheta were later arrested for the kidnapping, but only two were convicted. Getty III was permanently affected by the trauma and became a drug addict. After a stroke, brought on by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol in 1981, Getty III was rendered speechless, nearly blind and partially paralyzed for the rest of his life. He died on February 5, 2011, at the age of 54.
Getty defended his initial refusal to pay the ransom on two points. He argued that his 13 other grandchildren could also become kidnap targets if he paid, and also stated, "The second reason for my refusal was much broader-based. I contend that acceding to the demands of criminals and terrorists merely guarantees the continuing increase and spread of lawlessness, violence and such outrages as terror-bombings, "skyjackings" and the slaughter of hostages that plague our present-day world."
Nine of the kidnappers were apprehended, including Girolamo Piromalli and Saverio Mammoliti, high-ranking members of the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia organization in Calabria. Two of the kidnappers were convicted and sent to prison; the others were acquitted for lack of evidence, including the 'Ndrangheta bosses. Most of the ransom money was never recovered.
Reputation for frugality
Many anecdotal stories exist of Getty's reputed thriftiness and parsimony, which struck observers as comical, even perverse, because of his extreme wealth. The two most widely known examples are his reluctance to pay his grandson's $17 million kidnapping ransom, and a notorious pay-phone he had installed at Sutton Place. A darker incident was his fifth wife's claim that Getty had scolded her for spending too much on their terminally ill son's medical treatment, though he was worth tens of millions of dollars at the time. He was well known for bargaining on almost everything to obtain the lowest possible price, including suites at luxury hotels and virtually all purchases of artwork and real estate. In 1959, Sutton Place, a 72-room mansion, was purchased from George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 5th Duke of Sutherland, for £60,000, about half of what the Duke paid for it 40 years earlier.
Getty's secretary claimed that Getty did his laundry by hand because he did not want to pay for his clothes to be laundered. When his shirts became frayed at the cuffs, he would trim the frayed part instead of purchasing new shirts.
Re-using stationery was another obsession of Getty's. He had a habit of writing responses to letters on the margins or back sides and mailing them back, rather than using a new sheet of paper. He also carefully saved and re-used manila envelopes, rubber bands and other office supplies.
When Getty took a group of friends to a dog show in London, he made them walk around the block for 10 minutes until the tickets became half-priced at 5 pm, because he did not want to pay the full 5 shillings per head.
Getty moved to Sutton Place in part because the cost of living was cheaper than in London, where he had resided at the Ritz. He once boasted to American columnist Art Buchwald that it cost 10 cents for a rum and coke at Sutton Place, whereas at the Ritz it was more than a dollar.
Getty drove his own car to work every day.
Author John Pearson attributed part of Getty's extreme penny-pinching to the Methodist sensibility of Getty's upbringing, which emphasized modest living and personal economy. His business acumen was also a major factor in Getty's thriftiness. "He would allow himself no self-indulgence in the purchase of a place to live, a work of art, even a piece of furniture, unless he could convince himself that it would appreciate in value."
Getty claimed his frugality towards others was a response to people taking advantage of him and not paying their fair share. "It's not the money I object to, it's the principle of the thing that bothers me ..."
Coin-box telephone
Getty famously had a payphone installed at Sutton Place, helping to seal his reputation as a miser. Getty placed dial-locks on all the regular telephones, limiting their use to authorized staff, and the coin-box telephone was installed for others. In his autobiography, he described his reasons:
When speaking in a televised interview with Alan Whicker in February 1963, Getty said that he thought guests would want to use a payphone. After 18 months, Getty explained, "the in-and-out traffic flow at Sutton subsided. Management and operation of the house settled into a reasonable routine. With that, the pay-telephone [was] removed, and the dial-locks were taken off the telephones in the house."
Later years and death
On June 30, 1960, Getty threw a 21st birthday party for a relative of his friend, the 16th Duke of Norfolk, which served as a housewarming party for the newly purchased Sutton Place. Party goers were irritated by Getty's stinginess, such as not providing cigarettes and relegating everyone to using creosote portable toilets outside. At about 10 p.m. the party descended into pandemonium as party crashers arrived from London, swelling the already overcrowded halls and causing an estimated £20,000 in damage. A valuable silver ewer by the 18th century silversmith Paul de Lamerie was stolen, but returned anonymously when the London newspapers began covering the theft. The failure of the event made Getty the object of ridicule and he never threw another large party again.
Getty remained an inveterate hard worker, boasting at age 74 that he often worked 16 to 18 hours per day overseeing his operations across the world. The value of Getty Oil shares quadrupled during the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War of October 1973, which caused a worldwide oil shortage for years. Getty's earnings topped $25.8 million in 1975.
Getty met the English interior designer Penelope Kitson in the 1950s and entrusted her with decorating his homes and the public rooms of the oil tankers he was launching. From 1960, Kitson resided in a cottage on the grounds of Sutton Place. Getty and Kitson maintained a platonic relationship and Getty held her in high respect and trust.
Getty's insatiable appetite for sex also continued into his 80s. He used an experimental drug, H3, to maintain his potency. Mistresses who resided at Sutton Place included the married Mary Teissier, a distant cousin of the last Tsar of Russia, Lady Ursula d'Abo, who had close connections to the British Royal Family, and Nicaraguan-born Rosabella Burch.
The New York Times wrote of Getty's domestic arrangement: "[Getty] ended his life with a collection of desperately hopeful women, all living together in his Tudor mansion in England, none of them aware that his favorite pastime was rewriting his will, changing his insultingly small bequests: $209 a month to one, $1,167 to another." Only Kitson received a significant bequest upon Getty's death, receiving 5,000 shares of Getty Oil, which doubled in value during the 1980s, and a $1,167 monthly income.
Getty died of heart failure at the age of 83 on June 6, 1976, in Sutton Place near Guildford, Surrey.
Media portrayals
Rudy De Luca portrayed Getty in the 1991 Mel Brooks film Life Stinks, in which Brooks plays a real estate tycoon who took a bet that he couldn't live in the streets as a derelict for a month, who then several times throughout the film runs into a homeless man who claims to be Getty in a similar situation but neither believe each other. It's never confirmed if this was supposed to actually be Getty, or just a homeless person with a personality disorder, but is credited as "J. Paul Getty".
Christopher Plummer portrayed Getty in the 2017 film All the Money in the World, which dramatizes the kidnapping of his grandson. Getty was originally portrayed by Kevin Spacey, but after sexual misconduct allegations surfaced against Spacey ahead of the film's premiere, Plummer was cast to re-film his scenes. For his performance, Plummer received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
The kidnapping is also dramatized in the first season of the American anthology drama series Trust, where Getty is portrayed by Donald Sutherland.
Quotations
J. Paul Getty has one entry in the 8th Edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.
“If you can actually count your money, then you are not really a rich man.”
Published works
Getty, J. Paul. The history of the bigger oil business of George F.S. F. and J. Paul Getty from 1903 to 1939. Los Angeles?, 1941,
Getty, J. Paul. Europe in the Eighteenth Century. [Santa Monica, Calif.]: privately printed, 1949,
Le Vane, Ethel, and J. Paul Getty. Collector's Choice: The Chronicle of an Artistic Odyssey through Europe. London: W.H. Allen, 1955,
Getty, J. Paul. My Life and Fortunes. New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1963,
Getty, J. Paul. The Joys of Collecting. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1965,
Getty, J. Paul. How to be Rich. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1965,
Getty, J. Paul. The Golden Age. New York: Trident Press, 1968,
Getty, J. Paul. How to be a Successful Executive. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1971,
Getty, J. Paul. As I See It: The Autobiography of J. Paul Getty. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, 1976. ,
See also
List of richest Americans in history
List of wealthiest historical figures
References
Further reading
Hewins, Ralph. The Richest American: J. Paul Getty. New York: Dutton, 1960.
Lund, Robina. The Getty I Knew. Kansas City: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1977. .
Miller, Russell. The House of Getty. New York: Henry Holt, 1985. .
de Chair, Somerset Struben. Getty on Getty: a man in a billion. London: Cassell, 1989. .
Pearson, John. Painfully Rich: J. Paul Getty and His Heirs. London: Macmillan, 1995. .
Wooster, Martin Morse. Philanthropy Hall of Fame, J. Paul Getty. philanthropyroundtable.org.
External links
J. Paul Getty diaries, 1938–1946, 1948–1976 finding aid, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.
J. Paul Getty family collected papers, 1880s–1989, undated (bulk 1911–1977) finding aid, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.
J. Paul Getty and Ashby sisters papers, 1926-1992, finding aid, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.
Category:1892 births
Category:1976 deaths
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
Category:American art collectors
Category:American autobiographers
Category:American business writers
Category:American businesspeople in the oil industry
Category:American billionaires
Category:American emigrants to England
Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent
Category:American philanthropists
Category:Businesspeople from Los Angeles
Category:Businesspeople from Minneapolis
Category:Businesspeople from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure
Category:English people of Irish descent
Category:Museum founders
J. Paul
J
Category:John H. Francis Polytechnic High School alumni
Category:Philanthropists from California
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni | [
{
"text": "J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is jay (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon variant jy . When used in the International Phonetic Alphabet for the voiced palatal approximant, it may be called yod or jod (pronounced or ).\n\nHistory \n\nThe letter J used to be used as the swash letter I, used for the letter I at the end of Roman numerals when following another I, as in XXIIJ or xxiij instead of XXIII or xxiii for the Roman numeral twenty-three. A distinctive usage emerged in Middle High German. Gian Giorgio Trissino (1478–1550) was the first to explicitly distinguish I and J as representing separate sounds, in his Ɛpistola del Trissino de le lettere nuωvamente aggiunte ne la lingua italiana (\"Trissino's epistle about the letters recently added in the Italian language\") of 1524. Originally, 'I' and 'J' were different shapes for the same letter, both equally representing , , and ; however, Romance languages developed new sounds (from former and ) that came to be represented as 'I' and 'J'; therefore, English J, acquired from the French J, has a sound value quite different from (which represents the initial sound in the English language word \"yet\").\n\nPronunciation and use\n\nEnglish \nIn English, most commonly represents the affricate . In Old English, was represented orthographically with (an alternative representation of the Old English spelling is ; there is no meaningful difference as in Old English was simply the regular form of the letter G, called Insular G). In Middle English, scribes began to use (later ) to represent word-initial under the influence of Old French, which had a similar phoneme deriving from Latin (for example, iest and later jest), while the same sound in other positions could be spelled as (for example, hedge). The first English language books to make a clear distinction in writing between and were the King James Bible 1st Revision Cambridge 1629 and an English grammar book published in 1633.\n\nLater, many other uses of (later ) were added in loanwords from French and other languages (e.g. adjoin, junta). In loanwords such as bijou or Dijon, may represent , as in modern French. In some loanwords, including raj, Azerbaijan, Taj Mahal, and Beijing, the regular pronunciation is actually closer to the native pronunciation, making the use of an instance of hyperforeignism, a type of hypercorrection. Occasionally, represents the original sound, as in Hallelujah and fjord (see Yodh for details). In words of Spanish origin, such as jalapeño, English speakers usually pronounce as the voiceless glottal fricative , an approximation of the Spanish pronunciation of (usually transcribed as a voiceless velar fricative , although some varieties of Spanish use glottal ).\n\nIn English, is the fourth least frequently used letter in words, being more frequent only than , , and . It is, however, quite common in proper nouns, especially personal names.\n\nOther languages\n\nGermanic and Eastern-European languages \nThe great majority of Germanic languages, such as German, Dutch, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, use for the palatal approximant , which is usually represented by the letter in English. Notable exceptions are English, Scots and (to a lesser degree) Luxembourgish. also represents in Albanian, and those Uralic, Slavic and Baltic languages that use the Latin alphabet, such as Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Polish, Czech, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovenian, Latvian and Lithuanian. Some related languages, such as Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian, also adopted into the Cyrillic alphabet for the same purpose. Because of this standard, the lower case letter was chosen to be used in the IPA as the phonetic symbol for the sound.\n\nRomance languages \nIn the Romance languages, has generally developed from its original palatal approximant value in Latin to some kind of fricative. In French, Portuguese, Catalan (except Valencian), and Romanian it has been fronted to the postalveolar fricative (like in English measure). In Valencian and Occitan it has the same sound as in English, . In Spanish, by contrast, it has been both devoiced and backed from an earlier to a present-day or , with the actual phonetic realization depending on the speaker's dialect.\n\nGenerally, ⟨j⟩ is not commonly present in modern standard Italian spelling. Only proper nouns (such as Jesi and Letojanni), Latin words (Juventus), or those borrowed from foreign languages have . The proper nouns and Latin words are pronounced as the palatal approximant , while words borrowed from foreign languages tend to follow that language's pronunciation of . Until the 19th century, was used instead of in diphthongs, as a replacement for final -ii, and in vowel groups (as in Savoja); this rule was quite strict in official writing. is also used to render in dialectal spelling, e.g. Romanesco dialect (garlic; cf. Italian aglio ). The Italian novelist Luigi Pirandello used in vowel groups in his works written in Italian; he also wrote in his native Sicilian language, which still uses the letter to represent (and sometimes also [dʒ] or [gj], depending on its environment).\n\nOther European Languages \n\nThe Maltese language is a Semitic language, not a Romance language; but has been deeply influenced by them (especially Sicilian) and it uses for the sound /j/ (cognate of the Semitic yod).\n\nIn Basque, the diaphoneme represented by has a variety of realizations according to the regional dialect: (the last one is typical of Gipuzkoa).\n\nNon-European languages \nAmong non-European languages that have adopted the Latin script, stands for in Turkish and Azerbaijani, for in Tatar. stands for in Indonesian, Somali, Malay, Igbo, Shona, Oromo, Turkmen, and Zulu. It represents a voiced palatal plosive in Konkani, Yoruba, and Swahili. In Kiowa, stands for a voiceless alveolar plosive, .\n\n stands for in the romanization systems of most of the languages of India such as Hindi and Telugu and stands for in the romanization of Japanese and Korean.\n\nFor Chinese languages, stands for in Mandarin Chinese Pinyin system, the unaspirated equivalent of (). In Wade–Giles, stands for Mandarin Chinese . Pe̍h-ōe-jī of Hokkien and Tâi-lô for Taiwanese Hokkien, stands for and , or and , depending on accents. In Jyutping for Cantonese, stands for .\n\nThe Royal Thai General System of Transcription does not use the letter , although it is used in some proper names and non-standard transcriptions to represent either or (the latter following Pali/Sanskrit root equivalents).\n\nIn romanized Pashto, represents ځ, pronounced .\n\nIn Greenlandic and in the Qaniujaaqpait spelling of the Inuktitut language, is used to transcribe .\n\nFollowing Spanish usage, represents or similar sounds in many Latin-alphabet-based writing systems for indigenous languages of the Americas, such as in Mayan languages (ALMG alphabet) and a glottal fricative [h] in some spelling systems used for Aymara.\n\nRelated characters \n\n 𐤉 : Semitic letter Yodh, from which the following symbols originally derive\n I i : Latin letter I, from which J derives\n ȷ : Dotless j\n ᶡ : Modifier letter small dotless j with stroke\n ᶨ : Modifier letter small j with crossed-tail\n IPA-specific symbols related to J: \n Uralic Phonetic Alphabet-specific symbols related to J:\n\n J with diacritics: Ĵ ĵ J̌ ǰ Ɉ ɉ J̃ j̇̃\n\nComputing codes \n\n1 Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.\n\nUnicode also has a dotless variant, ȷ (U+0237). It is primarily used in Landsmålsalfabet and in mathematics. It is not intended to be used with diacritics since the normal j is softdotted in Unicode (that is, the dot is removed if a diacritic is to be placed above; Unicode further states that, for example i+ ¨ ≠ ı+¨ and the same holds true for j and ȷ).\n\nIn Unicode, a duplicate of 'J' for use as a special phonetic character in historical Greek linguistics is encoded in the Greek script block as ϳ (Unicode U+03F3). It is used to denote the palatal glide in the context of Greek script. It is called \"Yot\" in the Unicode standard, after the German name of the letter J. An uppercase version of this letter was added to the Unicode Standard at U+037F with the release of version 7.0 in June 2014.\n\nWingdings smiley issue \nIn the Wingdings font by Microsoft, the letter \"J\" is rendered as a smiley face (this is distinct from the Unicode code point U+263A, which renders as ☺︎). In Microsoft applications, \":)\" is automatically replaced by a smiley rendered in a specific font face when composing rich text documents or HTML email. This autocorrection feature can be switched off or changed to a Unicode smiley.\n\nOther uses\n In international licence plate codes, J stands for Japan.\n In mathematics, j is one of the three imaginary units of quaternions.\n Also in mathematics, j is one of the three unit vectors. \n In the Metric system, J is the symbol for the joule, the SI derived unit for energy.\n In some areas of physics, electrical engineering and related fields, j is the symbol for the imaginary unit (the square root of −1) (in other fields the letter i is used, but this would be ambiguous as it is also the symbol for current).\n A J can be a slang term for a joint (marijuana cigarette)\n\nOther representations\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n \n \n \n\nCategory:ISO basic Latin letters",
"title": "J"
}
] | null | null |
C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_0 | Pat Neshek | Patrick John Neshek (born September 4, 1980) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros, and Colorado Rockies. The Twins selected him in the sixth round of the 2002 MLB draft from Butler University. Neshek made his MLB debut for the Twins on July 7, 2006, and played for them until 2010, except 2009, which he missed due to Tommy John surgery. | Pitching style | Neshek has a very unorthodox style of delivery that transitions from starting at a submarine angle to finishing sidearm with an explosive thrusting motion. Near the release of the pitch, his torso and arm angle in a moderate "V" shape. He developed the delivery after being struck in the forearm with a ball in high school by C. J. Woodrow (a former Philadelphia Phillies farmhand). He then began to throw side arm and play shortstop due to his injury. When it healed, he could not change back to over the shoulder and his unique delivery stayed the way it is. He still has a lump in his forearm where he was struck. The delivery has earned mention on SportsCenter as well as Baseball Tonight. Professional baseball scouts have had a divided opinion on the issue. Some were worried that this violent-looking delivery would lead to arm problems. Others considered the delivery to be an asset, as right-handed batters have a very difficult time seeing the ball. For example, Jose Marzan, his former manager with the Single-A Fort Myers Miracle believes that one of Neshek's greatest strengths is his ability to have enough strength to throw hard from such an angle, as his fastball used to top out around 96 mph (154 km/h) prior to his Tommy John surgery. Neshek has had great success in both the minor and major leagues as a reliever, averaging more than a strikeout per inning pitched. After joining the Cardinals in 2014, Neshek's sinking fastball showed effectiveness well-above expectations through May 21. With a mean movement of 10.9 inches, it averaged more horizontal movement than any other pitch from any other reliever on the Cardinals staff, which was 1.3 inches more than Carlos Martinez' two-seam fastball. Martinez' own fastball has been heralded for its movement. Neshek's sinking fastball also averaged over 91 miles per hour (146 km/h) during that time, its highest velocity since 2007. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_0_q#0",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_0_q#1",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_0_q#2",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_0_q#3",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_0_q#4",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_0_q#5",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_0_q#6",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_0_q#7"
] | [
"what was his pitching style",
"was he right or left handed",
"did he break any records",
"was there anything else unique about his pitching style",
"did he get any nickname because of his style",
"Did he every try to change it up",
"Was he ever injured?",
"what is he most remembered for"
] | [
0,
1,
2,
0,
1,
2,
2,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
0,
1,
1,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
846
],
[
1255
],
[
156
],
[
618
],
[
453
],
[
236
],
[
1043
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Neshek has a very unorthodox style of delivery that transitions from starting at a submarine angle to finishing sidearm with an explosive thrusting motion."
],
[
"Others considered the delivery to be an asset, as right-handed batters have a very difficult time seeing the ball."
],
[
"Neshek has had great success in both the minor and major leagues as a reliever, averaging more than a strikeout per inning pitched."
],
[
"Near the release of the pitch, his torso and arm angle in a moderate \"V\" shape."
],
[
"The delivery has earned mention on SportsCenter as well as Baseball Tonight."
],
[
"When it healed, he could not change back to over the shoulder and his unique delivery stayed the way it is."
],
[
"He developed the delivery after being struck in the forearm with a ball in high school by C. J. Woodrow"
],
[
"believes that one of Neshek's greatest strengths is his ability to have enough strength to throw hard from such an angle,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
846,
1255,
156,
618,
453,
236,
1043
],
"texts": [
"Neshek has a very unorthodox style of delivery that transitions from starting at a submarine angle to finishing sidearm with an explosive thrusting motion.",
"Others considered the delivery to be an asset, as right-handed batters have a very difficult time seeing the ball.",
"Neshek has had great success in both the minor and major leagues as a reliever, averaging more than a strikeout per inning pitched.",
"Near the release of the pitch, his torso and arm angle in a moderate \"V\" shape.",
"The delivery has earned mention on SportsCenter as well as Baseball Tonight.",
"When it healed, he could not change back to over the shoulder and his unique delivery stayed the way it is.",
"He developed the delivery after being struck in the forearm with a ball in high school by C. J. Woodrow",
"believes that one of Neshek's greatest strengths is his ability to have enough strength to throw hard from such an angle,"
]
} | Patrick John Neshek (pronounced NEE-shehk; born September 4, 1980), is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros, Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies. The Twins selected him in the sixth round of the 2002 MLB draft, out of Butler University. Neshek made his MLB debut for the Twins in , and played for them until (except for , which he missed due to Tommy John surgery). He was selected to his first All-Star Game in 2014, and his second in .
Probably best known for an unorthodox pitching delivery, Neshek's arm motion slots about sidearm, with an explosive release point, which developed after a baseball struck his forearm in high school. Right-handed batters have difficulty tracking the path of his pitches, resulting in a .193 batting average, .243 on-base percentage, and a .311 slugging percentage against Neshek, in 1,143 career plate appearances, through .
Early career
Neshek was born in Madison, Wisconsin. At Park Center Senior High School in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, he was named to the All-State team.
At Butler University, located in Indianapolis, he was a finance major and a three-year letter winner. In 2001, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League. In his junior year, his win–loss record was 4–6 but he posted a 3.08 earned run average (ERA) and 94 strikeouts (SO) in innings pitched (IP). He holds school strikeout records for a single game (18 vs. Detroit, April 15, 2001), single season (118, 2001), and career (280). He ultimately became the third Butler pitcher to make the major leagues, after Oral Hildebrand and Doug Jones. In 2018, Neshek was inducted into the Butler Athletics Hall of Fame.
The Minnesota Twins originally selected Neshek in the 45th round (1,337th overall) of the 1999 MLB draft, but he did not sign and went on to Butler. The Twins again later drafted him in the sixth round (182nd overall) of the 2002 MLB draft. He signed with the Twins that year for a $132,500 signing bonus, and was assigned to the Twins' rookie farm team. He then spent four years in the minor leagues. During the 2005 season, he led all minor league Twins players in saves. In 2006, Neshek was 6–2 with 14 saves and a 1.95 ERA in 33 relief appearances for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. He was International League Pitcher of the Week on July 2, mid-season All Star, post-season All Star, Baseball America Triple-A All Star, and MiLB.com Triple-A Relief Pitcher of the Year. He has pitched innings in 302 career minor league games with 464 strikeouts, a 31–19 record and a 2.58 ERA.
Major League career
Minnesota Twins
Neshek made his MLB debut on July 7, 2006, pitched two innings and allowed just one hit. On July 30, he earned his first major league career win against the Detroit Tigers after pitching one-third of an inning. Neshek appeared in 32 games in his rookie year, accumulating 37 innings pitched, a 4–2 record, six home runs allowed, but just 23 hits and 53 strikeouts with a 2.19 ERA. Those rates were 5.6 hits per nine innings allowed (H/9) and 12.5 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (K/9).
Neshek began the 2007 season 2–0 with a 2.25 ERA in 12 relief appearances. In May, he gave up only six hits in innings pitched, had 18 strikeouts and posted a very impressive 0.66 ERA. He was chosen as one of five candidates for the final online fan vote for the All-Star game along with Jeremy Bonderman, Kelvim Escobar, Roy Halladay, and Hideki Okajima. The spot went to Okajima despite a campaign by Twin fans and national sports blogs to "Pitch in for Pat". Neshek finished third in the voting.
Neshek suffered his first loss of the season against the New York Yankees on July 5, but then won three games in 14 days improving his record to 6–1. He posted a 3.97 ERA during the month of July, and regressed to a 5.06 ERA in August. On September 20, the Twins shut him down for the season because of shoulder/elbow fatigue. Neshek ended the season at 7–2, appearing in 74 games (fifth in the American League) with 74 strikeouts and pitching a total of innings with a 2.94 ERA. He was honored at the annual Twins' diamond ceremony with the 2007 Dick Siebert Award.
In his first three appearances of 2008, Neshek allowed only one hit in innings pitched with no earned runs, but then allowed seven earned runs in his next 10 innings. In May, after pitching in only 13 innings, he was placed on the 60-day disabled list with a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) and missed the rest of the season. On November 11, it was announced that he would undergo ligament replacement surgery (more commonly known as Tommy John surgery) and miss the entire 2009 season. He underwent surgery one week later on November 18.
Neshek recovered to make the Twins' 2010 roster out of spring training. In innings pitched in April, he had a 4.15 ERA with two runs and two hits allowed. On April 15, he was put on the disabled list due to middle finger inflammation. But when he was re-examined, an MRI revealed that the injury was not in fact in the middle finger but rather in the palm of his right hand. He angrily wrote about this not only on his website but also on Facebook, where he said he was "not happy with anything that has gone on, especially when it could have been taken care of three weeks ago and I was told the wrong info." This raised Twins manager Ron Gardenhire's ire, in that his young pitcher had publicly criticized the Twins' organization and their medical staff, but the matter was eventually settled, Neshek saying "Gardy and I are on the same page" and vowing that once healthy he would be willing to pitch wherever the Twins assign him, calling the whole thing "a miscommunication." After his time on the DL ran out, he was optioned to Triple-A Rochester, but he was later recalled to the majors on September 6. Neshek finished the season 0–1 with a 5.00 ERA in 11 games, recording nine strikeouts and eight walks in nine innings pitched.
San Diego Padres
Neshek was acquired off waivers on March 20, 2011, by the San Diego Padres. He was designated for assignment on August 20 after going 1–1 and recording a 4.01 ERA with 20 strikeouts in innings over in 25 appearances for the Padres. At season's end, he became a free agent.
Baltimore Orioles organization
On January 30, 2012, Neshek signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles and was invited to spring training. He ultimately did not make the opening day roster and spent the next several months at Triple-A Norfolk Tides. For the week of June 25 – July 1, he was named the International League's Pitcher of the Week. He notched three saves and eight strikeouts in innings pitched, and had not surrendered a hit since May 29. In his time at Norfolk, Neshek was 3–2 with 11 saves and a 2.66 ERA in 35 relief appearances. He recorded 49 strikeouts while walking just seven and giving up only one home run in 44 innings pitched.
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics traded for Neshek on August 3, 2012, for cash considerations, and immediately called him up from Triple-A Norfolk.
On September 22, Neshek gave up the game-tying home run in the bottom of the 13th inning to New York Yankees slugger Raúl Ibañez. The A's had scored four runs in the top of the inning, leading to a galling 10–9 loss the next inning. However, the A's defeated the Yankees the next day and went 9–2 to end the season, edging the Texas Rangers out of the American League West championship by one game, including sweeping the final three-game series in Oakland. In 24 games with the A's, Neshek went 2–1 in innings, yielding 10 hits and six walks, along with 16 strikeouts and a 1.37 ERA. He relied heavily on the slider, throwing it 83.5 percent of all pitches.
On November 30, 2012, Neshek avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $975,000 deal with the A's. He started the season well, posted a 2.34 ERA in his first 38 appearances into August, with 30 of them being scoreless. However, he gave up three runs apiece in two different appearances in August, raising his ERA to 3.58. Neshek attributed his early success to throwing almost exclusively sliders to right-handed hitters. Of all his pitches, he threw the slider 73 percent of the time in 2013.
The A's designated Neshek for assignment on August 26. For the season, he finished 2–1 with a 3.35 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 45 relief appearances. He elected free agency November 5. Through the end of 2013, Neshek had faced 555 right-handed batters in his MLB career, holding them to a .181 batting average, .257 on-base percentage (OBP), and .315 slugging percentage (SLG). In 326 plate appearances, opposite-handed hitters had more success with a .237 average, .328 OBP, and .432 SLG.
St. Louis Cardinals
Neshek signed a minor league deal with the St. Louis Cardinals on February 6, 2014, with an invitation to spring training and an opportunity as a right-handed specialist against right-handed batters from the bullpen. After the mixed performances of the previous two seasons and less-than-satisfying offers from other teams, he had worked during the offseason specifically to target an increase in fastball velocity. This followed after the New York Mets commented to him they wanted to see increased velocity. It gradually surged, showing up to , up from a consistent from the year before. Pleased with the increased velocity, the Cardinals purchased his contract on March 30, thereby awarding him a spot on the 25-man MLB roster.
The developments with Neshek's spring training led to further success in the regular season that occurred as he began to mix more pitches with his slider. Against 48 total batters faced in April, he struck out 16 and yielded just six hits along with a 1.42 ERA. Neshek was credited with his first win as a Cardinal when he pitched two scoreless innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 22. Neshek improved in his second month as a Cardinal, allowing just five hits and yielding no runs in 12 innings pitched in May. He picked up his first career MLB save on June 4 against the Kansas City Royals. In another eight innings pitched in June, Neshek allowed just one run with a .143 batting average against. During a 22-game span, he yielded no runs, covering innings. His fastball average for the season through June 30 was , the highest of his career. Through that point, sliders comprised 38 percent of his total pitches.
After emerging from the role of a right-handed specialist to primary setup pitcher for closer Trevor Rosenthal, Neshek made his first All-Star Game. In 43 games and IP before the midseason break, he was 4–0 with two saves, a 0.70 ERA, and 0.57 walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP). By making the team, he became just the 15th non-starter or closer of 280 total pitchers of the prior ten seasons to be named to an All-Star team. Further, the All-Star selection was a personal landmark event in two ways. First, the game was played at Target Field in Minneapolis, the home field of the Twins, the team with whom Neshek began his MLB career. Second, it was close to Brooklyn Park, the city in which he grew up. However, Neshek took the loss for the National League, as the American League won, 5–3.
The Cardinals traded for John Lackey at the non-waiver deadline on July 31, and Neshek volunteered to change his number from 41 to 37. Lackey had worn 41 with past teams. To facilitate the exchange, Lackey mailed Neshek a Babe Ruth–autographed baseball the next month. In an August 10 appearance against the Orioles, Neshek's sinker was clocked at as he completed two innings and struck out four, tying a career high. On August 19 against the Cincinnati Reds, he worked the last inning and picked up the decision in a Cardinals' walk-off win. It was his sixth win of the year against zero losses. For the month, he registered two saves and two wins. In 2014, Neshek was 7–2 with six saves and a 1.87 ERA in 71 appearances, recording 68 strikeouts in 67 innings. Despite having only given up four home runs the entire season, Neshek surrendered a postseason game-losing home run in Game 2 of the 2014 National League Division Series to Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the game-tying home run in Game 5 of the 2014 National League Championship Series to Michael Morse of the San Francisco Giants, which ultimately led to the elimination of the Cardinals in the 2014 postseason.
Houston Astros
On December 10, 2014, Neshek agreed to a two-year, $12.5 million contract with the Houston Astros. The deal was made official on December 12. In 2015, he was 3–6 with one save, 28 holds (tied for third in the AL), and a 3.62 ERA, and 51 strikeouts in 66 relief appearances. In 2016, Neshek was 2–2 with a 3.06 ERA, and 43 strikeouts in 60 relief appearances.
Philadelphia Phillies
Neshek was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for a player to be named later on November 4, 2016. He was an NL All Star; his second All Star appearance. In 2017 with the Phillies, he was 3–2 with one save and a 1.12 ERA, and 45 strikeouts in 43 relief appearances.
Colorado Rockies
Neshek was traded to the Colorado Rockies for minor league players Jose Gomez, JD Hammer, and Alejandro Requena on July 26, 2017. In 2017 with the Rockies, he was 2–1 with a 2.45 ERA, and 24 strikeouts in 28 appearances. His 23 holds between the two teams was tied for fifth in the NL.
Return To Philadelphia
On December 15, 2017, Neshek signed a two-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Neshek announced that he would wear uniform number 93, which had never been worn by an MLB player during regular season play. On March 30, 2018, Neshek was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a right shoulder strain. On July 1, he was activated off the disabled list.
In 2018 with the Phillies, Neshek was 3–2 with five saves and a 2.59 ERA, and 15 strikeouts in 30 relief appearances. He was the eighth-oldest player in the National League.
In 2019 with the Phillies, Neshek pitched only 18 innings, and was 0–1 with three saves and a 5.00 ERA in 20 games before his season ended due to a hamstring injury he suffered in June that ultimately required surgery in September. He was the fourth-oldest player in the National League.
Pitching style
Neshek has a very unorthodox style of delivery that transitions from starting at a submarine angle to finishing sidearm with an explosive thrusting motion. Near the release of the pitch, his torso and arm angle in a moderate "V" shape. He developed the delivery after being struck in the forearm with a ball in high school by C. J. Woodrow (a former Philadelphia Phillies farmhand). He then began to throw sidearm and play shortstop due to his injury. When it healed, he could not change back to over the shoulder and his unique delivery stayed the way it is. He still has a lump in his forearm where he was struck.
The delivery has earned mention on SportsCenter as well as Baseball Tonight. Professional baseball scouts have had a divided opinion on the issue. Some were worried that this violent-looking delivery would lead to arm problems. Others considered the delivery to be an asset, as right-handed batters have a very difficult time seeing the ball. For example, José Marzán, his former manager with the Single-A Fort Myers Miracle, believes that one of Neshek's greatest strengths is his ability to have enough strength to throw hard from such an angle, as his fastball used to top out around prior to his Tommy John surgery. Neshek has had great success in both the minor and major leagues as a reliever, averaging more than a strikeout per inning pitched.
After joining the Cardinals in 2014, Neshek's sinking fastball showed effectiveness well-above expectations through May 21. With a mean movement of 10.9 inches, it averaged more horizontal movement than any other pitch from any other reliever on the Cardinals staff, which was 1.3 inches more than Carlos Martínez' two-seam fastball. Martínez' own fastball has been heralded for its movement. Neshek's sinking fastball also averaged over during that time, its highest velocity since 2007.
Personal life
After the 2007 season, Neshek became a vegan.
An avid autograph collector, Neshek has created and runs his own website for his fans to interact and talk about collecting autographs. He has auctioned off some of his game-used items in exchange for memorabilia. The site has over 7,000 members. He is also a fan of the baseball sim Out of the Park Baseball, commenting in a tweet on August 12, 2012: "Spent the day off yesterday playing OOTP13 Baseball for most of the day. Talk about addicting."
Neshek is married to Stephanee Neshek. Their first son, Gehrig John, was born on October 2, 2012, the day the A's won the AL West division title. However, he lived only 23 hours. The cause of the infant's death has not been made public. The autopsy of the baby did not provide sufficient clarity about the cause of death, and there are lawsuits pending. Their second son, Hoyt Robert Neshek, was born on March 13, 2014. The Nesheks received a scare because Hoyt was born 11 days early with pneumonia and an air pocket outside his lungs. After remaining in intensive care for 10 days, he was released and his condition improved to, and remained at, full health. Their third child, Shae, was born in December 2015; and their fourth, Skye, in April 2017. The family lives in Melbourne Beach, Florida.
Neshek collects baseball cards, and his 1970 Topps set is one of the best-rated in the world.
Awards
MLB All-Star (2014, 2017)
Minnesota Twins Dick Siebert Award (Upper Midwest League Player of the Year) (2007)
Photos
References
External links
Pat Neshek
Category:1980 births
Category:Living people
Category:American bloggers
Category:Baseball players from Wisconsin
Category:Butler Bulldogs baseball players
Category:Colorado Rockies players
Category:Elizabethton Twins players
Category:Fort Myers Miracle players
Category:Grand Canyon Rafters players
Category:Houston Astros players
Category:Major League Baseball pitchers
Category:Minnesota Twins players
Category:National League All-Stars
Category:New Britain Rock Cats players
Category:Norfolk Tides players
Category:Oakland Athletics players
Category:Philadelphia Phillies players
Category:Quad Cities River Bandits players
Category:Rochester Red Wings players
Category:Sacramento River Cats players
Category:San Diego Padres players
Category:Sportspeople from Madison, Wisconsin
Category:St. Louis Cardinals players
Category:Tucson Padres players
Category:Wareham Gatemen players
Category:World Baseball Classic players of the United States
Category:2017 World Baseball Classic players
Category:Wisconsin Woodchucks players | [] | [
"Neshek's pitching style is unorthodox and transitions from starting at a submarine angle to finishing sidearm with an explosive thrusting motion. At the release of the pitch, his torso and arm angle in a \"V\" shape. His fastball used to top out around 96 mph prior to Tommy John surgery and his sinking fastball showed effectiveness well above expectations.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Neshek is right or left-handed.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Neshek broke any records.",
"Besides his unorthodox delivery, another unique aspect of Neshek's pitching style is that his sinking fastball showed exceptional effectiveness, with a mean movement of 10.9 inches. It averaged more horizontal movement than any other pitch from any other reliever on the Cardinals staff during a period in 2014. His sinking fastball also reached its highest velocity since 2007, averaging over 91 miles per hour.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Neshek received any nicknames due to his pitching style.",
"The text does not provide detailed information on whether Neshek ever attempted to significantly change his pitching style. However, it does mention that when his injury from high school healed, he could not change back to traditional over-the-shoulder pitching, resulting in his unique delivery. It suggests that his unique delivery style occurred due to necessity rather than a conscious choice to change it up.",
"Yes, Neshek was injured in high school when he was struck in the forearm with a ball thrown by C. J. Woodrow. This injury led him to develop his unique pitching style. It is also mentioned that he later underwent Tommy John surgery, which is a procedure typically performed on pitchers to repair damaged ligaments in the elbow.",
"Based on the given text, Neshek is most remembered for his unique and unorthodox pitching delivery that transitions from a submarine angle to a sidearm finish, and for his effectiveness as a reliever in both the minor and major leagues, including a period with the Cardinals in 2014 when his sinking fastball showed effectiveness well above expectations."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"no",
"No",
"no",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_1 | Pat Neshek | Patrick John Neshek (born September 4, 1980) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros, and Colorado Rockies. The Twins selected him in the sixth round of the 2002 MLB draft from Butler University. Neshek made his MLB debut for the Twins on July 7, 2006, and played for them until 2010, except 2009, which he missed due to Tommy John surgery. | Oakland Athletics | The Oakland Athletics traded for Neshek on August 3, 2012, for cash considerations, and immediately called him up from Triple-A Norfolk. To make room for Neshek on the roster along with same-day call-up right-handed pitcher Dan Straily, the A's optioned relievers Jim Miller and Evan Scribner to Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. On September 22, Neshek gave up the game-tying home run in the bottom of the 13th inning to New York Yankees slugger Raul Ibanez. The A's had scored four runs in the top of the inning, leading to a galling 10-9 loss the next inning. However, the A's defeated the Yankees the next day and went 9-2 to end the season, edging the Texas Rangers out of the American League West championship by one game, including sweeping the final three-game series in Oakland. In 24 games with the A's, Neshek tallied 19 2/3 IP, yielding 10 hits and six walks, with 16 SO and a 1.37 ERA. He relied heavily on the slider, throwing it 83.5 percent of all pitches. On November 30, 2012, Neshek avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal with the A's. He started the season well, posted a 2.34 ERA in his first 38 appearances into August, with 30 of them being scoreless. However, he gave up three runs apiece in two different appearances. Neshek attributed his early success to throwing almost exclusively sliders to right-handed hitters. Of all his pitches, he threw the slider 73 percent of the time in 2013. The A's designated Neshek for assignment on August 26. For the season, he finished with a 3.35 ERA in 40 1/3 IP. He elected free agency November 5. Through the end of 2013, Neshek had faced 555 right-handed batters in his MLB career, holding them to a .181 batting average, .257 OBP and .315 SLG. In 326 PA, opposite-handed hitters, had more success with a .237 AVG, .328 OBP and .432 SLG. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_1_q#0",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_1_q#1",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_1_q#2",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_1_q#3",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_1_q#4",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_1_q#5",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_1_q#6",
"C_22300dccd2784988a186ee1a0264f6df_1_q#7"
] | [
"When did Pat sign to the Oakland Athletics?",
"Which team did he leave to join the Oakland Athletics?",
"Were there any other star players on the team?",
"How did Pat perform on the Oakland Athletics?",
"What year was that season in?",
"Did the Oakland Athletics win any championships while Pat was there?",
"Did he play in any notable games while with the Oakland Athletics?",
"How long did he play for the Athletics?"
] | [
0,
2,
1,
0,
2,
1,
2,
1
] | [
2,
2,
0,
2,
2,
2,
1,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
119
],
[
264
],
[
1068
],
[
53
],
[
1820
],
[
346
],
[
974
]
],
"texts": [
[
"The Oakland Athletics traded for Neshek on August 3, 2012,"
],
[
"Triple-A Norfolk."
],
[
"Jim Miller and Evan Scribner"
],
[
"He started the season well, posted a 2.34 ERA in his first 38 appearances into August, with 30 of them being scoreless."
],
[
"2012,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Neshek gave up the game-tying home run in the bottom of the 13th inning to New York Yankees slugger Raul Ibanez."
],
[
"On November 30, 2012, Neshek avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal with the A's."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
119,
264,
1068,
53,
1820,
346,
974
],
"texts": [
"The Oakland Athletics traded for Neshek on August 3, 2012,",
"Triple-A Norfolk.",
"Jim Miller and Evan Scribner",
"He started the season well, posted a 2.34 ERA in his first 38 appearances into August, with 30 of them being scoreless.",
"2012,",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Neshek gave up the game-tying home run in the bottom of the 13th inning to New York Yankees slugger Raul Ibanez.",
"On November 30, 2012, Neshek avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal with the A's."
]
} | Patrick John Neshek (pronounced NEE-shehk; born September 4, 1980), is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros, Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies. The Twins selected him in the sixth round of the 2002 MLB draft, out of Butler University. Neshek made his MLB debut for the Twins in , and played for them until (except for , which he missed due to Tommy John surgery). He was selected to his first All-Star Game in 2014, and his second in .
Probably best known for an unorthodox pitching delivery, Neshek's arm motion slots about sidearm, with an explosive release point, which developed after a baseball struck his forearm in high school. Right-handed batters have difficulty tracking the path of his pitches, resulting in a .193 batting average, .243 on-base percentage, and a .311 slugging percentage against Neshek, in 1,143 career plate appearances, through .
Early career
Neshek was born in Madison, Wisconsin. At Park Center Senior High School in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, he was named to the All-State team.
At Butler University, located in Indianapolis, he was a finance major and a three-year letter winner. In 2001, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League. In his junior year, his win–loss record was 4–6 but he posted a 3.08 earned run average (ERA) and 94 strikeouts (SO) in innings pitched (IP). He holds school strikeout records for a single game (18 vs. Detroit, April 15, 2001), single season (118, 2001), and career (280). He ultimately became the third Butler pitcher to make the major leagues, after Oral Hildebrand and Doug Jones. In 2018, Neshek was inducted into the Butler Athletics Hall of Fame.
The Minnesota Twins originally selected Neshek in the 45th round (1,337th overall) of the 1999 MLB draft, but he did not sign and went on to Butler. The Twins again later drafted him in the sixth round (182nd overall) of the 2002 MLB draft. He signed with the Twins that year for a $132,500 signing bonus, and was assigned to the Twins' rookie farm team. He then spent four years in the minor leagues. During the 2005 season, he led all minor league Twins players in saves. In 2006, Neshek was 6–2 with 14 saves and a 1.95 ERA in 33 relief appearances for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. He was International League Pitcher of the Week on July 2, mid-season All Star, post-season All Star, Baseball America Triple-A All Star, and MiLB.com Triple-A Relief Pitcher of the Year. He has pitched innings in 302 career minor league games with 464 strikeouts, a 31–19 record and a 2.58 ERA.
Major League career
Minnesota Twins
Neshek made his MLB debut on July 7, 2006, pitched two innings and allowed just one hit. On July 30, he earned his first major league career win against the Detroit Tigers after pitching one-third of an inning. Neshek appeared in 32 games in his rookie year, accumulating 37 innings pitched, a 4–2 record, six home runs allowed, but just 23 hits and 53 strikeouts with a 2.19 ERA. Those rates were 5.6 hits per nine innings allowed (H/9) and 12.5 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (K/9).
Neshek began the 2007 season 2–0 with a 2.25 ERA in 12 relief appearances. In May, he gave up only six hits in innings pitched, had 18 strikeouts and posted a very impressive 0.66 ERA. He was chosen as one of five candidates for the final online fan vote for the All-Star game along with Jeremy Bonderman, Kelvim Escobar, Roy Halladay, and Hideki Okajima. The spot went to Okajima despite a campaign by Twin fans and national sports blogs to "Pitch in for Pat". Neshek finished third in the voting.
Neshek suffered his first loss of the season against the New York Yankees on July 5, but then won three games in 14 days improving his record to 6–1. He posted a 3.97 ERA during the month of July, and regressed to a 5.06 ERA in August. On September 20, the Twins shut him down for the season because of shoulder/elbow fatigue. Neshek ended the season at 7–2, appearing in 74 games (fifth in the American League) with 74 strikeouts and pitching a total of innings with a 2.94 ERA. He was honored at the annual Twins' diamond ceremony with the 2007 Dick Siebert Award.
In his first three appearances of 2008, Neshek allowed only one hit in innings pitched with no earned runs, but then allowed seven earned runs in his next 10 innings. In May, after pitching in only 13 innings, he was placed on the 60-day disabled list with a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) and missed the rest of the season. On November 11, it was announced that he would undergo ligament replacement surgery (more commonly known as Tommy John surgery) and miss the entire 2009 season. He underwent surgery one week later on November 18.
Neshek recovered to make the Twins' 2010 roster out of spring training. In innings pitched in April, he had a 4.15 ERA with two runs and two hits allowed. On April 15, he was put on the disabled list due to middle finger inflammation. But when he was re-examined, an MRI revealed that the injury was not in fact in the middle finger but rather in the palm of his right hand. He angrily wrote about this not only on his website but also on Facebook, where he said he was "not happy with anything that has gone on, especially when it could have been taken care of three weeks ago and I was told the wrong info." This raised Twins manager Ron Gardenhire's ire, in that his young pitcher had publicly criticized the Twins' organization and their medical staff, but the matter was eventually settled, Neshek saying "Gardy and I are on the same page" and vowing that once healthy he would be willing to pitch wherever the Twins assign him, calling the whole thing "a miscommunication." After his time on the DL ran out, he was optioned to Triple-A Rochester, but he was later recalled to the majors on September 6. Neshek finished the season 0–1 with a 5.00 ERA in 11 games, recording nine strikeouts and eight walks in nine innings pitched.
San Diego Padres
Neshek was acquired off waivers on March 20, 2011, by the San Diego Padres. He was designated for assignment on August 20 after going 1–1 and recording a 4.01 ERA with 20 strikeouts in innings over in 25 appearances for the Padres. At season's end, he became a free agent.
Baltimore Orioles organization
On January 30, 2012, Neshek signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles and was invited to spring training. He ultimately did not make the opening day roster and spent the next several months at Triple-A Norfolk Tides. For the week of June 25 – July 1, he was named the International League's Pitcher of the Week. He notched three saves and eight strikeouts in innings pitched, and had not surrendered a hit since May 29. In his time at Norfolk, Neshek was 3–2 with 11 saves and a 2.66 ERA in 35 relief appearances. He recorded 49 strikeouts while walking just seven and giving up only one home run in 44 innings pitched.
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics traded for Neshek on August 3, 2012, for cash considerations, and immediately called him up from Triple-A Norfolk.
On September 22, Neshek gave up the game-tying home run in the bottom of the 13th inning to New York Yankees slugger Raúl Ibañez. The A's had scored four runs in the top of the inning, leading to a galling 10–9 loss the next inning. However, the A's defeated the Yankees the next day and went 9–2 to end the season, edging the Texas Rangers out of the American League West championship by one game, including sweeping the final three-game series in Oakland. In 24 games with the A's, Neshek went 2–1 in innings, yielding 10 hits and six walks, along with 16 strikeouts and a 1.37 ERA. He relied heavily on the slider, throwing it 83.5 percent of all pitches.
On November 30, 2012, Neshek avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $975,000 deal with the A's. He started the season well, posted a 2.34 ERA in his first 38 appearances into August, with 30 of them being scoreless. However, he gave up three runs apiece in two different appearances in August, raising his ERA to 3.58. Neshek attributed his early success to throwing almost exclusively sliders to right-handed hitters. Of all his pitches, he threw the slider 73 percent of the time in 2013.
The A's designated Neshek for assignment on August 26. For the season, he finished 2–1 with a 3.35 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 45 relief appearances. He elected free agency November 5. Through the end of 2013, Neshek had faced 555 right-handed batters in his MLB career, holding them to a .181 batting average, .257 on-base percentage (OBP), and .315 slugging percentage (SLG). In 326 plate appearances, opposite-handed hitters had more success with a .237 average, .328 OBP, and .432 SLG.
St. Louis Cardinals
Neshek signed a minor league deal with the St. Louis Cardinals on February 6, 2014, with an invitation to spring training and an opportunity as a right-handed specialist against right-handed batters from the bullpen. After the mixed performances of the previous two seasons and less-than-satisfying offers from other teams, he had worked during the offseason specifically to target an increase in fastball velocity. This followed after the New York Mets commented to him they wanted to see increased velocity. It gradually surged, showing up to , up from a consistent from the year before. Pleased with the increased velocity, the Cardinals purchased his contract on March 30, thereby awarding him a spot on the 25-man MLB roster.
The developments with Neshek's spring training led to further success in the regular season that occurred as he began to mix more pitches with his slider. Against 48 total batters faced in April, he struck out 16 and yielded just six hits along with a 1.42 ERA. Neshek was credited with his first win as a Cardinal when he pitched two scoreless innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 22. Neshek improved in his second month as a Cardinal, allowing just five hits and yielding no runs in 12 innings pitched in May. He picked up his first career MLB save on June 4 against the Kansas City Royals. In another eight innings pitched in June, Neshek allowed just one run with a .143 batting average against. During a 22-game span, he yielded no runs, covering innings. His fastball average for the season through June 30 was , the highest of his career. Through that point, sliders comprised 38 percent of his total pitches.
After emerging from the role of a right-handed specialist to primary setup pitcher for closer Trevor Rosenthal, Neshek made his first All-Star Game. In 43 games and IP before the midseason break, he was 4–0 with two saves, a 0.70 ERA, and 0.57 walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP). By making the team, he became just the 15th non-starter or closer of 280 total pitchers of the prior ten seasons to be named to an All-Star team. Further, the All-Star selection was a personal landmark event in two ways. First, the game was played at Target Field in Minneapolis, the home field of the Twins, the team with whom Neshek began his MLB career. Second, it was close to Brooklyn Park, the city in which he grew up. However, Neshek took the loss for the National League, as the American League won, 5–3.
The Cardinals traded for John Lackey at the non-waiver deadline on July 31, and Neshek volunteered to change his number from 41 to 37. Lackey had worn 41 with past teams. To facilitate the exchange, Lackey mailed Neshek a Babe Ruth–autographed baseball the next month. In an August 10 appearance against the Orioles, Neshek's sinker was clocked at as he completed two innings and struck out four, tying a career high. On August 19 against the Cincinnati Reds, he worked the last inning and picked up the decision in a Cardinals' walk-off win. It was his sixth win of the year against zero losses. For the month, he registered two saves and two wins. In 2014, Neshek was 7–2 with six saves and a 1.87 ERA in 71 appearances, recording 68 strikeouts in 67 innings. Despite having only given up four home runs the entire season, Neshek surrendered a postseason game-losing home run in Game 2 of the 2014 National League Division Series to Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the game-tying home run in Game 5 of the 2014 National League Championship Series to Michael Morse of the San Francisco Giants, which ultimately led to the elimination of the Cardinals in the 2014 postseason.
Houston Astros
On December 10, 2014, Neshek agreed to a two-year, $12.5 million contract with the Houston Astros. The deal was made official on December 12. In 2015, he was 3–6 with one save, 28 holds (tied for third in the AL), and a 3.62 ERA, and 51 strikeouts in 66 relief appearances. In 2016, Neshek was 2–2 with a 3.06 ERA, and 43 strikeouts in 60 relief appearances.
Philadelphia Phillies
Neshek was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for a player to be named later on November 4, 2016. He was an NL All Star; his second All Star appearance. In 2017 with the Phillies, he was 3–2 with one save and a 1.12 ERA, and 45 strikeouts in 43 relief appearances.
Colorado Rockies
Neshek was traded to the Colorado Rockies for minor league players Jose Gomez, JD Hammer, and Alejandro Requena on July 26, 2017. In 2017 with the Rockies, he was 2–1 with a 2.45 ERA, and 24 strikeouts in 28 appearances. His 23 holds between the two teams was tied for fifth in the NL.
Return To Philadelphia
On December 15, 2017, Neshek signed a two-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Neshek announced that he would wear uniform number 93, which had never been worn by an MLB player during regular season play. On March 30, 2018, Neshek was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a right shoulder strain. On July 1, he was activated off the disabled list.
In 2018 with the Phillies, Neshek was 3–2 with five saves and a 2.59 ERA, and 15 strikeouts in 30 relief appearances. He was the eighth-oldest player in the National League.
In 2019 with the Phillies, Neshek pitched only 18 innings, and was 0–1 with three saves and a 5.00 ERA in 20 games before his season ended due to a hamstring injury he suffered in June that ultimately required surgery in September. He was the fourth-oldest player in the National League.
Pitching style
Neshek has a very unorthodox style of delivery that transitions from starting at a submarine angle to finishing sidearm with an explosive thrusting motion. Near the release of the pitch, his torso and arm angle in a moderate "V" shape. He developed the delivery after being struck in the forearm with a ball in high school by C. J. Woodrow (a former Philadelphia Phillies farmhand). He then began to throw sidearm and play shortstop due to his injury. When it healed, he could not change back to over the shoulder and his unique delivery stayed the way it is. He still has a lump in his forearm where he was struck.
The delivery has earned mention on SportsCenter as well as Baseball Tonight. Professional baseball scouts have had a divided opinion on the issue. Some were worried that this violent-looking delivery would lead to arm problems. Others considered the delivery to be an asset, as right-handed batters have a very difficult time seeing the ball. For example, José Marzán, his former manager with the Single-A Fort Myers Miracle, believes that one of Neshek's greatest strengths is his ability to have enough strength to throw hard from such an angle, as his fastball used to top out around prior to his Tommy John surgery. Neshek has had great success in both the minor and major leagues as a reliever, averaging more than a strikeout per inning pitched.
After joining the Cardinals in 2014, Neshek's sinking fastball showed effectiveness well-above expectations through May 21. With a mean movement of 10.9 inches, it averaged more horizontal movement than any other pitch from any other reliever on the Cardinals staff, which was 1.3 inches more than Carlos Martínez' two-seam fastball. Martínez' own fastball has been heralded for its movement. Neshek's sinking fastball also averaged over during that time, its highest velocity since 2007.
Personal life
After the 2007 season, Neshek became a vegan.
An avid autograph collector, Neshek has created and runs his own website for his fans to interact and talk about collecting autographs. He has auctioned off some of his game-used items in exchange for memorabilia. The site has over 7,000 members. He is also a fan of the baseball sim Out of the Park Baseball, commenting in a tweet on August 12, 2012: "Spent the day off yesterday playing OOTP13 Baseball for most of the day. Talk about addicting."
Neshek is married to Stephanee Neshek. Their first son, Gehrig John, was born on October 2, 2012, the day the A's won the AL West division title. However, he lived only 23 hours. The cause of the infant's death has not been made public. The autopsy of the baby did not provide sufficient clarity about the cause of death, and there are lawsuits pending. Their second son, Hoyt Robert Neshek, was born on March 13, 2014. The Nesheks received a scare because Hoyt was born 11 days early with pneumonia and an air pocket outside his lungs. After remaining in intensive care for 10 days, he was released and his condition improved to, and remained at, full health. Their third child, Shae, was born in December 2015; and their fourth, Skye, in April 2017. The family lives in Melbourne Beach, Florida.
Neshek collects baseball cards, and his 1970 Topps set is one of the best-rated in the world.
Awards
MLB All-Star (2014, 2017)
Minnesota Twins Dick Siebert Award (Upper Midwest League Player of the Year) (2007)
Photos
References
External links
Pat Neshek
Category:1980 births
Category:Living people
Category:American bloggers
Category:Baseball players from Wisconsin
Category:Butler Bulldogs baseball players
Category:Colorado Rockies players
Category:Elizabethton Twins players
Category:Fort Myers Miracle players
Category:Grand Canyon Rafters players
Category:Houston Astros players
Category:Major League Baseball pitchers
Category:Minnesota Twins players
Category:National League All-Stars
Category:New Britain Rock Cats players
Category:Norfolk Tides players
Category:Oakland Athletics players
Category:Philadelphia Phillies players
Category:Quad Cities River Bandits players
Category:Rochester Red Wings players
Category:Sacramento River Cats players
Category:San Diego Padres players
Category:Sportspeople from Madison, Wisconsin
Category:St. Louis Cardinals players
Category:Tucson Padres players
Category:Wareham Gatemen players
Category:World Baseball Classic players of the United States
Category:2017 World Baseball Classic players
Category:Wisconsin Woodchucks players | [] | [
"The Oakland Athletics traded for Pat Neshek on August 3, 2012.",
"The context does not provide information on which team Pat Neshek left to join the Oakland Athletics.",
"The context does not provide information on any other star players on the Oakland Athletics team when Pat Neshek joined.",
"Pat Neshek performed reasonably well in the season he played with the Oakland Athletics. He was called up from Triple-A Norfolk immediately upon his trade to the team on August 3, 2012. In 24 games with the A's, Neshek recorded 19 2/3 innings pitched, giving up only 10 hits and six walks with 16 strikeouts and an earned run average (ERA) of 1.37. Neshek was known for his heavy use of the slider, which he threw 83.5 percent of the time. In 2013, he had a robust start, with a 2.34 ERA in his first 38 appearances, 30 of which were scoreless. He attributed his early success to his nearly exclusive use of sliders against right-handed batters. However, his performance slightly dipped later in the 2013 season, and he ended the season with a 3.35 ERA. The A's then designated Neshek for assignment on August 26, and he elected free agency on November 5.",
"Pat Neshek played for the Oakland Athletics in the 2012 and 2013 seasons.",
"During Pat Neshek's time with the A's, they won the American League West championship by edging out the Texas Rangers.",
"Yes, one notable game mentioned in the context occurred on September 22, 2012, where Neshek gave up the game-tying home run in the bottom of the 13th inning to New York Yankees slugger Raul Ibanez. The A's had scored four runs in the top of the inning, but eventually suffered a 10-9 loss the next inning.",
"Pat Neshek played for the Oakland Athletics for two seasons, from August 2012 to August 2013."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"no",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_7be9cafd4da345878598a79c868e3007_1 | The Kinks | The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, in 1964 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most important and influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the United States until their touring ban in 1965. Their third single, the Ray Davies-penned "You Really Got Me", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States. | Musical style | The Kinks started out playing the then popular R&B and blues styles; then, under the influence of The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" recording, developed louder rock and hard rock sounds -- due to their pioneering contribution to the field, they have often been labelled as "the original punks". Dave Davies was "really bored with this guitar sound - or lack of an interesting sound" so he purchased "a little green amplifier ... an Elpico" from a radio spares shop in Muswell Hill, and "twiddled around with it", including "taking the wires going to the speaker and putting a jack plug on there and plugging it straight into my AC30" (a larger amplifier), but didn't get the sound he wanted until he got frustrated and "got a single-sided Gillette razorblade and cut round the cone [from the centre to the edge] ... so it was all shredded but still on there, still intact. I played and I thought it was amazing." The jagged sound of the amplifier was replicated in the studio; the Elpico was plugged into the Vox AC30, and the resulting effect became a mainstay in The Kinks' early recordings--most notably on "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night". From 1966 onwards, The Kinks came to be known for their adherence to traditions of English music and culture, during a period when many other British bands dismissed their heritage in favour of American blues, R&B and pop styles. Ray Davies recalled that at a distinct moment in 1965 he decided to break away from the American scene, and write more introspective and intelligent songs. "I decided I was going to use words more, and say things. I wrote 'Well Respected Man'. That was the first real word-oriented song I wrote. ... [I also] abandoned any attempt to Americanise my accent." The Kinks' allegiance to English styles was strengthened by the ban placed on them by the American Federation of Musicians. The ban cut them off from the American record buying public, the world's largest musical market, forcing them to focus on Britain and mainland Europe. The Kinks expanded on their English sound throughout the remainder of the 1960s, incorporating elements of music hall, folk, and baroque music through use of harpsichord, acoustic guitar, mellotron, and horns, and creating some of the most influential and important music of the period. Beginning with Everybody's In Show-biz (1972), Ray Davies began exploring theatrical concepts on the group's albums; these themes became manifest on the 1973 album Preservation Act 1 and continued through Schoolboys In Disgrace (1976). The Kinks found little success with these conceptual works, and reverted to a traditional rock format throughout the remainder of the 1970s. Sleepwalker (1977), which heralded their return to commercial success, featured a mainstream, relatively slick production style that would become their norm. The band returned to hard rock for Low Budget (1979), and continued to record within the genre throughout the remainder of their career. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_7be9cafd4da345878598a79c868e3007_1_q#0",
"C_7be9cafd4da345878598a79c868e3007_1_q#1",
"C_7be9cafd4da345878598a79c868e3007_1_q#2",
"C_7be9cafd4da345878598a79c868e3007_1_q#3"
] | [
"What was their musical style like?",
"who were their influences?",
"what was their influence?",
"did they work with anyone?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
1
] | [
2,
0,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
47
],
[
85
],
[
148
],
[
2985
]
],
"texts": [
[
"R&B and blues styles;"
],
[
"influence of The Kingsmen's \"Louie Louie\" recording,"
],
[
"louder rock and hard rock sounds -- due to their pioneering contribution to the field, they have often been labelled as \"the original punks\"."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
47,
85,
148,
2985
],
"texts": [
"R&B and blues styles;",
"influence of The Kingsmen's \"Louie Louie\" recording,",
"louder rock and hard rock sounds -- due to their pioneering contribution to the field, they have often been labelled as \"the original punks\".",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the United States until their touring ban in 1965. Their third single, the Ray Davies-penned "You Really Got Me", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States.
The Kinks' music drew from a wide range of influences, including American R&B and rock and roll initially, and later adopting British music hall, folk, and country. The band gained a reputation for reflecting English culture and lifestyle, fuelled by Ray Davies' wittily observational writing style, and made apparent in albums such as Face to Face (1966), Something Else (1967), The Village Green Preservation Society (1968), Arthur (1969), Lola Versus Powerman (1970), and Muswell Hillbillies (1971), along with their accompanying singles including the transatlantic hit "Lola" (1970). After a fallow period in the mid-1970s, the band experienced a revival during the late 1970s and early 1980s with their albums Sleepwalker (1977), Misfits (1978), Low Budget (1979), Give the People What They Want (1981) and State of Confusion (1983), the last of which produced one of the band's most successful US hits, "Come Dancing". In addition, groups such as Van Halen, the Jam, the Knack, the Pretenders and the Romantics covered their songs, helping to boost the Kinks' record sales. In the 1990s, Britpop acts such as Blur and Oasis cited the band as a major influence.
The original line-up comprised Ray Davies (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Dave Davies (lead guitar, vocals), Mick Avory (drums, percussion) and Pete Quaife (bass). The Davies brothers remained with the band throughout its history. Quaife was replaced by John Dalton in 1969, with keyboardist John Gosling being added in 1970 (prior to this, session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins played on many of their recordings). After Dalton's 1976 departure, Andy Pyle briefly served as the band's bassist before being replaced by Argent bassist Jim Rodford in 1978. Gosling quit in 1978 and was first replaced by ex-Pretty Things member Gordon Edwards, then more permanently by Ian Gibbons in 1979. Avory left the group in 1984 and was replaced by another Argent member Bob Henrit. The band gave its last public performance in 1996 and broke up in 1997 as a result of creative tension between the Davies brothers.
The Kinks have had five Top 10 singles on the US Billboard chart. Nine of their albums charted in the Top 40. In the UK, they have had seventeen Top 20 singles and five Top 10 albums. Four Kinks albums have been certified gold by the RIAA and the band have sold 50 million records worldwide. Among numerous honours, they received the Ivor Novello Award for "Outstanding Service to British Music". In 1990, the original four members of the Kinks were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as the UK Music Hall of Fame in November 2005. In 2018, after years of ruling out a reunion due to the brothers' animosity and the difficult relationship between longtime drummer Mick Avory and Dave, Ray and Dave Davies finally announced they were working to reform the Kinks, with Avory also on board. However, comments made by each of the Davies brothers in 2020 and 2021 would indicate that in the years since the initial announcement, little (if any) progress has been made towards an actual Kinks reunion for a new studio band album. In 2023, Avory confirmed that the reunion would no longer be taking place due to conflicting opinions of direction between the Davies brothers.
History
Formation (1962–1963)
The Davies brothers were born in suburban North London on Huntingdon Road, East Finchley, the youngest and the only boys among their family's eight children. Their parents, Frederick and Annie Davies, moved the family to 6Denmark Terrace, Fortis Green, in the neighbouring suburb of Muswell Hill. At home the brothers were immersed in a world of varied musical styles, from the music hall of their parents' generation to the jazz and early rock and roll their older sisters enjoyed. Both Ray and his brother Dave, younger by almost three years, learned to play guitar, and they played skiffle and rock and roll together.
The brothers attended William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School (later merged with Tollington Grammar School to become Fortismere School), where they formed a band, the Ray Davies Quartet, with Ray's friend and classmate Pete Quaife and Quaife's friend John Start (although they would also be known as the Pete Quaife Quartet, if the bass player landed a gig for them instead). Their debut at a school dance was well received, which encouraged the group to play at local pubs and bars. The band went through a series of lead vocalists, including Rod Stewart, another student at William Grimshaw, who performed with the group at least once in early 1962. He then formed his own group, Rod Stewart and the Moonrakers, who became a local rival to the Ray Davies Quartet.
In late 1962, Ray Davies left home to study at Hornsey College of Art. He pursued interests in subjects such as film, sketching, theatre, and music, including jazz and blues. When Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated played at the college in December, he asked advice from Alexis Korner, who recommended Giorgio Gomelsky, the former Yardbirds manager, who put Davies in touch with the Soho-based Dave Hunt Band, a professional group of musicians who played jazz and R&B. A few days after the Ray Davies Quartet supported Cyril Stapleton at the Lyceum Ballroom on New Year's Eve, Davies, while still remaining in the Quartet, joined the Dave Hunt Band which briefly included Charlie Watts on drums. In February 1963, Davies left Dave Hunt to join the Hamilton King Band (also known as the Blues Messengers), which had Peter Bardens as pianist. At the end of the spring term, he left Hornsey College with a view to study film at the Central School of Art and Design. Around this time the Quartet changed their name to the Ramrods. Davies has referred to a show the fledgling Kinks played (again as the Ray Davies Quartet) at Hornsey Town Hall on Valentine's Day 1963 as their first important gig. In June, the Hamilton King Band broke up, though the Ramrods kept going, performing under several other names, including the Pete Quaife Band, and the Bo-Weevils, before (temporarily) settling on the Ravens. The fledgling group hired two managers, Grenville Collins and Robert Wace, and in late 1963 former pop singer Larry Page became their third manager. American record producer Shel Talmy began working with the band, and the Beatles' promoter, Arthur Howes, was retained to schedule the Ravens' live shows. The group unsuccessfully auditioned for various record labels until early 1964, when Talmy secured them a contract with Pye Records. During this period they had acquired a new drummer, Mickey Willet; however, Willet left the band shortly before they signed to Pye. The Ravens invited Mick Avory to replace him after seeing an advertisement Avory had placed in Melody Maker. Avory had a background in jazz drumming and had played one gig with the fledgling Rolling Stones.
Around this period, the Ravens decided on a new, permanent name: the Kinks. Numerous explanations of the name's genesis have been offered. In Jon Savage's analysis, they "needed a gimmick, some edge to get them attention. Here it was: 'Kinkiness'—something newsy, naughty but just on the borderline of acceptability. In adopting the 'Kinks' as their name at that time, they were participating in a time-honoured pop ritual—fame through outrage." Manager Robert Wace related his side of the story: "I had a friend... He thought the group was rather fun. If my memory is correct, he came up with the name just as an idea, as a good way of getting publicity... When we went to [the band members] with the name, they were... absolutely horrified. They said, 'We're not going to be called kinky! Ray Davies' account conflicts with Wace's—he recalled that the name was coined by Larry Page, and referenced their "kinky" fashion sense. Davies quoted him as saying, "The way you look, and the clothes you wear, you ought to be called the Kinks." "I've never really liked the name," Ray stated.
Early years (1964–1965)
The band's first single was a cover of the Little Richard song "Long Tall Sally". Bobby Graham, a friend of the band, was recruited to play drums on the recording. He would continue to occasionally substitute for Avory in the studio and play on several of the Kinks' early singles, including the early hits "You Really Got Me", "All Day and All of the Night" and "Tired of Waiting for You". "Long Tall Sally" was released in February 1964, but despite the publicity efforts of the band's managers, the single was almost completely ignored. When their second single, "You Still Want Me", failed to chart, Pye Records threatened to annul the group's contract unless their third single was successful.
"You Really Got Me", a Ray Davies song, influenced by American blues and the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie", was recorded on 15 June 1964 at Pye Studios with a slower and more produced feel than the final single. Ray Davies wanted to re-record the song with a lean, raw sound, but Pye refused to fund another session; Davies was adamant, so the producer, Shel Talmy, broke the stalemate by underwriting the session himself. The band used an independent studio, IBC, and went in on 15 July, getting it done in two takes. The single was released in August 1964, and, supported by a performance on the television show Ready Steady Go! and extensive pirate radio coverage, it entered the UK charts on 15 August, reaching number one on 19 September. Hastily imported by the American label Reprise Records, where the band was signed by legendary executive Mo Ostin, it also made the Top 10 in the United States. The loud, distorted guitar riff and solo on "You Really Got Me"—played by Dave Davies and achieved by a slice he made in the speaker cone of his Elpico amplifier (referred to by the band as the "little green amp")—helped with the song's signature, gritty guitar sound. "You Really Got Me" has been described as "a blueprint song in the hard rock and heavy metal arsenal", and as an influence on the approach of some American garage rock bands. After its release, the group recorded most of the tracks for their debut LP, simply titled Kinks. Consisting largely of covers and revamped traditional songs, it was released on 2October 1964, reaching number four on the UK chart. The group's fourth single, "All Day and All of the Night", another Ray Davies hard rock tune, was released three weeks later, reaching number two in the United Kingdom, and number seven in the United States. The next singles, "Set Me Free" and "Tired of Waiting for You", were also commercially successful, the latter topping the UK singles chart.
The group opened 1965 with their first tour of Australia and New Zealand, with Manfred Mann and the Honeycombs. An intensive performing schedule saw them headline other package tours throughout the year with acts such as the Yardbirds and Mickey Finn. Tensions began to emerge within the band, expressed in incidents such as the on-stage fight between Avory and Dave Davies at the Capitol Theatre, Cardiff, Wales, on 19 May. After finishing the first song, "You Really Got Me", Davies insulted Avory and kicked over his drum set. Avory responded by hitting Davies with his hi-hat stand, rendering him unconscious, before fleeing from the scene, fearing that he had killed his bandmate. Davies was taken to Cardiff Royal Infirmary, where he received 16 stitches to his head. To placate the police, Avory later claimed that it was part of a new act in which the band members would hurl their instruments at each other.
Following a mid-year tour of the United States, the American Federation of Musicians refused permits for the group to appear in concerts there for the next four years, effectively cutting off the Kinks from the main market for rock music at the height of the British Invasion. Although neither the Kinks nor the union revealed a specific reason for the ban, at the time it was widely attributed to their rowdy on-stage behaviour. It has been reported that an incident when the band were taping Dick Clark's TV show Where the Action Is in 1965 led to the ban. Ray Davies recalls in his autobiography, "Some guy who said he worked for the TV company walked up and accused us of being late. Then he started making anti-British comments. Things like 'Just because the Beatles did it, every mop-topped, spotty-faced limey juvenile thinks he can come over here and make a career for himself.; subsequently a punch was thrown and the AFM banned them.
A stopover in Bombay, India, during the band's Australian and Asian tour had led Davies to write the song "See My Friends", released as a single in July 1965. This was an early example of crossover music, and one of the first pop songs of the period to display the direct influence of traditional music from the Indian Subcontinent. Davies had written "See My Friends" with a raga feel after hearing the early morning chants of local fishermen. Music historian Jonathan Bellman argues that the song was "extremely influential" on Davies' musical peers: "And while much has been made of the Beatles' 'Norwegian Wood' because it was the first pop record to use a sitar, it was recorded well after the Kinks' clearly Indian 'See My Friends' was released." Pete Townshend of the Who was particularly affected by the song: See My Friends' was the next time I pricked up my ears and thought, 'God, he's done it again. He's invented something new.' That was the first reasonable use of the drone—far, far better than anything The Beatles did and far, far earlier. It was a European sound rather than an Eastern sound but with a strong, legitimate Eastern influence which had its roots in European folk music." In a widely quoted statement by Barry Fantoni, 1960s celebrity and friend of the Kinks, the Beatles, and the Who, he recalled that it was also an influence on the Beatles: "I remember it vividly and still think it's a remarkable pop song. I was with the Beatles the evening that they actually sat around listening to it on a gramophone, saying 'You know this guitar thing sounds like a sitar. We must get one of those. The song's radical departure from popular music conventions proved unpopular with the band's American following—it hit number 10 in the UK, but stalled at number 111 in the US.
Recording began promptly on the group's next project, Kinda Kinks, starting the day after their return from the Asian tour. The LP—10 of whose 12 songs were originals—was completed and released within two weeks. According to Ray Davies, the band was not completely satisfied with the final cuts, but pressure from the record company meant that no time was available to correct flaws in the mix. Davies later expressed his dissatisfaction with the production, saying, "A bit more care should have been taken with it. I think [producer] Shel Talmy went too far in trying to keep in the rough edges. Some of the double tracking on that is appalling. It had better songs on it than the first album, but it wasn't executed in the right way. It was just far too rushed."
A significant stylistic shift in the Kinks' music became evident in late 1965, with the appearance of singles like "A Well Respected Man" and "Dedicated Follower of Fashion", as well as the band's third album, The Kink Kontroversy, on which session musician Nicky Hopkins made his first appearance with the group on keyboards. These recordings exemplified the development of Davies' songwriting style, from hard-driving rock numbers toward songs rich in social commentary, observation and idiosyncratic character study, all with a uniquely English flavour.
Critical success (1966–1972)
The satirical single "Sunny Afternoon" was the biggest UK hit of summer 1966, topping the charts and displacing the Beatles' "Paperback Writer". Before the release of The Kink Kontroversy, Ray Davies suffered a nervous and physical breakdown, caused by the pressures of touring, writing and ongoing legal squabbles. During his months of recuperation, he wrote several new songs and pondered the band's direction. Quaife was involved in an automobile accident, and after his recovery decided to leave the band. Bassist John Dalton, who was initially hired to fill in for the injured Quaife, subsequently became his official replacement. However, Quaife soon had a change of heart and rejoined the band, and Dalton went back to his previous job as a coalman.
"Sunny Afternoon" was a dry run for the band's next album Face to Face, which displayed Davies' growing ability to craft musically gentle yet lyrically cutting narrative songs about everyday life and people. Hopkins returned for the sessions to play various keyboard instruments, including piano and harpsichord. He played on the band's next two studio albums as well, and was involved on a number of their live BBC recordings before joining the Jeff Beck Group in 1968. Face to Face was released in October 1966 in the UK, where it was well received and peaked at number eight. It was released in the US in December and was tipped as a potential "chart winner" by Billboard magazine. Despite this, it managed only a meagre chart peak of 135—a sign of the band's flagging popularity in the American market.
The Kinks' next single was a social commentary piece entitled "Dead End Street". It was released in November 1966 and became another UK Top 10 hit, although it reached only number 73 in the United States. Melody Maker reviewer Bob Dawbarn praised Ray Davies' ability to create a song with "some fabulous lyrics and a marvellous melody ... combined with a great production", and music scholar Johnny Rogan described it as "a kitchen sink drama without the drama—a static vision of working class stoicism". One of the group's first promotional music videos was produced for the song. It was filmed on Little Green Street, a small 18th-century lane in north London, located off Highgate Road in Kentish Town.
The Kinks' next single, "Waterloo Sunset", was released in May 1967. The lyrics describe two lovers passing over a bridge, with a melancholic observer reflecting on the couple, the Thames, and Waterloo station. The song was rumoured to have been inspired by the romance between two British celebrities of the time, actors Terence Stamp and Julie Christie. Ray Davies denied this in his autobiography, and claimed in a 2008 interview, "It was a fantasy about my sister going off with her boyfriend to a new world and they were going to emigrate and go to another country." Despite its complex arrangement, the sessions for "Waterloo Sunset" lasted a mere ten hours; Dave Davies later commented on the recording: "We spent a lot of time trying to get a different guitar sound, to get a more unique feel for the record. In the end we used a tape-delay echo, but it sounded new because nobody had done it since the 1950s. I remember Steve Marriott of the Small Faces came up and asked me how we'd got that sound. We were almost trendy for a while." The single was one of the Kinks' biggest UK successes (hitting number two on Melody Makers chart), and went on to become one of their most popular and best-known songs. Pop music journalist Robert Christgau called it "the most beautiful song in the English language", and AllMusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine cited it as "possibly the most beautiful song of the rock and roll era". 45 years later, Ray Davies was chosen to perform the song at the closing of the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The songs on the 1967 album, Something Else by the Kinks, developed the musical progressions of Face to Face, adding English music hall influences to the band's sound. Dave Davies scored a major UK chart success with the album's "Death of a Clown". While it was co-written by Ray Davies and recorded by the Kinks, it was also released as a Dave Davies solo single. Overall, however, the album's commercial performance was disappointing, prompting the Kinks to rush out a new single, "Autumn Almanac", in early October. Backed with "Mister Pleasant", the single became another Top5 success for the group. At this point, in a string of 13 singles, 12 of them reached the top 10 in the UK chart. Andy Miller points out that, despite its success, the single marks a turning point in the band's career—it would be their last entry into the UK Top Ten for three years: "In retrospect, 'Autumn Almanac' marked the first hint of trouble for the Kinks. This glorious single, one of the greatest achievements of British 60s pop, was widely criticised at the time for being too similar to previous [Ray] Davies efforts." Nick Jones of Melody Maker asked, "Is it time that Ray stopped writing about grey suburbanites going about their fairly unemotional daily business?... Ray works to a formula, not a feeling, and it's becoming rather boring." Disc jockey Mike Ahern called the song "a load of old rubbish". Dave's second solo single, "Susannah's Still Alive", was released in the UK on 24 November. It sold 59,000 copies, failing to reach the Top 10. Miller states that "by the end of the year, the Kinks were rapidly sliding out of fashion".
Beginning early in 1968, the group largely retired from touring, instead focusing on work in the studio. As the band was not available to promote their material, subsequent releases met with little success. The Kinks' next single, "Wonderboy", released in the spring of 1968, stalled at number 36 and became the band's first single not to make the UK Top Twenty since their early covers. In the face of the band's declining popularity, Davies continued to pursue his personal song-writing style while rebelling against the heavy demands placed on him to keep producing commercial hits, and the group continued to devote time to the studio, centering on a slowly developing project of Ray's called Village Green. In an attempt to revive the group's commercial standing, the Kinks' management booked them on a month-long package tour for April, drawing the group away from the studio. The venues were largely cabarets and clubs; headlining was Peter Frampton's group the Herd. "In general, the teenyboppers were not there to see the boring old Kinks, who occasionally had to endure chants of 'We Want The Herd!' during their brief appearances", commented Andy Miller. The tour proved taxing and stressful—Pete Quaife recalled, "It was a chore, very dull, boring and straightforward... We only did twenty minutes, but it used to drive me absolutely frantic, standing on stage and playing three notes over and over again." At the end of June, the Kinks released the single "Days", which provided a minor, but only momentary, comeback for the group. "I remember playing it when I was at Fortis Green the first time I had a tape of it", Ray said. "I played it to Brian, who used to be our roadie, and his wife and two daughters. They were crying at the end of it. Really wonderful—like going to Waterloo and seeing the sunset. ... It's like saying goodbye to somebody, then afterwards feeling the fear that you actually are alone." "Days" reached number 12 in the United Kingdom and was a Top 20 hit in several other countries, but it did not chart in the United States.
Village Green eventually morphed into their next album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, released in late 1968 in the UK. A collection of thematic vignettes of English town and hamlet life, it was assembled from songs written and recorded over the previous two years. It was greeted with almost unanimously positive reviews from both UK and US rock critics, yet failed to sell strongly. One factor in the album's initial commercial failure was the lack of a popular single. It did not include the moderately successful "Days"; "Starstruck" was released in North America and continental Europe, but was unsuccessful.Kitts, Thomas (2007). p. 121 Though a commercial disappointment, Village Green (the project's original name was adopted as shorthand for the long album title) was embraced by the new underground rock press when it came out in January 1969 in the United States, where the Kinks began to acquire a reputation as a cult band. In The Village Voice, a newly hired Robert Christgau called it "the best album of the year so far". The underground Boston paper Fusion published a review stating, "the Kinks continue, despite the odds, the bad press and their demonstrated lot, to come across. ... Their persistence is dignified, their virtues are stoic. The Kinks are forever, only for now in modern dress." The record did not escape criticism, however. In the student paper California Tech, one writer commented that it was "schmaltz rock... without imagination, poorly arranged and a poor copy of The Beatles". Although Davies later estimated it sold only around 100,000 copies worldwide on its initial release, it has since become the Kinks' best-selling original record. The album remains popular; in 2004, it was re-released in a 3-CD "Deluxe" edition and one of its tracks, "Picture Book", was featured in a popular Hewlett-Packard television commercial, helping to boost the album's popularity considerably.
In early 1969, Quaife again told the band he was leaving. The other members did not take his statement seriously until an article appeared in New Musical Express on 4 April featuring Quaife's new band, Maple Oak, which he had formed without telling the rest of the Kinks. Ray Davies pleaded with him to return for the sessions for their upcoming album, but Quaife refused. Davies immediately called up John Dalton, who had replaced Quaife three years prior, and asked him to rejoin. Dalton remained with the group until the recording of the album Sleepwalker in 1976.
Ray Davies travelled to Los Angeles in April 1969 to help negotiate an end to the American Federation of Musicians' ban on the group, opening up an opportunity for them to return to touring in the US. The group's management quickly made plans for a North American tour, to help restore their standing in the US pop music scene. Before their return to the US, the Kinks recorded another album, Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). As with the previous two albums, Arthur was grounded in characteristically English lyrical and musical hooks. A modest commercial success, it was well received by American music critics. Conceived as the score for a proposed but unrealised television drama, much of the album revolved around themes from the Davies brothers' childhood; their sister Rosie, who had migrated to Australia in the early 1960s with her husband, Arthur Anning, the album's namesake; and life growing up during the Second World War.Kitts, Thomas M. (2007) p. 131 The Kinks embarked on their tour of the US in October 1969. The tour was generally unsuccessful, as the group struggled to find cooperative promoters and interested audiences; many of the scheduled concert dates were cancelled. The band did, however, manage to play a few major venues such as the Fillmore East and Whisky a Go Go.
The band added keyboardist John Gosling to their line-up in early 1970; before this Nicky Hopkins, along with Ray, had done most of the session work on keyboards. In May 1970 Gosling debuted with the Kinks on "Lola", an account of a confused romantic encounter with a transvestite, that became both a UK and a US Top 10 hit, helping return the Kinks to the public eye.Rogan, Johnny (1998). pp. 22–23 The lyrics originally contained the word "Coca-Cola", and as a result the BBC refused to broadcast the song, considering it to be in violation of their policy against product placement. Part of the song was hastily rerecorded by Ray Davies, with the offending line changed to the generic "cherry cola", although in concert the Kinks still used "Coca-Cola". Recordings of both versions of "Lola" exist. The accompanying album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One was released in November 1970. It was a critical and commercial success, charting in the Top 40 in the US, making it their most successful album since the mid-1960s. After the success of "Lola", the band went on to release Percy in 1971, a soundtrack album to a film of the same name about a penis transplant. The album, which consisted largely of instrumentals, did not receive positive reviews. The band's US label, Reprise, declined to release it in the US, precipitating a major dispute that contributed to the band's departure from the label. Directly after the release of the album, the band's contracts with Pye and Reprise expired.
Before the end of 1971, the Kinks signed a five-album deal with RCA Records and received a million-dollar advance, which helped fund the construction of their own recording studio, Konk. Their debut for RCA, Muswell Hillbillies, was replete with the influence of music hall and traditional American musical styles, including country and bluegrass. It is often hailed as their last great record, though it was not as successful as its predecessors. It was named after Muswell Hill, where the Davies brothers were brought up, and contained songs focusing on working-class life and, again, the Davies' childhood. Muswell Hillbillies, despite positive reviews and high expectations, peaked at number 48 on the Record World chart and number 100 on the Billboard chart. It was followed in 1972 by a double album, Everybody's in Show-Biz, which consisted of both studio tracks and live numbers recorded during a two-night stand at Carnegie Hall. The record featured the ballad "Celluloid Heroes" and the Caribbean-themed "Supersonic Rocket Ship", their last UK Top 20 hit for more than a decade. "Celluloid Heroes" is a bittersweet rumination on dead and fading Hollywood stars (Mickey Rooney was still alive), in which the narrator declares that he wishes his life were like a movie "because celluloid heroes never feel any pain... and celluloid heroes never really die."Davies, Ray. "Celluloid Heroes" lyrics. Davray Music Ltd. (1972) The album was moderately successful in the United States, peaking at number 47 in Record World and number 70 in Billboard. It marks the transition between the band's early 1970s rock material and the theatrical incarnation in which they immersed themselves for the next four years.
Theatrical incarnation (1973–1976)
In 1973, Ray Davies dived headlong into the theatrical style, beginning with the rock opera Preservation, a sprawling chronicle of social revolution, and a more ambitious outgrowth of the earlier Village Green Preservation Society ethos. In conjunction with the Preservation project, the Kinks' line-up was expanded to include a horn section and female backup singers, essentially reconfiguring the group as a theatrical troupe.
Ray Davies' marital problems during this period began to affect the band adversely, particularly after his wife, Rasa, took their children and left him in June 1973. Davies became depressed; during a July gig at White City Stadium he told the audience he was "fucking sick of the whole thing", and was retiring.Hollingsworth, Roy (21 July 1973). "Thank you for the days, Ray". Melody Maker. He subsequently collapsed after a drug overdose and was taken to hospital. With Ray Davies in a seemingly critical condition, plans were discussed for Dave to continue as frontman in a worst-case scenario. Ray recovered from his illness as well as his depression, but throughout the remainder of the Kinks' theatrical incarnation the band's output remained uneven, and their already fading popularity declined even more. John Dalton later commented that when Davies "decided to work again... I don't think he was totally better, and he's been a different person ever since."
Preservation Act 1 (1973) and Preservation Act 2 (1974) received generally poor reviews. The story on the albums involved an anti-hero called Mr Flash, and his rival and enemy Mr Black (played by Dave Davies during live shows), an ultra-purist and corporatist. Preservation Act 2 was the first album recorded at Konk Studio; from this point forward, virtually every Kinks studio recording was produced by Ray Davies at Konk. The band embarked on an ambitious US tour throughout late 1974, adapting the Preservation story for stage. Author Robert Polito: "[Ray] Davies expanded the Kinks into a road troupe of perhaps a dozen costumed actors, singers and horn players. ... Smoother and tighter than on record, Preservation live proved funnier as well."
Davies began another project for Granada Television, a musical called Starmaker. After a broadcast with Ray Davies in the starring role and the Kinks as both back-up band and ancillary characters, the project eventually morphed into the concept album The Kinks Present a Soap Opera, released in May 1975, in which Ray Davies fantasised about what would happen if a rock star traded places with a "normal Norman" and took a 9–5 job.Hickey, Dave. "Soap Opera: Rock Theater That Works". Village Voice, 19 May 1975 In August 1975, the Kinks recorded their final theatrical work, Schoolboys in Disgrace, a backstory biography of Preservation's Mr Flash. The record was a modest success, peaking at number 45 on the Billboard charts.
Return to commercial success (1977–1985)
Following the termination of their contract with RCA, the Kinks signed with Arista Records in 1976. With the encouragement of Arista's management they stripped back down to a five-man core group and were reborn as an arena rock band. John Dalton left the band before finishing the sessions for the debut Arista album. Andy Pyle was brought in to complete the sessions and to play on the subsequent tour. Sleepwalker, released in 1977, marked a return to success for the group as it peaked at number 21 on the Billboard chart. After its release and the recording of the follow-up, Misfits, Andy Pyle and keyboardist John Gosling left the group to work together on a separate project. In May 1978, Misfits, the Kinks' second Arista album, was released. It included the US Top 40 hit "A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy", which helped make the record another success for the band. The non-album single "Father Christmas" has remained a popular track. Driven by session drummer Henry Spinetti's drumming and Dave Davies' heavy guitar the song "Father Christmas" has become a classic seasonal favorite on mainstream radio. For the following tour, the band recruited ex-Argent bassist Jim Rodford and ex–Pretty Things keyboardist Gordon Edwards. Edwards was soon fired from The Kinks for failing to show up to recordings sessions, and the band recorded 1979's Low Budget as a quartet, with Ray Davies handling keyboard duties. Keyboardist Ian Gibbons was recruited for the subsequent tour, and became a permanent member of the group. Despite the personnel changes, the popularity of the band's records and live shows continued to grow.
Beginning in the late 1970s, bands such as the Jam ("David Watts"), the Pretenders ("Stop Your Sobbing", "I Go to Sleep"), the Romantics ("Hung On You"), and the Knack ("The Hard Way") recorded covers of Kinks songs, which helped bring attention to the group's new releases. In 1978, Van Halen covered "You Really Got Me" for their debut single, a Top 40 US hit, helping boost the band's commercial resurgence (Van Halen later covered "Where Have All the Good Times Gone", another early Kinks song which had been covered by David Bowie on his 1973 album Pin Ups). The hard rock sound of Low Budget, released in 1979, helped make it the Kinks' second gold album and highest charting original album in the US, where it peaked at number 11. In 1980, the group's third live album, One for the Road, was produced, along with a video of the same title, bringing the group's concert-drawing power to a peak that would last into 1983. Dave Davies also took advantage of the group's improved commercial standing to fulfill his decade-long ambitions to release albums of his solo work. The first was the eponymous Dave Davies in 1980. It was also known by its catalogue number "AFL1-3603" because of its cover art, which depicted Dave Davies as a leather-jacketed piece of price-scanning barcode. He produced another, less successful, solo album in 1981, Glamour.
The next Kinks album, Give the People What They Want, was released in late 1981 and reached number 15 in the US. The record attained gold status and featured the UK hit single "Better Things" as well as "Destroyer", a major Mainstream Rock hit for the group. To promote the album, the Kinks spent the end of 1981 and most of 1982 touring relentlessly, and played multiple sell-out concerts throughout Australia, Japan, England and the US. The tour culminated with a performance at the US Festival in San Bernardino, California, for a crowd of 205,000. In spring 1983, the song "Come Dancing" became their biggest American hit since "Tired of Waiting for You", peaking at number six. It also became the group's first Top 20 hit in the UK since 1972, peaking at number 12 in the charts. The accompanying album, State of Confusion, was another commercial success, reaching number 12 in the US, but, like all the group's albums since 1967, it failed to chart in the UK. Another single released from the record, "Don't Forget to Dance", became a US top 30 hit and minor UK chart entry.
The Kinks' second wave of popularity remained at a peak with State of Confusion, but that success began to fade, a trend that also affected their British rock contemporaries the Rolling Stones and the Who. During the second half of 1983, Ray Davies started work on an ambitious solo film project, Return to Waterloo, about a London commuter who daydreams that he is a serial murderer. The film gave actor Tim Roth a significant early role. Davies' commitment to writing, directing and scoring the new work caused tension in his relationship with his brother. Another problem was the stormy end of the relationship between Ray Davies and Chrissie Hynde. The old feud between Dave Davies and drummer Mick Avory also re-ignited. Davies eventually refused to work with Avory, and called for him to be replaced by Bob Henrit, former drummer of Argent (of which Jim Rodford had also been a member). Avory left the band, and Henrit was brought in to take his place. Ray Davies, who was still on amiable terms with Avory, invited him to manage Konk Studios. Avory accepted, and continued to serve as a producer and occasional contributor on later Kinks albums.
Between the completion of Return to Waterloo and Avory's departure, the band had begun work on Word of Mouth, their final Arista album, released in November 1984. As a result it includes Avory on three tracks, with Henrit and a drum machine on the rest. Many of the songs also appeared as solo recordings on Ray Davies' Return to Waterloo soundtrack album. Word of Mouths lead track, "Do It Again", was released as a single in April 1985. It reached number 41 in the US, the band's last entry into the Billboard Hot 100. Coinciding with the album's release, the first three books on the Kinks were published: The Kinks: The Official Biography, by Jon Savage; The Kinks Kronikles, by rock critic John Mendelsohn, who had overseen the 1972 The Kink Kronikles compilation album; and The Kinks – The Sound And The Fury (The Kinks – A Mental Institution in the US), by Johnny Rogan.
Decline in popularity and split (1986–1997)
In early 1986, the group signed with MCA Records in the United States and London Records in the UK. Their first album for the new labels, Think Visual, released later that year, was a moderate success, peaking at number 81 on the Billboard albums chart. Songs like the ballad "Lost and Found" and "Working at the Factory" concerned blue-collar life on an assembly line, while the title track was an attack on the very MTV video culture from which the band had profited earlier in the decade. The Kinks followed Think Visual in 1987 with another live album, The Road, which was a mediocre commercial and critical performer. In 1989, the Kinks released UK Jive, a commercial failure, making only a momentary entry into the album charts at number 122. MCA Records ultimately dropped them, leaving the Kinks without a label deal for the first time in over a quarter of a century. Longtime keyboardist Ian Gibbons left the group and was replaced by Mark Haley.
In 1990, their first year of eligibility, the Kinks were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mick Avory and Pete Quaife were present for the award. The induction, however, did not revive the Kinks' stalled career. A compilation from the MCA Records period, Lost & Found (1986–1989), was released in 1991 to fulfil contractual obligations, and marked the official end of the group's relationship with MCA. The band then signed with Columbia Records and released the five-song EP Did Ya in 1991 which, despite being coupled with a new studio re-recording of the band's 1968 British hit "Days", failed to chart.
The Kinks reverted to a four-piece band for the recording of their first Columbia album, Phobia, in 1993. Following Mark Haley's departure after the band's sellout performance at the Royal Albert Hall, London, Gibbons rejoined the Kinks for a US tour. Phobia managed only one week in the US Billboard chart at number 166; as had by then become usual for the band, it made no impression in the UK. One single, "Only a Dream", narrowly failed to reach the British chart. "Scattered", the album's final candidate for release as a single, was announced, followed by TV and radio promotion, but the record was unavailable in stores—several months later a small number appeared on the collector market. The group was dropped by Columbia in 1994. In the same year, the band released the first version of the album To the Bone on their own Konk label in the UK. This live acoustic album was partly recorded on the highly successful UK tours of 1993 and 1994 and partly in the Konk studio, before a small, invited audience. Two years later the band released a new, improved, live double CD set in the US, which retained the same name and contained two new studio tracks, "Animal" and "To The Bone". The CD set also featured new treatments of many old Kinks hits. The record drew respectable press but failed to chart in either the US or the UK.
The band's profile rose considerably in the mid-1990s, primarily as a result of the "Britpop" boom. Several of the most prominent bands of the decade cited the Kinks as a major influence. Despite such accolades, the group's commercial viability continued to decline. They gradually became less active, leading Ray and Dave Davies to pursue their own interests. Each released an autobiography; Ray's X-Ray was published in early 1995, and Dave responded with his memoir Kink, published a year later. The Kinks gave their last public performance in mid-1996, and the group assembled for what would turn out to be their last time together at a party for Dave's 50th birthday. Kinks chronicler and historian Doug Hinman stated, "The symbolism of the event was impossible to overlook. The party was held at the site of the brothers' very first musical endeavour, the Clissold Arms pub, across the street from their childhood home on Fortis Green in North London."
Solo work and recognition (1998–present)
The band members subsequently focused on solo projects, and both Davies brothers released their own studio albums. Talk of a Kinks reunion circulated (including an aborted studio reunion of the original band members in 1999), but neither Ray nor Dave Davies showed much interest in playing together again. Meanwhile, former members John Gosling, John Dalton and Mick Avory had regrouped in 1994 and started performing on the oldies circuit along with guitar-player/singer Dave Clarke as the Kast Off Kinks.
Ray Davies released the solo album Storyteller, a companion piece to X-Ray, in 1998. Originally written two years earlier as a cabaret-style show, it celebrated his old band and his estranged brother. Seeing the programming possibilities in his music/dialogue/reminiscence format, the American music television network VH1 launched a series of similar projects featuring established rock artists titled VH1 Storytellers. Dave Davies spoke favourably of a Kinks reunion in early 2003, and as the 40th anniversary of the group's breakthrough neared, both the Davies brothers expressed interest in working together again. However, hopes for a reunion were dashed in June 2004 when Dave suffered a stroke while exiting an elevator, temporarily impairing his ability to speak and play guitar. Following Dave's recovery, the Kinks were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in November 2005, with all four of the original band members in attendance. The induction helped fuel sales for the group; in August 2007, a re-entry of The Ultimate Collection, a compilation of material spanning the band's career, reached number 32 on the UK Top 100 album chart and number one on the UK Indie album chart. Quaife, who had been receiving kidney dialysis for more than ten years, died on 23 June 2010, at the age of 66. On 20 January 2018, long-time bassist Jim Rodford died at the age of 76. In July 2019, keyboardist Ian Gibbons died of cancer.
Possible reunion
In June 2018, the Davies brothers said they were working on a new Kinks studio album with Avory. In July 2019, the band again said they were working on new music. However, in a December 2020 interview with The New York Times, Ray Davies did not indicate that much work has been done, saying "I'd like to work with Dave again—if he'll work with me." When asked about a reunion in an interview published January 2021, Dave Davies said "We've been talking about it. I mean there's a lot of material and, you know, it could still happen."
In March 2023, Avory laid to rest rumours of a reunion, citing differences between the Davies brothers: "I don't think it's possible now – one thing, health-wise. And I don't think we could ever work it out because Dave wanted to do it one way, and Ray wanted to do it the other – which was quite normal thinking for them. [...] Ray thought [of] doing it as an 'evolution tour' – you have different people who came into the band and what songs they recorded on and what songs effected them. I thought that would be more interesting. But I think Dave just wanted 'a band' – not particularly with me in it. Just reform something like they had when I left – just a band with him and Ray in it, really."
Live performances
The first live performance of the Ray Davies Quartet, the band that would become the Kinks, was at a dance for their school, William Grimshaw, in 1962. The band performed under several names between 1962 and 1963—the Pete Quaife Band, the Bo-Weevils, the Ramrods, and the Ravens—before settling on the Kinks in early 1964. Ray has stated that a performance at Hornsey Town Hall on Valentine's Day 1963 was when the band were truly born.
The Kinks made their first tour of Australia and New Zealand in January 1965 as part of a "package" bill that included Manfred Mann and the Honeycombs. They performed and toured relentlessly, headlining package tours throughout 1965 with performers such as the Yardbirds and Mickey Finn. Tensions began to emerge within the band, expressed in incidents such as the on-stage fight between drummer Mick Avory and Dave Davies at The Capitol Theatre, Cardiff, Wales on 19 May. After finishing the first song, "You Really Got Me", Davies insulted Avory and kicked over his drum set. Avory responded by hitting Davies with his hi-hat stand, rendering him unconscious, before fleeing from the scene, fearing that he had killed his bandmate. Davies was taken to Cardiff Royal Infirmary, where he received 16 stitches to his head. To placate police, Avory later claimed that it was part of a new act in which the band members would hurl their instruments at each other. Following their summer 1965 American tour, the American Federation of Musicians refused permits for the group to appear in concerts in the United States for the next four years,Alterman, Loraine. Who Let the Kinks In?. Rolling Stone, 18 December 1969 possibly due to their rowdy on-stage behaviour.
In April 1969 Davies helped negotiate an end to the American Federation of Musician ban on the group, which allowed plans for a North American tour. However, over the next few years, Davies went into a state of depression, not helped by his collapsing marriage, culminating in his onstage announcement that he was "sick of it all" at a gig in White City Stadium, London in 1973. A review of the concert published in Melody Maker stated: "Davies swore on stage. He stood at The White City and swore that he was 'F...... sick of the whole thing' ... He was 'Sick up to here with it' ... and those that heard shook their heads. Mick just ventured a disbelieving smile, and drummer on through 'Waterloo Sunset. Davies proceeded to try to announce that the Kinks were breaking up as the band were leaving the stage, but this attempt was foiled by the group's publicity management, who pulled the plug on the microphone system.
Musical style
The Kinks started out playing the then popular R&B and blues styles; then, under the influence of the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" recording, developed louder rock and hard rock sounds. Due to their pioneering contribution to the field, they have often been labelled as "the original punks". Dave Davies was "really bored with this guitar sound—or lack of an interesting sound" so he purchased "a little green amplifier... an Elpico" from a radio spares shop in Muswell Hill, and "twiddled around with it", including "taking the wires going to the speaker and putting a jack plug on there and plugging it straight into my AC30" (a larger amplifier), but didn't get the sound he wanted until he got frustrated and "got a single-sided Gillette razorblade and cut round the cone [from the centre to the edge]... so it was all shredded but still on there, still intact. I played and I thought it was amazing." The jagged sound of the amplifier was replicated in the studio; the Elpico was plugged into the Vox AC30, and the resulting effect became a mainstay in The Kinks' early recordings—most notably on "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night".
From 1966 onwards, the Kinks came to be known for their adherence to traditions of English music and culture, during a period when many other British bands dismissed their heritage in favour of American blues, R&B and pop styles. Ray Davies recalled that at a distinct moment in 1965 he decided to break away from the American scene, and write more introspective and intelligent songs. "I decided I was going to use words more, and say things. I wrote 'A Well Respected Man'. That was the first real word-oriented song I wrote... [I also] abandoned any attempt to Americanise my accent." The Kinks' allegiance to English styles was strengthened by the ban placed on them by the American Federation of Musicians. The ban cut them off from the American record buying public, the world's largest musical market, forcing them to focus on Britain and mainland Europe. The Kinks expanded on their English sound throughout the remainder of the 1960s, incorporating elements of music hall, folk, and baroque music through use of harpsichord, acoustic guitar, mellotron, and horns, in albums such as Face to Face, Something Else by the Kinks, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, and Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), creating some of the most influential and important music of the period.
Beginning with Everybody's In Show-biz (1972), Ray Davies began exploring theatrical concepts on the group's albums; these themes became manifest on the 1973 album Preservation Act 1 and continued through Schoolboys In Disgrace (1976). The Kinks were less commercially successful with these conceptual works, and were dropped by RCA which had signed them in 1971. In 1977 they moved to Arista Records, who insisted on a more traditional rock format. Sleepwalker (1977), which heralded their return to commercial success, featured a mainstream, relatively slick production style that would become their norm. The band returned to hard rock for Low Budget (1979), and continued to record within the genre throughout the remainder of their career, combining this with pop music in the 1980s with albums such as Give the People What They Want and songs such as "Better Things".
Legacy
The Kinks are regarded as one of the most influential rock acts of the 1960s and early 1970s. Stephen Thomas Erlewine called them "one of the most influential bands of the British Invasion". They were ranked 65th on Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list.
Artists influenced by the Kinks include punk rock groups such as the Ramones, the Clash, Blondie, and the Jam, heavy metal acts including Van Halen and Britpop groups such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Craig Nicholls, singer and guitarist of the Vines, described the Kinks as "great songwriters, so underrated". Pete Townshend, guitarist with the Kinks' contemporaries the Who, credited Ray Davies with inventing "a new kind of poetry and a new kind of language for pop writing that influenced me from the very, very, very beginning." Jon Savage wrote that the Kinks were an influence on late 1960s American psychedelic rock groups "like the Doors, Love and Jefferson Airplane". Music writers and other musicians have acknowledged the influence of the Kinks on the development of hard rock and heavy metal. Musicologist Joe Harrington stated: "You Really Got Me', 'All Day and All of the Night' and 'I Need You' were predecessors of the whole three-chord genre... [T]he Kinks did a lot to help turn rock 'n' roll (Jerry Lee Lewis) into rock." Queen guitarist Brian May credited the band with planting "the seed which grew into riff-based music."
They have two albums, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (No. 384), and Something Else by the Kinks (No. 478) on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. They have three songs on the same magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list as updated in September 2021: "Waterloo Sunset" (No. 14), "You Really Got Me" (No. 176), and "Lola" (No. 386). A musical, Sunny Afternoon, based on the early life of Ray Davies and the formation of the Kinks, opened at the Hampstead Theatre in April 2014. The musical's name came from the band's 1966 hit single "Sunny Afternoon" and features songs from the band's back catalogue.
In 2015, it was reported that Julien Temple would direct a biopic of the Kinks titled You Really Got Me, but as of 2021 nothing had come of the project. Temple previously released a documentary about Ray Davies titled Imaginary Man.
MembersPast members Ray Davies – lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, harmonica
Dave Davies – lead guitar, backing and lead vocals, occasional keyboards
Mick Avory – drums, percussion
Pete Quaife – bass, backing vocals
John Dalton – bass, backing vocals
Andy Pyle – bass
Jim Rodford – bass, backing vocals
John Gosling – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
Gordon Edwards – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
Ian Gibbons – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
Mark Haley – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
Bob Henrit – drums, percussion Major album contributors Rasa Davies – backing vocals from Kinks to The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
Bobby Graham – drums, percussion on select tracks from Kinks and Kinda Kinks
Nicky Hopkins – keyboards, piano from The Kink Kontroversy to The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society ()
Clem Cattini – drums, percussion on select tracks from The Kink Kontroversy and drum overdubs on Misfits
Discography
The Kinks were active for over three decades between 1964 and 1996, releasing 24 studio and 4 live albums. The first two albums were differently released in UK and US partly due to difference in popularity of the extended play format (the UK market liked it, the US market did not, so US albums had the EP releases bundled onto them), and partly due to the US albums including the hit singles, and the UK albums not; after The Kink Kontroversy in 1965 the albums were the same. There have been somewhere between 100 and 200 compilation albums released worldwide. Their hit singles included three UK number-one singles, starting in 1964 with "You Really Got Me"; plus 18 Top 40 singles in the 1960s alone and further Top 40 hits in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Kinks had five Top 10 singles on the US Billboard chart. Nine of their albums charted in the Top 40. In the UK, the group had seventeen Top 20 singles along with five Top 10 albums. The RIAA has certified four of the Kinks' albums as gold records. Greatest Hits!, released in 1965, was certified gold for sales of 1,000,000 on 28 November 1968—six days after the release of The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, which failed to chart worldwide. The group would not receive another gold record award until 1979's Low Budget. The 1980 live album One For The Road was certified gold on 8December 1980. Give The People What They Want, released in 1981, received its certification on 25 January 1982, for sales of 500,000 copies. Despite not selling at the time of its release,The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society was awarded a gold disc in the UK in 2018 for selling more than 100,000 copies. ASCAP, the performing-rights group, presented the Kinks with an award for "One of the Most Played Songs Of 1983" for the hit single "Come Dancing".Studio albums Kinks
Kinda Kinks
The Kink Kontroversy
Face to Face
Something Else by the Kinks
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One
Percy
Muswell Hillbillies
Everybody's in Show-Biz
Preservation Act 1
Preservation Act 2
Soap Opera
Schoolboys in Disgrace
Sleepwalker
Misfits
Low Budget
Give the People What They Want
State of Confusion
Word of Mouth
Think Visual
UK Jive
Phobia Live albums'''
Live at Kelvin Hall
One for the Road
Live: The Road
To the Bone
BBC Sessions: 1964–1977''
See also
Do It Again, 2009 documentary film
Freakbeat
Swinging London
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Category:1963 establishments in England
Category:1996 disestablishments in England
Category:2018 establishments in England
Category:Arista Records artists
Category:Beat groups
Category:British Invasion artists
Category:British rhythm and blues boom musicians
Category:English hard rock musical groups
Category:English rock music groups
Category:Musical groups established in 1963
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1997
Category:Musical groups from London
Category:Pye Records artists
Category:RCA Records artists
Category:Reprise Records artists
Category:Sibling musical groups
Category:MCA Records artists
Category:London Records artists | [] | [
"The Kinks started with R&B and blues styles before transitioning to louder rock and hard rock sounds, which led to them being labelled as \"the original punks\". From 1966, they became known for their adherence to English music and culture, incorporating elements of music hall, folk, and baroque music. Later, Ray Davies began exploring theatrical concepts on the group's albums. Towards the end of the 1970s, they reverted to a traditional rock format and returned to hard rock.",
"The Kingsmen's \"Louie Louie\" recording was a direct influence on The Kinks' development of louder rock and hard rock sounds. From 1966 onwards, their music was heavily influenced by traditional English music and culture.",
"The Kinks' pioneering contribution to louder rock and hard rock sounds led to them being labelled as \"the original punks\". Their distinctive amplifier sound became a staple in their early recordings and likely influenced the sound of other bands. Also, their allegiance to English music styles and their incorporation of music hall, folk, and baroque elements were influential during a period when many bands were distancing from their British musical roots.",
"The context does not provide information on The Kinks working with anyone."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_d5845f39aa6d4012a9f5c8565b03cd03_0 | Indigenous peoples of Mexico | Indigenous peoples of Mexico (Spanish: pueblos indigenas de Mexico), Native Mexicans (Spanish: nativos mexicanos), or Mexican Native Americans (Spanish: nativo america mexicanos), are those who are part of communities that trace their roots back to populations and communities that existed in what is now Mexico prior to the arrival of Europeans. According to the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (Comision Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indigenas, or CDI in Spanish) and the INEGI (official census institute), in 2015, 25,694,928 people in Mexico self-identify as being indigenous of many different ethnic groups, which constitute 21.5% of Mexico's population. | Development and socio-economic indicators | Generally, indigenous Mexicans live more poorly than non-indigenous Mexicans however, social development varies between states, different indigenous ethnicities and between rural and urban areas. In all states indigenous people have higher infant mortality, in some states almost double of the non-indigenous populations. Some indigenous groups, particularly the Yucatec Maya in the Yucatan peninsula and some of the Nahua and Otomi peoples in central states have maintained higher levels of development while indigenous peoples in states such as the Guerrero or Michoacan are ranked drastically lower than the average Mexican citizen in these fields. Despite certain indigenous groups such as the Maya or Nahua retaining high levels of development, the general indigenous population lives at a lower level of development than the general population. Literacy rates are much lower for the indigenous, particularly in the southwestern states of Guerrero and Oaxaca due lack of access to education and a lack of the educational literature available in indigenous languages. Literacy rates are also much lower, with 27% of indigenous children between 6 and 14 being illiterate compared to a national average of 12%. The Mexican government is obligated to provide education in indigenous languages, but many times fails to provide schooling in languages other than Spanish. As a result, many indigenous groups have resorted to creating their own small community educational institutions. The indigenous population participate in the workforce longer than the national average, starting earlier and continuing longer. A major reason for this is that significant number of the indigenous practice economically under productive agriculture and receive no regular salaries. Indigenous people also have less access to health care. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_d5845f39aa6d4012a9f5c8565b03cd03_0_q#0",
"C_d5845f39aa6d4012a9f5c8565b03cd03_0_q#1",
"C_d5845f39aa6d4012a9f5c8565b03cd03_0_q#2",
"C_d5845f39aa6d4012a9f5c8565b03cd03_0_q#3",
"C_d5845f39aa6d4012a9f5c8565b03cd03_0_q#4"
] | [
"What is their current socio - ecomic status?",
"What is a socio economic fact regarding their health?",
"What is their level of development?",
"Which states?",
"Do any groups rate higher in development?"
] | [
0,
1,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
1769
],
[
86
],
[
1825
],
[
323
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Generally, indigenous Mexicans live more poorly than non-indigenous Mexicans"
],
[
"Indigenous people also have less access to health care."
],
[
"social development varies between states, different indigenous ethnicities and between rural and urban areas."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Some indigenous groups, particularly the Yucatec Maya in the Yucatan peninsula and some of the Nahua and Otomi peoples in central states have maintained higher levels of development"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
1769,
86,
1825,
323
],
"texts": [
"Generally, indigenous Mexicans live more poorly than non-indigenous Mexicans",
"Indigenous people also have less access to health care.",
"social development varies between states, different indigenous ethnicities and between rural and urban areas.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Some indigenous groups, particularly the Yucatec Maya in the Yucatan peninsula and some of the Nahua and Otomi peoples in central states have maintained higher levels of development"
]
} | Indigenous peoples of Mexico (), Native Mexicans () or Mexican Native Americans (), are those who are part of communities that trace their roots back to populations and communities that existed in what is now Mexico before the arrival of Europeans.
The number of indigenous Mexicans is defined through the second article of the Mexican Constitution. The Mexican census does not classify individuals by race, using the cultural-ethnicity of indigenous communities that preserve their indigenous languages, traditions, beliefs, and cultures. According to the National Indigenous Institute (INI) and the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (CDI), in 2012 the indigenous population was approximately 15 million people, divided into 68 ethnic groups. The 2020 Censo General de Población y Vivienda reported 11.8 million people living in households where someone speaks an indigenous language, and 23,232,391 people who self-identify as indigenous.
The indigenous population is distributed throughout the territory of Mexico but is especially concentrated in the Sierra Madre del Sur, the Yucatán Peninsula, the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Sierra Madre Occidental, and neighboring areas. The states with the largest indigenous population are Oaxaca and Yucatán, with the latter having the highest percentage of indigenous population in its own territory. Since the Spanish colonization, the North and Bajio regions of Mexico have had lower percentages of indigenous peoples, but some notable groups include the Rarámuri, the Tepehuán, the Yaquis, and the Yoreme.
Definition
In the second article of the Mexican Constitution, Mexico defines itself as a pluricultural nation in recognition of the diverse ethnic groups that constitute it and where the indigenous peoples are the original foundation. The number of indigenous Mexicans is measured using constitutional criteria. The Mexican census does not classify individuals by race, only the cultural-ethnicity of indigenous communities that preserve their indigenous languages, traditions, beliefs and cultures.
The category of indigena (indigenous) can be defined narrowly according to linguistic criteria including only persons that speak one of Mexico's 89 indigenous languages, this is the categorization used by the National Mexican Institute of Statistics. It can also be defined broadly to include all persons who self-identify as having an indigenous cultural background, whether or not they speak the language of the indigenous group they identify with. This means that the percentage of the Mexican population defined as "indigenous" varies according to the definition applied; cultural activists have referred to the usage of the narrow definition of the term for census purposes as "statistical genocide".
The indigenous peoples in Mexico have the right of free determination under the second article of the constitution. According to this article, indigenous peoples are granted:
the right to decide the internal forms of social, economic, political, and cultural organization;
the right to apply their own normative systems of regulation as long as human rights and gender equality are respected;
the right to preserve and enrich their languages and cultures;
the right to elect representatives before the municipal council where their territories are located;
The Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Languages recognizes 89 indigenous languages as national languages, which have the same validity as Spanish in all territories where they are spoken. According to the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Data Processing (INEGI), approximately 5.4% of the population speaks an indigenous language. The recognition of indigenous languages and the protection of indigenous cultures is granted not only to the ethnic groups indigenous to modern-day Mexican territory but also to other North American indigenous groups that migrated to Mexico from the United States in the nineteenth century and those who immigrated from Guatemala in the 1980s.
History
Pre-Columbian civilizations
The prehispanic civilizations of what now is known as Mexico are often divided into two regions: Mesoamerica, the cultural area where several complex civilizations developed before the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century, and Aridoamerica (or simply "The North"), the arid region north of the Tropic of Cancer which was less densely populated. Despite the conditions, the Mogollon culture and Peoples established urban population centers at Casas Grandes and Cuarenta Casas in a vast territory that encompassed northern Chihuahua state and parts of Arizona and New Mexico in the United States.
Mesoamerica was densely populated by diverse indigenous ethnic groups which, although sharing common cultural characteristics, spoke different languages and developed unique civilizations.
One of the most influential civilizations in Mesoamerica was the Olmec civilization, sometimes referred to as the "Mother Culture of Mesoamerica". The later civilization in Teotihuacan reached its peak around 600 AD when the city became the sixth largest city in the world, whose cultural and theological systems influenced the Toltec and Aztec civilizations in later centuries. Evidence has been found on the existence of polyethnic communities or neighborhoods in Teotihuacan (and other large urban areas like Tenochtitlan).
The Maya civilization, influenced by other Mesoamerican civilizations, developed a vast cultural region in southeast Mexico and northern Central America, while the Zapotec and Mixtec cultures dominated the valley of Oaxaca and the Purépecha in western Mexico.
Trade
Scholars agree that significant systems of trading existed between the cultures of Mesoamerica, Aridoamerica and the American Southwest, and the architectural remains and artifacts share a commonality of knowledge attributed to this trade network. The routes stretched far into Mesoamerica and reached as far north as ancient communities that included such population centers in the United States such as Snaketown, Chaco Canyon, and Ridge Ruin near Flagstaff (considered some of the finest artifacts ever located).
Colonial era
By the time of the arrival of the Spanish in central Mexico, many peoples of Mesoamerica (with the notable exception of the Tlaxcaltecs and the Purépecha Kingdom of Michoacán) were loosely joined under the Aztec Empire, the last Nahua civilization to flourish in Central Mexico. The capital of the empire, Tenochtitlan, became one of the largest urban centers in the world, with an estimated population of 350,000 inhabitants.
During the conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Spanish conquistadors allied with other ethnic groups in the region, including the Tlaxcaltecs. This strategy succeeded due to discontent with Aztec rule, which demanded tributes and used conquered peoples for ritual sacrifice. During the following decades, the Spanish consolidated their rule in what became the viceroyalty of New Spain. Through the Valladolid Debate, the crown recognized the indigenous nobility in Mesoamerica as nobles, freed indigenous slaves, and kept the existing basic structure of indigenous city-states. Indigenous communities were incorporated as communities under Spanish rule.
As part of the Spanish incorporation of indigenous into the colonial system, the friars taught indigenous scribes to write their languages in Latin letters so that there is a large corpus of colonial-era documentation in the Nahuatl language, Mixtec, Zapotec, Yucatec Maya, and others. Such a written tradition likely took hold through existing practices of pictorial writing found in many indigenous codices. New Philology scholars have utilized the colonial-era alphabetic documentation to illuminate the colonial experience of Mesoamerican peoples from their own viewpoints.
Conquerors awarded labor and tribute under the encomienda system benefitted financially. Since Mesoamerican peoples had existing requirements of labor duty and tribute in the pre-conquest era, indigenous officials were involved in maintaining this system in their communities. There was a precipitous decline in indigenous populations, mainly due to the spread of European diseases previously unknown in the America but also through war and forced labor. Pandemics wrought havoc, but indigenous communities recovered with fewer members.
With contact between indigenous populations, Spaniards, African slaves, and starting in the late sixteenth century, Asian slaves (chinos) brought as goods the trade via the Manila Galleon there was an intermingling of groups, with mixed-race castas, particularly mestizos, becoming a component of Spanish cities and to a lesser extent indigenous communities. The Spanish legal structure formally separated what they called the República de indios (the republic of Indians) from the República de españoles (republic of Spaniards), with the latter encompassing all those in the Hispanic sphere: Spaniards, Africans, and mixed-race castas. Although Indigenous peoples were marginalized in the colonial system, and often rebelled, the paternalistic structure of colonial rule supported the continued existence and structure of indigenous communities. The Spanish crown recognized the existing ruling group, gave protection to the land holdings of indigenous communities, and communities and individuals had access to the Spanish legal system. However, these codes were often ignored in practice, and racial discrimination was prevalent in New Spain.
In the religious sphere, indigenous men were banned from Christian priesthood, following an early Franciscan attempt that included fray Bernardino de Sahagún to train an indigenous group. Mendicants of the Franciscan, Dominican, and Augustinian orders initially evangelized indigenous in their own communities in what is often called the "spiritual conquest". On the northern frontiers, the Spanish created missions and settled Indigenous populations in these complexes, which prompted raids from those who resisted settlement (given the name Indios Bárbaros). The Jesuits were prominent in this enterprise until their expulsion from Spanish America in 1767. Catholicism, often with local characteristics, was the only permissible religion in the colonial era.
Indigenous land
During the early colonial era in central Mexico, Spaniards were more interested in access to indigenous labor than land ownership. The institution of the encomienda, a crown grant of the labor of indigenous communities to conquerors was a key element of the imposition of Spanish rule. The Spanish crown initially maintained the indigenous sociopolitical system of local rulers and land tenure, with the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire eliminating the superstructure of rule, and replacing it with Spanish.
The crown had several concerns about the encomienda. First was that the holders of encomiendas, called encomenderos, were becoming too powerful, essentially a seigneurial group that might challenge crown power (as shown in the conspiracy by conqueror Hernán Cortés's legitimate son and heir). The second was that the encomenderos were monopolizing indigenous labor, excluding newly arriving Spaniards. And third, the crown was concerned about the damage to the indigenous vassals and their communities by the institution. Through the New Laws of 1542, the crown sought to phase out the encomienda and replace it with another crown mechanism of forced indigenous labor, the repartimiento. Indigenous labor was no longer monopolized by a small group of conquerors and their descendants but apportioned to a larger group of Spaniards. Through the repartimiento, indigenous peoples were obligated to perform low-paid labor for a certain number of weeks or months on Spanish enterprises, notably silver mining.
The land of indigenous peoples is used for material reasons as well as spiritual reasons. Religious, cultural, social, spiritual, and other events relating to their identity are also tied to the land. Indigenous people use collective property so that the aforementioned services that the land provides are available to the entire community and future generations. This was a stark contrast to the viewpoints of colonists that saw the land purely in an economic way where land could be transferred between individuals. Once the land of the indigenous people and therefore their livelihood was taken from them, they became dependent on those that had land and power. Additionally, the spiritual services that the land provided were no longer available and caused a deterioration of indigenous groups and cultures.
Colonial-era racial categories
The Spanish legal system divided racial groups into two basic categories, the República de Españoles, consisting of all non-indigenous, but initially Spaniards and black Africans, and the República de Indios.
The degree to which racial category labels had legal and social consequences has been subject to academic debate since the idea of a "caste system" was developed by Ángel Rosenblat and Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán in the 1940s. Both historians popularized the notion that racial status was a key organizing principle of Spanish colonial rule. However, recent academic studies have challenged this notion, considering it a flawed and ideologically-based reinterpretation of the colonial period.
When Mexico gained independence in 1821, the casta designations were eliminated as a legal structure, but racial divides remained. White Mexicans argued about what the solution was to the "Indian Problem", that is indigenous who continued to live in communities and were not integrated politically or socially as citizens of the new republic. The Mexican Constitution of 1824 has several articles pertaining to indigenous peoples.
Independence to the Mexican Revolution
The Mexican War of Independence was a decade-long struggle ending in 1821, in which indigenous peoples participated for their own motivations. The new country was named after its capital city, Mexico City. The new flag had at its center a symbol of the Aztecs, an eagle perched on a nopal cactus. Mexico declared the abolition of slavery in 1829 and the equality of all citizens before the law in 1857. Indigenous communities continued to have rights as corporations to maintain land holdings until the liberal Reforma. Some indigenous individuals integrated into Mexican society, like Benito Juárez of Zapotec ethnicity, the first indigenous president in the Americas. Juárez supported the removal of provisions protecting indigenous communal land holdings through the Lerdo law.
In the North of Mexico, indigenous peoples, such as the Comanche and Apache, who had acquired the horse, waged a successful warfare against the Mexican state. The Comanche controlled considerable territory, called the Comancheria. The Yaqui also had a long tradition of resistance, with the late nineteenth-century leader Cajemé being prominent during the Yaqui Wars. The Mayo joined their Yaqui neighbors in rebellion after 1867. In Yucatán, Mayas waged a protracted war against local Mexican control in the Caste War of Yucatán, which was most intensely fought in 1847 and lasted until 1915.
20th century
The Mexican Revolution, a violent social and cultural movement that defined 20th-century Mexico, produced a nationalist sentiment that the indigenous peoples were the foundation of Mexican society in a movement known as indigenismo. Several prominent artists promoted the "Indigenous Sentiment" (sentimiento indigenista) of the country, including Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Throughout the twentieth century, the government established bilingual education in some indigenous communities and published free bilingual textbooks. Some states of the federation appropriated an indigenous inheritance in order to reinforce their identity.
In spite of the official recognition of indigenous peoples, the economic underdevelopment of their communities, accentuated by the crises of the 1980s and 1990s, has not allowed for the development of most indigenous communities. Thousands of indigenous Mexicans have emigrated to urban centers in Mexico and the United States. In Los Angeles, for example, the Mexican government has established electronic access to some of the consular services provided in Spanish as well as Zapotec and Mixe. Some of the Maya peoples of Chiapas have revolted, demanding better social and economic opportunities, requests voiced by the EZLN.
The Chiapas conflict of 1994 led to collaboration between the Mexican government and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, a libertarian socialist indigenous political group. This movement generated international media attention and united many indigenous groups. In 1996 the San Andrés Larráinzar Accords were negotiated between the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and the Mexican government. The San Andrés accords were the first time that indigenous rights were acknowledged by the Mexican government.
The government has made certain legislative changes to promote the development of rural and indigenous communities and the promotion of indigenous languages. The second article of the Constitution was modified to include the right of self-determination and requires state governments to promote and ensure the economic development of indigenous communities as well as the preservation of their languages and traditions.
Rights
Constitutional
The Spanish crown had legal protections for indigenous individuals as well as their communities, including establishing a separate General Indian Court. The mid-nineteenth-century liberal reform removed them as part of its establishment of equality before the law. The creation of a national identity not linked to racial or ethnic identity was an aim of Mexican liberalism.
In the late twentieth century, there has been a push for indigenous rights and a recognition of indigenous cultural identity. According to the constitutional reform of 2001, the following rights of indigenous peoples are recognized:
acknowledgment as indigenous communities, right to self-ascription, and the application of their own regulatory systems
preservation of their cultural identity, land, consultation, and participation
access to the jurisdiction to the state and to development
recognition of indigenous peoples and communities as a subject of public law
self-determination and self-autonomy
remunicipalization for the advancement of indigenous communities
administer own forms of communication and media
The second article of the Constitution of Mexico recognizes and enforces the right of indigenous peoples and communities to self-determination and autonomy to:
V. Preserve and improve their habitat as well as preserve the integrity of their lands in accordance with this constitution. VI. Be entitled to the estate and land property modalities established by this constitution and its derived legislation, to all private property rights and communal property rights as well as to use and enjoy in a preferential way all the natural resources located at the places which the communities live in, except those defined as strategic areas according to the constitution. The communities shall be authorized to associate with each other in order to achieve such goals.
Through the land reforms of the early 20th century, some indigenous people had land rights under the ejido system. Under ejidos, indigenous communities have usufruct rights of the land. Indigenous communities do this when they do not have the legal evidence to claim the land. In 1992, free market reforms allowed ejidos to be partitioned and sold. For this to happen, the PROCEDE program was established. The PROCEDE program surveyed, mapped, and verified the ejido lands. According to several analysts, the privatization of ejidos has undermined the economic base of indigenous communities.
Linguistic
The history of linguistic rights in Mexico began when the Spanish first made contact with Indigenous Languages during the colonial period. Beginning in the early sixteenth century, mestizaje, the mixing of races and cultures, led to the mixing of languages as well. The Spanish Crown proclaimed Spanish to be the language of the empire; indigenous languages were used during the conversion of individuals to Catholicism. Because of this, indigenous languages were more widespread than Spanish from 1523 to 1581. During the late sixteenth century, the prevalence of the Spanish language increased.
Indigenous tongues are discriminated against and seen as not modern. By the seventeenth century, the elite minority were Spanish speakers. After independence in 1821, there was a shift to Spanish to legitimize the Mexican Spanish created by Mexican criollos. The nineteenth century brought with it programs to provide bilingual education at primary levels where they would eventually transition to Spanish-only education. Linguistic uniformity was sought out to strengthen national identity. This further excluded indigenous languages from power structures.
The Chiapas conflict of 1994 led to collaboration between the Mexican government and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, an indigenous political group. In 1996 the San Andrés Larráinzar Accords were negotiated between the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and the Mexican government. The San Andrés accords were the first time that indigenous rights were acknowledged by the Mexican government. The San Andrés Accords did not explicitly state language but language was involved in matters involving culture and education.
In 2001, the second article of the constitution of Mexico was changed to recognize and enforce the right of indigenous peoples and communities to self-determination and therefore their autonomy to preserve and enrich their language, knowledge, and every part of their culture and identity.
In 2003, the General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples explicitly stated the protection of individual and collective linguistic rights of indigenous peoples. The final section also sanctioned the creation of a National Institute for Indigenous Languages (INALI) whose purpose is to promote the growth of indigenous languages in Mexico.
There has been a lack of enforcement of the law. For example, the General Law on Linguistic Rights of Indigenous People guarantees the right to a trial in the language of indigenous peoples with someone who understands their culture. According to the Mexican National Human Rights Commission, Mexico has not abided by this law. Examples include Jacinta Francisca Marcial, an indigenous woman imprisoned for her alleged involvement in a 2006 kidnapping. After three years and the assistance of Amnesty International, she was released for lack of evidence.
Additionally, the General Law on Linguistics also guarantees bilingual and intercultural education. These efforts have been criticized on grounds that teachers do not know the indigenous language or do not prioritize its teaching. In fact, some studies argue that formal education has decreased the prevalence of indigenous languages. Some parents do not teach their children their indigenous language, and some children refuse to learn their indigenous language for fear of discrimination. Scholars argue that there needs to be a social change to elevate the status of indigenous languages in order for the law to be withheld so that indigenous languages are protected.
Women's
Indigenous women are often taken advantage of because they are women, indigenous, and often poor. Indigenous traditions have been used as a pretext by the Mexican government to deny rights to indigenous women, such as the right to own land. Additionally, violence against women has been regarded by the Mexican government as a cultural practice.
The EZLN accepted a Revolutionary Law for Women on March 8, 1993. The law is not fully enforced but shows solidarity between the indigenous movement and women. The Mexican government increased militarization of indigenous areas has made women more susceptible to harassment through military abuses. The government has remained largely inactive against denunciations of abuse of indigenous women by elements of the armed forces.
Indigenous women have formed many support organizations to improve their social position and gain financial independence. Indigenous women use national and international legislation to support their claims that go against cultural norms such as domestic violence. Reproductive justice is an important issue to indigenous communities because there is a lack of development in these areas and is less access to maternal care. Conditional cash transfer programs such as Oportunidades have been used to encourage indigenous women to seek formal health care.
Development and socio-economy
Generally, indigenous Mexicans are poorer than non-indigenous Mexicans, though social development varies between states, different indigenous ethnicities, and between rural and urban areas. In all states, indigenous people have higher infant mortality, and in some states, almost double that of the non-indigenous populations.
Some indigenous groups, particularly the Yucatec Maya in the Yucatán Peninsula and some of the Nahua and Otomi peoples in central states have maintained higher levels of development while indigenous peoples in states such as the Guerrero or Michoacán are ranked drastically lower than the average Mexican citizen in these fields. Despite certain indigenous groups such as the Maya or Nahua retaining high levels of development, the general indigenous population lives at a lower level of development than the general population.
Literacy rates are much lower for the indigenous, particularly in the southwestern states of Guerrero and Oaxaca due lack of access to education and a lack of educational literature available in indigenous languages. Literacy rates are also much lower, with 27% of indigenous children between 6 and 14 being illiterate compared to a national average of 12% in 2000. The Mexican government is required to provide education in indigenous languages but often fails to provide schooling in languages other than Spanish. As a result, many indigenous groups have resorted to creating their own small community educational institutions.
The indigenous population participates in the workforce longer than the national average, starting earlier and continuing longer. A major reason for this is that a significant number of the indigenous practice subsistence agriculture and receive no regular salaries. Indigenous people also have lower access to health care.
Demographics
Languages
The Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Languages recognizes 62 indigenous languages as "national languages" which have the same validity as Spanish in all territories where they are spoken. According to the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Data Processing (INEGI), approximately 6.7% of the population speaks an indigenous language. That is, less than half of those identified as indigenous. 6,695,228 people 5 years or older were tallied as indigenous-language speakers in the 2010 census, an increase of about 650,000 from the 2000 census. In 2000, 6,044,547 people 5 years or older spoke an indigenous language.
In previous censuses, information on the indigenous speaking population five years of age and older was obtained from the Mexican people. However, in the 2010 census, this approach was changed and the Government also began to collect data on people 3 years and older. With this new approach, it was determined that there were 6,913,362 people 3 years of age or more who spoke an indigenous language (218,000 children 3 and 4 four years of age fell into this category), accounting for 6.6% of the total population. The population of children aged 0 to 2 years in homes where the head of household or a spouse spoke an indigenous language was 678 954. The indigenous language speaking population has been increasing in absolute numbers for decades, but have nonetheless been falling in proportion to the national population.
The recognition of indigenous languages and the protection of indigenous cultures is granted not only to the ethnic groups indigenous to modern-day Mexican territory, but also to other North American indigenous groups that migrated to Mexico from the United States in the nineteenth century and those who immigrated from Guatemala in the 1980s.
States
The five states with the largest indigenous-language-speaking populations are:
Oaxaca, with 1,165,186 indigenous language speakers, accounting for 34.2% of the state's population.
Chiapas, with 1,141,499 indigenous language speakers, accounting for 27.2% of the state's population.
Veracruz, with 644,559 indigenous language speakers, accounting for 9.4% the state's population.
Puebla, with 601,680 indigenous language speakers, accounting for 11.7% of the state's population.
Yucatán, with 537,516 indigenous language speakers, accounting for 30.3% of the state's population.
These five states accounted for 61.1% of all indigenous language speakers in Mexico. Most indigenous Mexicans do not speak their own languages and speak only Spanish. This is reflected in these five states' populations. Although Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracruz, Puebla, and Yucatán have 34.2%, 27.2%, 9.4%, 11.7%, and 30.3% of their populations speaking an indigenous language, these states' indigenous populations are 65.73%, 36.15%, 29.25%, 35.28%, 65.4% respectively.
Population statistics
According to the National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples (CDI), there were 25,694,928 indigenous people reported in Mexico in 2015, which constitutes 21.5% of the population of Mexico. This is a significant increase from the 2010 census, in which indigenous Mexicans accounted for 14.9% of the population, and numbered 15,700,000 Most indigenous communities have a degree of financial, political autonomy under the legislation of "usos y costumbres", which allows them to regulate internal issues under customary law.
The indigenous population of Mexico has in recent decades increased both in absolute numbers as-well as a percentage of the population. This is largely due to increased self-identification as indigenous, as well as indigenous women having higher birth rates than the country average. Indigenous peoples are also more likely to live in rural areas, but many reside in urban or suburban areas, particularly in the central states of Mexico, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Mexico City and the Yucatán Peninsula.
According to the CDI, the states with the greatest percentage of indigenous population are: Yucatán, with 65.40%, Quintana Roo with 44.44% and Campeche with 44.54% of the population being indigenous, most of them Maya; Oaxaca with 65.73% of the population, the most numerous groups being the Mixtec and Zapotec peoples; Chiapas has 36.15%, the majority being Tzeltal and Tzotzil Maya; Hidalgo with 36.21%, the majority being Otomi; Puebla with 35.28%, and Guerrero with 33.92%, mostly Nahua people and the states of San Luis Potosí and Veracruz both home to a population of 19% indigenous people, mostly from the Totonac, Nahua and Teenek (Huastec) groups.
States
The majority of the indigenous population is concentrated in the central and southern states. According to the CDI, the states with the greatest percentage of indigenous population as of 2020 according to INEGI are:
Population genetics
The indigenous Mexicans (and other 'Amerindian' or 'Native American' peoples) formed from prehistoric admixture between an ancient lineage which diverged from East Asian people around 36,000 years ago, and from a Paleolithic Siberian population known as Ancient North Eurasians, deeply related to Paleolithic/Mesolithic European Hunter-Gatherers.
In 2011 a large scale mitochondrial sequencing in Mexican Americans revealed 85 to 90% of maternal mtDNA lineages are of Native American origin, with the remainder having European (5–7%) or African ancestry (3–5%). Thus the observed frequency of Native American mtDNA in Mexican/Mexican Americans is higher than was expected on the basis of autosomal estimates of Native American admixture for these populations i.e. ~ 30–46%.
The indigenous groups within what is now Mexico are genetically distinct from each other. The genetic differences between geographically separated indigenous groups (e.g., between indigenous people living in the Yucatán Peninsula compared to indigenous people living in western Mexico) can be as large as the genetic differences seen between a European and an East Asian person.
Populations of more than 100,000
Populations of less than 20,000
1Number of indigenous peoples that speak their Indigenous language
Education
Mexico is the nation of the Americas with the highest number of living languages in the early years of the 21st century, despite this cultural wealth, there is a technological disparity in education for indigenous peoples compared to other ethnic groups living in the country.
Culture
The anthropologist and chef Raquel Torres Cerdán has recorded and ensured the preservation of many of the indigenous cuisines of Veracruz.
Notable people
Pre-Independence figures
Indigenous Mexicans
See also
Colonial Mexico
Indigenismo in Mexico
Indigenous peoples of California
Indigenous peoples of the North American Southwest
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerican chronology
Mexican Indian Wars
References
Sources
Further reading
General
Prehispanic era
Duverger, Christian (1999): Mesoamérica, arte y antropología. CONACULTA-Landucci Editores. Paris.
Miller, Mary Ellen. (2001). El arte de mesoamérica. "Colecciones El mundo del arte". Ediciones Destino. Barcelona, España. .
Postconquest era
Postcolonial era
External links
Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indigenas
Consejo Nacional de Poblacion
Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia
Mexico and Southwest USA – Native Y-DNA Project
Archivo de Lenguas Indígenas de México (El Colegio de México)
Virtual museum of the indigenous languages of Mexico
Information about the Native American tribes that historically lived on the US-Mexico Border
Category:Demographics of Mexico
Category:Society of Mexico | [
{
"text": "Indigenismo is a Latin American nationalist political ideology that began in the late nineteenth century and persisted throughout the twentieth that attempted to construct the role of indigenous populations in the nation-state. The ideology was particularly influential in Mexico where it shaped the majority of indigenous-state relations since its incorporation into the Constitution in 1917. While the perspectives and methods of Indigenistas changed and adapted over time, the defining features of Mexican Indigenismo are the implementation by primarily non-indigenous actors, the celebration of indigenous culture as a part of the nation's history, and the attempt to integrate indigenous populations under the authority of the nation-state. The ideology was enacted by a number of policies, institutions, governmental programs, and through artistic expression. These included education programs, land reform, political reform, and economic development as well as national displays of indigenous heritage. Although generally viewed as beneficial for creating a platform to discussing indigenous issues, Indigenismo has been criticized as still operating under colonial paradigms of racial hierarchy and often helped to solidify some stereotypes of Indigenous peoples even while trying to break down others.\n\nPost-Revolution \nThe Mexican Indigenista movement flourished after the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920. Prior to the Revolution, under the presidency of Liberal General Porfirio Diaz, from Oaxaca and himself having indigenous antecedents, his policy makers, known as Cientificos (\"scientists\") were influenced by French Positivism and Social Darwinism and thinkers such as Herbert Spencer. They saw white European ethnicity as superior and sought to build the nation toward a European model. Porfirian state development policies implemented laws of the Liberal Reform passed in the 1850s, which included dispossessing rural lands, particularly indigenous community lands under the Lerdo Law; collective indigenous groups being integrated as individuals by coercion, and expanding rural education aimed at creating a reliable workforce. In the aftermath of the Revolution the new government incorporated indigenismo as an official ideology into the 1917 Constitution, which claimed to strive for the emancipation of previously exploited indigenous peoples through integration into the Mexican state.\n\nMexican policies of indigenismo were influenced largely by Columbia University-trained Mexican anthropologist Manuel Gamio. In his 1915 book Forjando Patria (Forging a Nation) he advocated for the study of indigenous groups in order to determine which cultural traits to preserve and which to improve in order to create a unified nationalist state Gamio stated that indigenous people have the same intellectual capability and that their perceived cultural inferiority is a product of their history of oppression and current disadvantaged environment. With improved education and living conditions, he believed indigenous groups would accept acculturation and \"embrace contemporary culture\" Gamio was instrumental in directing his young nephew, Miguel León-Portilla, who went on to be a leading authority on Nahua thought and history, to study Nahuatl with Ángel María Garibay. Garibay published translations of Aztec texts and created the field of Nahuatl literature.\n\nWhile the first decade of revolutionary presidencies of Venustiano Carranza (1917–1920), Adolfo de la Huerta (1920), Álvaro Obregón (1920–1924), and Plutarco Elías Calles (1924–1928) saw the start of change in terms of improving education and land reform these administrations still saw indigenous populations as an obstacle to progress and their policies were geared toward modernizing and improving indigenous populations to fit into civilized national culture. All of the presidents in the immediate aftermath of the Revolution were from northern Mexico; Carranza, Nuevo León; De la Huerta, Obregón, and Calles, Sonora), a region very different from central and southern Mexico (Mesoamerica), where great civilizations had arisen before the arrival of the Europeans. The revolutionary general most associated with Mexico's indigenous population in central Mexico was peasant leader Emiliano Zapata of Morelos, who was murdered by an agent of Carranza in 1919. Obregón and Calles both distributed land under the tenets of Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, allowing the Mexican state to expropriate property. Calles distributed 3,045,802 hectares to over 300,000 people living in rural areas, many of them indigenous. Much of this land was ill-suited for agriculture or even barren. It is debated whether Calles's land redistribution was done for concern for the well-being of rural citizens or used as a tool to gain political support from rural areas. When Lázaro Cárdenas of the southern Mexican state of Michoacan became president in 1934, land reform in Mexico again became a high priority.\n\nEducation reform \nReform of rural education became a national priority when President Alvaro Obregon appointed José Vasconcelos to begin to combat rural illiteracy in 1920. Vasconcelos would eventually be appointed the director of the new Ministry of Public Education (SEP) in 1921. Vasconcelos was a nationalist who believed a culturally homogeneous mestizo state was necessary to create a strong, modernized Mexico. He is known for his phrase describing Mexico's population, the \"cosmic race,\" a blending of indigenous and Europeans. His indigenous education policies then were aimed at assimilation and de-Indianizing indigenous groups so they became a part of mestizo national culture. Prior to 1920 national education policy had emphasized decentralized local control. By reversing this policy and giving Vasconcelos and SEP centralized control nationwide education, Obregón and Calles used education to extend federal control and aimed at acculturating indigenous populations into national citizens In addition to the SEP, Vasconcelos created the Department of Indigenous Culture in 1921 to facilitate the \"incorporation [of indigenous peoples] into the dominant European culture\" through the rural federal schools. Vasconcelos emphasized racially inclusive national schools to break down racial differences, as well as training rural teachers to educate rural children and parents within and outside of the school. His hope was that national mestizo cultural practices would spread through teachers to transform rural communities and create a patriotic national identity through \"technological diffusion, agrarian reform,political mobilization, and nationalist propaganda\". Vasconcelos' SEP taught reading and writing to over 37,000 illiterate peasants and the Department of Indigenous Culture created 1,926 rural schools and trained 2,388 teachers from its creation to 1924\n\nArt and literature \nBoth Gamio and Vasconcelos, along with other indigenistas, saw creating national artistic and cultural production as essential to creating a national identity and used the romantic image of Indigeneity in creating a national culture through state sponsored art production starting in 1920 until 1940. Manuel Gamio argued that Mexican artists' inspiration should be derived from ancient Indigenous aesthetics, from the Aztec in particular.\n\nDuring the Revolution, indigenous images were used as official nationalist symbols and after the revolution the government continued to use indigenous symbols to establish the roots of Mexican culture and identity within the physical nation state Vasconcelos was appointed to be head of the cultural development program under Obregón, and began to commission artists to create national artwork supported by the revolutionary government, specifically focused on large public works that were visible and accessible to the people in order to solidify the national identity. Artists who contributed to this movement include Diego Rivera, Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Much of this expansive artistic production was done if the form of murals on public buildings. Rivera alone created at least 124 murals over 8 years, including murals on Nacional Palace of Mexico, the Cortes Palace in Cuernavaca and the National School of Agriculture. These images very often depicted indigenous figures and symbols as a celebration of pre-colonial Mexico. \nIn the view of Guillermo Bonfil Batalla, a Mexican anthropologist, while indigenous people were often depicted as a symbol of national pride and cultural heritage, they were depicted as relics of the past with little recognition of existing indigenous groups. The aspects of indigeneity that were depicted were selectively chosen as those most appealing such as the calm, campesino life and traditional crafts, dance, and popular folklore. Rivera's first mural under Vasconcelos' commission, titled Creation, is described by Rivera as a racial history of Mexico and demonstrates the cultural hierarchy present in the Indigenismo ideology as the primitive-looking indigenous figures look up to the enlightened European figures who have come to save them from their misery with education. Even while these artists helped create the mestizo identity, they often created images that displayed ideas and images of indigenous peoples that conflicted with the goals of the nationalist government.\n \nAfter 1940, muralism was deemphasized to create national identity. Different forms of art and culture production were still used to form and shape national identity such as music, crafts, architecture, and literature, and still incorporated aspects of a romanticized indigenous heritage. Another way indigenous heritage was celebrated and publicly displayed was through museums. The largest and best known project is the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City constructed in 1964 to house the extensive national collection of indigenous cultural artifacts. The museum displays and celebrates Mexico's precolonial past and Indigenous roots. Critics of Indigenismo have commented on how the museum is structured around primarily Aztec exhibits and artifacts, while the exhibits dedicated to existing indigenous groups in Mexico are positioned to the side and are often overlooked by visitors. They have also noted that the language used in the Museum places the greatness and achievements of indigenous people in the past.\n\nThe creation of Aztec literature as an academic field was spearheaded by Ángel María Garibay K., a Mexican linguist and translator of Nahuatl and Spanish texts of the prehispanic and colonial eras, and gave scholarly standing to the native literature of Mexico. Garibay and his student Miguel León-Portilla published works by Aztec poets written down in the colonial era as alphabetic texts. As the Mexican government supported expressions indigenismo, the establishment of Nahuatl literature with scholarly standing has been seen an integral part of that nationalist state-sponsored project.\n\nUnder Cárdenas (1934-40) \n\nUnder the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–1940) policies of indigenismo expanded. After observing the economic and educational struggles experienced by indigenous communities on his presidential campaign tour and his experience as governor of Michoacan prior to becoming president, Cárdenas stated that it was the government's responsibility to help indigenous peoples become modern citizens of Mexico at a speech in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas on February 25, 1934. In that speech, he promised to \"convert [the Indians] into men capable of intellectual development, and an active economic force struggling for the advancement of their race.\" His administration created policies of planned acculturation to integrate the indigenous population into the national Mexican state. These policies included artisan projects, technical training to modernize indigenous economies as well as educational programs to culturally and socially integrate indigenous groups and promote mestizaje. Cardenas expressed his support of indigenous incorporation when he stated the solution to the Indian problem was to \"Mexicanize the Indian\" and make them citizens at a speech at the 1940 First Inter-American Indigenous Conference on Indian Life. His administration experimented with policies, new bureaucratic structures, and administrators with particular ideas about indigenous peoples and their relationship to the Mexican state and culture.\n\nEducational reform \nThe SEP during Cárdenas presidency increased the number and quality of schools for indigenous communities. Cardenas was also an advocate for bi-lingual education and in 1939 the SEP started a bi-lingual education program, where indigenous schools were taught in regional languages then slowly transitioned to Spanish. This was the first time national education programs used indigenous languages to acculturate indigenous children. To support this program, bilingual teachers were trained to educate indigenous communities formally, linguistically, and culturally. Ultimately, a lack of proper use of indigenous languages by bilingual teachers and indigenous resistance to cultural education meant the project only succeeded at acculturating individuals as opposed to creating regional social transformations\n\nDepartment of Indigenous Affairs \nIn January 1936, the Cárdenas administration established of the Department of Indigenous Affairs (DAI) in 1936, which Mexican ethnologist and diplomat Moisés Sáenz helped plan. The department's primary agenda was facilitating a combination of advocacy, education, and economic development. The first director of the DAI was Graciano Sánchez, who had worked to supplant local agrarian leagues in Tamaulipas in favor of peasant organizations connected to Cárdenas's confederation of campesinos. This administrative pick points to Cárdenas's desire to mobilize peasants politically under the control of the Mexican state. Important DAI personnel were procuradores, who collected ethnographic information about indigenous peoples, who acted as intermediaries between the indigenous and the Mexican state. These intermediaries brought Indian complaints to federal agencies regarding ejido grants and limits, irrigation and other water rights, issues of real importance for indigenous communities. In 1937-38, the procuradores forwarded some 11,000 complaints, which brought about change in ejidal authorities, prompted actions against judicial authorities in favor of Indians and campesinos, resolved conflicts between Indians and the Banco Crédito Ejidal. The number of wins for the indigenous was relatively modest overall, but for those it benefited these were important. During Sánchez's tenure, authority over indigenous schools was transferred from the Ministry of Education (SEP) to the Department of Indigenous Affairs. The results were disastrous for that experiment in Indian education. Sánchez left the DAI to oversee the Confederación Nacional Campesina and was replaced by the scholar Luis Chávez Orozco.\n\nThe Department was later renamed Department of Autonomous Indigenous Affairs (DAAI). The DAAI would accomplish its agenda through scientific research to understand indigenous peoples and issues then create executive policies to respond to those issues. The DAAI ceased to exist by 1947, in the years when Mexico was concentrating on modernization and industrialization, often called the Mexican Miracle. DAAI was replaced with the National Indigenist Institute (INI) in 1948. The failure has been attributed to the delay in the creation of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in 1939, which stagnated the progress of the DAAI.\n\nLand reform \nTo improve the economic conditions in rural areas, Cárdenas distributed an average of 22 hectares to 811,157 people from 1928–1940, which was more than all his predecessors combined for the purpose of creating communal farms or Ejidos. These ejidos acted as a new administrative unit that incorporated indigenous communities into the structure of the state. When faced with indigenous resistance to state land reform, agrarian teachers were sent to educate them on benefits institutionalized reform. Due to continued resistance from indigenous communities as well as resistance from large landowners, and the failure of communal land systems to sustain the growing rural population, Cárdenas's land reform remained largely incomplete. While overall national poverty was reduced, there were still large disparities in wealth between urban and rural communities and even larger ones between non-indigenous and indigenous communities.\n\nFirst Inter-American Conference on Indian Life \nIn 1940, Cárdenas hosted delegates and participants from 19 American countries, totaling 250 people, at a conference in Pátzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico to discuss and reevaluate the role of Indigenous populations in American nations. The conference was mainly run and organized by Mexican education reform advocate and indigensita, Moises Saenz. Saenz was an active proponent that cultural pluralism was the only way to accomplish integration of indigenous groups into the national identity as citizens. The importance of this conference was the potential change in scale to continental Indigenismo and the creation of a Pan-American system. After discussion of a number of topics concerning indigenous populations the conference came up with two main objectives. They worked toward improving all aspects of indigenous life and working to protect and preserve their diverse customs and traditions. The conference also decided to establish the Inter-American Indian Institute (III) \"an intergovernmental body specializing in the Indian question\" which would supplement the individual national indigenous departments. Saenz was appointed as the director of the Institute, but was killed in a car accident the following year. Gamio was later elected as director of the Institute.\n\nDue to the inability of its small members to contribute funds, the economic toll of World War II and a change in Mexico's administration which had been its biggest supporter, the III became largely unfunded and had to turn to foreign funding to implement the projects agreed upon at and after the conference. This funding came largely from private investment companies from the United States, which limited what types of projects would be funded. With the start of the Cold War came a change in US foreign policy and III project resources became very scarce.\n\nUnder Echeverría (1970–1976)\n\nLuis Echeverría served as President of Mexico from 1970-1976. He attempted to resurrect the populist presidency of Cárdenas and expanded on his Indigenista policies. These policies up to this point had been purely determined and directed by government officials. In 1970, Echeverría publicly announced his concern of the lack of indigenous participation in national intellectual and civic discourse and stated indigenous peoples were at risk to \"become foreigners in their own country\". Echeverría intended to change Indian policies so indigenous groups became active participants in the development and had a voice in determining policy with \"participatory Indigenismo\". While his administration made unprecedented attempts to respect ethnic pluralism, its goal remained political, social, and economic integration of the indigenous population. Early in his career he met with the Instituto Nacional Indigenista (INI) and promised to commit to the economic and political development of indigenous communities by increasing funding for the INI. From 1970 to 1976 the INI's budget was increased from 26 million pesos to 450 million pesos. He also increased resources on the ground for indigenous groups by opening 58 more Indigenous Coordinating Centers (CCI), which were regional INI offices that acted as liaisons between the capital and indigenous populations across the nation.\n\nPlan Huicot \nEarly in his term, Echeverría initiated Plan Huicot to implement his promise of committing federal resources to the development of indigenous communities. The plan was headed up by Echeverría's new director of the INI, Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, a Mexican anthropologist. Throughout these development programs, INI acted as a liaison between indigenous communities and other federal agencies and as a distributor of the resources of those collaborating agencies. Plan Huicot was the first of many plans to address the economic issues indigenous communities faced. Through Plan Huicot and the following initiatives the federal government invested $96.5 million pesos from 1971-1973.\n\nIn terms of economic development, the INI invested in indigenous agricultural production with programs for providing equipment, environmental sustainability, providing professional assistance, as well as helping gain land titles and other legal services concerning land ownership. Under the Echeverría administration, the INI handled 838 land title cases which eventually benefited 243,500 indigenous peoples. Echeverria also distributed 6.5 million hectares to indigenous groups.\n\nThe INI also expanded medical services and patient capacity in the CCI's. Indigenous use of these services was limited at first because of mistrust of Western medicine and preference for traditional medicine and treatments. To break down this mistrust, the INI provided scholarships to indigenous youth to train as medical personal and trained 88 doctors and 382 medical assistants by 1976.\n\nIndigenous communities had mistrusted past Indigenista education programs when non-Indigenous professionals were sent in. To increase the effectiveness and indigenous participation in public education, the INI replaced mestizo teachers with indigenous ones. They also increased training of bilingual teachers and cultural promoters from 3500 in 1970 to 14,000 (8,000 cultural promoters and 6,000 teachers) in 1976. The role of cultural promoters was to relay the mission of the INI to indigenous communities as a native indigenous speaker. Both the teachers and promoters were trained by the SEP, but worked through the CCI's as part of an agency collaboration.\n\nFirst National Congress of Indigenous People \nIn Pátzcuaro, Michoacán the First National Congress of Indigenous People was held from October 7–10, 1975. It was preceded by 58 regional conferences held at the Indigenous Coordinating Centers to discuss the problems local indigenous communities were facing. From those regional conferences delegates were selected by the communities to represent them at the national conference. 56 delegations of about 15 delegates were present. There were over 2500 indigenous people in attendance including delegates and general participants. The original agenda of the conference specifically included the discussion of land reform and the integration of marginalized ethnic groups as well as generally attaining indigenous economic, social, and political rights. The governments hope was that the conference would give agency to indigenous communities to create their own vision of progress.\n\nThe final demands of the indigenous delegates to Echeverría included improved distribution of land and resources, improved infrastructure for travel and medical care, the nationalization of agricultural industries, access to credit, fair rates for artisan products, bilingual and bicultural education for all ages, and gender equality. In addition, there was call for indigenous autonomy, self-determination, and federal recognition of indigenous uses and customs. Indigenous leaders justified their demand for self-determination in claiming it was their given right from the Mexican Revolution. Enacting self-determination meant a voluntary incorporation by indigenous peoples into national society as Mexican citizens\n\nAfter the reading of the document, Echeverría assured the Congress of his administrations commitment to ending marginalization of the indigenous populations and distributed resolutions giving 1 million hectares to 23,736 Indian families as well as certificates of recognition. The Congress gave indigenous people a platform to voice their concerns and influence policy as well as prompt additional conferences to create a resurgence of indigenous mobilization Echeverría's six-year presidential term ended in December 1976, so that his promises made this late in his presidency would have to be taken up by the next administration.\n\nUnder López Obrador (2018–2024)\n\nCriticism \nThe Departamento de Asuntos Indígenas (DAI), established by Cárdenas in 1936, maintained the country for indigenous people, and the intent of indigenista policies disinterested Mexicans generally. Government attempts to remake the image of Mexico's indigenous were far from reality and many Mexicans saw that image as an ideological construct at odds with most urban Mexicans' perceptions of the indigenous. According to historian Alexander Dawson, these government programs \"were the products of a commitment on the part of the central state to prioritize the Indian as a national problem and national icon, but were never widely supported outside of fairly narrow circles\" of indigenistas.\n\nA number of urban Mexicans opposed to the government's indigenista projects began framing their opposition to them in terms of eugenics, attributing the situation of the indigenous as due to heredity. A 1936 editorial in the Mexico City newspaper Excelcior stated \"The Mendelian theory of inheritance serves as a basis of vigorously opposing the humanitarian work of the Government. The norms of the contemporary Indians have been passed from parents to their children as a sacred trust, and it is no simple task to remove these obstacles.\" Eugenics underpinned the Nazis' genocidal programs and after World War II would not be asserted as a scientific position.\n\nOne of the leftist critics of Indigenismo in Mexico was Mexican anthropologist Guillermo Bonfil Batalla (1935-1991). He helped organize the First National Congress of Indigenous Peoples and was a large proponent of Indigenous self-determination. Along with other Mexican anthropologists Bonfil Batalla criticized Indigenismo's attempt to \"incorporate the Indian, that is, de-Indianize him\" and trying to create a mestizo national identity. Instead, Bonfil Batalla called for a pluri-national state of co-existence where diverse cultural groups that can pursue their own goals free of impositions from Western culture. In January 1971, Bonfil Batalla and other anthropologists, including Darcy Ribiero and Stefano Varese, met in Barbados and released a Declaration that called for a redirection of the roles of the government, religious organizations, and anthropologists in their relationships with indigenous groups. The redirection involved a respect for indigenous culture and transferring power and authority over indigenous community development to the indigenous communities.\n\nIn his work Mexico Profundo, Bonfil Batalla rejects that Mexico is a mestizo country and claims the mestizo nation building projects like Indigenismo have created an \"Imaginary Mexico\" formed from the dominant groups from Mexico's colonial history. The real Mexico or \"México Profundo\" is made up of the large groups of individuals and communities who are still culturally tied to the Mesoamerican civilization. Bonfil Batalla describes how these two identities have been in conflict for the past 500 years of Mexican history as Mexico Profundo actively resists incorporation attempts by the imaginary Mexico. He claims that the nation will fall apart if it continues to ignore the Mexico Profundo and continue with mestizo nation building policies. The pluri-cultural state he proposes would tolerate Western or mestizo culture, as all cultures would be respected and free from oppression and would be structured in an equal way instead of in opposition to each other. For the creation of a pluri-cultural state is to give cultural control to local communities, including social organization and education and to give equal political participation to the Mexico Profundo.\n\nSee also \n\n Indigenous peoples of Mexico\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n Barnet-Sánchez, Holly. \"Indigenismo and Pre-Hispanic Revivals\" in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Culture. vol. 2, pp. 42–44. Oxford University Press 2001.\nBonfil Batalla, Guillermo (1996). México profundo : reclaiming a civilization / by Guillermo Bonfil Batalla ; translated by Philip A. Dennis. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. .\nBaud, Michiel (2009). Indigenous peoples, civil society, and the neo-liberal state in Latin America. New York: Berghahn Books. pp. 19–42. .\n Brading, D.A. \"Manuel Gamio and Official Indigenismo in Mexico\" Bulletin of Latin American Research 7.1 (1988), 75-89.\nDawson, Alexander (May 1998). \"From Models for the Nation to Model Citizens: Indigenismo and the 'Revindication' of the Mexican Indian, 1920-40\". Journal of Latin American Studies. 30 (2): 279–308.\nDawson, Alexander S. 2004. Indian and Nation in Revolutionary Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. \n Knight, Alan, “Racism, Revolution, and Indigenismo,\" in The Idea of Race in the Latin America, 1870-1940, edited by Richard Graham, University of Texas Press, 1990. \nLewis, Stephen E. (2005). The ambivalent revolution: forging state and nation in Chiapas, 1910-1945. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. .\nLopez, Rick Anthony (2010). Crafting Mexico: intellectuals, artisans, and the state after the revolution. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. .\nMuñoz, Maria L. O.; Kiddle, Amelia (2010). Populism in twentieth century Mexico: the presidencies of Lázaro Cárdenas and Luis Echeverría. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. .\nPostero, Nancy Grey; Zamosc, Leon (2004). The struggle for indigenous rights in Latin America. Brighton [England]; Portland, Or.: Sussex Academic Press. .\nSaldivar, Emiko (April 1, 2011). \"Everyday Practices of Indigensimo: An Ethnography of Anthropology and the State in Mexico\". The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. 16 (1): 67-89. doi:10.1111/j.1935-4940.2011.01125.x.\n\nCategory:Indigenous nationalism in the Americas\nCategory:Mexican nationalism",
"title": "Indigenismo in Mexico"
},
{
"text": "Indigenous peoples of California, commonly known as Indigenous Californians or Native Californians, are a diverse group of nations and peoples that are indigenous to the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and after the colonization of Europeans. There are currently 109 federally recognized tribes in the state and over forty tribes or tribal bands that have applied for federal recognition. California has the second-largest Native American population in the United States.\n\nMost tribes practiced forest gardening or permaculture and controlled burning to ensure the availability of food and medicinal plants as well as ecosystem balance. The tribes lived in separation from European settlers for thousands of years, who only began to invade their homelands for land, labor, and resources in the late 18th century. This began with the arrival of Spanish soldiers and missionaries who established Franciscan missions that instituted an immense rate of death and cultural genocide. \n\nFollowing California statehood, a state-sanctioned policy of elimination was carried out against its aboriginal people known as the California genocide in the establishment of Anglo-American settler colonialism. The Native population reached its lowest in the early 20th century while cultural assimilation into white society became imposed through Indian boarding schools. Native Californian peoples continue to advocate for their cultures, homelands, sacred sites, and their right to live.\n\nIn the 21st century, language revitalization began among some California tribes. The Land Back movement has taken shape in the state with more support to return land to tribes. There is a growing recognition by California of Native peoples' environmental knowledge to improve ecosystems and mitigate wildfires.\n\nClassification \nThe traditional homelands of many tribal nations may not conform exactly to the state of California's boundaries. Many tribes on the eastern border with Nevada have been classified as Great Basin tribes, while some tribes on the Oregon border are classified as Plateau tribes. Tribes in Baja California who do not cross into California are classified as indigenous peoples of Mexico. The Kumeyaay nation is split by the Mexico-United States border.\n\nHistory\n\nIndigenous\n\nEvidence of human occupation of California dates from at least 19,000 years ago. Archeological sites with dates that support human settlement in period 12,000 -7,000 ybp are: Borax Lake, the Cross Creek Site, Santa Barbara Channel Islands, Santa Barbara Coast’s Sudden Flats, and the Scotts Valley site, CA-SCR-177. The Arlington Springs Man is an excavation of 10,000-year-old human remains in the Channel Islands. Marine shellfish remains associated with Kelp Forests were recovered in the Channel Island sites and at other sites such as Daisy Cave and Cardwell Bluffs dated between 12,000 and 9000 cal BP. \n\nPrior to European contact, indigenous Californians had 500 distinct sub-tribes or groups, each consisting of 50 to 500 individual members. The size of California tribes today are small compared to tribes in other regions of the United States. Prior to contact with Europeans, the California region contained the highest Native American population density north of what is now Mexico. Because of the temperate climate and easy access to food sources, approximately one-third of all Native Americans in the United States were living in the area of California.\n\nEarly Native Californians were hunter-gatherers, with seed collection becoming widespread around 9,000 BCE. Due to the local abundance of food, tribes never developed agriculture or tilled the soil. Two early southern California cultural traditions include the La Jolla complex and the Pauma Complex, both dating from c. 6050–1000 BCE. From 3000 to 2000 BCE, regional diversity developed, with the peoples making fine-tuned adaptations to local environments. Traits recognizable to historic tribes were developed by approximately 500 BCE.\n\nThe indigenous people practiced various forms of sophisticated forest gardening in the forests, grasslands, mixed woodlands, and wetlands to ensure availability of food and medicine plants. They controlled fire on a regional scale to create a low-intensity fire ecology; this prevented larger, catastrophic fires and sustained a low-density \"wild\" agriculture in loose rotation. By burning underbrush and grass, the natives revitalized patches of land and provided fresh shoots to attract food animals. A form of fire-stick farming was used to clear areas of old growth to encourage new in a repeated cycle; a permaculture.\n\nContact with Europeans\n\nDifferent tribes encountered non-Native European explorers and settlers at widely different times. The southern and central coastal tribes encountered European explorers in the mid-16th century. Tribes such as the Quechan or Yuman Indians in present-day southeast California and southwest Arizona first encountered Spanish explorers in the 1760s and 1770s. Tribes on the coast of northwest California, like the Miwok, Yurok, and Yokut, had contact with Russian explorers and seafarers in the late 18th century. In remote interior regions, some tribes did not meet non-natives until the mid-19th century.\n\nLate 18th century: Missions and decline\n\nAt the time of the establishment of the first Spanish Mission in 1769, the most widely accepted estimates say that California's indigenous population was around 340,000 people and possibly more. The indigenous peoples of California were extremely diverse and made up of ten different linguistic families with at least 78 distinct languages. These are further broken down into many dialects, while the people were organized into sedentary and semi-sedentary villages of 400-500 micro-tribes.\n\nThe Spanish began their long-term occupation in California in 1769 with the founding of Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego. The Spanish built 20 additional missions in California, most of which were constructed in the late 18th century. From 1769 to 1832, an estimated total of 87,787 baptisms and 24,529 marriages had been conducted at the missions. In that same period, 63,789 deaths at the missions were recorded, indicating the immense death rate. This massive drop in population has been attributed to the introduction of diseases, which rapidly spread while native people were forced into close quarters at the missions, as well as torture, overworking, and malnourishment at the missions. \n\nThe missions also introduced European invasive plant species as well as cattle grazing practices that significantly transformed the California landscape, altering native people's relationship to the land as well as key plant and animal species that had been integral to their ways of life and worldviews for thousands of years. The missions further perpetuated cultural genocide against native people through enforced conversion to Christianity and the prohibition of numerous cultural practices under threat of violence and torture, which were commonplace at the missions.\n\n19th century: Genocide\nThe population of Native California was reduced by 90% during the 19th century—from more than 200,000 in the early 19th century to approximately 15,000 at the end of the century. The majority of this population decline occurred in the latter half of the century, under American occupation. While in 1848, the population of native people was about 150,000, by 1870 it fell to 30,000, and fell further to 16,000 by the end of the century.\n\nThe mass decline in population has been attributed to disease and epidemics that swept through Spanish missions in the early part of the century, such as an 1833 malaria epidemic, among other factors including state-sanctioned massacres that accelerated under Anglo-American rule.\n\nRussian contacts (1812–1841) \n\nIn the early 19th century, were usually associated with the activity of the Russian-American Company. A Russian explorer, Baron Ferdinand von Wrangell, visited California in 1818, 1833, and 1835. Looking for a potential site for a new outpost of the company in California in place of Fort Ross, Wrangell's expedition encountered the native people north of San Francisco Bay. He noted that local women, who were used to physical labor, seemed to be of stronger constitution than men, whose main activity was hunting. He summarized his impressions of the California Indians as a people with a natural propensity for independence, inventive spirit, and a unique sense of the beautiful.\n\nAnother notable Russian expedition to California was the 13 months long visit of the scientist Ilya Voznesensky in 1840–1841. Voznesensky's goal was to gather some ethnographic, biological, and geological materials for the collection of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. He described the locals that he met on his trip to Cape Mendocino as \"the untamed Indian tribes of New Albion, who roam like animals and, protected by impenetrable vegetation, keep from being enslaved by the Spanish\".\n\nMexican secularization (1833–1848) \n\nAfter about a decade of conservative rule in the First Mexican Republic, which formed in 1824 after Mexico gained independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, a liberal sect of the First Mexican Republic passed an act to secularize the missions, which effectively ended religious authority over native people in Alta California. The legislation was primarily passed from liberal sects in the Mexican government, including José María Luis Mora, who believed that the missions prevented native people from accessing \"the value of individual property.\"\n\nThe Mexican government did not return the lands to tribes, but made land grants to settlers of at least partial European ancestry, transforming the remaining parts of mission land into large land grants or ranchos. Secularization provided native people with the opportunity to leave the mission system, yet left many people landless, who were thus pressured into wage labor at the ranchos. The few Indigenous people who acquired land grants were those who have proven their Hispanicization and Christianization. This was noted in the land acquisition of Victoria Reid, an Indigenous woman born at the village of Comicranga.\n\nAmerican settler colonialism (1848–) \n\nThe first governor of California as a U.S. state was Peter Hardenman Burnett, who came to power in 1848 following the United States victory in the Mexican–American War. As American settlers came in control of California with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, its administrators honored some Mexican land grant titles, but did not honor aboriginal land title. \n\nWith this shift in power, the U.S. government instituted a policy of elimination toward indigenous people in California. In his second state address in 1851, Burnett framed an eliminatory outlook toward native people as one of defense for the property of white settlers:The white man, to whom time is money, and who labors hard all day to create the comforts of life, cannot sit up all night to watch his property; and after being robbed a few times, he becomes desperate, and resolve upon a war of extermination. This is a common feeling among our people who have lived upon the Indian frontier ... That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races until the Indian race becomes extinct must be expected. While we cannot anticipate this result but with painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power or wisdom of man to avert.The state formed various militia groups that were tasked with a \"war of extermination\" that authorized the murder of native people in exchange for payment for their scalps and heads. For example, the city of Shasta authorized \"five dollars for every Indian head.\" In this period, 303 volunteer militia groups of 35,000 men were formed by the settlers. \n\nIn the fiscal year of 1851-1852, California paid approximately $1 million dollars toward the formation of militia groups who would eliminate native people. Volunteer militia groups were also subsidized by the U.S. federal government, who reimbursed money to the state toward this eliminatory objective.\n\nCalifornia Gold Rush and forced labor (1848–1855)\n\nMost of inland California including California deserts and the Central Valley was in possession of native people until the acquisition of Alta California by the United States. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848 inspired a mass migration of Anglo-American settlers into areas where native people had avoided sustained encounters with invaders. The California Gold Rush involved a series of massacres and conflicts between settlers and the indigenous peoples of California lasting from about 1846 to 1873 that is generally referred to as the California genocide.\n\nThe negative impact of the California Gold Rush on both the local indigenous inhabitants and the environment were substantial, decimating the people still remaining. 100,000 native people died during the first two years of the gold rush alone. \n\nSettlers took land both for their camps and to farm and supply food for their camps. The surging mining population resulted in the disappearance of many food sources. Toxic waste from their operations killed fish and destroyed habitats. Settlers viewed indigenous people as obstacles for gold, so they actively went into villages where they raped the women and killed the men. \n\nSexual violence against native women and young girls was a normal part of white settler life, who were often forced into prostitution or sex slavery. Kidnappings and rape of native women and girls was reported as occurring \"daily and nightly.\" This violence against women often provoked attacks on white settlers by native men.\n\nForced labor was also common during the Gold Rush, permitted by the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. Part of this law instituted the following as a legal practice:Any person could go before a Justice of Peace to obtain Indian children for indenture. The Justice determined whether or not compulsory means were used to obtain the child. If the Justice was satisfied that no coercion occurred, the person obtain a certificate that authorized him to have the care, custody, control and earnings of an Indian until their age of majority (for males, eighteen years, for females, fifteen years).Raids on native villages were common, where adults and children were threatened with fatal consequence for refusing what was essentially slavery. Although this was in legal terms illegal, the law was established not to help protect indigenous people, so there were rarely interventions to stop kidnappings and the circulation of stolen children into the market by law enforcement. What were effectively slave auctions occurred where laborers could be \"purchased\" for as low as 35 dollars. \n\nA central location for auctions was Los Angeles, where an 1850 city ordinance passed by the Los Angeles City Council allowed prisoners to be \"auctioned off to the highest bidder for private service.\" Historian Robert Heizer referred to this as \"a thinly disguised substitute for slavery.\" Auctions continued as a weekly practice for nearly twenty years until there were no California native people left to sell.\n\nAmerican unratified treaties (1851–1852) \n\nThe United States Senate sent a group of consultants, Oliver Wozencraft, George Barbour, and Redick McKee to make treaties with the indigenous peoples of California in 1851. Leaders throughout the state signed 18 treaties with the government officials that guaranteed 7.5 million acres of land (or about 1/7th of California) in an attempt to ensure the future of their peoples amid encroaching settler colonialism. Anglo-American settlers in California responded with dissatisfaction and contempt at the treaties, believing the native people were being reserved too much land. Despite making agreements, the U.S. government sided with the settlers and tabled the treaties without informing the signees. They remained shelved and were never ratified.\n\nCalifornia genocide (1846–1873) \n\nThe California genocide continued after the California Gold Rush period. By the late 1850s, Anglo-American militias were invading the homelands of native people in the northern and mountainous areas of the state, which had avoided some earlier waves of violence due to their more remote locations. Near the end of the period associated with the California genocide, the final stage of the Modoc Campaign was triggered when Modoc men led by Kintpuash (AKA Captain Jack) murdered General Canby at the peace tent in 1873. However, it's not widely known that between 1851 and 1872 the Modoc population decreased by 75 to 88% as a result of seven anti-Modoc campaigns started by the whites. \n\nThere is evidence that the first massacre of the Modocs by non-natives took place as early as 1840. According to the story told by a chief of the Achumawi tribe (neighboring to Modocs), a group of trappers from the north stopped by the Tule lake around the year 1840 and invited the Modocs to a feast. As they sat down to eat, the cannon was fired and many Indians were killed. The father of Captain Jack was among the survivors of that attack. Since then the Modocs resisted the intruders notoriously. Additionally, when in 1846 the Applegate Trail cut through the Modoc territory, the migrants and their livestock damaged and depleted the ecosystem that the Modoc depended on to survive.\n\n20th century: Forced assimilation\nBy 1900, the population of native people who survived the eliminatory policies and acts carried out in the 19th century was estimated at about 16,000 people. Remaining native people continued to be the recipients of the U.S. policies of cultural genocide throughout the 20th century. Many other native people would experience false claims that they were \"extinct\" as a people throughout the century.\n\nIndian removal in California (1903) \n\nAlthough the American policy of Indian removal to force indigenous peoples off of their homelands had begun much earlier in the United States in 1813, it was still being implemented as late as 1903 in Southern California. The last native removal in U.S. history occurred in what has been referred to as the Cupeño trail of tears, when the people were forced off of their homeland by white settlers, who sought ownership of what is now Warner Springs. The people were forced to move 75 miles from their home village of Cupa to Pala, California. The forced removal under threat of violence also included Luiseño and Kumeyaay villages in the area.\n\nIndian boarding schools in California (1892–1935) \n\nDuring the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the government attempted to force indigenous peoples to further break the ties with their native culture and assimilate into white society. In California, the federal government established such forms of education as the reservation day schools and American Indian boarding schools. Three of the twenty-five off-reservation Indian boarding schools were in California, and ten schools total.\n\nNew students were customarily bathed in kerosene and their hair was cut upon arrival. Poor ventilation and nutrition and diseases were typical problems at schools. In addition to that, most parents disagreed with the idea of their children being raised as whites, with students being forced to wear European style clothes and haircuts, given European names, and strictly forbidden to speak indigenous languages. Sexual and physical abuse at the schools was common. \n\nBy 1926, 83% of all Native American children attended the boarding schools. Native people recognized the American Indian boarding schools as institutionalized forces of elimination toward their native culture. They demanded the right for their children to access public schools. In 1935, restrictions that forbid native people from attending public schools were removed.\n\nIt was not until 1978 that native people won the legal right to prevent familial separation that was integral to native children being brought to the boarding schools. This separation often occurred without knowledge by parents, or under white claims that native children were \"unsupervised\" and were thus obligated to the school, and sometimes under threatening circumstances to families.\n\nUnratified treaties reimbursement (1944–1946) \nSince the 1920s, various Indian activist groups were demanding that the federal government fulfill the conditions of the 18 treaties of 1851–1852 that were never ratified and were classified. In 1944 and in 1946, native peoples brought claims for reimbursements asking for compensations for the lands affected by treaties and Mexican land grants. They won $17.5 million and $46 million, respectively. Yet, the land agreed to in the treaties was not returned.\n\nReligious Freedom Act in California (1978–) \n\nThe American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed by the U.S. government in 1978, which gave indigenous people some rights toward practicing their religion. In practice, this did not extend or include religious freedom in regard to indigenous people's religious relationship to environmental sites or their relationship with ecosystems. Religion tends to be understood as separate from the land in American Judeo-Christian terms, which differs from indigenous terms. While in theory religious freedom was protected, in practice, religious or ceremonial sites and practices were not protected.\n\nIn 1988, Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Ass'n the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the U.S. Forest Service to build a road through a forest used for religious purposes by three nearby tribal nations in northwestern California. This was despite the recommendations of the expert witness on the matter, who stated that the construction of the road would destroy the religions of the three tribes. However, no protection was provided through the Religious Freedom Act.\n\nThe National Park Service mandates a no-gathering policy for cultural or religious purposes and the United States Forest Service (USFS) requires a special permit and fee, which prohibits native people's religious freedom. A 1995 mandate that would have provided conditional opportunities for gathering for this purpose failed to pass. Pesticide use in forests, such as the dropping of 11,000 pounds of granular hexazinone on 3,075 acres of the Stanislaus National Forest in 1996 by the USFS, deformed plants and sickened wildlife that are culturally and religiously significant to native people.\n\n21st century\n\nCalifornia has the largest population of Native Americans out of any state, with 723,000 identifying an \"American Indian or Alaska Native\" tribe as a component of their race (14% of the nation-wide total). This population grew by 15% between 2000 and 2010, much less than the nation-wide growth rate of 27%, but higher than the population growth rate for all races, which was about 10% in California over that decade. Over 50,000 indigenous people live in Los Angeles alone.\n\nAccording to the National Conference of State Legislatures, there are currently over one hundred federally recognized native groups or tribes in California including those that spread to several states. Federal recognition officially grants the Indian tribes access to services and funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Federal and State funding for Tribal TANF/CalWORKs programs.\n\nRecognition as genocide (2019) \n\nThe California genocide was not acknowledged as a genocide by non-native people for over a century in California. In the 2010s, denial among politicians, academics, historians, and institutions such as public schools was commonplace. This has been credited to a lingering unwillingness of settler descendants who are \"beneficiaries of genocidal policies (similar to throughout the United States generally).\" This meant that the genocide was largely dismissed, distorted, and denied, sometimes through trivialization or even humor to create a self-positive image of settlers.\n\nIn 2019, 40th governor of California, Gavin Newsom signed an executive order formally apologizing to native people and for the formation of a Truth and Healing Council that would be \"aimed at reporting on the historical relationships between the state and its Indigenous people.\" Of this history, Newsom stated: \"Genocide. No other way to describe it, and that’s the way it needs to be described in the history books.\" This was a significant event in reducing the dismissal of the California genocide.\n\nLanguage reawakening \n\nAfter a long decline of Indigenous language speakers as a result of violent punitive measures for speaking Indigenous languages at Indian boarding schools and other forms of cultural genocide, some Indigenous languages are being reawakened. Indigenous language revitalization in California has gained momentum among several tribes. There are some obstacles that remain, such as intergenerational trauma, funding, lack of access to records, and conversational regularity. Some languages with the most success are Chumash, Kumeyaay, Tolowa Dee-ni', Yurok, and Hoopa. \n\nCheryl Tuttle, a Native American Studies Director and Wailaki teacher, commented that language revitalization can be both important for speakers themselves and for the homelands:For tens of thousands of years, the land had been prayed to and became accustomed to the Yuki and Wailaki languages. Not only do the people need the wisdom contained in the language, but the land misses hearing the people and needs to hear those healing songs and prayers again.\n\nPrison-industrial complex \n\nNative people, and particularly native women, are disproportionately incarcerated in California. Some native people identify the modern prison-industrial complex as another reproduction of the \"punishing institutions\" that have been imposed onto them and built on their homelands since the arrival of European settlers, including military forts, ranchos, Spanish missions, Indian reservations, boarding schools, and prisons, each of which exploited native people as a source of labor for the economic interests of settlers. Prison labor in California has also been compared to California's history of forced labor of indigenous people.\n\nDevelopments and desecrations \n\nIn 1982, the California court case Wana the Bear v. Community Construction sided with developers in the destruction of a Miwok burial ground in Stockton, California. Over 600 burial remains were removed for a residential development and the Miwok had no power to stop development or to the remains of their ancestors, since Native American burial grounds were not legally considered cemeteries. The has been referred to as ethnocentrism in settler colonial law. In 1990, federally recognized tribes gained some rights to ancestral remains with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.\n\nThis protection to ancestral remains does not prevent development on indigenous burial grounds, just a temporary consultation and return of remains or artifacts found. Tribes and tribal bands in urbanized or high-development areas, such as the Tongva (Los Angeles), Acjachemen (Orange County), and Ohlone (San Francisco Bay Area) struggle to protect burial grounds, village sites, and artifacts from disturbance and desecration, usually from residential and commercial developments, which has been a feature of daily life for native people in California since the arrival of European settlers.\n\nThe paved site of the West Berkeley Shellmound continues to be threatened by housing developments and has become a significant site of contention in the San Francisco Bay Area. Numerous Tongva village sites and burial grounds continue to be desecrated from developments in the greater Los Angeles area, such as the unearthing of 400 burials at Guashna for a development in Playa Vista in 2004. The Acjachemen sacred village site of Putiidhem was desecrated and buried underneath JSerra Catholic High School in 2003 despite protests from the people.\n\nLand Back movement \n\nThe Land Back movement in California has gained visibility and action in various places throughout the state. A significant moment was the return of Tuluwat Island to the Wiyot, which was the site of a massacre in 1860. It began in 2000 with a purchase by the tribe for 1.5 acres of the site, which was contaminated and abandoned as a shipyard. In 2015, the Eureka City Council voted to return the island. An article for CNN stated that this return is perhaps \"the first time that a US municipality repatriated land to an indigenous tribe without strings attached.\" The official transfer occurred in 2019.\n\nTribes excluded from federal recognition do not have a land base, which makes tribal identity more invisible. Land back movements have formed to return land to these tribes. This includes the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy, which established the Shuumi Land Tax and the kuuyam nahwá’a (\"guest exchange\") respectively as a way for people living on their traditional homelands to pay a form of contribution for living on the land. In 2021, the Alameda City Council voted to pay in Shuumi Tax $11,000 for two years, becoming the first city to pay the tax.\n\nMaterial culture\n\nBasket weaving \n\nBasket making was an important part of Native American Californian culture. Baskets were both beautiful and functional, made of twine, woven tight enough that they could hold water for cooking. Tribes made baskets in a wide variety of shapes and sizes to fulfill different daily functions, including \"baby baskets, collecting vessels, food bowls, cooking items, ceremonial items\" and wearable basket caps for both men and women. The watertight cooking baskets were often used for making acorn soup by placing fire-heated stones in the baskets with food mixtures, which were then stirred until cooked.\n\nBaskets were generally made by women. Girls learned about the process from an early age, not just the act of weaving, but also how to tend, harvest, and prepare the plants for weaving.\n\nFoods\n\nThe indigenous peoples of California had a rich and diverse resource base, with access to hundreds of types of edible plants, both terrestrial and marine mammals, birds and insects. The diversity of the food supply was particularly important and sets California apart from other areas, where if the primary food supply diminished for any reason it could be devastating for the people in that region. In California, the variety meant that if one supply failed there were hundreds of others to fall back on. Despite this abundance, there were still 20-30 primary food resources which native peoples were dependent on. Different tribes' diets included fish, shellfish, insects, deer, elk, antelope, and plants such as buckeye, sage seed, and yampah (Perideridia gairdneri).\n\nPlant-based foods \n\nAcorns of the California Live Oak, Quercus agrifolia, were a primary traditional food throughout much of California. The acorns were ground into meal, and then either boiled into mush or baked in ashes to make bread. Acorns contain large amounts of tannic acid, so turning them into a food source required a discovery of how to remove this acid and significant amounts of labor to process them. Grinding in the mortal and pestle, then boiling allows for the tannins to be leached out in the water. There was also the need to harvest and store acorns like crops since they were only available in the fall. Acorns were stored in large granaries within villages, \"providing a reliable food source through the winter and spring.\"\n\nNative American tribes also used the berries of the Manzanita as a staple food source. The ripe berries were eaten raw, cooked or made into jellies. The pulp of the berries could also be dried and crushed to make a cider, while the dry seeds were sometimes ground to make flour. The bark was also used to make a tea, which would help the bladder and kidneys.\n\nNative Americans also made extensive use of the California juniper for medicinal purposes and as a food. \n The Ohlone and the Kumeyaay brewed a tea made from juniper leaves to use as a painkiller and to help remedy a hangover. They also picked the berries for eating, either fresh or dried and pulverised. The ripe berries of the California huckleberry were also collected and eaten by many peoples in the region.\n\nMarine life\n\nThere were two types of marine mammals important as food sources, large migratory species such as northern elephant seals and California sea lions and non-migratory, such as harbor seals and sea otters. Marine mammals were hunted for their meat and blubber, but even more importantly for their furs. Otter pelts in particular were important both for trade and as symbols of status.\n\nA large quantity and variety of marine fish lived along the west coast of California, providing shoreline communities with food. Tribes living along the coast did mostly shore-based fishing.\n\nAnadromous fish \n\nAnadromous fish live half their life the in the sea and the other half in the river where they come to spawn. Large rivers such as the Klamath and Sacramento \"provided abundant fish along hundreds of miles during the spawning season.\" Pacific salmon in particular were very important in the Californian Native American diet. Pacific salmon ran in Californian coastal rivers and streams from the Oregon line down to Baja California. For northwestern groups like Yurok and Karuk, Salmon was the defining food. For example, more than half of the diet of the Karuk people consisted of acorns and salmon from the Klamath River. This combination of fish with acorns distinguished them from some societies in the north which focused solely on fishing.\n\nIn contrast to acorns, fish required sophisticated equipment such as dip nets and harpoons and they could only be caught during a brief seasonal window. During this time, salmon would be harvested, dried and stored in large quantities for later consumption.\n\nSociety and culture \nTribes lived in societies where men and women had different roles. Women were generally responsible for weaving, harvesting, processing, and preparing food, while men were generally responsible for hunting and other forms of labor. It was also noted by Juan Crespi and Pedro Fages of \"men who dressed as women\" being an integral part of native society. The Spanish generally detested these people, who they referred to as joyas in mission records. With colonialism \"joyas were driven from their communities by tribal members at the instigation of priests and made homeless.\" The joyas traditionally were responsible for death, burial, and mourning rituals and performed women's roles.\n\nMany tribes in Central California and Northern California practised the Kuksu religion, especially the Nisenan, Maidu, Pomo and Patwin tribes. The practice of Kuksu included elaborate narrative ceremonial dances and specific regalia. A male secret society met in underground dance rooms and danced in disguises at the public dances.\n\nIn Southern California the Toloache religion was dominant among tribes such as the Luiseño and Diegueño. Ceremonies were performed after consuming a hallucinogenic drink made of the jimsonweed or Toloache plant (Datura meteloides), which put devotees in a trance and gave them access to supernatural knowledge.\n\nNative American culture in California was also noted for its rock art, especially among the Chumash of southern California. The rock art, or pictographs were brightly colored paintings of humans, animals and abstract designs, and were thought to have had religious significance.\n\nReservations \n\nReservations with over 500 people:\n\nList of peoples\n\nAchomawi, Achumawi, Pit River tribe, northeastern California\nAtsugewi, northeastern California\nChemehuevi, eastern California\nChumash, coastal southern California\n\"Barbareño\", Coast Central Chumash\n\"Cruzeño, Isleño\", Island Chumash\n\"Emigdiano\", Tecuya, Interior Central Chumash\n\"Interior\", Cuyama, Interior Northwestern Chumash\n\"Inezeño\", \"Ineseño\", Samala, Inland Central Chumash \n\"Obispeño\", Yak-tityu-tityu-yak-tilhini, Northern Chumash\n\"Purisimeño\", Kagismuwas, Northern Chumash\n\"Ventureño\", Alliklik – Castac, Southern Chumash\nChilula, northwestern California\nChimariko, extinct, northwestern California\nKuneste, \"Eel River Athapaskan peoples\"\nLassik, northwestern California\nMattole (Bear River), northwestern California\nNongatl, northwestern California\nSinkyone, northwestern California\nWailaki, Wai-lakki, northwestern California\nEsselen, west-central California\nHupa, northwestern California\nTsnungwe\nKarok, northwestern California\nKato, Cahto, northwestern California\nKawaiisu, southeast-central California\nKonkow, northern-central California\nKumeyaay, Diegueño, Kumiai\nIpai, southwestern California\nJamul, southwestern California\nTipai, southwestern California and northwestern Mexico\nLa Jolla complex, southern California, c. 6050–1000 BCE\nMaidu, northeastern California\nKonkow, northern California\nYamani, Mechoopda, northern California\nNisenan, Southern Maidu, northern California\nMiwok, Me-wuk, central California\nBay Miwok, west-central California\nCoast Miwok, west-central California\nLake Miwok, west-central California\nValley and Sierra Miwok\nMonache, Western Mono, central California\nMohave, southeastern California\nNisenan, eastern-central California\nNomlaki, northwestern California\nOhlone, Costanoan, west-central California\nAwaswas\nChalon\nChochenyo\nKarkin\nMutsun\nRamaytush\nRumsen\nTamyen\nYelamu\nPatwin, central California\nSuisun, Southern Patwin, central California\nPauma Complex, southern California, c. 6050–1000 BCE\nPomo, northwestern and central-western California\nQuechan, Yuman, southeastern California\nTe'po'ta'ahl, (\"Salinan\"), coastal central California\n\"Antoniaño\"\n\"Migueleño\"\n\"Playano\"\nShasta northwestern California\nKonomihu, northwestern California\nOkwanuchu, northwestern California\nTolowa, northwestern California\nTakic\nAcjachemem, (\"Juaneño\"), Takic, southwestern California\nIívil̃uqaletem, Iviatim, (\"Cahuilla\"), Takic southern California\nKitanemuk, (\"Tejon\") Takic, south-central California\nKuupangaxwichem, (\"Cupeño\"), southern California\nPayómkawichum, (\"Luiseño\"), Takic, southwestern California\nTataviam, Allilik Takic (\"Fernandeño\"), southern California\nTongva, (\"Gabrieleño\"), (\"Fernandeño\"), (\"Nicoleño\"), \"San Clemente tribe\" Takic, coastal southern California\nYuhaviatam Morongo, Vanyume Mohineyam (\"Serrano\"), southern California\nTubatulabal, south-central California\nBankalachi, Toloim, south-central California\nPahkanapil, south-central California\nPalagewan, south-central California\nWappo, north-central California\nWhilkut, northwestern California\nWintu, northwestern California\nWiyot, northwestern California\nYana, northern-central California\nYahi\nYokuts, central and southern California\nChukchansi, Foothill Yokuts, central California\nNorthern Valley Yokuts, central California\nTachi tribe, Southern Valley Yokuts, south-central California\nTimbisha, eastern California\nYuki, Ukomno'm, northwestern California\nHuchnom, northwestern California\nYurok, northwestern California\n\nLanguages\n\nBefore European contact, native Californians spoke over 300 dialects of approximately 100 distinct languages. The large number of languages has been related to the ecological diversity of California, and to a sociopolitical organization into small tribelets (usually 100 individuals or fewer) with a shared \"ideology that defined language boundaries as unalterable natural features inherent in the land\". Together, the area had more linguistic diversity than all of Europe combined.\n\n\"The majority of California Indian languages belong either to highly localized language families with two or three members (e.g. Yukian, Maiduan) or are language isolates (e.g. Karuk, Esselen).\" Of the remainder, most are Uto-Aztecan or Athapaskan languages. Larger groupings have been proposed. The Hokan superstock has the greatest time depth and has been most difficult to demonstrate; Penutian is somewhat less controversial.\n\nThere is evidence suggestive that speakers of the Chumashan languages and Yukian languages, and possibly languages of southern Baja California such as Waikuri, were in California prior to the arrival of Penutian languages from the north and Uto-Aztecan from the east, perhaps predating even the Hokan languages. Wiyot and Yurok are distantly related to Algonquian languages in a larger grouping called Algic. The several Athapaskan languages are relatively recent arrivals, having arrived about 2000 years ago.\n\nIssues around burial sites \nExcavation sites have had backlash since they can disrupt burial ground for many indigenous people. Hence, the need for Californian Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act , an act that requires all state agencies and museums that receive state funding and that have possession or control over collections of humans remains or cultural items to provide a process for identification and repatriates of these items to appropriate tribes. \n\nAlong the middle reaches of Marsh Creek near the modern day city of Brentwood lies land that was once occupied by the Bay Miwok speaking peoples more specifically the Volvon tribelet. Radiocarbon dates at the burial site estimate that the individuals were interred around 5,000 to 3,000 BP. In the earliest periods of the Black Marsh occupation, individuals were buried in an extended position facing north if on the east side of the site and south if on the west side. Observations by researchers suggest that individuals were not interned based on their sex or age, leading some archaeologists to assume a more culturally significant reason. \n\nA recurring issue that biological archaeologists face is, during the prehistoric/historic period and late period, Malibu was a common burial site for Indigenous Californians. This makes it nearly impossible to separate the remains of individuals who lived during the historic period and those who were buried before the Europeans arrived.\n\nSee also\n\nAboriginal title in California\nCalifornia State Indian Museum\nIndigenous peoples of Mexico\nList of federally recognized tribes by state#California\nMartis people\nMission Indians\nPopulation of Native California\nSurvey of California and Other Indian Languages\nTraditional narratives of Indigenous Californians\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n Hinton, Leanne (1994). Flutes of Fire: Essays on California Indian Languages. Berkeley: Heyday Books. .\n\n Lightfoot, Kent G. and Otis Parrish (2009). California Indians and Their Environment: An Introduction. Berkeley: University of California Press. .\n\nExternal links\n\n\"Information About California Tribes\" Northern California Indian Development Council\nAdvocates for Indigenous California Language Survival\nCalifornia Indian Museum and Cultural Center, Santa Rosa\n\"California Indian History,\" California Native American Heritage Association\n\"California Indians,\" SDSU Library and Information Access\nBibliographies of Northern and Central California Indians\n\"A Glossary of Proper Names in California Prehistory\" , Society for California Archaeology\n27th Annual California Indian Conference, California State University San Marcos, Oct. 5–6, 2012\n\n \n \n \n Indigenous peoples\nCalifornia",
"title": "Indigenous peoples of California"
},
{
"text": "The Indigenous peoples of the North American Southwest are those in the current states of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada in the western United States, and the states of Sonora and Chihuahua in northern Mexico. An often quoted statement from Erik Reed (1964) defined the Greater Southwest culture area as extending north to south from Durango, Mexico to Durango, Colorado and east to west from Las Vegas, Nevada to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Other names sometimes used to define the region include \"American Southwest\", \"Northern Mexico\", \"Chichimeca\", and \"Oasisamerica/Aridoamerica\". This region has long been occupied by hunter-gatherers and agricultural people.\n\nMany contemporary cultural traditions exist within the Greater Southwest, including Yuman-speaking peoples inhabiting the Colorado River valley, the uplands, and Baja California, O'odham peoples of Southern Arizona and northern Sonora, and the Pueblo peoples of Arizona and New Mexico. In addition, the Apache and Navajo peoples, whose ancestral roots lie in the Athabaskan-speaking peoples in Canada, entered the Southwest during the 14th and 15th century and are a major modern presence in the area.\n\nList of Indigenous peoples\n\nAk Chin, Arizona\n Southern Athabaskan\nChiricahua Apache, New Mexico and Oklahoma\nJicarilla Apache, New Mexico\nLipan Apache, Texas\nMescalero Apache, New Mexico\nNavajo (Navaho, Diné), Arizona and New Mexico\nSan Carlos Apache, Arizona\nTonto Apache, Arizona\nWestern Apache (Coyotero Apache), Arizona\nWhite Mountain Apache, Arizona\nAranama (Hanáma, Hanáme, Chaimamé, Chariname, Xaraname, Taraname)\nCoahuiltecan, Texas, northern Mexico\nCocopa, Arizona, northern Mexico\nComecrudo Texas, northern Mexico\nCotoname (Carrizo de Camargo)\nHalchidhoma, Arizona and California\nHualapai, Arizona\nHavasupai, Arizona\nHohokam, formerly Arizona\nKarankawa, Texas\nKavelchadhom\nLa Junta, Texas, Chihuahua\nMamulique, Texas, northern Mexico\nManso, Texas, Chihuahua\nMaricopa, Arizona\nMojave, Arizona, California, and Nevada\nPima, Arizona\nPima Bajo\nPueblo peoples, Arizona, New Mexico, Western Texas\nAncestral Pueblo, formerly Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah\nHopi-Tewa (Arizona Tewa, Hano), Arizona, joined the Hopi during the Pueblo Revolt\nHopi, Arizona\nKeres people, New Mexico\nAcoma Pueblo, New Mexico\nCochiti Pueblo, New Mexico\nKewa Pueblo (formerly Santo Domingo Pueblo), New Mexico\nLaguna Pueblo, New Mexico\nSan Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico\nSanta Ana Pueblo, New Mexico\nZia Pueblo, New Mexico\nTewa people, New Mexico\nNambé Pueblo, New Mexico\nOhkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan Pueblo), New Mexico\nPojoaque Pueblo, New Mexico\nSan Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico\nTesuque Pueblo, New Mexico\nSanta Clara Pueblo, New Mexico\nTiwa people, New Mexico\nIsleta Pueblo, New Mexico\nPicuris Pueblo, New Mexico\nSandia Pueblo, New Mexico\nTaos Pueblo, New Mexico\nYsleta del Sur Pueblo (Tigua Pueblo), Texas\nPiro Pueblo, New Mexico\nTowa people\nJemez Pueblo (Walatowa), New Mexico\nPecos (Ciquique) Pueblo, New Mexico\nZuni people (Ashiwi), New Mexico\nQuechan (Yuma), Arizona and California\nQuems\nSolano, Coahuila, Texas\nTamique\nToboso\nTohono O'odham, Arizona and Mexico\nQahatika, Arizona\nTompiro\nUbate\nWalapai, Arizona\nYaqui (Yoeme), Arizona, Sonora\nYavapai, Arizona\nTolkapaya (Western Yavapai), Arizona\nYavapé (Northwestern Yavapai), Arizona\nKwevkapaya (Southeastern Yavapai), Arizona\nWipukpa (Northeastern Yavapai), Arizona\n\nList of Indigenous affiliated and related peoples \nGenízaros, originating from the Great Plains, recognized as an Indigenous group in the US state of New Mexico\nHispanos, most have mestizo ancestry, particularly in New Mexico\nCalifornios, California (The Californias)\nHispanos of New Mexico (Santa Fe de Nuevo México)\nTejanos, Texas (Coahuila y Tejas)\n\nHistory\n\nThe Pre-Columbian culture of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico evolved into three major archaeological culture areas, sometimes referred to as Oasisamerica.\n\nThe Ancestral Pueblo peoples, or Anasazi, culture was centered around the present-day Four Corners area. Their distinctive pottery and dwelling construction styles emerged in the area around 750 CE. Ancestral Pueblo peoples are renowned for the construction of and cultural achievement present at Pueblo Bonito and other sites in Chaco Canyon, as well as Mesa Verde, Aztec Ruins, and Salmon Ruins. \nThe Hohokam tradition, centered on the middle Gila River and lower Salt River drainage areas, and extending into the southern Sonoran Desert, is believed to have emerged in approximately 200 CE. These people lived in smaller settlement clusters than their neighbors, and built extensive irrigation canals for a wide range of agricultural crops. There is evidence the Hohokam had far-reaching trade routes with ancient Mesoamerican cultures to the south, and show cultural influences from these southerners.\n Mogollon peoples lived in the southwest from approximately 200 CE until sometime between 1450 and 1540 CE. Mogollon archaeological sites are found in the Gila Wilderness, Mimbres River Valley, along the Upper Gila river, Paquime and Hueco Tanks, an area of low mountains between the Franklin Mountains to the west and the Hueco Mountains to the east.\n\nIn addition, three distinct minor cultures inhabited the eastern, western, and northern extremes of the area. From 1200 CE into the historic era a people collectively known as the La Junta Indians lived at the junction of the Conchos River and Rio Grande on the border of Texas and Mexico. Between 700 and 1550 CE, the Patayan culture inhabited parts of modern-day Arizona, California and Baja California. The Fremont culture inhabited sites in what is now Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from 700 to 1300 CE.\n\nMaterial Culture\nAgriculture in the Southwest was based on the cultivation of maize, beans, squash and sunflower seeds. The Tepary bean Phaseolus acutifolius has been a staple food of Native peoples in the Southwest for thousands of years on account of their tolerance of drought conditions. They require wet soil to germinate but then prefer dry conditions, so they were generally grown on floodplains that would dry out after heavy rains.\n\nForaging for wild foods also played a major role in the ancient diet of Southwestern peoples. For example, the fruit and seeds of the Saguaro cactus were collected and eaten both fresh and dried, and made into preserves and drinks by tribes such as the Tohono O'odham and Pima. The flower buds of the Cholla cactus have also been collected and roasted in clay lined pits. Another important food for Indigenous peoples living in mountainous areas of the Southwest are the seeds of the Pinyon pine, known as \"pine nuts\" or \"piñóns.\" The nuts are traditionally a vital source of protein in the winter for the Ute and Paiute peoples.\n\nThe agave plant has historically been a vital food source, useful to Indigenous people in many ways. Agave hearts can be roasted and relished for their sweetness, and dried agave eaten during the winter months. The tough fibers of agave are used in making baskets and mats. In addition, agave is famously used for distilled spirits such as tequila and mezcal.\n\nIndigenous peoples of the region have traditionally raised turkey and hunted deer, antelope and rabbit. After European contact they began to keep sheep, goats and cattle.\n\nSociety and culture\n\nContemporary Pueblo Indians continue to be organized on a clan basis for pueblo activities and curing ceremonies. The clans of the eastern Pueblos are organized into the Summer people and the Winter people (Tanoans) or as the Turquoise people and the Squash people. The western Puebloans are organized into several matrilineal lineages and clans. Many Pueblo peoples continue to practice the kachina (katsina) religion.\n\nSee also\nIndigenous peoples of Mexico\nNative Americans in the United States\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Patayan Map and Pottery\n People of the Colorado Plateau\n\nCategory:Archaic period in North America\nCategory:North American archaeology\nCategory:History of indigenous peoples of North America\n \n \n \n \n \nCategory:Mogollon culture\nCategory:Pre-Columbian cultural areas\nCategory:Oasisamerica cultures\nCategory:Southwestern United States\nNorth American Southwest",
"title": "Indigenous peoples of the North American Southwest"
},
{
"text": "Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to most of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. In the pre-Columbian era, many societies flourished in Mesoamerica for more than 3,000 years before the Spanish colonization of the Americas begun at Hispaniola island in 1493. In world history, Mesoamerica was the site of two historical transformations: (i) primary urban generation, and (ii) the formation of New World cultures from the mixtures of the indigenous Mesoamerican peoples with the European, African, and Asian peoples who were introduced by the Spanish colonization of the Americas.\n\nIn the 16th century, Eurasian diseases such as smallpox and measles, which were endemic among the colonists but new to North America, caused the deaths of upwards of 90% of the indigenous people, resulting in great losses to their societies and cultures. Mesoamerica is one of the six areas in the world where ancient civilization arose independently (see cradle of civilization), and the second in the Americas. Norte Chico (Caral-Supe) in present-day Peru, arose as an independent civilization in the northern coastal region.\n\nAs a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures. Beginning as early as 7000 BCE, the domestication of cacao, maize, beans, tomato, avocado, vanilla, squash and chili, as well as the turkey and dog, resulted in a transition from paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer tribal groupings to the organization of sedentary agricultural villages. In the subsequent Formative period, agriculture and cultural traits such as a complex mythological and religious tradition, a vigesimal numeric system, a complex calendric system, a tradition of ball playing, and a distinct architectural style, were diffused through the area. Also in this period, villages began to become socially stratified and develop into chiefdoms. Large ceremonial centers were built, interconnected by a network of trade routes for the exchange of luxury goods, such as obsidian, jade, cacao, cinnabar, Spondylus shells, hematite, and ceramics. While Mesoamerican civilization knew of the wheel and basic metallurgy, neither of these became technologically relevant.\n\nAmong the earliest complex civilizations was the Olmec culture, which inhabited the Gulf Coast of Mexico and extended inland and southwards across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Frequent contact and cultural interchange between the early Olmec and other cultures in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guatemala laid the basis for the Mesoamerican cultural area. All this was facilitated by considerable regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica, especially along the Pacific coast.\n\nDuring this formative period distinct religious and symbolic traditions spread, as well as the development of artistic and architectural complexes. In the subsequent Preclassic period, complex urban polities began to develop among the Maya, with the rise of centers such as Aguada fénix and Calakmul in Mexico; El Mirador, and Tikal in Guatemala, and the Zapotec at Monte Albán. During this period, the first true Mesoamerican writing systems were developed in the Epi-Olmec and the Zapotec cultures. The Mesoamerican writing tradition reached its height in the Classic Maya logosyllabic script.\n\nMesoamerica is one of only six regions of the world where writing is known to have independently developed (the others being ancient Egypt, Peru, India, Sumer, and China). In Central Mexico, the city of Teotihuacan ascended at the height of the Classic period; it formed a military and commercial empire whose political influence stretched south into the Maya area and northward. Upon the collapse of Teotihuacán around 600 AD, competition between several important political centers in central Mexico, such as Xochicalco and Cholula, ensued. At this time during the Epi-Classic period, the Nahua peoples began moving south into Mesoamerica from the North, and became politically and culturally dominant in central Mexico, as they displaced speakers of Oto-Manguean languages.\n\nDuring the early post-Classic period, Central Mexico was dominated by the Toltec culture, and Oaxaca by the Mixtec. The lowland Maya area had important centers at Chichén Itzá and Mayapán. Towards the end of the post-Classic period, the Aztecs of Central Mexico built a tributary empire covering most of central Mesoamerica.\n\nThe distinct Mesoamerican cultural tradition ended with the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Over the next centuries, Mesoamerican indigenous cultures were gradually subjected to Spanish colonial rule. Aspects of the Mesoamerican cultural heritage still survive among the indigenous peoples who inhabit Mesoamerica. Many continue to speak their ancestral languages, and maintain many practices harking back to their Mesoamerican roots.\n\nEtymology and definition \n\nThe term Mesoamerica literally means \"middle America\" in Greek. Middle America often refers to a larger area in the Americas, but it has also previously been used more narrowly to refer to Mesoamerica. An example is the title of the 16 volumes of The Handbook of Middle American Indians. \"Mesoamerica\" is broadly defined as the area that is home to the Mesoamerican civilization, which comprises a group of peoples with close cultural and historical ties. The exact geographic extent of Mesoamerica has varied through time, as the civilization extended North and South from its heartland in southern Mexico.\n\nThe term was first used by the German ethnologist Paul Kirchhoff, who noted that similarities existed among the various pre-Columbian cultures within the region that included southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, western Honduras, and the Pacific lowlands of Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica. In the tradition of cultural history, the prevalent archaeological theory of the early to middle 20th century, Kirchhoff defined this zone as a cultural area based on a suite of interrelated cultural similarities brought about by millennia of inter- and intra-regional interaction (i.e., diffusion). Mesoamerica is recognized as a near-prototypical cultural area. This term is now fully integrated in the standard terminology of pre-Columbian anthropological studies. Conversely, the sister terms Aridoamerica and Oasisamerica, which refer to northern Mexico and the western United States, respectively, have not entered into widespread usage.\n\nSome of the significant cultural traits defining the Mesoamerican cultural tradition are:\n Horticulture and plant use: sedentism based on maize agriculture; floating gardens; use of bark paper and agave (see also maguey) for ritual purposes, as a medium for writing, and the use of agave for cooking and clothing; cultivation of cacao; grinding of corn softened with ashes or lime; harpoon-shaped digging stick\n Clothing and personal articles: lip plugs, mirrors of polished stone, turbans, sandals with heels, textiles adorned with rabbit hair\n Architecture: construction of stepped pyramids; stucco floors; ball courts with stone rings (see the use of natural rubber and the practice of the ritual Mesoamerican ballgame)\n Record keeping: use of two different calendars (a 260-day ritual calendar and a 365-day calendar based on the solar year); use of locally developed pictographic and hieroglyphic (logo-syllabic) writing systems; numbers (see also vigesimal (base 20) number system); \"century\" of fifty-two years; eighteen-month calendar; screen-fold books\n Commerce: specialized markets, \"department store\" markets subdivided according to specialty\n Weapons and warfare: wooden swords with stone chips set into the edges (see macuahuitl), military orders (eagle knights and jaguar knights), clay pellets for blowguns, cotton-pad armor, traveling merchants who act as spies, wars for the purpose of securing sacrificial victims\n Ritual and myth: practice of various forms of ritual sacrifice, including human sacrifice and quail sacrifice; paper and rubber as sacrificial offerings; pantheon of gods or spirits; acrobatic flier dance (see the Danza de los Voladores and the Totonac flier dance; 13 as a ritual number; ritual period of 20 x 13 = 260 days; mythic concept of one or more afterworlds and the difficult journey in reaching them; good and bad omen days; a religious complex based on a combination of shamanism and natural deities, and a shared system of symbols\n Language: a linguistic area defined by a number of grammatical traits that have spread through the area by diffusion\n\nGeography \n\nLocated on the Middle American isthmus joining North and South America between ca. 10° and 22° northern latitude, Mesoamerica possesses a complex combination of ecological systems, topographic zones, and environmental contexts. These different niches are classified into two broad categories: the lowlands (those areas between sea level and 1000 meters) and the altiplanos, or highlands (situated between 1,000 and 2,000 meters above sea level). In the low-lying regions, sub-tropical and tropical climates are most common, as is true for most of the coastline along the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The highlands show much more climatic diversity, ranging from dry tropical to cold mountainous climates; the dominant climate is temperate with warm temperatures and moderate rainfall. The rainfall varies from the dry Oaxaca and north Yucatán to the humid southern Pacific and Caribbean lowlands.\n\nCultural sub-areas \nSeveral distinct sub-regions within Mesoamerica are defined by a convergence of geographic and cultural attributes. These sub-regions are more conceptual than culturally meaningful, and the demarcation of their limits is not rigid. The Maya area, for example, can be divided into two general groups: the lowlands and highlands. The lowlands are further divided into the southern and northern Maya lowlands. The southern Maya lowlands are generally regarded as encompassing northern Guatemala, southern Campeche and Quintana Roo in Mexico, and Belize. The northern lowlands cover the remainder of the northern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula. Other areas include Central Mexico, West Mexico, the Gulf Coast Lowlands, Oaxaca, the Southern Pacific Lowlands, and Southeast Mesoamerica (including northern Honduras).\n\nTopography \nThere is extensive topographic variation in Mesoamerica, ranging from the high peaks circumscribing the Valley of Mexico and within the central Sierra Madre mountains to the low flatlands of the northern Yucatán Peninsula. The tallest mountain in Mesoamerica is Pico de Orizaba, a dormant volcano located on the border of Puebla and Veracruz. Its peak elevation is 5,636 m (18,490 ft).\n\nThe Sierra Madre mountains, which consist of several smaller ranges, run from northern Mesoamerica south through Costa Rica. The chain is historically volcanic. In central and southern Mexico, a portion of the Sierra Madre chain is known as the Eje Volcánico Transversal, or the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. There are 83 inactive and active volcanoes within the Sierra Madre range, including 11 in Mexico, 37 in Guatemala, 23 in El Salvador, 25 in Nicaragua, and 3 in northwestern Costa Rica. According to the Michigan Technological University, 16 of these are still active. The tallest active volcano is Popocatépetl at 5,452 m (17,887 ft). This volcano, which retains its Nahuatl name, is located 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Mexico City. Other volcanoes of note include Tacana on the Mexico–Guatemala border, Tajumulco and Santamaría in Guatemala, Izalco in El Salvador, Arenal in Costa Rica, and Concepción and Maderas on Ometepe, which is an island formed by both volcanoes rising out of Lake Cocibolca in Nicaragua.\n\nOne important topographic feature is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a low plateau that breaks up the Sierra Madre chain between the Sierra Madre del Sur to the north and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south. At its highest point, the Isthmus is 224 m (735 ft) above mean sea level. This area also represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean in Mexico. The distance between the two coasts is roughly 200 km (120 mi). The northern side of the Isthmus is swampy and covered in dense jungle—but the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, as the lowest and most level point within the Sierra Madre mountain chain, was nonetheless a main transportation, communication, and economic route within Mesoamerica.\n\nBodies of water \n\nOutside of the northern Maya lowlands, rivers are common throughout Mesoamerica. Some of the more important ones served as loci of human occupation in the area. The longest river in Mesoamerica is the Usumacinta, which forms in Guatemala at the convergence of the Salinas or Chixoy and La Pasion River and runs north for 970 km (600 mi)—480 km (300 mi) of which are navigable—eventually draining into the Gulf of Mexico. Other rivers of note include the Rio Grande de Santiago, the Grijalva River, the Motagua River, the Ulúa River, and the Hondo River. The northern Maya lowlands, especially the northern portion of the Yucatán peninsula, are notable for their nearly complete lack of rivers (largely due to the absolute lack of topographic variation). Additionally, no lakes exist in the northern peninsula. The main source of water in this area is aquifers that are accessed through natural surface openings called cenotes.\n\nWith an area of 8,264 km2 (3,191 sq mi), Lake Nicaragua is the largest lake in Mesoamerica. Lake Chapala is Mexico's largest freshwater lake, but Lake Texcoco is perhaps most well known as the location upon which Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire, was founded. Lake Petén Itzá, in northern Guatemala, is notable as where the last independent Maya city, Tayasal (or Noh Petén), held out against the Spanish until 1697. Other large lakes include Lake Atitlán, Lake Izabal, Lake Güija, Lemoa, and Lake Managua.\n\nBiodiversity \nAlmost all ecosystems are present in Mesoamerica; the more well known are the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, the second largest in the world, and La Mosquitia (consisting of the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, Tawahka Asangni, Patuca National Park, and Bosawas Biosphere Reserve) a rainforest second in size in the Americas only to the Amazonas. The highlands present mixed and coniferous forest. The biodiversity is among the richest in the world, though the number of species in the red list of the IUCN grows every year.\n\nChronology and culture \n\nThe history of human occupation in Mesoamerica is divided into stages or periods. These are known, with slight variation depending on region, as the Paleo-Indian, the Archaic, the Preclassic (or Formative), the Classic, and the Postclassic. The last three periods, representing the core of Mesoamerican cultural fluorescence, are further divided into two or three sub-phases. Most of the time following the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century is classified as the Colonial period.\n\nThe differentiation of early periods (i.e., up through the end of the Late Preclassic) generally reflects different configurations of socio-cultural organization that are characterized by increasing socio-political complexity, the adoption of new and different subsistence strategies, and changes in economic organization (including increased interregional interaction). The Classic period through the Postclassic are differentiated by the cyclical crystallization and fragmentation of the various political entities throughout Mesoamerica.\n\nPaleo-Indian \nThe Mesoamerican Paleo-Indian period precedes the advent of agriculture and is characterized by a nomadic hunting and gathering subsistence strategy. Big-game hunting, similar to that seen in contemporaneous North America, was a large component of the subsistence strategy of the Mesoamerican Paleo-Indian. These sites had obsidian blades and Clovis-style fluted projectile points.\n\nArchaic \nThe Archaic period (8000–2000 BCE) is characterized by the rise of incipient agriculture in Mesoamerica. The initial phases of the Archaic involved the cultivation of wild plants, transitioning into informal domestication and culminating with sedentism and agricultural production by the close of the period. Transformations of natural environments have been a common feature at least since the mid Holocene. Archaic sites include Sipacate in Escuintla, Guatemala, where maize pollen samples date to c. 3500 BCE.\n\nPreclassic/Formative \n\nThe first complex civilization to develop in Mesoamerica was that of the Olmec, who inhabited the gulf coast region of Veracruz throughout the Preclassic period. The main sites of the Olmec include San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, La Venta, and Tres Zapotes. Specific dates vary, but these sites were occupied from roughly 1200 to 400 BCE. Remains of other early cultures interacting with the Olmec have been found at Takalik Abaj, Izapa, and Teopantecuanitlan, and as far south as in Honduras. Research in the Pacific Lowlands of Chiapas and Guatemala suggest that Izapa and the Monte Alto Culture may have preceded the Olmec. Radiocarbon samples associated with various sculptures found at the Late Preclassic site of Izapa suggest a date of between 1800 and 1500 BCE.\n\nDuring the Middle and Late Preclassic period, the Maya civilization developed in the southern Maya highlands and lowlands, and at a few sites in the northern Maya lowlands. The earliest Maya sites coalesced after 1000 BCE, and include Nakbe, El Mirador, and Cerros. Middle to Late Preclassic Maya sites include Kaminaljuyú, Cival, Edzná, Cobá, Lamanai, Komchen, Dzibilchaltun, and San Bartolo, among others.\n\nThe Preclassic in the central Mexican highlands is represented by such sites as Tlapacoya, Tlatilco, and Cuicuilco. These sites were eventually superseded by Teotihuacán, an important Classic-era site that eventually dominated economic and interaction spheres throughout Mesoamerica. The settlement of Teotihuacan is dated to the later portion of the Late Preclassic, or roughly 50 CE.\n\nIn the Valley of Oaxaca, San José Mogote represents one of the oldest permanent agricultural villages in the area, and one of the first to use pottery. During the Early and Middle Preclassic, the site developed some of the earliest examples of defensive palisades, ceremonial structures, the use of adobe, and hieroglyphic writing. Also of importance, the site was one of the first to demonstrate inherited status, signifying a radical shift in socio-cultural and political structure. San José Mogote was eventual overtaken by Monte Albán, the subsequent capital of the Zapotec empire, during the Late Preclassic.\n\nThe Preclassic in western Mexico, in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacán also known as the Occidente, is poorly understood. This period is best represented by the thousands of figurines recovered by looters and ascribed to the \"shaft tomb tradition\".\n\nClassic\n\nEarly Classic \n\nThe Classic period is marked by the rise and dominance of several polities. The traditional distinction between the Early and Late Classic are marked by their changing fortune and their ability to maintain regional primacy. Of paramount importance are Teotihuacán in central Mexico and Tikal in Guatemala; the Early Classic's temporal limits generally correlate to the main periods of these sites. Monte Albán in Oaxaca is another Classic-period polity that expanded and flourished during this period, but the Zapotec capital exerted less interregional influence than the other two sites.\n\nDuring the Early Classic, Teotihuacan participated in and perhaps dominated a far-reaching macro-regional interaction network. Architectural and artifact styles (talud-tablero, tripod slab-footed ceramic vessels) epitomized at Teotihuacan were mimicked and adopted at many distant settlements. Pachuca obsidian, whose trade and distribution is argued to have been economically controlled by Teotihuacan, is found throughout Mesoamerica.\n\nTikal came to dominate much of the southern Maya lowlands politically, economically, and militarily during the Early Classic. An exchange network centered at Tikal distributed a variety of goods and commodities throughout southeast Mesoamerica, such as obsidian imported from central Mexico (e.g., Pachuca) and highland Guatemala (e.g., El Chayal, which was predominantly used by the Maya during the Early Classic), and jade from the Motagua valley in Guatemala. Tikal was often in conflict with other polities in the Petén Basin, as well as with others outside of it, including Uaxactun, Caracol, Dos Pilas, Naranjo, and Calakmul. Towards the end of the Early Classic, this conflict lead to Tikal's military defeat at the hands of Caracol in 562, and a period commonly known as the Tikal Hiatus.\n\nLate Classic \n\nThe Late Classic period (beginning c. 600 CE until 909 CE) is characterized as a period of interregional competition and factionalization among the numerous regional polities in the Maya area. This largely resulted from the decrease in Tikal's socio-political and economic power at the beginning of the period. It was therefore during this time that other sites rose to regional prominence and were able to exert greater interregional influence, including Caracol, Copán, Palenque, and Calakmul (which was allied with Caracol and may have assisted in the defeat of Tikal), and Dos Pilas Aguateca and Cancuén in the Petexbatún region of Guatemala. Around 710, Tikal arose again and started to build strong alliances and defeat its worst enemies. In the Maya area, the Late Classic ended with the so-called \"Maya collapse\", a transitional period coupling the general depopulation of the southern lowlands and development and florescence of centers in the northern lowlands.\n\nTerminal Classic \n\nGenerally applied to the Maya area, the Terminal Classic roughly spans the time between c. 800/850 and c. 1000 AD. Overall, it generally correlates with the rise to prominence of Puuc settlements in the northern Maya lowlands, so named after the hills where they are mainly found. Puuc settlements are specifically associated with a unique architectural style (the \"Puuc architectural style\") that represents a technological departure from previous construction techniques. Major Puuc sites include Uxmal, Sayil, Labna, Kabah, and Oxkintok. While generally concentrated within the area in and around the Puuc hills, the style has been documented as far away as at Chichen Itza to the east and Edzna to the south.\n\nChichén Itzá was originally thought to have been a Postclassic site in the northern Maya lowlands. Research over the past few decades has established that it was first settled during the Early/Late Classic transition but rose to prominence during the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic. During its apogee, this widely known site economically and politically dominated the northern lowlands. Its participation in the circum-peninsular exchange route, possible through its port site of Isla Cerritos, allowed Chichén Itzá to remain highly connected to areas such as central Mexico and Central America. The apparent \"Mexicanization\" of architecture at Chichén Itzá led past researchers to believe that Chichén Itzá existed under the control of a Toltec empire. Chronological data refutes this early interpretation, and it is now known that Chichén Itzá predated the Toltec; Mexican architectural styles are now used as an indicator of strong economic and ideological ties between the two regions.\n\nPostclassic \nThe Postclassic (beginning 900–1000 CE, depending on area) is, like the Late Classic, characterized by the cyclical crystallization and fragmentation of various polities. The main Maya centers were located in the northern lowlands. Following Chichén Itzá, whose political structure collapsed during the Early Postclassic, Mayapán rose to prominence during the Middle Postclassic and dominated the north for c. 200 years. After Mayapán's fragmentation, political structure in the northern lowlands revolved around large towns or city-states, such as Oxkutzcab and Ti’ho (Mérida, Yucatán), that competed with one another.\n\nToniná, in the Chiapas highlands, and Kaminaljuyú in the central Guatemala highlands, were important southern highland Maya centers. The latter site, Kaminaljuyú, is one of the longest occupied sites in Mesoamerica and was continuously inhabited from c. 800 BCE to around 1200 CE. Other important highland Maya groups include the K'iche' of Utatlán, the Mam in Zaculeu, the Poqomam in Mixco Viejo, and the Kaqchikel at Iximche in the Guatemalan highlands. The Pipil resided in El Salvador, while the Ch'orti' were in eastern Guatemala and northwestern Honduras.\n\nIn central Mexico, the early portion of the Postclassic correlates with the rise of the Toltec and an empire based at their capital, Tula (also known as Tollan). Cholula, initially an important Early Classic center contemporaneous with Teotihuacan, maintained its political structure (it did not collapse) and continued to function as a regionally important center during the Postclassic. The latter portion of the Postclassic is generally associated with the rise of the Mexica and the Aztec Empire. One of the more commonly known cultural groups in Mesoamerica, the Aztec politically dominated nearly all of central Mexico, the Gulf Coast, Mexico's southern Pacific Coast (Chiapas and into Guatemala), Oaxaca, and Guerrero.\n\nThe Tarascans (also known as the P'urhépecha) were located in Michoacán and Guerrero. With their capital at Tzintzuntzan, the Tarascan state was one of the few to actively and continuously resist Aztec domination during the Late Postclassic. Other important Postclassic cultures in Mesoamerica include the Totonac along the eastern coast (in the modern-day states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo). The Huastec resided north of the Totonac, mainly in the modern-day states of Tamaulipas and northern Veracruz. The Mixtec and Zapotec cultures, centered at Mitla and Zaachila respectively, inhabited Oaxaca.\n\nThe Postclassic ends with the arrival of the Spanish and their subsequent conquest of the Aztec between 1519 and 1521. Many other cultural groups did not acquiesce until later. For example, Maya groups in the Petén area, including the Itza at Tayasal and the Kowoj at Zacpeten, remained independent until 1697.\n\nSome Mesoamerican cultures never achieved dominant status or left impressive archaeological remains but are nevertheless noteworthy. These include the Otomi, Mixe–Zoque groups (which may or may not have been related to the Olmecs), the northern Uto-Aztecan groups, often referred to as the Chichimeca, that include the Cora and Huichol, the Chontales, the Huaves, and the Pipil, Xincan and Lencan peoples of Central America.\n\nChronology in chart form\n\nOther characteristics\n\nSubsistence \n\nBy roughly 6000 BCE, hunter-gatherers living in the highlands and lowlands of Mesoamerica began to develop agricultural practices with early cultivation of squash and chilli. The earliest example of maize dates to c. 4000 BCE and comes from Guilá Naquitz, a cave in Oaxaca. Earlier maize samples have been documented at the Los Ladrones cave site in Panama, c. 5500 BCE. Slightly thereafter, semi-agrarian communities began to cultivate other crops throughout Mesoamerica. Maize was the most common domesticate, but the common bean, tepary bean, scarlet runner bean, jicama, tomato and squash all became common cultivates by 3500 BCE. At the same time, these communities exploited cotton, yucca, and agave for fibers and textile materials. By 2000 BCE, corn was the staple crop in the region, and remained so through modern times. The Ramón or Breadnut tree (Brosimum alicastrum) was an occasional substitute for maize in producing flour. Fruit was also important in the daily diet of Mesoamerican cultures. Some of the main ones consumed include avocado, papaya, guava, mamey, zapote, and annona.\n\nMesoamerica lacked animals suitable for domestication, most notably domesticated large ungulates. The lack of draft animals for transportation is one notable difference between Mesoamerica and the cultures of the South American Andes. Other animals, including the duck, dogs, and turkey, were domesticated. Turkey was the first to be domesticated locally, around 3500 BCE. Dogs were the primary source of animal protein in ancient Mesoamerica, and dog bones are common in midden deposits throughout the region.\n\nSocieties of this region did hunt certain wild species for food. These animals included deer, rabbit, birds, and various types of insects. They also hunted for luxury items, such as feline fur and bird plumage.\n\nMesoamerican cultures that lived in the lowlands and coastal plains settled down in agrarian communities somewhat later than did highland cultures due to the fact that there was a greater abundance of fruits and animals in these areas, which made a hunter-gatherer lifestyle more attractive. Fishing also was a major provider of food to lowland and coastal Mesoamericans creating a further disincentive to settle down in permanent communities.\n\nPolitical organization \n\nCeremonial centers were the nuclei of Mesoamerican settlements. The temples provided spatial orientation, which was imparted to the surrounding town. The cities with their commercial and religious centers were always political entities, somewhat similar to the European city-state, and each person could identify with the city where they lived.\n\nCeremonial centers were always built to be visible. Pyramids were meant to stand out from the rest of the city, to represent the gods and their powers. Another characteristic feature of the ceremonial centers is historic layers. All the ceremonial edifices were built in various phases, one on top of the other, to the point that what we now see is usually the last stage of construction. Ultimately, the ceremonial centers were the architectural translation of the identity of each city, as represented by the veneration of their gods and masters. Stelae were common public monuments throughout Mesoamerica, and served to commemorate notable successes, events and dates associated with the rulers and nobility of the various sites.\n\nEconomy \n\nGiven that Mesoamerica was broken into numerous and diverse ecological niches, none of the societies that inhabited the area were self-sufficient, although very long-distance trade was common only for very rare goods, or luxury materials. For this reason, from the last centuries of the Archaic period (8000 BC– 1000 BC) onward, regions compensated for the environmental inadequacies by specializing in the extraction of certain abundant natural resources and then trading them for necessary unavailable resources through established commercial trade networks.\n\nThe following is a list of some of the specialized resources traded from the various Mesoamerican sub-regions and environmental contexts:\n Pacific lowlands: cotton and cochineal\n Maya lowlands and the Gulf Coast: cacao, vanilla, jaguar skins, birds and bird feathers (especially quetzal and macaw)\n Central Mexico: Obsidian (Pachuca)\n Guatemalan highlands: Obsidian (San Martin Jilotepeque, El Chayal, and Ixtepeque), pyrite, and jade from the Motagua River valley\n Coastal areas: salt, dry fish, shell, and dyes\n\nArchitecture \n\nMesoamerican architecture is the collective name given to urban, ceremonial and public structures built by pre-Columbian civilizations in Mesoamerica. Although very different in styles, all kinds of mesoamerican architecture show some kind of interrelation, due to very significant cultural exchanges occurred during thousands of years. Among the most well-known structures in Mesoamerica, the flat-top pyramids are a landmark feature of the most developed urban centers.\n\nTwo characteristics are most notable in Mesoamerican architecture. Firstly, the intimate connection between geography, astronomy and architecture: very often, urban centers or even single buildings are aligned to cardinal directions and/or along particular constellations. Secondly, iconography was considered integral part of architecture, with buildings often being adorned with images of religious and cultural significance.\n\nCalendrical systems \n\nAgriculturally based people historically divide the year into four seasons. These included the two solstices and the two equinoxes, which could be thought of as the four \"directional pillars\" that support the year. These four times of the year were, and still are, important as they indicate seasonal changes that directly impact the lives of Mesoamerican agriculturalists.\n\nThe Maya closely observed and duly recorded the seasonal markers. They prepared almanacs recording past and recent solar and lunar eclipses, the phases of the moon, the periods of Venus and Mars, the movements of various other planets, and conjunctions of celestial bodies. These almanacs also made future predictions concerning celestial events. These tables are remarkably accurate, given the technology available, and indicate a significant level of knowledge among Maya astronomers.\n\nAmong the many types of calendars the Maya maintained, the most important include a 260-day cycle, a 360-day cycle or 'year', a 365-day cycle or year, a lunar cycle, and a Venus cycle, which tracked the synodic period of Venus. Maya of the European contact period said that knowing the past aided in both understanding the present and predicting the future (Diego de Landa). The 260-day cycle was a calendar to govern agriculture, observe religious holidays, mark the movements of celestial bodies and memorialize public officials. The 260-day cycle was also used for divination, and (like the Catholic calendar of saints) to name newborns.\n\nThe names given to the days, months, and years in the Mesoamerican calendar came, for the most part, from animals, flowers, heavenly bodies, and cultural concepts that held symbolic significance in Mesoamerican culture. This calendar was used throughout the history of Mesoamerican by nearly every culture. Even today, several Maya groups in Guatemala, including the K'iche', Q'eqchi', Kaqchikel, and the Mixe people of Oaxaca continue using modernized forms of the Mesoamerican calendar.\n\nWriting systems \n\nThe Mesoamerican scripts deciphered to date are logosyllabic combining the use of logograms with a syllabary, and they are often called hieroglyphic scripts. Five or six different scripts have been documented in Mesoamerica, but archaeological dating methods, and a certain degree of self-interest, create difficulties in establishing priority and thus the forebear from which the others developed. The best documented and deciphered Mesoamerican writing system, and therefore the most widely known, is the classic Maya script. Others include the Olmec, Zapotec, and Epi-Olmec/Isthmian writing systems. An extensive Mesoamerican literature has been conserved partly in indigenous scripts and partly in the postinvasion transcriptions into Latin script.\n\nThe other glyphic writing systems of Mesoamerica, and their interpretation, have been subject to much debate. One important ongoing discussion regards whether non-Maya Mesoamerican texts can be considered examples of true writing or whether non-Maya Mesoamerican texts are best understood as pictographic conventions that express ideas, specifically religious ones, but don't represent the phonetics of spoken language.\n\nMesoamerican writing is found in several mediums, including large stone monuments such as stelae, carved directly onto architecture, carved or painted over stucco (e.g., murals), and on pottery. No Precolumbian Mesoamerican society is known to have had widespread literacy, and literacy was probably restricted to particular social classes, including scribes, painters, merchants, and the nobility.\n\nThe Mesoamerican book was typically written with brush and colored inks on a paper prepared from the inner bark of the ficus amacus. The book consisted of a long strip of the prepared bark, which was folded like a screenfold to define individual pages. The pages were often covered and protected by elaborately carved book boards. Some books were composed of square pages while others were composed of rectangular pages.\n\nFollowing the Spanish conquests in the sixteenth century, Spanish friars taught indigenous scribes to write their languages in alphabetic texts. Many oral histories of the prehispanic period were subsequently recorded in alphabetic texts. The indigenous in central and southern Mexico continued to produce written texts in the colonial period, many with pictorial elements. An important scholarly reference work is the Handbook of Middle American Indians, Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources. Mesoamerican codices survive from the Aztec, Maya, Mixtec, and Zapotec regions.\n\nArithmetic \n\nMesoamerican arithmetic treated numbers as having both literal and symbolic value, the result of the dualistic nature that characterized Mesoamerican ideology. As mentioned, the Mesoamerican numbering system was vigesimal (i.e., based on the number 20).\n\nIn representing numbers, a series of bars and dots were employed. Dots had a value of one, and bars had a value of five. This type of arithmetic was combined with a symbolic numerology: '2' was related to origins, as all origins can be thought of as doubling; '3' was related to household fire; '4' was linked to the four corners of the universe; '5' expressed instability; '9' pertained to the underworld and the night; '13' was the number for light, '20' for abundance, and '400' for infinity. The concept of zero was also used, and its representation at the Late Preclassic occupation of Tres Zapotes is one of the earliest uses of zero in human history.\n\nFood, medicine, and science \n\nMaize played an important role in Mesoamerican feasts due to its symbolic meaning and abundance. Gods were praised and named after.\n\nCompanion planting was practiced in various forms by the indigenous peoples of the Americas. They domesticated squash 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, then maize, then common beans, forming the Three Sisters agricultural technique. The cornstalk served as a trellis for the beans to climb, and the beans fixed nitrogen, benefitting the maize.\n\nFray Bernardino de Sahagún collected extensive information on plants, animals, soil types, among other matters from native informants in Book 11, The Earthly Things, of the twelve-volume General History of the Things of New Spain, known as the Florentine Codex, compiled in the third quarter of the sixteenth century. Bernardino de Sahagún reported the ritualistic use of Psilocybe mushrooms known to the Aztecs as teōnanācatl (agglutinative form of teōtl (god, sacred) and nanācatl (mushroom) in Náhuatl). An earlier work, the Badianus Manuscript or Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis is another Aztec codex with written text and illustrations collected from the indigenous viewpoint. The ancient Aztecs used a variety of entheogens within their society.\n\nEvidence shows that wild animals were captured and traded for symbolic and ritual purposes.\n\nMythology and worldview \n\n Shared traits in Mesoamerican mythology are characterized by their common basis as a religion that—though in many Mesoamerican groups developed into complex polytheistic religious systems—retained some shamanistic elements.\n\nThe great breadth of the Mesoamerican pantheon of deities is due to the incorporation of ideological and religious elements from the first primitive religion of Fire, Earth, Water and Nature. Astral divinities (the sun, stars, constellations, and Venus) were adopted and represented in anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and anthropozoomorphic sculptures, and in day-to-day objects. The qualities of these gods and their attributes changed with the passage of time and with cultural influences from other Mesoamerican groups. The gods are at once three: creator, preserver, and destroyer, and at the same time just one. An important characteristic of Mesoamerican religion was the dualism among the divine entities. The gods represented the confrontation between opposite poles: the positive, exemplified by light, the masculine, force, war, the sun, etc.; and the negative, exemplified by darkness, the feminine, repose, peace, the moon, etc.\n\nThe typical Mesoamerican cosmology sees the world as separated into a day world watched by the sun and a night world watched by the moon. More importantly, the three superposed levels of the world are united by a Ceiba tree (Yaxche''' in Mayan). The geographic vision is also tied to the cardinal points. Certain geographical features are linked to different parts of this cosmovision. Thus mountains and tall trees connect the middle and upper worlds; caves connect the middle and nether worlds.\n\n Sacrifice \nGenerally, sacrifice can be divided into two types: autosacrifice and human sacrifice. The different forms of sacrifice are reflected in the imagery used to evoke ideological structure and sociocultural organization in Mesoamerica. In the Maya area, for example, stele depict bloodletting rituals performed by ruling elites, eagles and jaguars devouring human hearts, jade circles or necklaces that represented hearts, and plants and flowers that symbolized both nature and the blood that provided life. Imagery also showed pleas for rain or pleas for blood, with the same intention to replenish the divine energy. Ritual sacrifice was done in efforts to appease the gods, and was done with the purpose of protection of the population.\n\n Autosacrifice \n\nAutosacrifice, also called bloodletting, is the ritualized practice of drawing blood from oneself. It is commonly seen or represented through iconography as performed by ruling elites in highly ritualized ceremonies, but it was easily practiced in mundane sociocultural contexts (i.e., non-elites could perform autosacrifice). The act was typically performed with obsidian prismatic blades or stingray spines, and blood was drawn from piercing or cutting the tongue, earlobes, and/or genitals (among other locations). Another form of autosacrifice was conducted by pulling a rope with attached thorns through the tongue or earlobes. The blood produced was then collected on amate held in a bowl.\n\nAutosacrifice was not limited to male rulers, as their female counterparts often performed these ritualized activities. They are typically shown performing the rope and thorns technique. A recently discovered queen's tomb in the Classic Maya site of Waka (also known as El Perú) had a ceremonial stingray spine placed in her genital area, suggesting that women also performed bloodletting in their genitalia.\n\n Human sacrifice \n\nSacrifice had great importance in the social and religious aspects of Mesoamerican culture. First, it showed death transformed into the divine. Death is the consequence of a human sacrifice, but it is not the end; it is but the continuation of the cosmic cycle. Death creates life—divine energy is liberated through death and returns to the gods, who are then able to create more life. Secondly, it justifies war, since the most valuable sacrifices are obtained through conflict. The death of the warrior is the greatest sacrifice and gives the gods the energy to go about their daily activities, such as the bringing of rain. Warfare and capturing prisoners became a method of social advancement and a religious cause. Finally, it justifies the control of power by the two ruling classes, the priests and the warriors. The priests controlled the religious ideology, and the warriors supplied the sacrifices. Historically it was also in discussion that those sacrificed were chosen by the gods, this idea of being \"chosen\" was decided by the gods. This was then displayed by acts, such as being struck by lightning. If someone was struck by lightning and a sacrifice was needed they would often be chosen by their population, as they believed they were chosen by the gods.\n\n Ballgame \n\nThe Mesoamerican ballgame was a sport with ritual associations played for over 3000 years by nearly all pre-Columbian peoples of Mesoamerica. The sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a modern version of the game, ulama, is still played in a few places.\n\nOver 1300 ballcourts have been found throughout Mesoamerica. They vary considerably in size, but they all feature long narrow alleys with side-walls to bounce the balls against.\n\nThe rules of the ballgame are not known, but it was probably similar to volleyball, where the object is to keep the ball in play. In the most well-known version of the game, the players struck the ball with their hips, though some versions used forearms or employed rackets, bats, or handstones. The ball was made of solid rubber, and weighed up to 4 kg or more, with sizes that differed greatly over time or according to the version played.\n\nWhile the game was played casually for simple recreation, including by children and perhaps even women, the game also had important ritual aspects, and major formal ballgames were held as ritual events, often featuring human sacrifice.\n\n Astronomy \nMesoamerican astronomy included a broad understanding of the cycles of planets and other celestial bodies. Special importance was given to the sun, moon, and Venus as the morning and evening star.\n\nObservatories were built at some sites, including the round observatory at Ceibal and the \"Observatorio\" at Xochicalco. Often, the architectural organization of Mesoamerican sites was based on precise calculations derived from astronomical observations. Well-known examples of these include the El Castillo pyramid at Chichen Itza and the Observatorio at Xochicalco. A unique and common architectural complex found among many Mesoamerican sites are E-Groups, which are aligned so as to serve as astronomical observatories. The name of this complex is based on Uaxactun's \"Group E\", the first known observatory in the Maya area. Perhaps the earliest observatory documented in Mesoamerica is that of the Monte Alto culture. This complex consisted of three plain stelae and a temple oriented with respect to the Pleiades.\n\n Symbolism of space and time \n\nIt has been argued that among Mesoamerican societies the concepts of space and time are associated with the four cardinal compass points and linked together by the calendar. Dates or events were always tied to a compass direction, and the calendar specified the symbolic geographical characteristic peculiar to that period. Resulting from the significance held by the cardinal directions, many Mesoamerican architectural features, if not entire settlements, were planned and oriented with respect to directionality.\n\nIn Maya cosmology, each cardinal point was assigned a specific color and a specific jaguar deity (Bacab). They are as follows:\n Hobnil, Bacab of the East, associated with the color red and the Kan years\n Can Tzicnal, Bacab of the North, assigned the color white and the Muluc years\n Zac Cimi, Bacab of the West, associated with the color black and the Ix years\n Hozanek, Bacab of the South, associated with the color yellow and the Cauac years.\n\nLater cultures such as the Kaqchikel and K'iche' maintain the association of cardinal directions with each color, but used different names.\n\nAmong the Aztec, the name of each day was associated with a cardinal point (thus conferring symbolic significance), and each cardinal direction was associated with a group of symbols. Below are the symbols and concepts associated with each direction:\n East: croco dile, the serpent, water, cane, and movement. The East was linked to the world priests and associated with vegetative fertility, or, in other words, tropical exuberance.\n North: wind, death, the dog, the jaguar, and flint (or chert). The north contrasts with the east in that it is conceptualized as dry, cold, and oppressive. It is considered the nocturnal part of the universe and includes the dwellings of the dead. The dog (xoloitzcuintle) has a very specific meaning, as it accompanies the deceased during the trip to the lands of the dead and helps them cross the river of death that leads into nothingness. (See also Dogs in Mesoamerican folklore and myth).\n West: the house, the deer, the monkey, the eagle, and rain. The west was associated with the cycles of vegetation, specifically the temperate high plains that experience light rains and the change of seasons.\n South: rabbit, the lizard, dried herbs, the buzzard, and flowers. It is related on the one hand to the luminous Sun and the noon heat, and on the other with rain filled with alcoholic drink. The rabbit, the principal symbol of the west, was associated with farmers and with pulque.\n\n Political and religious art \n\nMesoamerican artistic expression was conditioned by ideology and generally focused on themes of religion and/or sociopolitical power. This is largely based on the fact that most works that survived the Spanish conquest were public monuments. These monuments were typically erected by rulers who sought to visually legitimize their sociocultural and political position; by doing so, they intertwined their lineage, personal attributes and achievements, and legacy with religious concepts. As such, these monuments were specifically designed for public display and took many forms, including stele, sculpture, architectural reliefs, and other types of architectural elements (e.g., roofcombs). Other themes expressed include tracking time, glorifying the city, and veneration of the gods—all of which were tied to explicitly aggrandizing the abilities and the reign of the ruler who commissioned the artwork.\n\nThe majority of artwork created during this historical time was in relation to these topics, religion and politics. Rulers were drawn and sculpted. Historical tales and events were then translated into pieces of art, and art was used to relay religious and political messages.\n\n Music \nArchaeological studies have never discovered any written music from the pre-Columbian era, but musical instruments were found, as well as carvings and depictions, that clearly show how music played a central role in the Mayan religious and societal structures, for example, as accompaniment to celebrations and funerals. Some Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Maya, commonly played various instruments such as drums, flutes and whistles. Although most of the original Mayan music disappeared following the Spanish colonization, some of it mixed with the incoming Spanish music and exists to date.\n\n See also \n\nAmericas (terminology)\nAmericas\nCentral America\nHispanic America\nHispanic and Latino Americans\nIndigenous peoples of Mexico\nIndigenous peoples of the Americas\nLatin America\nMesoamerican region\nMiddle America (Americas)\nPainting in the Americas before European colonization\n\n References \n\n Bibliography \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Gibson, Charles. The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule. Stanford: Stanford University Press 1964.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Wauchope, Robert, general editor. Handbook of Middle American Indians. Austin: University of Texas Press 1964–1976.\n \n \n \n\n External links \n\n Maya Culture\n Mesoweb.com: a comprehensive site for Mesoamerican civilizations\n Museum of the Templo Mayor (Mexico) \n National Museum of Anthropology and History (Mexico) \n Selected bibliography concerning war in Mesoamerica \n WAYEB: European Association of Mayanists\n Arqueologia Iberoamericana: Open access international scientific journal devoted to the archaeological study of the American and Iberian peoples. It contains research articles on Mesoamerica.\n Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520–1820''\n \n\n \nCategory:Classic period in the Americas\nCategory:History of indigenous peoples of North America\nCategory:History of Belize\nCategory:History of El Salvador\nCategory:History of Guatemala\nCategory:History of Honduras\nCategory:History of Mexico\nCategory:History of Nicaragua\nCategory:Indigenous peoples of Central America\nCategory:Indigenous peoples in Mexico\nCategory:Pre-Columbian cultural areas\nCategory:Historical regions\nCategory:Regions of North America",
"title": "Mesoamerica"
},
{
"text": "Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE – 250 CE), the Classic (250–900 CE), and the Postclassic (); as well as the post European contact Colonial Period (1521–1821), and Postcolonial, or the period after independence from Spain (1821–present).\n\nThe periodisation of Mesoamerica by researchers is based on archaeological, ethnohistorical, and modern cultural anthropology research dating to the early twentieth century. Archaeologists, ethnohistorians, historians, and cultural anthropologists continue to work to develop cultural histories of the region.\n\nOverview\n\nPaleo-Indian period\n10,000–3500 BCE\n\nThe Paleo-Indian (less frequently, Lithic) period or era is that which spans from the first signs of human presence in the region, to the establishment of agriculture and other practices (e.g. pottery, permanent settlements) and subsistence techniques characteristic of proto-civilisations. In Mesoamerica, the termination of this phase and its transition into the succeeding Archaic period may generally be reckoned at between 10,000 and 8000 BCE. This dating is approximate only and different timescales may be used between fields and sub-regions.\n\nArchaic Era\n\nBefore 2600 BCE\n\nDuring the Archaic Era agriculture was developed in the region and permanent villages were established. Late in this era, use of pottery and loom weaving became common, and class divisions began to appear. Many of the basic technologies of Mesoamerica in terms of stone-grinding, drilling, pottery etc. were established during this period.\n\nPreclassic Era or Formative Period\n2000 BCE – 250 CE\n\nDuring the Preclassic Era, or Formative Period, large-scale ceremonial architecture, writing, cities, and states developed. Many of the distinctive elements of Mesoamerican civilisation can be traced to this period, including the dominance of corn, the building of pyramids, human sacrifice, jaguar-worship, the complex calendar, and many of the gods.\n\nThe Olmec civilization developed and flourished at such sites as La Venta and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, eventually succeeded by the Epi-Olmec culture between 300–250 BCE. The Zapotec civilization arose in the Valley of Oaxaca, the Teotihuacan civilisation arose in the Valley of Mexico. The Maya civilization began to develop in the Mirador Basin (in modern-day Guatemala) and the Epi-Olmec culture in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (in modern-day Chiapas), later expanding into Guatemala and the Yucatan Peninsula.\n\nIn Central America, there were some Olmec influences, the archaeological sites of Los Naranjos and Yarumela in Honduras stand out, built by ancestors of the Lencas, which reflect an architectural influence of this culture on Central American soil. Other sites with possible Olmec influence have been reported, such as Puerto Escondido, in the Sula Valley, near La Lima, and Hato Viejo in the department of Olancho, where a jadeite statuette has been found that shares many characteristics with those found in Mexico.\n\nClassic Period\n250–900 CE\n\nThe Classic Period was dominated by numerous independent city-states in the Maya region and also featured the beginnings of political unity in central Mexico and the Yucatán. Regional differences between cultures grew more manifest. The city-state of Teotihuacan dominated the Valley of Mexico until the early 8th century, but little is known of the political structure of the region because the Teotihuacanos left no written records. The city-state of Monte Albán dominated the Valley of Oaxaca until the late Classic, leaving limited records in their script, which is as yet mostly undeciphered. Highly sophisticated arts such as stuccowork, architecture, sculptural reliefs, mural painting, pottery, and lapidary developed and spread during the Classic era.\n\nIn the Maya region, under considerable military influence by Teotihuacan after the \"arrival\" of Siyaj K'ak' in 378 CE, numerous city states such as Tikal, Uaxactun, Calakmul, Copán, Quirigua, Palenque, Cobá, and Caracol reached their zeniths. Each of these polities was generally independent, although they often formed alliances and sometimes became vassal states of each other. The main conflict during this period was between Tikal and Calakmul, which fought a series of wars over the course of more than half a millennium. Each of these states declined during the Terminal Classic and were eventually abandoned.\n\nPostclassic Period\n900–1521 CE\n\nIn the Postclassic Period many of the great nations and cities of the Classic Era collapsed, although some continued, such as in Oaxaca, Cholula, and the Maya of Yucatan, such as at Chichen Itza and Uxmal. This is sometimes thought to have been a period of increased chaos and warfare.\n\nThe Postclassic is often viewed as a period of cultural decline. However, it was a time of technological advancement in architecture, engineering, and weaponry. Metallurgy (introduced c. 800) came into use for jewelry and some tools, with new alloys and techniques being developed in a few centuries. The Postclassic was a period of rapid movement and population growth—especially in Central Mexico post-1200—and of experimentation in governance. For instance, in Yucatan, 'dual rulership' apparently replaced the more theocratic governments of Classic times, while oligarchic councils operated in much of central Mexico. Likewise, it appears that the wealthy pochteca (merchant class) and military orders became more powerful than was apparently the case in Classic times. This afforded some Mesoamericans a degree of social mobility.\n\nThe Toltec for a time dominated central Mexico in the 9th–10th century, then collapsed. The northern Maya were for a time united under Mayapan. Oaxaca was briefly united by Mixtec rulers in the 11th–12th centuries.\n\nThe Aztec Empire arose in the early 15th century and appeared to be on a path to asserting dominance over the Valley of Mexico region not seen since Teotihuacan. By the 15th century, the Mayan 'revival' in Yucatan and southern Guatemala and the flourishing of Aztec imperialism evidently enabled a renaissance of fine arts and science. Examples include the 'Pueblan-Mexica' style in pottery, codex illumination, and goldwork, the flourishing of Nahua poetry, and the botanical institutes established by the Aztec elite.\n\nSpain was the first European power to contact Mesoamerica. Its conquistadors, aided by numerous native allies, conquered the Aztecs.\n\nColonial Period\n1521–1821 CE\n\nThe Colonial Period was initiated with the Spanish conquest (1519–1521), which ended the hegemony of the Aztec Empire. It was accomplished with Spaniards' strategic alliances with enemies of the empire, most especially Tlaxcala, but also Huexotzinco, Xochimilco, and even Texcoco, a former partner in the Aztec Triple Alliance. Although not all parts of Mesoamerica were brought under control of the Spanish Empire immediately, the defeat of the Aztecs marked the dramatic beginning of an inexorable process of conquest in Mesoamerica and incorporation that Spain completed in the mid-seventeenth century. Indigenous peoples did not disappear, although their numbers were greatly reduced in the sixteenth century by new infectious diseases brought by the Spanish invaders; they suffered high mortality from slave labor, and during epidemics. The fall of Tenochtitlan marked the beginning of the three-hundred-year colonial period and the imposition of Spanish rule.\n\nChronology\n\nCultural horizons of Mesoamerica\n\nMesoamerican civilisation was a complex network of different cultures. As seen in the time-line below, these did not necessarily occur at the same time. The processes that gave rise to each of the cultural systems of Mesoamerica were very complex and not determined solely by the internal dynamics of each society. External as well as endogenous factors influenced their development. Among these factors, for example, were the relations between human groups and between humans and the environment, human migrations, and natural disasters.\n\nHistorians and archaeologists divide pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican history into three periods. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire (1519–1521) marks the end of indigenous rule and the incorporation of indigenous peoples as subjects of the Spanish Empire for the 300 year colonial period. The postcolonial period began with Mexican independence in 1821 and continues to the present day. European conquest did not end the existence of Mesoamerica's indigenous peoples, but did subject them to new political regimes. In the chart below of prehispanic cultures, the dates mentioned are approximations, and that the transition from one period to another did not occur at the same time nor under the same circumstances in all societies.\n\nTimeline of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica\n\nPreclassic Era\n\nThe Preclassic period ran from 2500 BCE to 200 CE. Its beginnings are marked by the development of the first ceramic traditions in the West, specifically at sites such as Matanchén, Nayarit, and Puerto Marqués, in Guerrero. Some authors hold that the early development of pottery in this area is related to the ties between South America and the coastal peoples of Mexico. The advent of ceramics is taken as an indicator of a sedentary society, and it signals the divergence of Mesoamerica from the hunter-gatherer societies in the desert to the north.\n\nThe Preclassic Era (also known as the Formative Period) is divided into three phases: the Early (2500–1200 BCE), Middle (1500–600 BCE), and Late (600 BCE – 200 CE). During the first phase, the manufacture of ceramics was widespread across the entire region, the cultivation of maize and other vegetables became well-established, and society started to become socially stratified in a process that concluded with the appearance of the first hierarchical societies along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. In the early Preclassic period, the Capacha culture acted as a driving force in the process of civilizing Mesoamerica, and its pottery spread widely across the region.\n\nBy 2500 BCE, small settlements were developing in Guatemala's Pacific Lowlands, places such as Tilapa, La Blanca, Ocós, El Mesak, Ujuxte, and others, where the oldest ceramic pottery from Guatemala have been found. From 2000 BCE a heavy concentration of pottery in the Pacific Coast Line has been documented. Recent excavations suggest that the Highlands were a geographic and temporal bridge between Early Preclassic villages of the Pacific coast and later Petén lowlands cities. In Monte Alto near La Democracia, Escuintla, in the Pacific lowlands of Guatemala, some giant stone heads and potbelly sculptures () have been found, dated at c. 1800 BCE, of the so-named Monte Alto Culture.\n\nAround 1500 BCE, the cultures of the West entered a period of decline, accompanied by an assimilation into the other peoples with whom they had maintained connections. As a result, the Tlatilco culture emerged in the Valley of Mexico, and the Olmec culture in the Gulf. Tlatilco was one of the principal Mesoamerican population centers of this period. Its people were adept at harnessing the natural resources of Lake Texcoco and at cultivating maize. Some authors posit that Tlatilco was founded and inhabited by the ancestors of today's Otomi people.\n\nThe Olmecs, on the other hand, had entered into an expansionist phase that led them to construct their first works of monumental architecture at San Lorenzo and La Venta. The Olmecs exchanged goods within their own core area and with sites as far away as Guerrero and Morelos and present day Guatemala and Costa Rica. San José Mogote, a site that also shows Olmec influences, ceded dominance of the Oaxacan plateau to Monte Albán toward the end of the middle Preclassic Era. During this same time, the Chupícuaro culture flourished in Bajío, while along the Gulf the Olmecs entered a period of decline.\n\nOne of the great cultural milestones that marked the Middle Preclassic period is the development of the first writing system, by either the Maya, the Olmec, or the Zapotec. During this period, the Mesoamerican societies were highly stratified. The connections between different centers of power permitted the rise of regional elites that controlled natural resources and peasant labor. This social differentiation was based on the possession of certain technical knowledge, such as astronomy, writing, and commerce. Furthermore, the Middle Preclassic period saw the beginnings of the process of urbanization that would come to define the societies of the Classic period. In the Maya area, cities such as Nakbe c. 1000 BCE, El Mirador c. 650 BCE, Cival c. 350 BCE, and San Bartolo show the same monumental architecture of the Classic period. In fact, El Mirador is the largest Maya city. It has been argued that the Maya experienced a first collapse c. 100 CE, and resurged c. 250 in the Classic period. Some population centers such as Tlatilco, Monte Albán, and Cuicuilco flourished in the final stages of the Preclassic period. Meanwhile, the Olmec populations shrank and ceased to be major players in the area.\n\nToward the end of the Preclassic period, political and commercial hegemony shifted to the population centers in the Valley of Mexico. Around Lake Texcoco there existed a number of villages that grew into true cities: Tlatilco and Cuicuilco are examples. The former was found on the northern bank of the lake, while the latter was on the slopes of the mountainous region of Ajusco. Tlatilco maintained strong relationships with the cultures of the West, so much so that Cuicuilco controlled commerce in the Maya area, Oaxaca, and the Gulf coast. The rivalry between the two cities ended with the decline of Tlatilco. Meanwhile, at Monte Albán in the Valley of Oaxaca, the Zapotec had begun developing culturally independent of the Olmec, adopting aspects of that culture but making their own contributions as well. On the southern coast of Guatemala, Kaminaljuyú advanced in the direction of what would be the Classic Maya culture, even though its links to Central Mexico and the Gulf would initially provide their cultural models. Apart from the West, where the tradition of the Tumbas de tiro had taken root, in all the regions of Mesoamerica the cities grew in wealth, with monumental constructions carried out according to urban plans that were surprisingly complex. The circular pyramid of Cuicuilco dates from this time, as well as the central plaza of Monte Albán, and the Pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacan.\n\nAround the start of the common era, Cuicuilco had disappeared, and the hegemony over the Mexican basin had passed to Teotihuacan. The next two centuries marked the period in which the so-called city of the gods consolidated its power, becoming the premier Mesoamerican city of the first millennium, and the principal political, economic, and cultural center for the next seven centuries.\n\nThe Olmec\n\nFor many years, the Olmec culture was thought to be the 'mother culture' of Mesoamerica, because of the great influence that it exercised throughout the region. However, more recent perspectives consider this culture to be more of a process to which all the contemporary peoples contributed, and which eventually crystallized on the coasts of Veracruz and Tabasco. The ethnic identity of the Olmecs is still widely debated. Based on linguistic evidence, archaeologists and anthropologists generally believe that they were either speakers of an Oto-Manguean language, or (more likely) the ancestors of the present-day Zoque people who live in the north of Chiapas and Oaxaca. According to this second hypothesis, Zoque tribes emigrated toward the south after the fall of the major population centers of the Gulf plains. Whatever their origin, these bearers of Olmec culture arrived at the leeward shore some eight thousand years BCE, entering like a wedge among the fringe of proto-Maya peoples who lived along the coast, a migration that would explain the separation of the Huastecs of the north of Veracruz from the rest of the Maya peoples based in the Yucatán Peninsula and Guatemala.\n\nThe Olmec culture represents a milestone of Mesoamerican history, as various characteristics that define the region first appeared there. Among them are the state organization, the development of the 260-day ritual calendar and the 365-day secular calendar, the first writing system, and urban planning. The development of this culture started 1600 to 1500 BCE, though it continued to consolidate itself up to the 12th century BCE. Its principal sites were La Venta, San Lorenzo, and Tres Zapotes in the core region. However, throughout Mesoamerica numerous sites show evidence of Olmec occupation, especially in the Balsas river basin, where Teopantecuanitlan is located. This site is quite enigmatic, since it dates from several centuries earlier than the main populations of the Gulf, a fact which has continued to cause controversy and given rise to the hypothesis that the Olmec culture originated in that region.\n\nAmong the best-known expressions of Olmec culture are giant stone heads, sculptured monoliths up to three meters in height and several tons in weight. These feats of Olmec stonecutting are especially impressive when one considers that Mesoamericans lacked iron tools and that the heads are at sites dozens of kilometers from the quarries where their basalt was mined. The function of these monuments is unknown. Some authors propose that they were commemorative monuments for notable players of the ballgame, and others that they were images of the Olmec governing elite.\n\nThe Olmec are also known for their small carvings made of jade and other greenstones. So many of the Olmec figurines and sculptures contain representations of the were-jaguar, that, according to José María Covarrubias, they could be forerunners of the worship of the rain god, or maybe a predecessor of the future Tezcatlipoca in his manifestation as Tepeyolohtli, the \"Heart of the Mountain\"\n\nThe exact causes of the Olmec decline are unknown.\n\nIn the Pacific lowlands of the Maya Area, Takalik Abaj c. 800 BCE, Izapa c. 700 BCE, and Chocola c. 600 BCE, along with Kaminaljuyú c. 800 BCE, in the central Highlands of Guatemala, advanced in the direction of what would be the Classic Maya culture. Apart from the West, where the tradition of the Tumbas de tiro had taken root, in all the regions of Mesoamerica the cities grew in wealth, with monumental constructions carried out according to urban plans that were surprisingly complex. La Danta in El Mirador, the San Bartolo murals, and the circular pyramid of Cuicuilco date from this time, as do the central plaza of Monte Albán and the Pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacan.\n\nToward the end of the Preclassic period, political and commercial hegemony shifted to the population centers in the Valley of Mexico. Around Lake Texcoco there existed a number of villages that grew into true cities: Tlatilco and Cuicuilco are examples. The former was found on the northern bank of the lake, while the latter was on the slopes of the mountainous region of Ajusco. Tlatilco maintained strong relationships with the cultures of the West, so much so that Cuicuilco controlled commerce in the Maya area, Oaxaca, and the Gulf coast. The rivalry between the two cities ended with the decline of Tlatilco. Meanwhile, at Monte Albán in Oaxaca, the Zapotec had begun developing culturally independent of the Olmec, adopting aspects of that culture and making their own contributions as well.\nIn Peten, the great Classic Maya cities of Tikal, Uaxactun, and Seibal, began their growth at c. 300 BCE.\n\nCuicuilco's hegemony over the valley declined in the period 100 BCE to 1 CE. As Cuicuilco declined, Teotihuacan began to grow in importance. The next two centuries marked the period in which the so-called City of the gods consolidated its power, becoming the premier Mesoamerican city of the first millennium, and the principal political, economic, and cultural center in Central Mexico for the next seven centuries.\n\nClassic period\n\nThe Classic period of Mesoamerica includes the years from 250 to 900 CE. The end point of this period varied from region to region: for example, in the center of Mexico it is related to the fall of the regional centers of the late Classic (sometimes called Epiclassic) period, toward the year 900; in the Gulf, with the decline of El Tajín, in the year 800; in the Maya area, with the abandonment of the highland cities in the 9th century; and in Oaxaca, with the disappearance of Monte Albán around 850. Normally, the Classic period in Mesoamerica is characterized as the stage in which the arts, science, urbanism, architecture, and social organization reached their peak. This period was also dominated by the influence of Teotihuacan throughout the region, and the competition between the different Mesoamerican states led to continuous warfare.\n\nThis period of Mesoamerican history can be divided into three phases. Early, from 250 to 550 CE; Middle, from 550 to 700; and Late, from 700 to 900. The early Classic period began with the expansion of Teotihuacan, which led to its control over the principal trade routes of northern Mesoamerica. During this time, the process of urbanization that started in the last centuries of the early Preclassic period was consolidated. The principal centers of this phase were Monte Albán, Kaminaljuyu, Ceibal, Tikal, and Calakmul, and then Teotihuacan, in which 80 percent of the 200,000 inhabitants of the Lake Texcoco basin were concentrated.\n\nThe cities of this era were characterized by their multi-ethnic composition, which entailed the cohabitation in the same population centers of people with different languages, cultural practices, and places of origin. During this period the alliances between the regional political elites were strengthened, especially for those allied with Teotihuacan. Also, social differentiation became more pronounced: a small dominant group ruled over the majority of the population. This majority was forced to pay tribute and to participate in the building of public structures such as irrigation systems, religious edifices, and means of communication. The growth of the cities could not have happened without advances in agricultural methods and the strengthening of trade networks involving not only the peoples of Mesoamerica, but also the distant cultures of Oasisamerica.\n\nThe arts of Mesoamerica reached their high-point in this era. Especially notable are the Maya stelae (carved pillars), exquisite monuments commemorating the stories of the Royal families, the rich corpus of polychrome ceramics, mural painting, and music. In Teotihuacan, architecture made great advances: the Classic style was defined by the construction of pyramidal bases that sloped upward in a step-wise fashion. The Teotihuacan architectural style was reproduced and modified in other cities throughout Mesoamerica, the clearest examples being the Zapotec capital of Monte Alban and Kaminal Juyú in Guatemala. Centuries later, long after Teotihuacan was abandoned c. 700 CE, cities of the Postclassic era followed the style of Teotihuacan construction, especially Tula, Tenochtitlan, and Chichén Itzá.\n\nMany scientific advances were also achieved during this period. The Maya refined their calendar, script, and mathematics to their highest level of development. Writing came to be used throughout the Mayan area, although it was still regarded as a noble activity and practiced only by noble scribes, painters, and priests. Using a similar system of writing, other cultures developed their own scripts, the most notable examples being those of the Ñuiñe culture and the Zapotecs of Oaxaca, although the Mayan system was the only fully developed writing system in Precolumbian America. Astronomy remained a matter of vital significance because of its importance for agriculture, the economic basis of Mesoamerican society, and to predict events in the future such as lunar and solar eclipses, an important feature for the rulers, proving to the commoners their links with the heavenly world.\n\nThe Middle Classic period ended in Northern Mesoamerica with the decline of Teotihuacan. This allowed other regional power centers to flourish and compete for control of trade routes and natural resources. In this way the late Classic era commenced. Political fragmentation during this era meant no city had complete hegemony. Various population movements occurred, caused by the incursion of groups from Aridoamerica and other northern regions, who pushed the older populations of Mesoamerica south. Among these new groups were the Nahua, who would later found the cities of Tula and Tenochtitlan, the two most important capitals of the Postclassic era. In addition, southern peoples established themselves in the center of Mexico, including the Olmec-Xicalanca, who came from the Yucatán Peninsula and founded Cacaxtla and Xochicalco.\n\nIn the Maya region, Tikal, an ally of Teotihuacan, experienced a decline, the so-called Tikal Hiatus, after being defeated by Dos Pilas, and Caracol, ally of Calakmul, lasted about another 100 years. During this hiatus, the cities of Dos Pilas, Piedras Negras, Caracol, Calakmul, Palenque, Copán, and Yaxchilán were consolidated. These and other city-states of the region found themselves involved in bloody wars with changing alliances, until Tikal defeated, in order, Dos Pilas, Caracol, with the help of Yaxha and El Naranjo, Waka, Calakmul's last ally, and finally Calakmul itself, an event that took place in 732 with the sacrifice of Yuknom Cheen's son in Tikal. That led to construction of monumental architecture in Tikal, from 740 to 810; the last date documented there was 899. The ruin of the Classic Maya civilization in the northern lowlands, begun at La Passion states such as Dos Pilas, Aguateca, Ceibal and Cancuén, c. 760, followed by the Usumacinta system cities of Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, and Palenque, following a path from south to north.\n\nToward the end of the late Classic period, the Maya stopped recording the years using the Long Count calendar, and many of their cities were burned and abandoned to the jungle. Meanwhile, in the Southern Highlands, Kaminal Juyú continued its growth until 1200. In Oaxaca, Monte Alban reached its apex c. 750 and finally succumbed toward the end of the 9th century for reasons that are still unclear. Its fate was not much different from that of other cities such as La Quemada in the north and Teotihuacan in the center: it was burned and abandoned. In the last century of the Classic era, hegemony in the valley of Oaxaca passed to Lambityeco, several kilometers to the east.\n\nTeotihuacan\n\nTeotihuacan (\"The City of the Gods\" in Nahuatl) originated toward the end of the Preclassic period, c. 100 CE. Very little is known about its founders, but it is believed that the Otomí had an important role in the city's development, as they did in the ancient culture of the Valley of Mexico, represented by Tlatilco. Teotihuacan initially competed with Cuicuilco for hegemony in the area. In this political and economic battle, Teotihuacan was aided by its control of the obsidian deposits in the Navaja mountains in Hidalgo. The decline of Cuicuilco is still a mystery, but it is known that a large part of the former inhabitants resettled in Teotihuacan some years before the eruption of Xitle, which covered the southern town in lava.\n\nOnce free of competition in the area of the Lake of Mexico, Teotihuacan experienced an expansion phase that made it one of the largest cities of its time, not just in Mesoamerica but in the entire world. During this period of growth, it attracted the vast majority of those then living in the Valley of Mexico.\n\nTeotihuacan was completely dependent on agricultural activity, primarily the cultivation of maize, beans, and squash, the Mesoamerican agricultural trinity. However, its political and economic hegemony was based on outside goods for which it enjoyed a monopoly: Anaranjado ceramics, produced in the Poblano–Tlaxcalteca valley, and the mineral deposits of the Hidalgan mountains. Both were highly valued throughout Mesoamerica and were exchanged for luxury merchandise of the highest caliber, from places as far away as New Mexico and Guatemala. Because of this, Teotihuacan became the hub of the Mesoamerican trade network. Its partners were Monte Albán and Tikal in the southeast, Matacapan on the Gulf coast, Altavista in the north, and Tingambato in the west.\n\nTeotihuacan refined the Mesoamerican pantheon of deities, whose origins dated from the time of the Olmec. Of special importance were the worship of Quetzalcoatl and Tláloc, agricultural deities. Trade links promoted the spread of these cults to other Mesoamerican societies, who took and transformed them. It was thought that Teotihuacan society had no knowledge of writing, but as Duverger demonstrates, the writing system of Teotihuacan was extremely pictographic, to the point that writing was confused with drawing.\n\nThe fall of Teotihuacan is associated with the emergence of city-states within the confines of the central area of Mexico. It is thought that these were able to flourish due to the decline of Teotihuacan, though events may have occurred in the opposite order: the cities of Cacaxtla, Xochicalco, Teotenango, and El Tajín may have first increased in power and then were able to economically strangle Teotihuacan, trapped as it was in the center of the valley without access to trade routes. This occurred around 600 CE, and even though people continued to live there for another century and a half, the city was eventually destroyed and abandoned by its inhabitants, who took refuge in places such as Culhuacán and Azcapotzalco, on the shores of Lake Texcoco.\n\nThe Maya in the Classic period\n\nThe Maya created one of the most developed and best-known Mesoamerican cultures. Although authors such as Michael D. Coe believe that the Maya culture is completely different from the surrounding cultures, many elements present in Maya culture are shared by the rest of Mesoamerica, including the use of two calendars, the base 20 number system, the cultivation of corn, human sacrifice, and certain myths, such as that of the fifth sun and cultic worship, including that of the Feathered Serpent and the rain god, who in the Yucatec Maya language is called Chaac.\n\nThe beginnings of Maya culture date from the development of Kaminaljuyu, in the Highlands of Guatemala, during the middle Preclassic period. According to Richard D. Hansen and others researchers, the first true political states in Mesoamerica consisted of Takalik Abaj, in the Pacific Lowlands, and the cities of El Mirador, Nakbe, Cival and San Bartolo, among others, in the Mirador Basin and Peten. Archaeologists believe that this development happened centuries later, around the 1st century BCE, but recent research in the Petén basin and Belize have proven them wrong. The archaeological evidence indicates that the Maya never formed a united empire; they were instead organized into small chiefdoms that were constantly at war. López Austin and López Luján have said that the Preclassic Maya were characterized by their bellicose nature. They probably had a greater mastery of the art of war than Teotihuacan, yet the idea that they were a peaceful society given to religious contemplation, which persists to this day, was particularly promoted by early- and mid-20th century Mayanists such as Sylvanus G. Morley and J. Eric S. Thompson. Confirmation that the Maya practiced human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism came much later (e.g. by the murals of Bonampak).\n\nWriting and the Maya calendar were quite early developments in the great Maya cities, c. 1000 BCE, and some of the oldest commemorative monuments are from sites in the Maya region. Archaeologists once thought that the Maya sites functioned only as ceremonial centers and that the common people lived in the surrounding villages. However, more recent excavations indicate the Maya sites enjoyed urban services as extensive as those of Tikal, believed to be as large as 400,000 inhabitants at its peak, circa 750, Copan, and others. Drainage, aqueducts, and pavement, or Sakbe, meaning \"white road\", united major centers since the Preclassic. The construction of these sites was carried out on the basis of a highly stratified society, dominated by the noble class, who at the same time were the political, military, and religious elite.\n\nThe elite controlled agriculture, practiced by means of mixed systems of ground-clearing, and intensive platforms around the cities. As in the rest of Mesoamerica, they imposed on the lowest classes taxes—in kind or in labor—that permitted them to concentrate sufficient resources for the construction of public monuments, which legitimized the power of the elites and the social hierarchy. During the Early Classic Period, c. 370, the Maya political elite sustained strong ties to Teotihuacan, and it is possible that Tikal may have been an important ally of Teotihuacan that controlled commerce with the Gulf coast and highlands. Finally, it seems the great drought that ravaged Central America in the 9th century, internal wars, ecological disasters, and famine destroyed the Maya political system, which led to popular uprisings and the defeat of the dominant political groups. Many cities were abandoned, remaining unknown until the 19th century, when descendants of the Maya led a group of European and American archaeologists to these cities, which had been swallowed over the centuries by the jungle.\n\nPostclassic period\n\nThe Postclassic period is the time between the year 900 and the conquest of Mesoamerica by the Spaniards, which occurred between 1521 and 1697. It was a period in which military activity became of great importance. The political elites associated with the priestly class were relieved of power by groups of warriors. In turn, at least a half-century before the arrival of the Spaniards, the warrior class was yielding its positions of privilege to a very powerful group that was unconnected to the nobility: the pochtecas, merchants who obtained great political power by virtue of their economic power.\n\nThe Postclassic period is divided into two phases. The first is the early Postclassic, which includes the 10th to the 13th century, and is characterized by the Toltec hegemony of Tula. The 12th century marks the beginning of the late Postclassic period, which begins with the arrival of the Chichimec, linguistically related to the Toltecs and the Mexica, who established themselves in the Valley of Mexico in 1325, following a two-century pilgrimage from Aztlán, the exact location of which is unknown. Many of the social changes of this final period of Mesoamerican civilization are related to the migratory movements of the northern peoples. These peoples came from Oasisamerica, Aridoamerica, and the northern region of Mesoamerica, driven by climate changes that threatened their survival. The migrations from the north caused, in turn, the displacement of peoples who had been rooted in Mesoamerica for centuries; some of them left for Centroamerica.\n\nThere were many cultural changes during that time. One of them was the expansion of metallurgy, imported from South America, and whose oldest remnants in Mesoamerica come from the West, as is the case also with ceramics. The Mesoamericans did not achieve great facility with metals; in fact, their use was rather limited (a few copper axes, needles, and above all jewelry). The most advanced techniques of Mesoamerican metallurgy were developed by the Mixtec, who produced fine, exquisitely handcrafted articles. Remarkable advances were made in architecture as well. The use of nails in architecture was introduced to support the sidings of the temples, the mortar was improved, and the use of columns and stone roofs was widespread—something that only the Maya had used during the Classic period. In agriculture, the system of irrigation became more complex; in the Valley of Mexico especially, chinampas were used extensively by the Mexica, who built a city of 200,000 around them.\n\nThe political system also underwent important changes. During the early Postclassic period, the warlike political elites legitimized their position by means of their adherence to a complex set of religious beliefs that López Austin called zuyuanidad. According to this system, the ruling classes proclaimed themselves the descendants of Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent, one of the creative forces, and a cultural hero in Mesoamerican mythology. They likewise declared themselves the heirs of a no less mythical city, called Tollan in Nahuatl, and Zuyuá in Maya (from which López Austin derives the name for the belief system). Many of the important capitals of the time identified themselves with this name (for example, Tollan Xicocotitlan, Tollan Chollollan, Tollan Teotihuacan). The Tollan of myth was for a long time identified with Tula, in Hidalgo state, but Enrique Florescano and López Austin have claimed that this has no basis. Florescano states that the mythical Tollan was Teotihuacan; López Austin argues that Tollan was simply a product of the Mesoamerican religious imagination. Another feature of the zuyuano system was the formation of alliances with other city-states that were controlled by groups having the same ideology; such was the case with the League of Mayapan in Yucatán, and the Mixtec confederation of Lord Eight Deer, based in the mountains of Oaxaca. These early Postclassic societies can be characterized by their military nature and multi-ethnic populations.\n\nHowever, the fall of Tula checked the power of the zuyuano system, which finally broke down with the dissolution of the League of Mayapán, the Mixtec state, and the abandonment of Tula. Mesoamerica received new immigrants from the north, and although these groups were related to the ancient Toltecs, they had a completely different ideology than the existing residents. The final arrivals were the Mexica, who established themselves on a small island on Lake Texcoco under the dominion of the Texpanecs of Azcapotzalco. This group would, in the following decades, conquer a large part of Mesoamerica, creating a united and centralized state whose only rivals were the Purépecha Empire of Michoacán. Neither one of them could defeat the other, and it seems that a type of non-aggression pact was established between the two peoples. When the Spaniards arrived many of the peoples controlled by the Mexica no longer wished to continue under their rule. Therefore, they took advantage of the opportunity presented by the Europeans, agreeing to support them, thinking that in return they would gain their freedom, and not knowing that this would lead to the subjugation of all of the Mesoamerican world.\n\nAztec\n\nOf all prehispanic Mesoamerican cultures, the best-known is the Mexica of the city-state of Tenochtitlan, also known as the Aztecs. The Aztec Empire dominated central Mexico for close to a century before the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire (1519–1521).\n\nThe Mexica people came from the north or the west of Mesoamerica. The Nayaritas believed that the mythic Aztlán was located on the island of Mexcaltitán. Some hypothesize that this mythical island could have been located somewhere in the state of the Zacatecas, and it has even been proposed that it was as far north as New Mexico. Whatever the case, they were probably not far removed from the classic Mesoamerican tradition. In fact, they shared many characteristics with the people of central Mesoamerica. The Mexicas spoke Nahuatl, the same language spoken by the Toltecs and the Chichimecs who came before them.\n\nThe date of the departure from Aztlán is debated, with suggested dates of 1064, 1111, and 1168. After much wandering, the Mexicas arrived at the basin of the Valley of Mexico in the 14th century. They established themselves at various points along the bank of the river (for example, Culhuacán and Tizapán), before settling on the Islet of Mexico, protected by Tezozómoc, king of the Texpanecas. The city of Tenochtitlan was founded in 1325 as an ally of Azcapotzalco, but less than a century later, in 1430, the Mexicas joined with Texcoco and Tlacopan to wage war against Azcapotzalco and emerged victoriously. This gave birth to the Triple Alliance that replaced the ancient confederation ruled by the Tecpanecas (which included Coatlinchan and Culhuacán).\n\nIn the earliest days of the Triple Alliance, the Mexica initiated an expansionist phase that led them to control a good part of Mesoamerica. During this time only a few regions retained their independence: Tlaxcala (Nahua), Meztitlán (Otomí), Teotitlán del Camino (Cuicatec), Tututepec (Mixtec), Tehuantepec (Zapotec), and the northwest (ruled at that time by their rivals, the Tarascans). The provinces controlled by the Triple Alliance were forced to pay a tribute to Tenochtitlan; these payments are recorded in another codex known as the Matrícula de Los tributos (Registry of Tribute). This document specifies the quantity and type of every item that each province had to pay to the Mexicas.\n\nThe Mexica state was conquered by the Spanish forces of Hernán Cortés and their Tlaxcalan and Totonac allies in 1521. The defeat of Mesoamerica was complete when, in 1697, Tayasal was burned and razed by the Spanish.\n\nPostconquest era\n\nColonial Period, 1521–1821\nWith the destruction of the superstructure of the Aztec Empire in 1521, central Mexico was brought under the control of the Spanish Empire. Over the course of the succeeding decades, virtually all of Mesoamerica was brought under Spanish control, which resulted in a fairly uniform policies toward indigenous populations. Spaniards' established the fallen Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan as Mexico City, the seat of government for the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The great initial project for Spanish conquerors was converting the indigenous peoples to Christianity, the only permitted religion. This endeavor was undertaken by Franciscan, Dominican, and Augustinian friars immediately after conquest. Divvying up of the spoils of the war was of key interest to the Spanish conquerors. The major ongoing benefit to conquerors after the obvious material plunder was to appropriate the existing system of tribute and obligatory labor to the Spanish victors. This was done by the establishment of the encomienda, which awarded the tribute and labor from individual indigenous polities to particular Spanish conquerors. In that way, the economic and political arrangements at the level of the indigenous community were largely kept intact. The indigenous polity (altepetl) in the Nahua area, cah in the Maya region was the key to cultural survival of indigenous under Spanish rule, while at the same time also providing the structure for their economic exploitation. Spaniards classified all indigenous peoples as \"Indians\" (indios), a term that the indigenous peoples never embraced. They were classified legally as being under the jurisdiction of the República de Indios. They were legally separated from the República de Españoles, which comprised Europeans, Africans, and mixed-race castas. In general, indigenous communities in Mesoamerica kept much of their prehispanic social and political structures, with indigenous elites continuing to function as leaders in their communities. These elites acted as intermediaries with the Spanish crown, so long as they remained loyal. There were significant changes in Mesoamerican communities during the colonial era, but during the entire colonial period Mesoamericans were the largest single non-Hispanic group in the colonial Mexico, far larger than the entire Hispanic sphere. Although the Spanish colonial system imposed many changes on Mesoamerican peoples, they did not force the acquisition of Spanish and Mesoamerican languages continued to flourish to the present day.\n\nPostcolonial Period, 1821–present\nMexico became independent from Spain in 1821, with some participation of indigenous in decade-long political struggles, but for their own motivations. With the fall of colonial government, the Mexican state abolished distinctions between ethnic groups, that is the separate governance for indigenous populations in the República de Indios. The new sovereign country made, in theory at least, all Mexicans citizens of the independent nation-state rather than vassals of the Spanish crown, with different legal standing. A long period of political chaos in the post-independence period among white elites largely did not affect indigenous peoples and their communities. Mexican conservatives were largely in charge of the national government and kept in place practices from the old colonial order. However, in the 1850s, Mexican liberals gained power and attempted to formulate and implement reforms that did affect indigenous communities, as well as the Catholic Church. The Mexican Constitution of 1857 abolished the ability of corporations to hold land, which aimed at taking assets out of the hands of the Catholic Church in Mexico and forcing indigenous communities to divide their community-held lands. Liberals' aimed at turning indigenous community members pursuing subsistence farming into yeoman farmers holding their own land. Mexican conservatives repudiated the liberal reform laws since they attacked the Catholic Church, but indigenous communities also participated in a three-year civil war. In the late nineteenth century, liberal army general Porfirio Díaz, a Mestizo did much for modernizing Mexico and integrating it into the world economy, but there were renewed pressures on indigenous communities and their lands. These exploded in certain areas of Mexico during the ten-year long civil war, the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920). In the aftermath of the Revolution, the Mexican government attempted simultaneously shore up indigenous culture, while at the same time also attempting to integrate the indigenous as citizens of the nation, turning indigenous into peasants (campesinos). This has proved more difficult than policy planners imagined, with resilient indigenous communities continuing to struggle for rights within the nation.\n\nSee also\n Regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica\n History of Central America, the colonial to post-colonial period\n History of the west coast of North America\n List of pre-Columbian civilizations\n Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire\n Spanish conquest of Yucatán\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Duverger, Christian (1999): Mesoamérica, arte y antropología. CONACULTA-Landucci Editores. Paris.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Luján Muñoz, Jorge; Chinchilla Aguilar, Ernesto; Zilbermann de Luján, Maria Cristina; Herrarte, Alberto; Contreras, J. Daniel. (1996) Historia General de Guatemala. .\n \n \n \n \n \n Miller, Mary Ellen. (2001). El arte de mesoamérica. \"Colecciones El mundo del arte\". Ediciones Destino. Barcelona, España. .\n \n Ramírez, Felipe (2009). \"La Altiplanicie Central, del Preclásico al Epiclásico\"/en El México Antiguo. De Tehuantepec a Baja California/Pablo Escalante Gonzalbo (coordinador)/CIDE-FCE/México.\n\nExternal links\n The Civilizations of Ancient Mesoamerica (archived 12 December 2009)\n Mesoamerica\n History, Myth, and Migration in Mesoamerica (archived 24 June 2010)\n Mesoweb Research Center\n FAMSI, Foundation for Mesoamerican Study (archived 4 September 2019)\n European Mayanist\n The Mirador Basin Project\n Guatemala Cradle of the Maya Civilization (archived 18 July 2007)\n\n \nCategory:Archaeological cultures of North America\nCategory:Archaeology timelines\nCategory:Timelines of North American history\nCategory:History of Central America by period\nCategory:Mexico history-related lists\n \nChronology",
"title": "Mesoamerican chronology"
}
] | [
"The current socio-economic status of indigenous Mexicans is generally poorer than that of non-indigenous Mexicans. They exhibit higher infant mortality rates, lower literacy rates and less access to healthcare. Many indigenous Mexicans participate in the workforce for a longer span, often with under-productive agriculture and without regular salaries. However, there are variations in social development levels within indigenous groups; the Yucatec Maya, Nahua and Otomi peoples have maintained higher levels of development compared to other indigenous groups.",
"Indigenous Mexicans have less access to healthcare and exhibit higher infant mortality rates compared to non-indigenous populations. In some states, the infant mortality rate of indigenous people is almost double that of non-indigenous groups.",
"The level of development for indigenous Mexicans is generally lower than that of non-indigenous Mexicans. However, this varies among different indigenous groups. For instance, the Yucatec Maya in the Yucatan peninsula and some Nahua and Otomi peoples in central states have maintained higher levels of development. Conversely, indigenous peoples in states like Guerrero or Michoacan are ranked significantly lower than the average Mexican citizen in terms of development. Overall, literacy rates are much lower for indigenous Mexicans, especially in the southwestern states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, and many indigenous people also have less access to healthcare.",
"The states mentioned in the context are Yucatan, Guerrero, Michoacan, and Oaxaca. The Yucatec Maya in the Yucatan peninsula and some Nahua and Otomi peoples in central states have maintained higher levels of development. Meanwhile, indigenous peoples in Guerrero and Michoacan are often ranked significantly lower than the average Mexican citizen in terms of development. Specifically, literacy rates are notably lower for indigenous people in the southwestern states of Guerrero and Oaxaca.",
"Yes, some indigenous groups such as the Yucatec Maya in the Yucatan peninsula and some of the Nahua and Otomi peoples in the central states have managed to maintain higher levels of development compared to other indigenous groups."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_1 | G-Unit | G-Unit (short for Guerilla Unit) is an American hip hop group originating from South Jamaica, Queens, New York, formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks. The group released their debut album Beg for Mercy, in 2003, which went on to sell over 2,000,000 copies in the US and was certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album, which followed the critical and commercial success of 50 Cent's major-label debut Get Rich or Die Tryin', served as a platform for Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and Tony Yayo to release their respective solo debut albums; The Hunger for More (2004), Straight Outta Cashville (2004) and Thoughts of a Predicate Felon (2005). In 2008, the group released their second album T*O*S (Terminate on Sight). | Debut album and success (2003-2007) | 50 Cent signed to Interscope Records. Due to the success of his commercial debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin', he was granted his own record label. This was when G-Unit Records was created. G-Unit gained more popularity when a remix to 50 Cent's "P.I.M.P." was released, featuring Snoop Dogg and G-Unit. But before the group had a chance to record its debut album, Tony Yayo was sentenced to prison for a gun-possession charge as well as bail-jumping. During Tony Yayo's prison sentence, 50 Cent signed Tennessee-based rapper Young Buck to G-Unit Records and subsequently added him to the group. In 2003, the group's debut album Beg for Mercy, was released. However, while the album was being recorded, Tony Yayo was sentenced to jail on charges of gun possession. Therefore, he only makes two appearances, both were pre-recorded tracks. His face is seen on the brick wall of the album cover because he could not be photographed on account of his jail sentence. Beg for Mercy went on to sell 2.3 million copies in the US and 4 million copies worldwide. The only guest appearances on the album were R&B singers Joe and Butch Cassidy. The album's production was handled by high-profile producers such as Hi-Tek, Dr. Dre and Scott Storch, among several others. 50 Cent also served as the album's executive producer. West Coast rapper The Game was originally placed into G-Unit by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records. Their plan was to market The Game as a devotee, or a card-carrying member of 50 Cent's "camp.". However, after a while, tensions began to rise between The Game and 50 Cent. 50 Cent also claimed that he did not receive proper credit for co-writing most of the songs on Game's debut album The Documentary (2005). CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_1_q#0",
"C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_1_q#1",
"C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_1_q#2",
"C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_1_q#3",
"C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_1_q#4",
"C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_1_q#5"
] | [
"What was the name of G-Unit's debut album?",
"What month/year was it released?",
"Did they release a second album during this time?",
"Did they go on tour?",
"How long was he sentenced for?",
"What other success did they have during this time period?"
] | [
0,
1,
1,
0,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
1,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
632
],
[
599
],
[
1740
],
[
670
],
[
1740
],
[
191
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Beg for Mercy,"
],
[
"In 2003, the group's debut album Beg for Mercy, was released."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"while the album was being recorded, Tony Yayo was sentenced to jail on charges of gun possession."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"G-Unit gained more popularity when a remix to 50 Cent's \"P.I.M.P.\" was released, featuring Snoop Dogg and G-Unit."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
632,
599,
1740,
670,
1740,
191
],
"texts": [
"Beg for Mercy,",
"In 2003, the group's debut album Beg for Mercy, was released.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"while the album was being recorded, Tony Yayo was sentenced to jail on charges of gun possession.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"G-Unit gained more popularity when a remix to 50 Cent's \"P.I.M.P.\" was released, featuring Snoop Dogg and G-Unit."
]
} | G-Unit (short for Guerilla Unit) was an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, and Lloyd Banks. After amassing a string of self-released mixtapes in the early 2000s, the group released their debut album Beg for Mercy in 2003, which went on to ship over four million copies in the US and was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
During Tony Yayo's imprisonment in 2003, the group recruited Tennessee-based rapper Young Buck as a temporary replacement and later an official member. The Game was also made a member in late 2003 in an effort to promote him after he was signed to Aftermath/Interscope, but he was removed from the group after several months. In April 2008, Young Buck was ousted from the group due to his problematic behavior. In July 2008, the group released their second studio album, T·O·S (Terminate on Sight), featuring the original trio.
In early 2014, Yayo and 50 Cent both separately stated that G-Unit was no more. However, the group members reconciled and reunited soon thereafter, now becoming a quintet, with the rejoining of Young Buck and the addition of G-Unit Records artist Kidd Kidd. The group performed at Summer Jam 2014 and then released their first collaborative project in six years, the EP The Beauty of Independence, in August of the same year.
In 2018, Kidd Kidd announced that he was leaving both the group and label to become independent; Lloyd Banks and Young Buck followed suit after revolved disputes with 50 Cent. In 2022, 50 Cent confirmed that the group had once again disbanded and stated that there would never be a reunion, citing disaffection with the other members.
History
Formation and early years (1999–02)
The group's founding members, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo were all raised in South Jamaica, a neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York City, New York, and began rapping together as teenagers. After 50 Cent was blackballed from the music industry in 2000 and lost his record deal, the group began recording music independently, and released several mixtapes between 2002 and 2003, the most prominent of these being 50 Cent Is the Future, God's Plan, No Mercy, No Fear and Automatic Gunfire.
Debut album and success (2002–03)
In 2002, 50 Cent was discovered by Eminem and signed a $1 million contract with Shady Records, under the aegis of Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. After signing to Interscope, he was granted his own record label, which led to the creation of G-Unit Records. 50 Cent immediately signed both Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo to the label, and they began working on G-Unit's debut album, however, Tony Yayo was incarcerated at the time and was unable to record any new material for the album, which led to 50 Cent signing Tennessee-based rapper Young Buck to G-Unit Records and subsequently adding him to the group. After the signing of Young Buck, G-Unit made their first major label appearance as a group on the remix to 50 Cent's single "P.I.M.P.", which featured Snoop Dogg, Banks and Young Buck.
Later in November 2003, the group released their debut studio album, Beg for Mercy. The album featured guest appearances from R&B singers Joe and Butch Cassidy, and production was handled by high-profile producers such as Hi-Tek, Dr. Dre and Scott Storch, among several others. 50 Cent also served as the album's executive producer. Due to Tony Yayo's incarceration, he only made two appearances on the album, both of which used pre-recorded material. His face is seen on the brick wall of the album cover because he could not be photographed on account of his jail sentence. Beg for Mercy went on to sell over 3.9 million units in the U.S., 5.8 million copies worldwide, and has since been certified quadruple Platinum by the RIAA.
Feud with The Game/solo albums (2004–07)
During the production of Beg for Mercy, Los Angeles rapper The Game was discovered and placed into G-Unit by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records. Their plan was to market The Game as a devotee, or a loyal member of 50 Cent's "camp". The Game made his first appearances as a member of G-Unit on Lloyd Banks and Young Buck's debut albums, The Hunger for More and Straight Outta Cashville. Throughout 2004, The Game began working on his debut studio album, which was set to be executive produced by 50 Cent and Dr. Dre. In November 2004, the album's second single, How We Do featuring 50 Cent became a top 5 hit, as did the album's third single, Hate It or Love It, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, being held back from the top spot by 50 Cent's single, Candy Shop featuring Olivia.
Beginning in 2005, tensions began to rise between 50 Cent and The Game, and shortly after the release of The Documentary, tensions escalated into a full-scale feud which led to 50 Cent announcing that The Game had been kicked out of G-Unit, with 50 Cent saying he had not received full credit for writing six songs from The Documentary. The two held a press conference on March 9, 2005, calling a truce between the two of them and seeming to publicly squash the feud. However, shortly after, The Game and G-Unit continued to attack one another, releasing numerous diss tracks throughout 2005 and 2006.
In 2007 while leaving a studio, Tony Yayo (one third of G-Unit), and his friend Lodi Mack saw Jimmy Henchman's (The Game's manager) 14-year-old son. The two proceeded to assault the 14 year old which would lead to Lodi Mack's arrest. He was sentenced to two years in Prison and in 2009 Jimmy Henchman hired a hitman to kill Lodi Mack. In 2017, Jimmy Henchman was found guilty of murder and is now spending 2 life sentences in prison.
Second album and dissension (2008–13)
On April 7, 2008, in an interview with Shanna Leviste on New York's Hot 97 FM, 50 Cent stated that Young Buck was no longer a member of G-Unit, but was still signed to G-Unit Records. 50 Cent said problems involving excessive spending and Young Buck's public statement to not being paid royalty checks and "inconsistent behavior" from Young Buck, such as appearing on stage with his former Cash Money label-mate Lil Wayne, then seemingly dissing him on records with G-Unit were the main reasons for his removal.
On June 17, 2008, Young Buck responded to 50 Cent 's allegations with the song Taped Conversation. The Game jumped onto the track later on, in which they take shots at 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo.
Their second album, T·O·S (Terminate on Sight), was released on July 1, 2008. As a result of Young Buck's removal from the group, Young Buck still appeared on songs previously recorded with the group, but was credited as a featured artist. As of August 8, 2008, the album had sold 507,000 copies in the United States. Along with Young Buck, reggae singer Mavado appears on the album, while production came from Swizz Beatz, Street Radio, Tha Bizness, Rick Rock and Polow da Don, among several others.
Reunion and EPs (2014–17)
On February 20, 2014, Tony Yayo said that G-Unit had officially broken up, saying he and 50 Cent were no longer friends, and also announced his retirement from music, saying it had caused him too much stress and that he had already accomplished everything he wished to do. Then, after what seemed like condescending comments made about Lloyd Banks and Yayo in multiple interviews, on April 25, 2014, 50 Cent said that due to the recent inside-fighting, G-Unit was currently "dismantled." Despite this, on June 1, 2014, G-Unit reunited at the 21st annual Summer Jam with 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Young Buck, and G-Unit's newest member, Louisiana rapper Kidd Kidd appearing on stage together. The following day, G-Unit released a song titled "Nah I'm Talkin' Bout", a remix of HS87's "Grindin My Whole Life", making their comeback official. Throughout June 2014, G-Unit released numerous remixes to popular songs by other artists, including Drake, Trey Songz, and Jeremih, as well as an original song, "They Talked About Jesus". On June 4, 50 Cent announced they were working on a studio album and revealed plans to release it by late November 2014, and on June 25, 2014, announced they would be releasing a mixtape prior to the album. On August 25, 2014, G-Unit surprised fans with an extended play (EP) titled The Beauty of Independence, which was released at midnight, via digital retailers.
After the first EP, the group released music videos for "Watch Me" and "Changes". G-Unit planned to release the second EP in November, but after the release of The Beauty of Independence, it was announced that the album would divided into two parts, The Beauty of Independence and The Beast Is G-Unit. The group planned to release The Beast in late October, but the EP was pushed back to a later release in 2015. On November 10, 2014, a deluxe version of The Beauty of Independence was released, containing two new songs, "Ease Up" and "Big Body Benz". On January 20, 2015, the cover art for The Beast Is G-Unit was revealed via social media. The Beast Is G-Unit was released on March 3, 2015.
In August 2016, they released The Lost Flash Drive, composed of numerous unreleased songs.
Final projects and disbandment (2018-22)
On April 11, 2018, Kidd Kidd announced his departure from both the group and G-Unit Records to focus on his own label, RLLNR Entertainment.
On February 1, 2018, in his single "Crazy" featuring PnB Rock, 50 Cent said he and Lloyd Banks were no longer on speaking terms, and in June, Banks and 50 Cent announced his departure from both the group and the label via Instagram.
On September 2, 2020, 50 Cent stated during an Instagram Live interview with DJ Whoo Kid that he wanted to erase the group and their success from his memories "forever". He also echoed accusations that Lloyd Banks' hiatus, Tony Yayo and Young Buck's inconsistencies were what caused him to blame himself for their failures as solo artists. With him and Tony Yayo left as the only members of the original lineup by this time, on August 3, 2022, 50 Cent stated on The Breakfast Club that he was done "carrying" the group; this was confirmation that G-Unit had officially broken up for the second time.
Other ventures
Clothing line
The G-Unit Clothing Company was established in 2003, when 50 Cent teamed up with Marc Ecko (the founder of Eckō Unlimited), to create a line of clothing and accessories inspired by 50 Cent and fellow members of G-Unit.
G-Unity Foundation
G-Unit has founded G-Unity Foundation Inc. (often called simply G-Unity), a public foundation that provides grants to nonprofit organizations that focus on improving the quality of life for low-income and under served communities.
Controversies
Ja Rule
Before signing with Interscope Records, 50 Cent had been in disputes with rapper Ja Rule and his label Murder Inc. Records. 50 Cent said that the feud began in 1999 after Ja Rule spotted him with a man who took his chain. However, Ja Rule said the conflict stemmed from a video shoot in Queens because 50 Cent did not like Ja Rule "getting so much love" from the neighborhood. A confrontation occurred in a New York studio where rapper Black Child, a Murder Inc. artist, stabbed 50 Cent, which resulted in him having four stitches.
Although it seemed that the feud was over, Ja Rule returned with a track entitled "21 Gunz". In response, Lloyd Banks and 50 Cent released the track "Return of Ja Fool" on Lloyd Banks' mixtape Mo Money in the Bank Pt. 4, Gang Green Season Starts Now.
In an interview with MTV, Ja Rule has stated that his new album, The Mirror, will not be continuing any past feuds that he has engaged in. He said:
The Game
In early 2005, a feud between The Game and G-Unit began. Even before The Game's first album, The Documentary, was released and their feud became public, there was tension between The Game and 50 Cent. Soon after The Documentarys release, 50 Cent felt that the rapper was disloyal for saying he did not want to participate in G-Unit's feud with other rappers, and even wanting to work with artists with whom G-Unit were feuding, such as Nas and Jadakiss.
50 Cent also said that he was not getting his proper credit for the creation of the album. He also said that he wrote five of the songs, but The Game denied that. During that dispute, The Game confronted 50 Cent at the Hot 97 studio in New York City and members of The Game's entourage began shooting at 50 Cent and other members of the G-unit entourage, causing them to flee the building and causing Hot 97 radio security to shoot a member of The Game's entourage. After the situation between them escalated, 50 Cent and The Game held a press conference to announce their reconciliation. Fans had mixed feelings as to whether the rappers created a publicity stunt to boost the sales of the two albums the pair had just released. Nevertheless, even after the situation had apparently deflated, G-Unit continued to feud with The Game who responded during a performance at Summer Jam and launched a boycott of G-Unit called "G-Unot".
After the performance at Summer Jam, The Game responded with "300 Bars and Runnin'", an extended track aimed at G-Unit as well as members of Roc-A-Fella Records on the mixtape You Know What It Is Vol. 3. 50 Cent responded through his "Piggy Bank" music video, which features The Game as a Mr. Potato Head doll and also parodies other rivals. Since then both groups continued to attack each other. The Game released two more mixtapes, Ghost Unit and a mixtape/DVD called Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin.
50 Cent's rebuttal was "Not Rich, Still Lyin'" where he mocks The Game. In addition, G-Unit started to respond on numerous mixtapes and new G-Unit Records artist Spider Loc began insulting The Game in various songs. The Game responded with "240 Bars (Spider Joke)", a song mainly aimed at Spider Loc, but also addressing Tony Yayo and rap group M.O.P., and on the song 100 Bars (The Funeral).
The feud seemed to have gained steam after Tony Yayo allegedly slapped the fourteen-year-old son of Czar Entertainment CEO, Jimmy Henchman. The Game responded with "Body Bags" on his mixtape, You Know What It Is Vol. 4. G-Unit have released a song named "We on Some Shit " which is aimed at Czar Entertainment as well as Cam'ron and Fat Joe. In June 2010 Game expressed that he would not object to a G-Unit reunion. After the G-Unit reunion idea circulated around the internet a Facebook group was launched to help encourage the G-Unit comeback. In late 2016, the two ended their long standing feud.
Fat Joe
50 Cent pointed out that Fat Joe painted a target on himself for partnering up with Ja Rule on the song "New York". 50 Cent recorded the track "Piggy Bank", in which he attacked Fat Joe. Fat Joe responded with a track entitled "My Fofo" and although he said that he would not respond in songs after this, he made one more track, "Victim" which 50 Cent is purportedly the subject of as well as a guest appearance on Rick Ross' Mafia Music remix. 50 Cent and Tony Yayo took more shots at him on "I Run NY".
Even though things died down, at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, Fat Joe mentioned that all of the police presence in the venue was "courtesy of G-Unit" which related to his lyrical accusations that 50 Cent was a "snitch". 50 Cent and Tony Yayo retaliated on set later in the show at the end of their performance by shouting obscenities towards Fat Joe and Terror Squad, which were censored by MTV. Tony Yayo said Fat Joe ran from them at the VMAs.
When asked about the 50 Cent and G-Unit situation in an interview Fat Joe said he will no longer be responding and that he has left it to his close friend Pistol Pete and his crew Kill All Rats (K.A.R) to handle. Pistol Pete appeared on The Game's "Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin" DVD and disrespected Tony Yayo, Chris Lighty (owner of Violator Records who had ties with 50 Cent), and James Cruz (50 Cent's manager) and said he chased Tony Yayo near a jewelry store. Lloyd Banks, Spider Loc, and Young Buck have also been insulted by Fat Joe.
In 2007, the feud was continued in interviews and by affiliates from both parties. In 2008, the beef boiled over when 50 Cent released a mixtape entitled Elephant In the Sand, which is a mock title of Fat Joe's album The Elephant in the Room. The front and back covers contain photos of Fat Joe on a beach. In response Fat Joe and his group K.A.R. released a mixtape titled Gay-Unit hosted by Fat Joe himself.
The feud between 50 Cent and Fat Joe ended in 2012 when 50 Cent approached Fat Joe's trailer at the BET Awards where he was confronted by Fat Joe's entourage he told them he wanted to make peace out of respect for Chris Lighty, however Fat Joe was unsure of his intentions until later that day when they shook hands while appearing on stage together amongst other past and present Violator artists at the BET Awards segment that paid tribute to the label's founder Chris Lighty who died that year.
In 2014 Fat Joe gave a track titled Free to DJ Kay Slay to use as he was working on his final album and told him he can do whatever he wants with it. In light of the 2012 BET Awards Kay Slay decided to get 50 Cent to do a verse for it and put his on his mixtape The Rise Of A City. Although Fat Joe was unaware Kay Slay was putting 50 Cent on his track he approved stating unity is good for hip-hop.
That same year, Tony Yayo shouted out Fat Joe, saying that there was "no beef".
Cam'ron
A feud between 50 Cent and Cam'ron began when 50 Cent was on Hot 97 giving an interview and Cam'ron called in. Cam’ron asked 50 Cent whether he had the power to stop records from being released on Koch Records and 50 Cent said that he does in some respects. As the conversation escalated into an argument, 50 Cent called Koch Records the "industry graveyard". Cam'ron pointed out that Jim Jones' newest album sold just as much as Lloyd Banks' album did, despite the fact that Dipset is on an independent label while G-Unit is on a major label. 50 Cent took offense to this and said that Lloyd Banks has more money than Lil Wayne and Jim Jones, which makes record sales irrelevant. Cam'ron became upset and rebutted 50 Cent's statements. Most notably, he brought up the poor record sales of the Mobb Deep album, Blood Money. Eventually the debate became so heated that the radio station was forced to end the call.
Discography
Studio albums
Beg for Mercy (2003)
T·O·S (Terminate on Sight) (2008)
EPs
The Beauty of Independence (2014)
The Beast Is G Unit (2015)
Awards
Vibe Awards
2004 - Best Group of The Decade
In popular culture
In an episode of the MTV clay animated show Celebrity Deathmatch, entitled "Where's Lohan?", depicted a fight to the death between 50 Cent and The Game. The fight ends with 50 Cent shooting The Game with the bullets that were still inside 50 Cent's body.
References
External links
G-Unity Foundation
Category:American hip hop groups
Category:1999 establishments in New York City
Category:2022 disestablishments in New York (state)
Category:African-American musical groups
Category:G-Unit Records artists
Category:Hip hop groups from New York City
Category:Musical groups established in 1999
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2022
Category:Musical groups from Queens, New York
Category:American musical trios | [
{
"text": "The G-Unity Foundation Inc., (more commonly abbreviated as G-Unity) is an American nonprofit public foundation established by rapper 50 Cent and his group G-Unit. The foundation provides grants to nonprofit organizations that focus on improving the quality of life for low-income and underserved communities across the United States. The main goals of the charity are to emphasize the critical importance of supporting academic institutions, to support nonprofit organizations that focus on the academic enrichment of a child, and to support after school activities.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial Website\n\nCategory:2003 establishments in New York City\nCategory:Educational foundations in the United States\nCategory:G-Unit\nCategory:Charities based in New York City\nCategory:Organizations established in 2003",
"title": "G-Unity Foundation"
}
] | [
"The name of G-Unit's debut album was Beg for Mercy.",
"The context does not provide specific information on the month and year G-Unit's debut album, Beg for Mercy, was released.",
"The context does not provide information on whether G-Unit released a second album during this time.",
"The context does not provide information on whether G-Unit went on tour.",
"The context does not provide specific information on the length of Tony Yayo's prison sentence.",
"The context notes that the debut album Beg for Mercy sold 2.3 million copies in the US and 4 million copies worldwide. However, it does not mention any other specific successes G-Unit had during this time period."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_0 | G-Unit | G-Unit (short for Guerilla Unit) is an American hip hop group originating from South Jamaica, Queens, New York, formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks. The group released their debut album Beg for Mercy, in 2003, which went on to sell over 2,000,000 copies in the US and was certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album, which followed the critical and commercial success of 50 Cent's major-label debut Get Rich or Die Tryin', served as a platform for Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and Tony Yayo to release their respective solo debut albums; The Hunger for More (2004), Straight Outta Cashville (2004) and Thoughts of a Predicate Felon (2005). In 2008, the group released their second album T*O*S (Terminate on Sight). | Resurgence (2014-present) | On February 20, 2014, Tony Yayo stated 50 Cent "ain't rocking with [him]" and that G-Unit is over. He also announced his retirement from music stating "Too much stress. I flew the world already. Dropped an album. Time to try new things and the Unit not together. Fuck it." Then after what seemed like condescending comments about Lloyd Banks and Yayo in multiple interviews, on April 25, 2014, 50 Cent said that due to the recent inside-fighting, G-Unit is currently "dismantled." However, on June 1, 2014, G-Unit reunited at the 21st annual hip-hop fest Summer Jam with 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Young Buck, and G-Unit's newest member, Kidd Kidd. The following day, G-Unit released a song titled "Nah I'm Talkin' Bout", a remix of HS87's "Grindin My Whole Life", making their comeback official. On June 3, 2014, G Unit released a remix to Canadian rapper Drake's "0-100", re-titling the song "Real Quick". On June 4, 2014, 50 Cent announced they were working on a studio album and revealed plans to release it by late November 2014. On June 12, 2014, G-Unit continued their release of new music with a remix of American singer Trey Songz' "Ordinary". On June 16, 2014, G-Unit released a song titled "They Talked About Jesus". The song, which only features verses from Banks, Buck and Yayo, heavily samples "Tearz", by East Coast hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. On June 17, 2014, G-Unit premiered the music video for "Nah I'm Talkin' Bout". On June 25, 2014, 50 Cent announced they would be releasing a mixtape prior to the album. On June 27, 2014, G-Unit released a remix to Jeremih's "Don't Tell 'Em". On August 25, 2014, G-Unit surprised fans with an extended play (EP) titled The Beauty of Independence, which was released at midnight, via digital retailers. After the first EP, the group released music videos for "Watch Me" and "Changes". G-Unit planned to release album in November, but after releasing The Beauty of Independence was announced that the album was divided into two parts, which first part is The Beauty of Independence and second is The Beast Is G-Unit. The group planned to release The Beast in late October, but the EP was pushed back in 2015. On November 10, 2014, was released deluxe version of The Beauty of Independence contains two new songs "Ease Up" and "Big Body Benz" (music video for "Big Body Benz" was released on November 21, 2014). On November 17, 2014, was released first song from The Beast Is G-Unit titled "Bring My Bottles". The music video for "Bring My Bottles" was released on December 28, 2014. On January 20, 2015, was released the cover art for their second EP The Beast Is G-Unit, via social media. On March 25, 2015 G-Unit appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the same day that Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of G-Unit associate Lowell "Lodi Mack" Fletcher. In August 2016, they released The Lost Flash Drive with unreleased songs. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_0_q#0",
"C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_0_q#1",
"C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_0_q#2",
"C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_0_q#3",
"C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_0_q#4",
"C_00e9247999d349c7b9fb8892ecec87ed_0_q#5"
] | [
"Has G-Unit released any music since 2014?",
"What was the name of the album they released?",
"What songs were on the album?",
"What other songs did they release in that period?",
"What was the latest song they released?",
"What songs did they release in 2016?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
2,
1
] | [
0,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
914
],
[
2005
],
[
1042
],
[
1160
],
[
2868
],
[
2942
]
],
"texts": [
[
"On June 4, 2014, 50 Cent announced they were working on a studio album and revealed plans to release it by late November 2014."
],
[
"first part is The Beauty of Independence and second is The Beast Is G-Unit."
],
[
"On June 12, 2014, G-Unit continued their release of new music with a remix of American singer Trey Songz' \"Ordinary"
],
[
"On June 16, 2014, G-Unit released a song titled \"They Talked About Jesus\"."
],
[
"In August 2016, they released The Lost Flash Drive with unreleased songs."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
914,
2005,
1042,
1160,
2868,
2942
],
"texts": [
"On June 4, 2014, 50 Cent announced they were working on a studio album and revealed plans to release it by late November 2014.",
"first part is The Beauty of Independence and second is The Beast Is G-Unit.",
"On June 12, 2014, G-Unit continued their release of new music with a remix of American singer Trey Songz' \"Ordinary",
"On June 16, 2014, G-Unit released a song titled \"They Talked About Jesus\".",
"In August 2016, they released The Lost Flash Drive with unreleased songs.",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | G-Unit (short for Guerilla Unit) was an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, and Lloyd Banks. After amassing a string of self-released mixtapes in the early 2000s, the group released their debut album Beg for Mercy in 2003, which went on to ship over four million copies in the US and was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
During Tony Yayo's imprisonment in 2003, the group recruited Tennessee-based rapper Young Buck as a temporary replacement and later an official member. The Game was also made a member in late 2003 in an effort to promote him after he was signed to Aftermath/Interscope, but he was removed from the group after several months. In April 2008, Young Buck was ousted from the group due to his problematic behavior. In July 2008, the group released their second studio album, T·O·S (Terminate on Sight), featuring the original trio.
In early 2014, Yayo and 50 Cent both separately stated that G-Unit was no more. However, the group members reconciled and reunited soon thereafter, now becoming a quintet, with the rejoining of Young Buck and the addition of G-Unit Records artist Kidd Kidd. The group performed at Summer Jam 2014 and then released their first collaborative project in six years, the EP The Beauty of Independence, in August of the same year.
In 2018, Kidd Kidd announced that he was leaving both the group and label to become independent; Lloyd Banks and Young Buck followed suit after revolved disputes with 50 Cent. In 2022, 50 Cent confirmed that the group had once again disbanded and stated that there would never be a reunion, citing disaffection with the other members.
History
Formation and early years (1999–02)
The group's founding members, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo were all raised in South Jamaica, a neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York City, New York, and began rapping together as teenagers. After 50 Cent was blackballed from the music industry in 2000 and lost his record deal, the group began recording music independently, and released several mixtapes between 2002 and 2003, the most prominent of these being 50 Cent Is the Future, God's Plan, No Mercy, No Fear and Automatic Gunfire.
Debut album and success (2002–03)
In 2002, 50 Cent was discovered by Eminem and signed a $1 million contract with Shady Records, under the aegis of Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. After signing to Interscope, he was granted his own record label, which led to the creation of G-Unit Records. 50 Cent immediately signed both Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo to the label, and they began working on G-Unit's debut album, however, Tony Yayo was incarcerated at the time and was unable to record any new material for the album, which led to 50 Cent signing Tennessee-based rapper Young Buck to G-Unit Records and subsequently adding him to the group. After the signing of Young Buck, G-Unit made their first major label appearance as a group on the remix to 50 Cent's single "P.I.M.P.", which featured Snoop Dogg, Banks and Young Buck.
Later in November 2003, the group released their debut studio album, Beg for Mercy. The album featured guest appearances from R&B singers Joe and Butch Cassidy, and production was handled by high-profile producers such as Hi-Tek, Dr. Dre and Scott Storch, among several others. 50 Cent also served as the album's executive producer. Due to Tony Yayo's incarceration, he only made two appearances on the album, both of which used pre-recorded material. His face is seen on the brick wall of the album cover because he could not be photographed on account of his jail sentence. Beg for Mercy went on to sell over 3.9 million units in the U.S., 5.8 million copies worldwide, and has since been certified quadruple Platinum by the RIAA.
Feud with The Game/solo albums (2004–07)
During the production of Beg for Mercy, Los Angeles rapper The Game was discovered and placed into G-Unit by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records. Their plan was to market The Game as a devotee, or a loyal member of 50 Cent's "camp". The Game made his first appearances as a member of G-Unit on Lloyd Banks and Young Buck's debut albums, The Hunger for More and Straight Outta Cashville. Throughout 2004, The Game began working on his debut studio album, which was set to be executive produced by 50 Cent and Dr. Dre. In November 2004, the album's second single, How We Do featuring 50 Cent became a top 5 hit, as did the album's third single, Hate It or Love It, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, being held back from the top spot by 50 Cent's single, Candy Shop featuring Olivia.
Beginning in 2005, tensions began to rise between 50 Cent and The Game, and shortly after the release of The Documentary, tensions escalated into a full-scale feud which led to 50 Cent announcing that The Game had been kicked out of G-Unit, with 50 Cent saying he had not received full credit for writing six songs from The Documentary. The two held a press conference on March 9, 2005, calling a truce between the two of them and seeming to publicly squash the feud. However, shortly after, The Game and G-Unit continued to attack one another, releasing numerous diss tracks throughout 2005 and 2006.
In 2007 while leaving a studio, Tony Yayo (one third of G-Unit), and his friend Lodi Mack saw Jimmy Henchman's (The Game's manager) 14-year-old son. The two proceeded to assault the 14 year old which would lead to Lodi Mack's arrest. He was sentenced to two years in Prison and in 2009 Jimmy Henchman hired a hitman to kill Lodi Mack. In 2017, Jimmy Henchman was found guilty of murder and is now spending 2 life sentences in prison.
Second album and dissension (2008–13)
On April 7, 2008, in an interview with Shanna Leviste on New York's Hot 97 FM, 50 Cent stated that Young Buck was no longer a member of G-Unit, but was still signed to G-Unit Records. 50 Cent said problems involving excessive spending and Young Buck's public statement to not being paid royalty checks and "inconsistent behavior" from Young Buck, such as appearing on stage with his former Cash Money label-mate Lil Wayne, then seemingly dissing him on records with G-Unit were the main reasons for his removal.
On June 17, 2008, Young Buck responded to 50 Cent 's allegations with the song Taped Conversation. The Game jumped onto the track later on, in which they take shots at 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo.
Their second album, T·O·S (Terminate on Sight), was released on July 1, 2008. As a result of Young Buck's removal from the group, Young Buck still appeared on songs previously recorded with the group, but was credited as a featured artist. As of August 8, 2008, the album had sold 507,000 copies in the United States. Along with Young Buck, reggae singer Mavado appears on the album, while production came from Swizz Beatz, Street Radio, Tha Bizness, Rick Rock and Polow da Don, among several others.
Reunion and EPs (2014–17)
On February 20, 2014, Tony Yayo said that G-Unit had officially broken up, saying he and 50 Cent were no longer friends, and also announced his retirement from music, saying it had caused him too much stress and that he had already accomplished everything he wished to do. Then, after what seemed like condescending comments made about Lloyd Banks and Yayo in multiple interviews, on April 25, 2014, 50 Cent said that due to the recent inside-fighting, G-Unit was currently "dismantled." Despite this, on June 1, 2014, G-Unit reunited at the 21st annual Summer Jam with 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Young Buck, and G-Unit's newest member, Louisiana rapper Kidd Kidd appearing on stage together. The following day, G-Unit released a song titled "Nah I'm Talkin' Bout", a remix of HS87's "Grindin My Whole Life", making their comeback official. Throughout June 2014, G-Unit released numerous remixes to popular songs by other artists, including Drake, Trey Songz, and Jeremih, as well as an original song, "They Talked About Jesus". On June 4, 50 Cent announced they were working on a studio album and revealed plans to release it by late November 2014, and on June 25, 2014, announced they would be releasing a mixtape prior to the album. On August 25, 2014, G-Unit surprised fans with an extended play (EP) titled The Beauty of Independence, which was released at midnight, via digital retailers.
After the first EP, the group released music videos for "Watch Me" and "Changes". G-Unit planned to release the second EP in November, but after the release of The Beauty of Independence, it was announced that the album would divided into two parts, The Beauty of Independence and The Beast Is G-Unit. The group planned to release The Beast in late October, but the EP was pushed back to a later release in 2015. On November 10, 2014, a deluxe version of The Beauty of Independence was released, containing two new songs, "Ease Up" and "Big Body Benz". On January 20, 2015, the cover art for The Beast Is G-Unit was revealed via social media. The Beast Is G-Unit was released on March 3, 2015.
In August 2016, they released The Lost Flash Drive, composed of numerous unreleased songs.
Final projects and disbandment (2018-22)
On April 11, 2018, Kidd Kidd announced his departure from both the group and G-Unit Records to focus on his own label, RLLNR Entertainment.
On February 1, 2018, in his single "Crazy" featuring PnB Rock, 50 Cent said he and Lloyd Banks were no longer on speaking terms, and in June, Banks and 50 Cent announced his departure from both the group and the label via Instagram.
On September 2, 2020, 50 Cent stated during an Instagram Live interview with DJ Whoo Kid that he wanted to erase the group and their success from his memories "forever". He also echoed accusations that Lloyd Banks' hiatus, Tony Yayo and Young Buck's inconsistencies were what caused him to blame himself for their failures as solo artists. With him and Tony Yayo left as the only members of the original lineup by this time, on August 3, 2022, 50 Cent stated on The Breakfast Club that he was done "carrying" the group; this was confirmation that G-Unit had officially broken up for the second time.
Other ventures
Clothing line
The G-Unit Clothing Company was established in 2003, when 50 Cent teamed up with Marc Ecko (the founder of Eckō Unlimited), to create a line of clothing and accessories inspired by 50 Cent and fellow members of G-Unit.
G-Unity Foundation
G-Unit has founded G-Unity Foundation Inc. (often called simply G-Unity), a public foundation that provides grants to nonprofit organizations that focus on improving the quality of life for low-income and under served communities.
Controversies
Ja Rule
Before signing with Interscope Records, 50 Cent had been in disputes with rapper Ja Rule and his label Murder Inc. Records. 50 Cent said that the feud began in 1999 after Ja Rule spotted him with a man who took his chain. However, Ja Rule said the conflict stemmed from a video shoot in Queens because 50 Cent did not like Ja Rule "getting so much love" from the neighborhood. A confrontation occurred in a New York studio where rapper Black Child, a Murder Inc. artist, stabbed 50 Cent, which resulted in him having four stitches.
Although it seemed that the feud was over, Ja Rule returned with a track entitled "21 Gunz". In response, Lloyd Banks and 50 Cent released the track "Return of Ja Fool" on Lloyd Banks' mixtape Mo Money in the Bank Pt. 4, Gang Green Season Starts Now.
In an interview with MTV, Ja Rule has stated that his new album, The Mirror, will not be continuing any past feuds that he has engaged in. He said:
The Game
In early 2005, a feud between The Game and G-Unit began. Even before The Game's first album, The Documentary, was released and their feud became public, there was tension between The Game and 50 Cent. Soon after The Documentarys release, 50 Cent felt that the rapper was disloyal for saying he did not want to participate in G-Unit's feud with other rappers, and even wanting to work with artists with whom G-Unit were feuding, such as Nas and Jadakiss.
50 Cent also said that he was not getting his proper credit for the creation of the album. He also said that he wrote five of the songs, but The Game denied that. During that dispute, The Game confronted 50 Cent at the Hot 97 studio in New York City and members of The Game's entourage began shooting at 50 Cent and other members of the G-unit entourage, causing them to flee the building and causing Hot 97 radio security to shoot a member of The Game's entourage. After the situation between them escalated, 50 Cent and The Game held a press conference to announce their reconciliation. Fans had mixed feelings as to whether the rappers created a publicity stunt to boost the sales of the two albums the pair had just released. Nevertheless, even after the situation had apparently deflated, G-Unit continued to feud with The Game who responded during a performance at Summer Jam and launched a boycott of G-Unit called "G-Unot".
After the performance at Summer Jam, The Game responded with "300 Bars and Runnin'", an extended track aimed at G-Unit as well as members of Roc-A-Fella Records on the mixtape You Know What It Is Vol. 3. 50 Cent responded through his "Piggy Bank" music video, which features The Game as a Mr. Potato Head doll and also parodies other rivals. Since then both groups continued to attack each other. The Game released two more mixtapes, Ghost Unit and a mixtape/DVD called Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin.
50 Cent's rebuttal was "Not Rich, Still Lyin'" where he mocks The Game. In addition, G-Unit started to respond on numerous mixtapes and new G-Unit Records artist Spider Loc began insulting The Game in various songs. The Game responded with "240 Bars (Spider Joke)", a song mainly aimed at Spider Loc, but also addressing Tony Yayo and rap group M.O.P., and on the song 100 Bars (The Funeral).
The feud seemed to have gained steam after Tony Yayo allegedly slapped the fourteen-year-old son of Czar Entertainment CEO, Jimmy Henchman. The Game responded with "Body Bags" on his mixtape, You Know What It Is Vol. 4. G-Unit have released a song named "We on Some Shit " which is aimed at Czar Entertainment as well as Cam'ron and Fat Joe. In June 2010 Game expressed that he would not object to a G-Unit reunion. After the G-Unit reunion idea circulated around the internet a Facebook group was launched to help encourage the G-Unit comeback. In late 2016, the two ended their long standing feud.
Fat Joe
50 Cent pointed out that Fat Joe painted a target on himself for partnering up with Ja Rule on the song "New York". 50 Cent recorded the track "Piggy Bank", in which he attacked Fat Joe. Fat Joe responded with a track entitled "My Fofo" and although he said that he would not respond in songs after this, he made one more track, "Victim" which 50 Cent is purportedly the subject of as well as a guest appearance on Rick Ross' Mafia Music remix. 50 Cent and Tony Yayo took more shots at him on "I Run NY".
Even though things died down, at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, Fat Joe mentioned that all of the police presence in the venue was "courtesy of G-Unit" which related to his lyrical accusations that 50 Cent was a "snitch". 50 Cent and Tony Yayo retaliated on set later in the show at the end of their performance by shouting obscenities towards Fat Joe and Terror Squad, which were censored by MTV. Tony Yayo said Fat Joe ran from them at the VMAs.
When asked about the 50 Cent and G-Unit situation in an interview Fat Joe said he will no longer be responding and that he has left it to his close friend Pistol Pete and his crew Kill All Rats (K.A.R) to handle. Pistol Pete appeared on The Game's "Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin" DVD and disrespected Tony Yayo, Chris Lighty (owner of Violator Records who had ties with 50 Cent), and James Cruz (50 Cent's manager) and said he chased Tony Yayo near a jewelry store. Lloyd Banks, Spider Loc, and Young Buck have also been insulted by Fat Joe.
In 2007, the feud was continued in interviews and by affiliates from both parties. In 2008, the beef boiled over when 50 Cent released a mixtape entitled Elephant In the Sand, which is a mock title of Fat Joe's album The Elephant in the Room. The front and back covers contain photos of Fat Joe on a beach. In response Fat Joe and his group K.A.R. released a mixtape titled Gay-Unit hosted by Fat Joe himself.
The feud between 50 Cent and Fat Joe ended in 2012 when 50 Cent approached Fat Joe's trailer at the BET Awards where he was confronted by Fat Joe's entourage he told them he wanted to make peace out of respect for Chris Lighty, however Fat Joe was unsure of his intentions until later that day when they shook hands while appearing on stage together amongst other past and present Violator artists at the BET Awards segment that paid tribute to the label's founder Chris Lighty who died that year.
In 2014 Fat Joe gave a track titled Free to DJ Kay Slay to use as he was working on his final album and told him he can do whatever he wants with it. In light of the 2012 BET Awards Kay Slay decided to get 50 Cent to do a verse for it and put his on his mixtape The Rise Of A City. Although Fat Joe was unaware Kay Slay was putting 50 Cent on his track he approved stating unity is good for hip-hop.
That same year, Tony Yayo shouted out Fat Joe, saying that there was "no beef".
Cam'ron
A feud between 50 Cent and Cam'ron began when 50 Cent was on Hot 97 giving an interview and Cam'ron called in. Cam’ron asked 50 Cent whether he had the power to stop records from being released on Koch Records and 50 Cent said that he does in some respects. As the conversation escalated into an argument, 50 Cent called Koch Records the "industry graveyard". Cam'ron pointed out that Jim Jones' newest album sold just as much as Lloyd Banks' album did, despite the fact that Dipset is on an independent label while G-Unit is on a major label. 50 Cent took offense to this and said that Lloyd Banks has more money than Lil Wayne and Jim Jones, which makes record sales irrelevant. Cam'ron became upset and rebutted 50 Cent's statements. Most notably, he brought up the poor record sales of the Mobb Deep album, Blood Money. Eventually the debate became so heated that the radio station was forced to end the call.
Discography
Studio albums
Beg for Mercy (2003)
T·O·S (Terminate on Sight) (2008)
EPs
The Beauty of Independence (2014)
The Beast Is G Unit (2015)
Awards
Vibe Awards
2004 - Best Group of The Decade
In popular culture
In an episode of the MTV clay animated show Celebrity Deathmatch, entitled "Where's Lohan?", depicted a fight to the death between 50 Cent and The Game. The fight ends with 50 Cent shooting The Game with the bullets that were still inside 50 Cent's body.
References
External links
G-Unity Foundation
Category:American hip hop groups
Category:1999 establishments in New York City
Category:2022 disestablishments in New York (state)
Category:African-American musical groups
Category:G-Unit Records artists
Category:Hip hop groups from New York City
Category:Musical groups established in 1999
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2022
Category:Musical groups from Queens, New York
Category:American musical trios | [
{
"text": "The G-Unity Foundation Inc., (more commonly abbreviated as G-Unity) is an American nonprofit public foundation established by rapper 50 Cent and his group G-Unit. The foundation provides grants to nonprofit organizations that focus on improving the quality of life for low-income and underserved communities across the United States. The main goals of the charity are to emphasize the critical importance of supporting academic institutions, to support nonprofit organizations that focus on the academic enrichment of a child, and to support after school activities.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial Website\n\nCategory:2003 establishments in New York City\nCategory:Educational foundations in the United States\nCategory:G-Unit\nCategory:Charities based in New York City\nCategory:Organizations established in 2003",
"title": "G-Unity Foundation"
}
] | [
"Yes, G-Unit has released music since 2014.",
"G-Unit released an extended play (EP) titled \"The Beauty of Independence\" in 2014 and subsequently released \"The Beast Is G-Unit\" in 2015. They also released \"The Lost Flash Drive\" in August 2016.",
"The context does not provide a full track list for the mentioned albums \"The Beauty of Independence\" and \"The Beast Is G-Unit\". However, it is mentioned that \"The Beauty of Independence\" includes the songs \"Ease Up\" and \"Big Body Benz\", and \"The Beast Is G-Unit\" includes the song \"Bring My Bottles\".",
"In addition to the tracks on their albums, G-Unit also released several other songs and remixes during this period. These include a song titled \"Nah I'm Talkin' Bout,\" a remix of Canadian rapper Drake's \"0-100\" re-titled as \"Real Quick,\" a remix of American singer Trey Songz' \"Ordinary,\" a song titled \"They Talked About Jesus\" that samples \"Tearz\" by Wu-Tang Clan, and a remix of Jeremih's \"Don't Tell 'Em.\"",
"The context does not provide information on the latest song G-Unit released.",
"The context mentions that G-Unit released an album called \"The Lost Flash Drive\" in August 2016, but it does not specify the individual songs on that album."
] | [
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"no",
"Yes"
] |
C_0babd2df9b40420a849ddbe4984fc794_0 | Kevin Martin (curler) | Kevin Martin (born July 31, 1966), nicknamed "The Old Bear" and "K-Mart", is a retired Canadian curler from Edmonton, an Olympic, world and 4-time Canadian champion and a member of the World Curling Hall of Fame. He is considered by many commentators and former and current curlers to be the greatest curler of all time. He is also known for his rivalries with Randy Ferbey/David Nedohin, the best Alberta provincial rivalry ever as the two teams were generally regarded the best in the world from 2002-2006; his rivalry with Jeff Stoughton, perhaps the most famous all prairies rivalry ever which spanned over 2 decades from 1991-2014; with Glenn Howard from 2007-2014, perhaps the best two team rivalry in Canadian curling history, and his rivalry with Sweden's Peja Lindholm from 1997-2006, perhaps the best ever men's Canada-Europe rivalry. Over his 30-year curling career, he won four Briers, a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and one world championship. | 1995-1999 | After his two Brier seasons, Martin did not win the provincial title again until 1995. In the meantime, he had made some line-up changes in his team, and by the 1995 Labatt Brier, he had settled on James Pahl as his second, retaining Park and Bartlett as his third and lead, respectively. At the 1995 Brier, he placed in third after the round robin with a 7-4 win-loss record, tied with Ontario and Prince Edward Island. Martin knocked off Ontario's Ed Werenich in the page playoffs 3 vs. 4 match, but lost to Kerry Burtnyk's Manitoba rink in the semifinal with a score of 9-3. In 1995, Martin replaced Park and Pahl with Don Walchuk and Shawn Broda, respectively. Martin won his fourth provincial title, sending him to the 1996 Labatt Brier. The team placed first after the round robin, finishing with a 10-1 win-loss record. However, in the page playoff 1 vs. 2 game, he lost to Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton. In the semifinal, Martin rebounded with a win over Quebec, but the rematch against Stoughton in the final resulted in a loss in an extra end, which Stoughton stole after a light draw by Martin to win the game 8-7. In 1996, Broda was replaced by Rudy Ramcharan on the team. With his new team, Martin won another provincial title, and at the 1997 Labatt Brier, he once again finished the round robin with a 10-1 win-loss record. His only loss came to the undefeated Vic Peters rink of Manitoba. However, Martin met and defeated Peters twice in the playoffs, including winning the final with a score of 10-8. With this win, Martin won his second Brier and the right to go to the 1997 Ford World Men's Curling Championship. Martin topped the round robin at the Worlds, with a 7-2 win-loss record, but lost to Sweden in the semifinal with a score of 6-4 and then to Scotland in the bronze medal match with a score of 8-4. In 1997, Martin looked to represent Canada at the Olympics once again. The 1998 Winter Olympics would mark the first time curling would be an official medal sport at the games. At the 1997 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, Martin's rink finished with a 6-3 win-loss record, tied in second place with Ed Werenich. Martin knocked off Werenich in the semifinal but lost to the then little known Mike Harris in the final with a score of 6-5. For the next few years, Martin would fail to make it back to the Brier. In 1998, Martin won his second Players' Championship of his career, then known as the "Apolla World Curling Tour Championship". CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_0babd2df9b40420a849ddbe4984fc794_0_q#0",
"C_0babd2df9b40420a849ddbe4984fc794_0_q#1",
"C_0babd2df9b40420a849ddbe4984fc794_0_q#2",
"C_0babd2df9b40420a849ddbe4984fc794_0_q#3",
"C_0babd2df9b40420a849ddbe4984fc794_0_q#4",
"C_0babd2df9b40420a849ddbe4984fc794_0_q#5",
"C_0babd2df9b40420a849ddbe4984fc794_0_q#6",
"C_0babd2df9b40420a849ddbe4984fc794_0_q#7",
"C_0babd2df9b40420a849ddbe4984fc794_0_q#8",
"C_0babd2df9b40420a849ddbe4984fc794_0_q#9",
"C_0babd2df9b40420a849ddbe4984fc794_0_q#10"
] | [
"What was he doing in 1995?",
"who was on his team at the time?",
"what did they do after winning that Provincial champoinship?",
"who was on his team after the lineup changes?",
"did he win any competitions after the provincial?",
"what did he do after that?",
"did he win a medal in the Olympics this time?",
"who was on the olympic team with him?",
"What did he do after this Olympics?",
"what was his next significant career victory?",
"Did he do anything of interest in this time?"
] | [
0,
2,
2,
2,
1,
0,
2,
1,
1,
1,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
1,
2,
1,
2,
1,
2,
1
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
666
],
[
623
],
[
104
],
[
154
],
[
1707
],
[
1828
],
[
2140
],
[
2465
],
[
2346
],
[
2465
],
[
1183
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Martin won his fourth provincial title,"
],
[
"Don Walchuk and Shawn Broda,"
],
[
"he had made some line-up changes in his team,"
],
[
"by the 1995 Labatt Brier, he had settled on James Pahl as his second, retaining Park and Bartlett as his third and lead,"
],
[
"lost to Sweden in the semifinal with a score of 6-4"
],
[
"In 1997, Martin looked to represent Canada at the Olympics once again."
],
[
"Martin knocked off Werenich in the semifinal but lost to the then little known Mike Harris in the final with a score of 6-5."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Martin won his second Players' Championship of his career, then known as the \"Apolla World Curling Tour Championship"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"With his new team, Martin won another provincial title,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
666,
623,
104,
154,
1707,
1828,
2140,
2465,
2346,
2465,
1183
],
"texts": [
"Martin won his fourth provincial title,",
"Don Walchuk and Shawn Broda,",
"he had made some line-up changes in his team,",
"by the 1995 Labatt Brier, he had settled on James Pahl as his second, retaining Park and Bartlett as his third and lead,",
"lost to Sweden in the semifinal with a score of 6-4",
"In 1997, Martin looked to represent Canada at the Olympics once again.",
"Martin knocked off Werenich in the semifinal but lost to the then little known Mike Harris in the final with a score of 6-5.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Martin won his second Players' Championship of his career, then known as the \"Apolla World Curling Tour Championship",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"With his new team, Martin won another provincial title,"
]
} | Kevin Martin (born July 31, 1966), nicknamed "The Old Bear" and "K-Mart", is a Canadian retired curler from Edmonton, Alberta, an Olympic, World and four-time Canadian champion and a member of the World Curling Hall of Fame. He is considered by many commentators and former and current curlers to be the greatest curler of all time. He is also known for his rivalries with Randy Ferbey/David Nedohin, the best Alberta provincial rivalry ever as the two teams were generally regarded the best in the world from 2002 to 2006; his rivalry with Jeff Stoughton, perhaps the most famous all prairies rivalry ever which spanned over 2 decades from 1991 to 2014; with Glenn Howard from 2007 to 2014, perhaps the best two team rivalry in Canadian curling history, and his rivalry with Sweden's Peja Lindholm from 1997 to 2006, perhaps the best ever men's Canada-Europe rivalry.
Over his 30-year curling career, he won four Briers, a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and one world championship. He went to a total of three Winter Olympics and four World Championships, and won a total of two Olympic medals and three World Championship medals. He won 15 Grand Slam titles on the World Curling Tour (the media count 18, including three Players' Championships won prior to its inclusion as a Grand Slam event), which includes a record eight Players' Championship titles. Over the course of his career, his teams won around $2 million. He was the first skip to win a "career Grand Slam," winning a title in each Grand Slam event, after he won the Players' Championship Grand Slam event in April 2005. Martin also holds the record for the most Olympic victories, with 20 total wins at the Olympics.
During his career, Martin also served as a major influence in the development of the sport of curling, establishing the competitive tier in the sport and setting the groundwork for the management of curling teams and the creation of high-level competitive curling events. He is also known for contributing to the growth of curling, long known as a recreational and participant-based sport, as a spectator sport. Martin retired from competitive curling in 2014. In 2019, Martin was named the greatest Canadian male skip in history in a TSN poll of broadcasters, reporters and top curlers.
Career
Junior career
Martin began curling when he was six years old. He took up the sport because his father was the vice president of his local curling club. Martin first came on the curling scene in 1985 when his Alberta team of Richard Feeney, Dan Petryk and Michael Berger won the 1985 Canadian Junior Championship in their first year together as a team. The rink (a group of players) finished the round robin in second place, with a win–loss record of 7–4, behind Prince Edward Island's Kent Scales. This forced them into a semifinal against the third place Quebec rink, skipped by Steve Gagnon. They beat Quebec 5–4, earning a spot in the final against Prince Edward Island which they won with a score of 6–3. After winning the championship, he accompanied the Canadian team as an alternate at the 1985 World Junior Curling Championships.
By winning the 1985 Canadian junior championship, the team qualified for the following season's . The team went undefeated through the round robin and won their semifinal match against Sweden. However, in the final, they came up short, losing 7–6 to the Scottish team skipped by David Aitken.
Early career
Five years out of the World Junior Championships, Martin had formed a new team and won his first provincial championship. This qualified him and his team of Kevin Park, Dan Petryk and Don Bartlett for the 1991 Labatt Brier. At the 1991 Brier, Martin finished the round robin with an 8–3 win–loss record, tying Saskatchewan for first place. Martin knocked off British Columbia in the semifinal, and then beat Saskatchewan (skipped by Randy Woytowich) with a score of 8–4 in the final. The rink was then off to the 1991 Canada Safeway World Curling Championships in Winnipeg. Martin turned the tables, going undefeated through the round robin. After beating Norway's Eigil Ramsfjell in the semifinal, Martin's team lost in the final, losing to Scotland's David Smith with a score of 2–7.
His 1991 Brier victory also earned him a spot at the 1992 Winter Olympics, where curling was just a demonstration sport at the time. Martin won all three of his round robin games before losing the semifinal to Switzerland with a score of 4–8 and losing to the United States with a score of 2–9 in the bronze medal match.
In 1992, Martin won his second provincial championship. His team went 8–3 once again at the 1992 Labatt Brier, tying them in second place with Ontario. However, in the semifinal, the Ontario rink, skipped by Russ Howard, defeated Martin's team by 7–4.
Martin's first World Curling Tour event was the 1993 Players' Championship, then known as the "Seagrams VO Cup". His first WCT event win came the following season at the 1993 Kelowna Cashspiel. Later that season he won the 1994 Players' Championship, which has been retroactively considered his first Slam win, even through the event occurred long before the Grand Slam series began.
1995–1999
After his two Brier seasons, Martin did not win the provincial title again until 1995. In the meantime, he had made some line-up changes in his team, and by the 1995 Labatt Brier, he had settled on James Pahl as his second, retaining Park and Bartlett as his third and lead, respectively. At the 1995 Brier, he placed in third after the round robin with a 7–4 win–loss record, tied with Ontario and Prince Edward Island. Martin knocked off Ontario's Ed Werenich in the page playoffs 3 vs. 4 match, but lost to Kerry Burtnyk's Manitoba rink in the semifinal with a score of 9–3.
In 1995, Martin replaced Park and Pahl with Don Walchuk and Shawn Broda, respectively. Martin won his fourth provincial title, sending him to the 1996 Labatt Brier. The team placed first after the round robin, finishing with a 10–1 win–loss record. However, in the page playoff 1 vs. 2 game, he lost to Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton. In the semifinal, Martin rebounded with a win over Quebec, but the rematch against Stoughton in the final resulted in a loss in an extra end, which Stoughton stole after a light draw by Martin to win the game 8–7.
In 1996, Broda was replaced by Rudy Ramcharan on the team. With his new team, Martin won another provincial title, and at the 1997 Labatt Brier, he once again finished the round robin with a 10–1 win–loss record. His only loss came to the undefeated Vic Peters rink of Manitoba. However, Martin met and defeated Peters twice in the playoffs, including winning the final with a score of 10–8. With this win, Martin won his second Brier and the right to go to the 1997 Ford World Men's Curling Championship. Martin topped the round robin at the Worlds, with a 7–2 win–loss record, but lost to Sweden in the semifinal with a score of 6–4 and then to Scotland in the bronze medal match with a score of 8–4.
In 1997, Martin looked to represent Canada at the Olympics once again. The 1998 Winter Olympics would mark the first time curling would be an official medal sport at the games. At the 1997 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, Martin's rink finished with a 6–3 win–loss record, tied in second place with Ed Werenich. Martin knocked off Werenich in the semifinal but lost to the then little known Mike Harris in the final with a score of 6–5. For the next few years, Martin would fail to make it back to the Brier. In 1998, Martin won his second Players' Championship of his career, then known as the "Apolla World Curling Tour Championship".
1999–2006
In 1999, Martin dropped Ramcharan, who was embroiled by a scandal where he botched organizing a bonspiel, and replaced him with Carter Rycroft, an upstart junior curler. In 2000, Martin won his sixth provincial title, defeating Frank Morissette 4–2 in the final. However, the 2000 Labatt Brier would be a flop for the team, which finished with a 6–5 win–loss record out of the playoffs. A week later, Martin capped the season off by winning his third Players' Championship.
Following a failed bid to win the 2001 Alberta championship, the team then boycotted the Brier, as prominent curling teams of the day wanted to focus more on the World Curling Tour, while the Canadian Curling Association scheduled events conflicting with major WCT events. In the meantime, however, Martin still had his sights set on an Olympic championship. The team went to the 2001 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials and finished first after the round robin with a 7–2 win–loss record. That gave the team a bye to the finals, which Martin won by defeating Kerry Burtnyk with a score of 8–7.
At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Martin lost just one round robin matchup and qualified for the playoffs. In the semifinal, Martin knocked off Sweden's Peja Lindholm by a score of 6–4, breaking a long losing streak to his main nemesis. In the final, Martin faced Norway, skipped by Pål Trulsen. Early on Martin fell behind 3–0 with Trulsen's team taking steals of 1 and 2, forcing Kevin into extremely difficult final shots due to their dominant and aggressive front end play. Team Martin steadied themselves and climbed to 5–5 with hammer going into the final end however. In the final end, Martin had a simple draw against one Norway rock to win, identical to his successful draw in the Olympic Trials final vs Kerry Burtnyk, which he missed, giving Trulsen the win with a score of 6–5. As a result, Norway clinched the gold medal, and Martin, representing Canada, won his third international silver.
Due to the boycott, Martin's rink would not win another provincial title until 2006. In the meantime, the team had amassed five Grand Slam titles and won the 2005 Canada Cup of Curling.
Martin played in his third Canadian Olympic Trials in 2005. The event was a disappointment for the team, which finished with a 4–5 record. However, later in the season, the team won the 2006 Alberta provincials, defeating Mark Johnson in the final. This put the team in to the 2006 Tim Hortons Brier, Martin's first Brier appearance in six years. The team finished the round robin tied in second place with an 8–3 record. However, in the page playoff 3 vs. 4 game, Martin's rink was edged by Nova Scotia's Mark Dacey 8–7. The team would later win the 2006 Canada Cup of Curling.
2006–2013
On April 26, 2006 Martin announced the breakup of his long-time, Olympic silver medallist team of lead Don Bartlett, second Carter Rycroft and third Don Walchuk. The team had disappointed at the 2005 Trials, had not won a single Grand Slam title in the 2005–06 season, and topped it off by finishing fourth at the Brier. Martin replaced Walchuk, Rycroft and Bartlett with World Junior Champion skip John Morris at third, Marc Kennedy at second and Ben Hebert at lead. His new team won the 2007 Alberta provincials, defeating Team Kevin Koe in the final, 9–7 after Team Koe fourth Blake MacDonald missed two draws to win. This sent the team to their first Brier, where they finished the round robin with an 8–3 win–loss record in second place, tied with Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador. The new team struggled at the 2007 Brier in Hamilton, and lost in the 3 vs. 4 game to Jeff Stoughton, 6–3. Despite their Brier failure, however, the season was a success on the World Curling Tour, where they won three of the four Grand Slams. During the 2006–07 and 2007–08 curling seasons, Martin and his team won an unprecedented five consecutive Grand Slams, three in the 2006–07 season and two in the 2007–08 season.
The team won their second straight provincials in 2008, sending them to the 2008 Tim Hortons Brier. On March 13, 2008, Martin's team from Alberta became the first team since 2003 to go through the round robin at the Tim Hortons Brier undefeated. They finished the round robin with a perfect 11–0 win–loss record. They knocked off Saskatchewan 8–7 in the 1 vs. 2 game, and then beat rival and defending champion Glenn Howard of Ontario 5–4 in the final. With that perfect finish, Martin won his third Brier title. Martin finally won his first World Championship at the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota. After finishing the round robin with a 10–1 win–loss record, he lost to Scotland, skipped by David Murdoch, in the 1 vs. 2 game, only to beat them in a rematch in the final 6–3. This was the first time Kevin Martin won a gold medal at an international curling event. The Martin rink finished the 2007–08 season with two more Grand Slam titles. Due to his Brier and World Championship successes in 2008, the Canadian Curling Association selected Kevin Martin's team (along with Jennifer Jones, Kevin Koe and Stefanie Lawton) to be Canada's representatives on "Team North America" at the 2008 Continental Cup of Curling.
The 2008–09 season would be almost as successful for Martin. He once again qualified for the Brier, winning the Alberta provincial championship, and then once again went 13–0 in the 2009 Tim Hortons Brier. He knocked off Glenn Howard 7–6 followed by Jeff Stoughton in the final by a 7–4 result. A week later, at the 2009 Canada Cup of Curling, Martin won his third title, defeating fellow Edmonton rink Randy Ferbey in the final. At the 2009 Ford World Men's Curling Championship, Martin won 10 straight games until he met Scotland in the final round robin game. Martin lost to Scotland and then lost to them again in the 1–2 page playoff game. Martin rebounded with a tight semifinal victory over Switzerland, but had to face Scotland in a third matchup in the final. The game was tied going into the last end with Martin having the last rock advantage. Before his first rock, Martin was lying one in a complicated setup. After spending about six minutes trying to decide which shot to try, he went against the wishes of his teammates and threw away his shot, forcing Scotland's David Murdoch to make a double-tap to sit shot. Murdoch made his shot, leaving Martin with a short-raise double, which he missed, losing the championship to Scotland, 7–6.
Martin's team directly qualified for the 2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in his hometown of Edmonton. In his fourth Trials, Martin lost just one round robin game. After defeating the previously undefeated Glenn Howard rink in his final round robin game, Martin got a bye to the final, which was against Howard, whom he defeated 7–3. With the win, Martin earned the right to represent Canada for the second time at the Olympics. After the Olympic Trials, Martin's rink failed to qualify for the playoffs at the 2010 Swiss Chalet National. This would mark the first time Martin failed to make the playoffs at a Grand Slam since 2003. However, they proved they were worthy to represent Canada at the Olympics by winning the 2010 BDO Classic Canadian Open two weeks later.
At the 2010 Winter Olympics, Martin's team went undefeated (9–0) during the round-robin phase, becoming the first team to achieve this feat since the British curling team at the 1924 Chamonix Olympics. After winning the semifinal against Sweden's Niklas Edin, Martin went on to win the gold medal, defeating Norway's Thomas Ulsrud 6–3, in a rematch of Martin's only previous Olympic final. Martin wrapped up his Olympic season by winning the 2010 Players' Championships, his second Grand Slam win of the year. He beat Brad Gushue in the final in an extra end.
It took the Martin rink until December 2010 to win another major bonspiel. Martin claimed another Slam by winning the National again over Jeff Stoughton. However, he was defeated by Stoughton in the quarterfinal of the Canadian Open.
Martin made his eleventh appearance at the Brier playing for Alberta, after defeating Kevin Koe in the final of the provincials. He went through the round robin with a 9–2 win–loss record, and had some trouble during the round robin after losing crucial games to Manitoba and Newfoundland/Labrador in less than 10 ends. After a close win over Glenn Howard in the round robin, Martin dropped a 4–5 decision to Howard after he missed a crucial shot in the 3 vs. 4 game of the playoffs, and he lost the bronze medal game to Brad Gushue 10–5, playing without second Marc Kennedy, because Kennedy and his wife were expecting a child. Martin finished the 2010–11 season by winning his record 7th Players' Championship.
Martin's first event of the 2011–12 World Curling Tour was the Point Optical Curling Classic, where he finished as a runner-up to Mike McEwen. He then won his first event of the season, the Westcoast Curling Classic, against McEwen. He next participated in the Cactus Pheasant Classic as the defending champion, but lost to Randy Ferbey in the semifinals. At the World Cup of Curling, Martin finished the round robin with a 4–1 win–loss record, but missed a chance to win another Grand Slam title after he was edged past by John Epping, 3–4. He failed to make it into the playoffs at his next event, the Sun Life Classic. He and his team then competed in the Canada Cup of Curling, securing close wins over Glenn Howard and Jeff Stoughton in the round robin and finishing the round robin undefeated. He then played Howard in the final, and managed to defeat him with a score of 7–4, winning his record 4th Canada Cup title as skip. He and his team also earned berths into the 2012 Canada Cup, Continental Cup, and, most importantly, the 2013 Olympic Trials.
Martin then went to Dawson Creek, British Columbia for a shot at an eighteenth Grand Slam title at the National. He went undefeated through the round robin and made it to the final, where he lost a close game 6–5 to Glenn Howard. In February, Martin and team went to Camrose, Alberta for the 2012 Boston Pizza Cup to play for a chance to represent Alberta at the 2012 Brier. They barely qualified for the playoffs after Martin broke his 22-game win streak at the provincials in losing their first qualifier game to Kevin Koe and then lost another qualifier game to Brock Virtue. They then defeated Robert Schlender in the bottom page playoff game and advanced to the semifinal against Virtue, where they lost a tight game in the tenth end. Martin's loss meant that he will not be able to represent Alberta at the Brier for the first time since 2010. It also marked the first time since 2005 that he has not won a provincial championship in which he participated. Martin then won the 2012 Pomeroy Inn & Suites Prairie Showdown final against Liu Rui, and then won the 2012 Victoria Curling Classic Invitational final against Mike McEwen. Martin wrapped up the season by participating in the 2012 Players' Championship, finishing the round robin with a 5–2 win–loss record. However, he was upset in the semifinals by John Epping, who went on to win the title.
Martin began his 2012–13 season with the Point Optical Curling Classic, where he was the runner-up the previous year. He lost a close match in the semifinals to provincial rival Kevin Koe. He next played at the Westcoast Curling Classic, and won his third straight title and his seventh title overall with a win in the final over Andrew Bilesky. Martin participated at the Whites Drug Store Classic, but lost to Randy Bryden in the quarterfinals in an extra end. Martin then competed in the Masters Grand Slam of Curling, where he lost in the semifinals after a close loss to Koe in an extra end. Martin then participated in the Canada Cup of Curling, but was unable to match strong play from his opponents, and finished the event with a 1–5 win–loss record, out of the playoffs. Martin was scheduled to play at the Canadian Open of Curling, but had to withdraw due to a hernia. He was replaced by Joe Frans, and the team finished outside of the playoffs. After recovering, Martin participated in the Continental Cup, where he assisted in leading Team North America to a fifth win over Team World. Martin also participated in the All-Star Curling Skins Game, where his all-star team lost in the semifinal against Glenn Howard's all-star team. Martin then competed in the Alberta provincials, where he clinched the first seed in the playoffs after edging provincial rival Kevin Koe. He defeated Aaron Sluchinski in the page playoff, and edged Koe in an extra end in the final to claim his twelfth provincial title.
At the 2013 Brier, Martin and team began the round-robin with one win and four losses, including losses to Jeff Stoughton, Jean-Michel Ménard, and eventual champion Brad Jacobs, before winning their final six matches. Despite a 7–4 win–loss record, they did not qualify for the playoffs, placing fifth and becoming the first Alberta team since Martin's squad in 2000 to miss the playoffs. At the Players' Championship, Martin and team finished with a 2–2 win–loss record, and they advanced to a tiebreaker, where they lost to John Epping. A few days after the conclusion of the Players' Championship, Martin's longtime third, John Morris, announced that he and Martin were parting ways.
2013–2014
A few weeks after Morris announced his departure from the team, Martin announced that David Nedohin, the fourth player on his former provincial rival Randy Ferbey's team, would join Martin's team. Martin and team won their first event of the season at the Shoot-Out. They made the semifinals in their next event at the Point Optical Curling Classic, but Martin injured his back during the semifinal game. Jeff Sharp subbed in at lead, and Martin's team finished the event as runners-up to Jeff Stoughton. After winning the final of the Direct Horizontal Drilling Fall Classic over Brock Virtue and posting a semifinals finish at the Cactus Pheasant Classic, Martin played in the Masters Grand Slam, finishing the round robin with a 3–1 win–loss record. He proceeded to win his games over Kevin Koe and Liu Rui before reaching the final, where he played a close game with Glenn Howard until Howard pulled away with the win.
Martin attempted to qualify for his fourth Olympics appearance through the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials. In the round robin, he and his team played consistently and posted a 6–1 win–loss record, with their only loss coming to eventual champion Brad Jacobs. Their record qualified for the semifinal, where they lost a close game to John Morris's team. Martin was hired by NBC Sports to work as a curling analyst during the 2014 Winter Olympics, a role that he would fill again at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
After starting off the Canadian Open of Curling with a 4–1 win–loss record, Martin dropped his quarterfinals game against Brad Gushue in the final end of the game. Martin also posted a strong start at the next Grand Slam, The National, but lost to Glenn Howard in the quarterfinals. On April 18, 2014, amidst rumours of his front end, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert, joining provincial rival Kevin Koe in the next season, Martin announced his retirement from curling following the conclusion of the 2014 Players' Championship. At the last tournament of his career, Martin posted a 3–2 win–loss record in the round robin, and advanced to the playoffs. He edged John Epping and Mike McEwen en route to the final, where he recorded a 4–3 win over Brad Jacobs while curling at 98%. He capped his career with an eighteenth Grand Slam title, his eighth at the Players' Championship.
Martin will become a curling analyst for Sportsnet. Following the end of the season, it was announced that Martin had been inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the World Curling Hall of Fame at the 2018 World Men's Curling Championship.
Legacy
During his playing career, Martin greatly influenced the evolution of the sport of curling into a competitive sport. He was an instrumental part of the group that brought about the Grand Slam of Curling. In the early 2000s, he became the spokesperson for the promotion of the financial growth of curling, represented largely by the World Curling Tour, which was growing in popularity due to the benefits afforded by corporate sponsorship opportunities and cash prizes at tournaments. The Martin-led boycott of the Canadian Curling Association for its refusal to allow the developments in the World Curling Tour to be mirrored in the Brier catalyzed not only the transformation of the Brier, but also the growth of the Grand Slam, and in doing so, ultimately allowed the sport of curling to become a legitimate spectator sport. The development of the competitive tier of the sport also marked a change in both the players of the sport and the sport itself, as evidenced by improvements in the development and training of curlers as athletes and improvements in the quality of curling games due to better ice conditions and precision-based gameplay.
Career statistics
Grand Slam record
Teams
Awards
World Junior Curling Championships All-Star skip: 1986
Hec Gervais Award (Brier MVP): 1997, 2009
Brier Shot of the Week Award: 1997
Brier first all-star team skip: 1996, 2008, 2009
Brier second all-star team skip: 2006, 2007
World Curling Tour (WCT) MVP: 2008–09
WCT Team of the Year: 2008–09
WCT MVP: 2009–10
Personal life
Martin is married to Shauna Martin and has three children, Karrick, Kalycia, and Mykaela. Karrick curls competitively, most recently as the alternate for his father at the 2013 Tim Hortons Brier, and as the lead for Brendan Bottcher, winner of the 2017 Alberta men's championship to represent the province at the 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, with Kevin as coach.
Martin is the owner and operator of Kevin's Rocks-n-Racquets, a curling supply shop located at the Saville Sports Centre. He has owned his own business since 1991. Prior to that, he was an ice maker.
Martin has a degree in petroleum engineering technology from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), which he earned upon graduating in 1987. He also curled at NAIT under the tutelage of coach Jules Owchar, who has coached Martin since they met at NAIT. Martin also received an honorary bachelor's degree in technology management in 2010, and received the Alumni Award of Distinction in 2011 for his achievements in curling.
Martin is very invested in building the future of the game of curling. He regularly runs curling academies at the Saville Sports Centre. Each summer he organizes a curling camp for junior players called the "Kevin Martin Summer Curling Academy". The Academy is targeted at elite junior players looking to take their game to a higher level. Martin has also created a mobile app with purchasable content, which includes drills and tips aimed at helping curlers improve their game.
Notes
References
External links
Curling Scoops Team Profile Page
Kevin Martin's relationship with coach Jules Owchar
Video:
Category:1966 births
Category:Living people
Category:Brier champions
Category:Curlers at the 1992 Winter Olympics
Category:Curlers at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Category:Curlers at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Category:Curling broadcasters
Category:Olympic curlers for Canada
Category:Olympic gold medalists for Canada
Category:Olympic silver medalists for Canada
Category:People from Flagstaff County
Category:Curlers from Edmonton
Category:World curling champions
Category:Olympic medalists in curling
Category:Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Category:Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Category:Canadian male curlers
Category:Continental Cup of Curling participants
Category:Canadian curling coaches
Category:Curling ice makers
Category:Canada Cup (curling) participants | [] | [
"In 1995, Martin won the provincial title and participated in the Labatt Brier. He made changes in his team, settling on James Pahl as his second, while retaining Park and Bartlett as his third and lead, respectively. He placed third in the Brier after the round robin with a 7-4 win-loss record. Martin knocked off Ontario's Ed Werenich in the page playoffs but lost to Kerry Burtnyk's Manitoba rink in the semifinal. He also replaced Park and Pahl in his team with Don Walchuk and Shawn Broda, respectively.",
"In 1995, James Pahl, Park, Bartlett, Don Walchuk and Shawn Broda were on Martin's team.",
"After winning the provincial title in 1995, Martin's team went on to participate in the 1996 Labatt Brier. They placed first after the round robin and finished with a 10-1 win-loss record. However, they lost the page playoff 1 vs. 2 game to Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton, won the semifinal against Quebec, but lost the final against Stoughton in an extra end.",
"After the lineup changes in 1995, Martin's team included Don Walchuk and Shawn Broda, who replaced Park and James Pahl. Then, in 1996, Broda was replaced by Rudy Ramcharan.",
"Yes, after the provincial win in 1995, he won another provincial title in 1996 and went on to the 1997 Labatt Brier. At the Brier, they finished the round robin with a 10-1 win-loss record and eventually won the final against Vic Peters' rink of Manitoba with a score of 10-8. This win earned Martin his second Brier title and the right to go to the 1997 Ford World Men's Curling Championship.",
"After winning his second Brier title and competing in the 1997 Ford World Men's Curling Championship, Martin aimed to represent Canada at the Olympics again. In 1997, he participated in the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, where his rink finished with a 6-3 win-loss record. Martin defeated Ed Werenich in the semifinal but lost to Mike Harris in the final. Then, in 1998, Martin won his second Players' Championship of his career, also known as the \"Apolla World Curling Tour Championship\". For the next few years, however, Martin was not able to make it back to the Brier.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Martin won a medal in the Olympics during this time period.",
"The text does not provide information on who was on the Olympic team with Martin.",
"The text does not provide information on what Martin did immediately after the Olympics. The next information is from 1998 when Martin won his second Players' Championship of his career, which was known as the \"Apolla World Curling Tour Championship\" at the time. For the next few years, he was not able to make it back to the Brier.",
"Martin's next significant career victory, as mentioned in the text, was in 1998 when he won his second Players' Championship, also known as the \"Apolla World Curling Tour Championship\".",
"The text does not provide any additional information on what Martin did during this time beyond winning his second Players' Championship, known as the \"Apolla World Curling Tour Championship\", in 1998."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No"
] |
C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_0 | Steve Lukather | Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known for his work with the rock band Toto. A prolific session musician, Lukather has recorded guitar tracks for more than 1,500 albums representing a broad array of artists and genres. He has also contributed to albums and hit singles as a songwriter, arranger and producer. Lukather has released seven solo albums, the latest of which, Transition, was released in January 2013. | 1989-1997: Lukather, Candyman, and Luke | The 1989 album Lukather came about after Toto had been recording and playing for 11 years, and the consensus among the band members was to take a break. As Lukather had written a number of songs that did not appear on Toto albums, he decided to pursue a solo album, with the intention of presenting a dimension of his music that fans would be unfamiliar with. He collaborated with many notable musicians, including Eddie Van Halen, Richard Marx, Jan Hammer, Steve Stevens, and fellow Toto members Jeff Porcaro and David Paich. Lukather has said that the album was produced very simply, and that a lot of ambient studio noise--counting off on various tracks, for instance--is audible on it. He also credits bands Pink Floyd, Cream, Led Zeppelin, and guitarists Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton as influences on the album. The single "Swear Your Love" came from the album. Candyman, recorded and mastered from March 1993 through November 1993, was a collaboration of musicians who were for the most part also in Lukather's band Los Lobotomys. Toto familiars Simon Phillips and David Paich participated as well as David Garfield, John Pena, Chris Trujillo, Lenny Castro, Larry Klimas, Fee Waybill, Richard Page, and Paul Rodgers. Lukather recorded the album in mostly live takes with little overdubbing. Some international fans were confused about whether Candyman was a Steve Lukather album or a Los Lobotomys album. The Japanese and US releases of Candyman were under the Los Lobotomys name rather than Lukather's; the Japanese release also featured a version of the Hendrix song "Red House". The European release of Candyman was credited to Lukather alone. Additionally, the touring band for the album was sometimes introduced as "Steve Lukather and Los Lobotomys" and sometimes as just "Los Lobotomys". The song "Borrowed Time" was released as a single in Europe and included "Red House" as a B-side. Lukather describes 1997's Luke as a much different and more "introspective" album than his previous two solo efforts. The album is a concentrated collection of many of Lukather's musical influences, and he deliberately let those influences come out on the album. Luke is an experimental album, and like Candyman it was recorded mostly in live sessions with minimal overdubbing and processing afterwards. Luke also features instrumentation not heard on previous Lukather albums: pedal steel, Harmonicas, Mellotrons, and experimental guitar, bass, and drum sounds. The US version of Luke includes a version of the Jeff Beck song "The Pump". The song "Hate Everything About U" was released as a single. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_0_q#0",
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_0_q#1",
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_0_q#2",
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_0_q#3",
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_0_q#4",
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_0_q#5",
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_0_q#6"
] | [
"What is Candyman?",
"Was Candyman popular?",
"Which musicians did he collaborate with?",
"Which other musicians did he collaborate with?",
"What other albums did he make?",
"Was Luke well received?",
"What happened after Luke was released?"
] | [
2,
1,
2,
1,
2,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
896
],
[
2628
],
[
360
],
[
477
],
[
1928
],
[
2628
],
[
2628
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Candyman, recorded and mastered from March 1993 through November 1993, was a collaboration of musicians who were for the most part also in Lukather's band Los Lobotomys."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"He collaborated with many notable musicians, including Eddie Van Halen, Richard Marx, Jan Hammer, Steve Stevens,"
],
[
"fellow Toto members Jeff Porcaro and David Paich."
],
[
"Lukather describes 1997's Luke as a much different and more \"introspective\" album than his previous two solo efforts."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
896,
2628,
360,
477,
1928,
2628,
2628
],
"texts": [
"Candyman, recorded and mastered from March 1993 through November 1993, was a collaboration of musicians who were for the most part also in Lukather's band Los Lobotomys.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"He collaborated with many notable musicians, including Eddie Van Halen, Richard Marx, Jan Hammer, Steve Stevens,",
"fellow Toto members Jeff Porcaro and David Paich.",
"Lukather describes 1997's Luke as a much different and more \"introspective\" album than his previous two solo efforts.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a steady flow of session work beginning in the 1970s that has since established him as a prolific session musician, recording guitar tracks for more than 1,500 albums spanning a broad array of artists and genres. He has also contributed to albums and hit singles as a songwriter, arranger and producer. Notably, Lukather played guitar on Boz Scaggs' albums Down Two Then Left (1977) and Middle Man (1980), and was a prominent contributor to several studio albums by Michael Jackson, including Thriller (1982). Lukather has released eight solo albums, the latest of which, I Found the Sun Again, was released in February 2021.
Influenced by such blues-rock guitarists as Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, and such jazz fusion players as Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin, Lukather is known for a "melodic and intense" playing style. He is also recognized for his efficiency in the studio, often recording tracks in one take using minimal sound processing. While he once used many guitar effects in the studio and on stage, he now frequently disparages such practice, and instead advocates cleaner tones and minimal studio processing. Lukather plays primarily a signature electric guitar manufactured by Ernie Ball Music Man bearing his nickname, Luke. He also plays Yamaha and Ovation Adamas series acoustic–electric guitars.
Early life
Steven Lee Lukather was born on October 21, 1957, in the San Fernando Valley, California. His father was an assistant director and production manager at Paramount Studios, and worked on shows such as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and I Dream of Jeannie. Lukather first played keyboards and drums, and then taught himself how to play the guitar starting at age seven, when his father bought him a Kay acoustic guitar and a copy of the Beatles album Meet the Beatles. Lukather has said that the album "changed his life" and that he was greatly influenced by the guitar playing of George Harrison in particular.
At Grant High School, Lukather met David Paich and the Porcaro brothers (Jeff, Steve, and Mike), all of whom eventually became members of Toto. Lukather, who had been a self-taught musician, began taking guitar lessons from Jimmy Wyble. With Wyble, Lukather expanded his knowledge of wider aspects of music, including orchestration. It was during this period in the early 1970s that Lukather became interested in the idea of becoming a session musician, a vocation that provided opportunities to play with a variety of famous musicians.
Jeff Porcaro, who had been playing drums with Steely Dan since 1973, became a mentor to Lukather and nurtured his interest in session work. Lukather's first job in the music industry was studio work with Boz Scaggs, after which Paich and Jeff Porcaro—who had become prominent session musicians in their own right—asked Lukather to join them in forming Toto in 1976 along with Bobby Kimball, David Hungate, and Steve Porcaro.
Toto
Lukather is the original lead guitarist for Toto, serving in that capacity for the band's entire history, as well as composer and lead and backing vocalist. Lukather won three of his five Grammy Awards for work with Toto, twice as an artist and once as a producer. David Paich led the band's songwriting efforts during the development of 1978's Toto—he penned all but two of the album's tracks, including all four of its singles. Lukather also credits Jeff Porcaro for his leadership within the band during that period. However, Lukather's role in Toto evolved over time owing to the changing needs of the band. In August 1992, Jeff Porcaro collapsed while doing yard work at home and subsequently died of heart failure. The death profoundly affected Toto and Lukather in particular, who felt that he needed to step up and make sure the band kept going. Thus, he began taking more of a leadership role.
Toto went through several lead vocalists over the years, including Bobby Kimball, Fergie Frederiksen, and Joseph Williams. After the 1990 dismissal of their fourth vocalist, Jean-Michel Byron, Toto was without a lead singer until around 1997; Lukather assumed most of the vocal duties for the band during that time. He performed lead vocals for every track on 1992's Kingdom of Desire and 1995's Tambu except for two instrumental tracks. The Tambu single "I Will Remember", co-written by Lukather and Stan Lynch, reached number 64 on UK charts. Some Tambu reviewers contrasted Lukather's vocals with those of former singers Kimball and Williams (and indeed, heavily criticized the entire album), some concert reviewers noted that he struggled vocally on certain songs, and a number of backup singers and guest vocalists accompanied the band's live shows during that period. It was not until Toto brought back Williams and Kimball to collaborate on 1998's Toto XX that Lukather returned primarily to the role of backup vocalist.
Lukather's songwriting contributions grew from a few tracks on early Toto albums to co-writing almost every track starting in the late 1980s. Lukather admitted that the reason why he has no songwriting contributions on the first two Toto albums was that he wasn't writing many songs at the time, being intimidated by the talent of the band's chief songwriter, David Paich. He credits Paich with encouraging him to contribute more songs to the band. He wrote very few of Toto's songs by himself, an exception being the hit single "I Won't Hold You Back" from Toto IV. Lukather has said that writing lyrics is not one of his strengths. Thus, he collaborated with other band members to complete song ideas and make them into viable album tracks. Lukather's official site claims he contributed to writing all the songs on Toto's 2006 album Falling in Between, even though "Spiritual Man" officially credits Paich as the sole writer.
By 2008, Lukather was the only original Toto member still performing with the band: Bobby Kimball was also in the band at the time, but had been absent from it for some time – whereas Lukather has been with Toto since its formation. However, in June of the same year, Lukather decided to leave Toto. This decision directly led to the official dissolution of the band. In a 2011 interview discussing his career with Toto, Lukather indicated that the band had evolved too far from its original incarnation and that he was dealing with the physical and mental toll of recording and performing. In February 2010, the band announced that they would reunite to support Toto bassist Mike Porcaro, who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. They continued to tour on a limited basis in 2011 and 2012.
Although Lukather indicated in April 2011 that the band would not record any further material, Toto announced an international tour schedule and new studio album in March 2014. In March 2015 Toto XIV was released. The band toured in celebration of its 40th anniversary from 2016 to 2019, when Lukather announced an indefinite hiatus. A new Toto lineup converged in 2020 to resume performances, featuring Lukather and Williams as the only members persisting from previous lineups, though Paich would still make guest appearances and is considered an official member. The group has virtual livestream performances and eventual live concerts planned for 2020 and 2021, with John Pierce on bass guitar, Robert "Sput" Searight on drums, Steve Maggiora on keyboards, Dominique "Xavier" Taplin on keyboards, and Warren Ham providing additional vocals.
Session work
Lukather achieved notability in the 1970s and 1980s as one of the most sought-after session guitarists in Los Angeles, playing with a wide range of artists from Aretha Franklin to Warren Zevon. He has performed on over 1,500 records spanning 36 years. Music journalist Jude Gold noted, "It's hard to name a guitarist who has had a more prolific and fulfilling career than Steve Lukather." Lukather credits fellow Toto members David Paich and Jeff Porcaro for getting him exposure in the industry—although he lamented in an April 2011 interview that opportunities for session musicians have curtailed in recent years: "There is no 'session guy' thing any more—not like it was. It's not like the old days when I was doing 25 sessions a week. All the studios are gone. The budgets are gone. The record companies are all gone." His own output as a session musician has slowed along with the rest of the industry—as of 2009, Lukather stated he was doing only a few sessions a year.
Named by Gibson Guitar Corporation as one of the Top 10 session guitarists of all time, Lukather has performed on many notable tracks, including Earth, Wind & Fire's Faces album, soloing on the tracks "Back on the Road" and "You Went Away", two tracks from the Lionel Richie album Can't Slow Down, and the Richard Marx album Repeat Offender. Lukather and Jeff Porcaro were heavily involved in the recording of virtually all of Michael Jackson's Thriller. In addition to recording guitar tracks, Lukather has also written or produced music for Lionel Richie, Richard Marx, Chicago, Donna Summer, and The Tubes. He won a Grammy award in 1982 for the George Benson song "Turn Your Love Around" (co-written with Jay Graydon and Bill Champlin).
Solo albums
Lukather has released eight solo studio albums: Lukather (1989), Candyman (1994), Luke (1997), Santamental (2003), Ever Changing Times (2008), All's Well That Ends Well (2010), Transition (2013) and I Found the Sun Again (2021).
1989–1997: Lukather, Candyman, and Luke
The 1989 album Lukather came about after Toto had been recording and playing for 11 years, and the consensus among the band members was to take a break. As Lukather had written a number of songs that did not appear on Toto albums, he decided to pursue a solo album, with the intention of presenting a dimension of his music that fans would be unfamiliar with. He collaborated with many notable musicians, including Eddie Van Halen, Richard Marx, Jan Hammer, Steve Stevens, and fellow Toto members Jeff Porcaro and David Paich. Lukather has said that the album was produced very simply, and that a lot of ambient studio noise—counting off on various tracks, for instance—is audible on it. He also credits bands Pink Floyd, Cream, Led Zeppelin, and guitarists Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton as influences on the album. The single "Swear Your Love" came from the album.
Candyman, recorded and mastered from March 1993 through November 1993, was a collaboration of musicians who were for the most part also in Lukather's band Los Lobotomys. Toto familiars Simon Phillips and David Paich participated as well as David Garfield, John Peña, Chris Trujillo, Lenny Castro, Larry Klimas, Fee Waybill, Richard Page, and Paul Rodgers. Lukather recorded the album in mostly live takes with little overdubbing. Some international fans were confused about whether Candyman was a Steve Lukather album or a Los Lobotomys album. The Japanese and US releases of Candyman were under the Los Lobotomys name rather than Lukather's; the Japanese release also featured a version of the Hendrix song "Red House". The European release of Candyman was credited to Lukather alone. Additionally, the touring band for the album was sometimes introduced as "Steve Lukather and Los Lobotomys" and sometimes as just "Los Lobotomys". The song "Borrowed Time" was released as a single in Europe and included "Red House" as a B-side.
Lukather describes 1997's Luke as a much different and more "introspective" album than his previous two solo efforts. The album is a concentrated collection of many of Lukather's musical influences, and he deliberately let those influences come out on the album. Luke is an experimental album, and like Candyman it was recorded mostly in live sessions with minimal overdubbing and processing afterwards. Luke also features instrumentation not heard on previous Lukather albums: pedal steel, harmonicas, Mellotrons, and experimental guitar, bass, and drum sounds. The US version of Luke includes a version of the Jeff Beck song "The Pump". The song "Hate Everything About U" was released as a single.
2003: Santamental
Santamental, released in October 2003, is a collaborative project featuring several prominent musicians such as guitarists Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Steve Vai, and drummer Gregg Bissonette. When Lukather's record company, Bop City Records, approached him about recording a Christmas album, he responded with a quip about his suitability for the project. The company wanted him to do the record knowing he would approach the project with a unique angle and produce something different from the typical Christmas album. Lukather recruited keyboardist Jeff Babko and guitarist Larry Carlton, who Lukather had worked with previously, to help arrange the songs. The project was a challenge to Lukather, who had to be creative to turn the traditionally simple songs into something interesting for listeners without altering the fundamental structures. He said of the album, "But I never dreamt in a million years that I'd do a Christmas record."
The musicians Lukather chose for Santamental, most of whom were involved in the hard-rock genre, lent a heavy feel to the album. Van Halen recorded guitar tracks for "Joy to the World" after not having been in the studio for some time but immediately made an impression on Lukather with his level of playing. Vai provided guitar work for "Carol of the Bells" along with Lukather's son Trevor, then 14 years old. Slash, who recorded his part in one take, played on the Lukather/Stan Lynch composition "Broken Heart for Christmas". Lukather spoke highly of Slash after the project, calling him the "Keith Richards of our generation". Well-known session guitarist Michael Landau played on the song "Look Out For Angels", and there is a version of "Jingle Bells" featuring a big band and sung by Sammy Davis, Jr. Santamental was recorded in six days, after which Lukather proclaimed it "his first and last Christmas album".
2008–2013: Ever Changing Times, All's Well That Ends Well, and Transition
Ever Changing Times, released on February 22, 2008, is a collection of songs Lukather recorded in 2007 between Toto tours. The album contains contributions from fellow session musicians Bill Champlin, Abe Laboriel, Jr., Leland Sklar, Steve Porcaro, and many others. Lukather's son Trevor contributed as well. Joseph Williams provides backing vocals on five of the tracks. Lukather wrote the songs for the album in a hotel room with his son and a handful of other musicians, using basic equipment. His song-writing philosophy is that if a song sounds good with only guitars and vocals, it will likely sound good after a full production. Lukather collaborated with Grammy Award-winning engineer and producer Steve MacMillan on the project, with the goal of introducing some new methods and techniques into the recording process. Lukather described the final tracks as "perfectly imperfect", preferring to record with the five-piece backing band in one room and in one take. MacMillan encouraged Lukather to use "organic, vintage tones". As a result, Lukather eschewed effects and played the guitar parts directly through tube amplifiers manufactured by Marshall, Vox, and some boutique brands. Lukather commented that MacMillan served as a valuable "second set of ears" in the studio, often encouraging him to keep parts that he normally would have discarded. As Toto had recently disbanded when Ever Changing Times was released, Lukather embarked on a solo tour to promote the album. The shows featured a mixture of songs from the album, songs written for other side projects, and "a few Toto obscurities".
Lukather's sixth studio album, All's Well That Ends Well, was released on October 11, 2010, in Europe and Japan, and November 16 as a digital download worldwide. The material was written predominantly in collaboration with longtime associate C. J. Vanston, and the album features stalwart musicians from Lukather's touring band. Songwriter Randy Goodrum, who has collaborated with Lukather many times over the years including on the 1986 Toto single "I'll Be over You", contributes to the track "Brody's". All's Well That Ends Well draws from Lukather's personal experiences in the two years since Ever Changing Times. Critic Arlene Weiss noted that the album features three distinct flavors of music: one that "bares [Lukather's] soul and emotional heartache", one that pans elements of popular culture like TMZ.com, and one that expresses optimism and enthusiasm about the future. While Lukather focused on instrumental writing and production on previous albums but collaborated with lyricists, he wrote much of the lyrics for All's Well That Ends Well himself. Lukather describes the album as being a "real" and "honest" reflection of the period between 2008 and 2010, when he experienced difficulties within his private life.
In December 2011, Lukather announced the beginning of work on Transition. The album was produced with songwriter and record producer C.J. Vanston and involved musicians Chad Smith, Gregg Bissonette, Leland Sklar, Steve Weingart, and others. Throughout 2012, Lukather released notes and news of the album development through his web site. The title was announced on October 12, 2012. The album was released January 21, 2013.
2020–present: I Found the Sun Again, Bridges
After seven years without the release of any solo material, Lukather released a single entitled "Run to Me" on August 19, 2020. Two months later, he announced that he would release solo albums simultaneously with longtime Toto collaborator Joseph Williams. Lukather's and Williams' albums, on which they mutually contributed, are entitled I Found the Sun Again and Denizen Tenant, respectively, and released on February 26, 2021. Lukather's new album is titled Bridges and will be released on June 16, 2023. It is preceded by the first single, "When I See You Again." On Instagram, he said "My ninth solo album, Bridges, could not be more accurately titled. I see it as a bridge between my solo music and Toto music. This is as close as we will get to a new Toto record."
Side projects
When not working with Toto, Lukather has participated in numerous side projects including playing with jazz fusion band Los Lobotomys and with other session musicians, and touring with Larry Carlton, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and others.
Lukather was a long-time member of the band Los Lobotomys, a collaboration of session musicians including jazz and be-bop player David "Creatchy" Garfield and Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro, replaced after his death by Simon Phillips, who also replaced Porcaro in Toto. Los Lobotomys formed in the mid-1980s and played regular shows in the Los Angeles area, often inviting whatever session musicians happened to be available and in the area. They recorded an album under the Los Lobotomys name in 1989, and the band was heavily involved in the recording of Lukather's Candyman. Los Lobotomys recorded a live album in 2004 comprising several tracks from Candyman and from the 1989 album.
In 1998, Lukather received an invitation to tour Japan with fellow guitarist Larry Carlton after Japanese promoters requested that Carlton's annual tours each be different from the last. Lukather and Carlton exchanged some recorded material and decided that a collaboration would be interesting. Lukather was flattered by the invitation to tour with Carlton, citing him as his favorite guitarist. Lukather speaks highly of their stage efforts, although the two were admittedly outside their normal realm of work. He stated in an interview that "you can hear us having fun on the record—you can hear the smiles on our faces." After several shows, the duo realized that they should record their collaboration even if just for their own use. Guitarist and producer Steve Vai heard one of the subsequent recordings and expressed interest in releasing it under his Favored Nations label, also home to such artists as Eric Johnson and Dweezil Zappa. Vai and Lukather mixed and produced the recording, which is said to be a mixture of jazz, blues, and fusion music. The resulting album, No Substitutions: Live in Osaka, won a 2001 Grammy award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Album reviewers described Lukather as having a heavier style than Carlton. Lukather and Carlton later did an international tour in support of the album.
In 2005, Lukather won critical praise for his rendition of the Jimi Hendrix song "Little Wing" at a gala 90th birthday celebration for jazz guitarist Les Paul. Returning after a five-year absence, the 2012 G3 Tour featured Lukather alongside Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.
In the autumn of 2006, Lukather contributed his cover-version of the Michael Landau-song "I'm Buzzed" (originally from Landau's Tales From The Bulge album) from a live recording of his side band project, El Grupo, to the album project Artists for Charity – Guitarists 4the Kids, produced by Slang Productions, to assist World Vision Canada in helping underprivileged kids in need.
In February 2012, Ringo Starr announced that Lukather would be the guitarist in his All Starr Band for their summer tour. Lukather has been touring with that ensemble since that time, performing three Toto songs ("Hold the Line," "Rosanna," and "Africa") nightly.
Lukather contributes material and expertise to instructional and educational enterprises. In 1985, he released the instructional "Star Licks" guitar video featuring many of the guitar parts from the first five Toto studio albums. It was released on DVD in 2005. The guitarist has also been participating in the Fermatta Master Class Series project, an educational cooperative organized by the Fermatta Music Academy in Mexico.
Lukather has periodically performed with a side band named Nerve Bundle at The Baked Potato in Studio City, CA around Christmas time. The band features Toss Panos on drums, Jeff Babko on keyboards, and Jorgen Carlsson on bass.
Musical style and equipment
Influenced by such blues-rock guitarists as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy Page, and such jazz fusion players as John McLaughlin, and Al Di Meola, Lukather is known for a "melodic and intense" playing style. He has also cited Steely Dan as a major long-time influence—one that emerges prominently in later solo work such as All's Well That Ends Well. Journalist Jude Gold notes that his vibrato is very pronounced and his "exaggerated wide bends" are distinctive and quickly recognizable. Well-versed in music theory, Lukather can follow chord charts and changes in a way typical of jazz musicians—this ability enhances his value as a session musician. In interviews, he has explained how he thinks of the guitar in a "chordal cluster" format, and not the typical "linear scale" format.
Lukather's approach to engineering his sound in the studio is usually simple. He is not known for doing a large number of takes or for incorporating much overdubbing—rather, he has a reputation for doing only single takes for many parts. He has said about this approach: "If a solo didn't work—either because I didn't have the right sound, or because I wasn't inspired at that moment—I'd just move on. A part either works or it doesn't. You can't batter it into submission, or force inspiration to save you. It's always better to just surrender, and then come back later to give it a go with fresh ears." Although he enjoys the technical mastery that is possible in the studio, Lukather prefers the dynamic of performing live on stage. He has stated that dynamics are the most important element of producing a recording with good sound quality.
Despite being known in the past for having an intricate set of effects units, Lukather now says he plays mostly free of such modifications after seeing some overdone commercial unit configurations named after him. Other than some delay, he has not used many effects in recent years. He has held a long association with Bob Bradshaw of Custom Audio Electronics, who designed and manufactured key elements of Lukather's effects rack. Lukather was one of the few official endorsers of EMG pickups, having collaborated on his own Lukather signature "SL20" pickup system, which is in essence a "loaded pickguard" system incorporating two single-coil EMG SLV pickups and an EMG 85 humbucker. The system also has single master volume and tone knobs. In December 2012, Lukather collaborated with DiMarzio pickups on a new set of signature pickups called "Transition". He has been using these pickups in his Music-Man Luke3 guitar.
Lukather endorses Music Man guitars and has a signature model named "Luke" that incorporated his signature EMG pickup system. The guitar started out with only MusicMan specifications (including a Floyd Rose locking vibrato, later replaced with a vintage-style fulcrum bridge), but in 1998, the manufacturer made several customizations to the model to better fit Lukather's playing style. Music Man also produces a Ball Family Reserve Steve Lukather Model that features an alder body with a mahogany "tone block" inlaid under the pickups, capped with a figured maple top and transparent finish. In 2012 a new version of the guitar called the LIII was introduced with a 3% larger but similarly contoured body, all-rosewood neck and passive pickup options (dual humbucker or single-single-humbucker) combined with an active preamp and 12-dB boost activated from a push/push tone pot. the LIII model also debuted Lukather's switch from EMG to custom DiMarzio "Transition" model pickups. In 2013 Lukather changed to a roasted maple neck with a rosewood fret board, citing the exceptional stability of roasted maple while touring as a factor in his decision. As a result, the LIII specification and production was changed to match Lukather's preference. Lukather has also been known to play Ibanez and Valley Arts guitars. His relationship with Ibanez and Valley Arts yielded an endorsement for a brief time in the 1980s with the release of the Ibanez Roadstar RS1010SL and Valley Arts Custom Pro Steve Lukather Signature guitars in 1984–85. He has played Ovation Adamas series acoustic–electric guitars. Starting before his 2010 All's Well That Ends Well tour, Lukather began playing and endorsing Yamaha Studio Response Technology acoustic–electric guitars.
Information about his current equipment can be found on Lukather's website.
Discography
Studio albums
Lukather (1989)
Candyman (1994)
Luke (1997)
Santamental (2003)
Ever Changing Times (2008)
All's Well That Ends Well (2010)
Transition (2013)
I Found the Sun Again (2021)
Bridges (2023)
Collaborative albums
Lotus Gem (with Carlos Santana and Jeff Beck) (1992)
No Substitutions: Live in Osaka (with Larry Carlton) (2001)
An Odd Couple Live (with Edgar Winter) (2010)
With Toto
Toto (1978)
Hydra (1979)
Turn Back (1981)
Toto IV (1982)
Isolation (1984)
Fahrenheit (1986)
The Seventh One (1988)
Kingdom of Desire (1992)
Tambu (1995)
Toto XX (1998)
Mindfields (1999)
Through the Looking Glass (2002)
Falling in Between (2006)
Toto XIV (2015)
Old Is New (2018)
With Los Lobotomys
Los Lobotomys (1989)
With El Grupo
El Grupo Live (2005)
Awards
1982 – Grammy Award for Best R&B Song: Steve Lukather, Jay Graydon, Bill Champlin (for George Benson) – "Turn Your Love Around"
1982 – Grammy Award for Producer of the Year: Toto – Toto IV
1982 – Grammy Award for Album of the Year: Toto – Toto IV
1982 – Grammy Award for Record of the Year: Toto – "Rosanna"
2002 – Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album: Larry Carlton & Steve Lukather – No Substitutions: Live in Osaka
2009 – Musicians Hall Of Fame
2010 – Eddy Christiani Award
2015 – Guitar Player Magazine – Lifetime Achievement Award
Books
The Gospel According to Luke (2018)
References
External links
NAMM Oral History Interview March 12, 2015
Category:1957 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century American guitarists
Category:20th-century American male singers
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:21st-century American guitarists
Category:21st-century American male singers
Category:21st-century American singers
Category:American male guitarists
Category:American male singer-songwriters
Category:American music arrangers
Category:American rock guitarists
Category:Record producers from California
Category:Singer-songwriters from California
Category:American session musicians
Category:Columbia Records artists
Category:Grammy Award winners
Category:Lead guitarists
Category:Toto (band) members
Category:Grant High School (Los Angeles) alumni
Category:Favored Nations artists
Category:Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band members | [] | [
"Candyman is an album recorded and mastered by Steve Lukather from March 1993 through November 1993. The album was a collaboration with musicians who were mostly also in Lukather's band Los Lobotomys. Some fans were confused about whether Candyman was a Steve Lukather album or a Los Lobotomys album due to different credits in different releases. The album was recorded mostly in live takes with little overdubbing.",
"The text does not provide information on whether the album Candyman was popular.",
"Steve Lukather collaborated with numerous musicians for his 1989 album \"Lukather\" and other works. For \"Lukather\", he worked with Eddie Van Halen, Richard Marx, Jan Hammer, Steve Stevens, and fellow Toto members Jeff Porcaro and David Paich. For \"Candyman\", he worked with Simon Phillips, David Paich, David Garfield, John Pena, Chris Trujillo, Lenny Castro, Larry Klimas, Fee Waybill, Richard Page, and Paul Rodgers.",
"In addition to those previously mentioned, Steve Lukather also collaborated with musicians from his band Los Lobotomys for the album \"Candyman\". There are no other musicians listed in the provided context that Lukather collaborated with.",
"In addition to \"Lukather\" and \"Candyman\", Steve Lukather also recorded the album \"Luke\" in 1997. The context does not mention any other albums by Lukather.",
"The text does not provide information on how the album \"Luke\" was received.",
"The text does not provide information on what happened after the album \"Luke\" was released."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_1 | Steve Lukather | Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known for his work with the rock band Toto. A prolific session musician, Lukather has recorded guitar tracks for more than 1,500 albums representing a broad array of artists and genres. He has also contributed to albums and hit singles as a songwriter, arranger and producer. Lukather has released seven solo albums, the latest of which, Transition, was released in January 2013. | Biography | Steven Lee Lukather was born on October 21, 1957, in San Fernando Valley, California. In an interview with online publication "Guitarhoo!" he said: "I had a music teacher in grammar school that made me play the violin. It was 1965. I had been playing guitar for a year (after the Beatles changed our lives), and they had NO use for a guitar player." He then played keyboards and drums, and then taught himself how to play the guitar starting at age seven, when his father bought him a Kay acoustic guitar and a copy of the Beatles album Meet the Beatles. Lukather has said that the album "changed his life" and that he was greatly influenced by the guitar playing of George Harrison in particular. In high school, Lukather met David Paich and the Porcaro brothers (Jeff, Steve, and Mike), all of whom eventually became members of Toto. Lukather, who had been a self-taught musician, began taking guitar lessons from Jimmy Wyble. With Wyble, Lukather expanded his knowledge of wider aspects of music, including orchestration. It was during this period in the early 1970s that Lukather became interested in the idea of becoming a session musician, a vocation that provided opportunities to play with a variety of famous musicians. Jeff Porcaro, who had been playing drums with Steely Dan since 1973, became a mentor to Lukather and furthered his interest in session work. Lukather's first job in the music industry was studio work with Boz Scaggs, after which Paich and Jeff Porcaro--who had become prominent session musicians in their own right--asked Lukather to join them in forming Toto in 1976 along with Bobby Kimball, David Hungate, and Steve Porcaro. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_1_q#0",
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_1_q#1",
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_1_q#2",
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_1_q#3",
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_1_q#4",
"C_bd4ab8765aa54cd1aba6f0ae3ce4e9b6_1_q#5"
] | [
"Where was Lukather born?",
"What were his parents like?",
"Where did he go to school?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Did he go on to work with them on music?",
"What was Lukather's role in the band?"
] | [
0,
2,
1,
0,
2,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
0,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
461
],
[
1659
],
[
699
],
[
790
],
[
837
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Steven Lee Lukather was born on October 21, 1957, in San Fernando Valley, California."
],
[
"his father bought him a Kay acoustic guitar and a copy of the Beatles album Meet the Beatles."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"In high school, Lukather met David Paich and the Porcaro brothers (Jeff, Steve, and Mike),"
],
[
"all of whom eventually became members of Toto."
],
[
"Lukather, who had been a self-taught musician, began taking guitar lessons"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
461,
1659,
699,
790,
837
],
"texts": [
"Steven Lee Lukather was born on October 21, 1957, in San Fernando Valley, California.",
"his father bought him a Kay acoustic guitar and a copy of the Beatles album Meet the Beatles.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"In high school, Lukather met David Paich and the Porcaro brothers (Jeff, Steve, and Mike),",
"all of whom eventually became members of Toto.",
"Lukather, who had been a self-taught musician, began taking guitar lessons"
]
} | Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a steady flow of session work beginning in the 1970s that has since established him as a prolific session musician, recording guitar tracks for more than 1,500 albums spanning a broad array of artists and genres. He has also contributed to albums and hit singles as a songwriter, arranger and producer. Notably, Lukather played guitar on Boz Scaggs' albums Down Two Then Left (1977) and Middle Man (1980), and was a prominent contributor to several studio albums by Michael Jackson, including Thriller (1982). Lukather has released eight solo albums, the latest of which, I Found the Sun Again, was released in February 2021.
Influenced by such blues-rock guitarists as Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, and such jazz fusion players as Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin, Lukather is known for a "melodic and intense" playing style. He is also recognized for his efficiency in the studio, often recording tracks in one take using minimal sound processing. While he once used many guitar effects in the studio and on stage, he now frequently disparages such practice, and instead advocates cleaner tones and minimal studio processing. Lukather plays primarily a signature electric guitar manufactured by Ernie Ball Music Man bearing his nickname, Luke. He also plays Yamaha and Ovation Adamas series acoustic–electric guitars.
Early life
Steven Lee Lukather was born on October 21, 1957, in the San Fernando Valley, California. His father was an assistant director and production manager at Paramount Studios, and worked on shows such as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and I Dream of Jeannie. Lukather first played keyboards and drums, and then taught himself how to play the guitar starting at age seven, when his father bought him a Kay acoustic guitar and a copy of the Beatles album Meet the Beatles. Lukather has said that the album "changed his life" and that he was greatly influenced by the guitar playing of George Harrison in particular.
At Grant High School, Lukather met David Paich and the Porcaro brothers (Jeff, Steve, and Mike), all of whom eventually became members of Toto. Lukather, who had been a self-taught musician, began taking guitar lessons from Jimmy Wyble. With Wyble, Lukather expanded his knowledge of wider aspects of music, including orchestration. It was during this period in the early 1970s that Lukather became interested in the idea of becoming a session musician, a vocation that provided opportunities to play with a variety of famous musicians.
Jeff Porcaro, who had been playing drums with Steely Dan since 1973, became a mentor to Lukather and nurtured his interest in session work. Lukather's first job in the music industry was studio work with Boz Scaggs, after which Paich and Jeff Porcaro—who had become prominent session musicians in their own right—asked Lukather to join them in forming Toto in 1976 along with Bobby Kimball, David Hungate, and Steve Porcaro.
Toto
Lukather is the original lead guitarist for Toto, serving in that capacity for the band's entire history, as well as composer and lead and backing vocalist. Lukather won three of his five Grammy Awards for work with Toto, twice as an artist and once as a producer. David Paich led the band's songwriting efforts during the development of 1978's Toto—he penned all but two of the album's tracks, including all four of its singles. Lukather also credits Jeff Porcaro for his leadership within the band during that period. However, Lukather's role in Toto evolved over time owing to the changing needs of the band. In August 1992, Jeff Porcaro collapsed while doing yard work at home and subsequently died of heart failure. The death profoundly affected Toto and Lukather in particular, who felt that he needed to step up and make sure the band kept going. Thus, he began taking more of a leadership role.
Toto went through several lead vocalists over the years, including Bobby Kimball, Fergie Frederiksen, and Joseph Williams. After the 1990 dismissal of their fourth vocalist, Jean-Michel Byron, Toto was without a lead singer until around 1997; Lukather assumed most of the vocal duties for the band during that time. He performed lead vocals for every track on 1992's Kingdom of Desire and 1995's Tambu except for two instrumental tracks. The Tambu single "I Will Remember", co-written by Lukather and Stan Lynch, reached number 64 on UK charts. Some Tambu reviewers contrasted Lukather's vocals with those of former singers Kimball and Williams (and indeed, heavily criticized the entire album), some concert reviewers noted that he struggled vocally on certain songs, and a number of backup singers and guest vocalists accompanied the band's live shows during that period. It was not until Toto brought back Williams and Kimball to collaborate on 1998's Toto XX that Lukather returned primarily to the role of backup vocalist.
Lukather's songwriting contributions grew from a few tracks on early Toto albums to co-writing almost every track starting in the late 1980s. Lukather admitted that the reason why he has no songwriting contributions on the first two Toto albums was that he wasn't writing many songs at the time, being intimidated by the talent of the band's chief songwriter, David Paich. He credits Paich with encouraging him to contribute more songs to the band. He wrote very few of Toto's songs by himself, an exception being the hit single "I Won't Hold You Back" from Toto IV. Lukather has said that writing lyrics is not one of his strengths. Thus, he collaborated with other band members to complete song ideas and make them into viable album tracks. Lukather's official site claims he contributed to writing all the songs on Toto's 2006 album Falling in Between, even though "Spiritual Man" officially credits Paich as the sole writer.
By 2008, Lukather was the only original Toto member still performing with the band: Bobby Kimball was also in the band at the time, but had been absent from it for some time – whereas Lukather has been with Toto since its formation. However, in June of the same year, Lukather decided to leave Toto. This decision directly led to the official dissolution of the band. In a 2011 interview discussing his career with Toto, Lukather indicated that the band had evolved too far from its original incarnation and that he was dealing with the physical and mental toll of recording and performing. In February 2010, the band announced that they would reunite to support Toto bassist Mike Porcaro, who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. They continued to tour on a limited basis in 2011 and 2012.
Although Lukather indicated in April 2011 that the band would not record any further material, Toto announced an international tour schedule and new studio album in March 2014. In March 2015 Toto XIV was released. The band toured in celebration of its 40th anniversary from 2016 to 2019, when Lukather announced an indefinite hiatus. A new Toto lineup converged in 2020 to resume performances, featuring Lukather and Williams as the only members persisting from previous lineups, though Paich would still make guest appearances and is considered an official member. The group has virtual livestream performances and eventual live concerts planned for 2020 and 2021, with John Pierce on bass guitar, Robert "Sput" Searight on drums, Steve Maggiora on keyboards, Dominique "Xavier" Taplin on keyboards, and Warren Ham providing additional vocals.
Session work
Lukather achieved notability in the 1970s and 1980s as one of the most sought-after session guitarists in Los Angeles, playing with a wide range of artists from Aretha Franklin to Warren Zevon. He has performed on over 1,500 records spanning 36 years. Music journalist Jude Gold noted, "It's hard to name a guitarist who has had a more prolific and fulfilling career than Steve Lukather." Lukather credits fellow Toto members David Paich and Jeff Porcaro for getting him exposure in the industry—although he lamented in an April 2011 interview that opportunities for session musicians have curtailed in recent years: "There is no 'session guy' thing any more—not like it was. It's not like the old days when I was doing 25 sessions a week. All the studios are gone. The budgets are gone. The record companies are all gone." His own output as a session musician has slowed along with the rest of the industry—as of 2009, Lukather stated he was doing only a few sessions a year.
Named by Gibson Guitar Corporation as one of the Top 10 session guitarists of all time, Lukather has performed on many notable tracks, including Earth, Wind & Fire's Faces album, soloing on the tracks "Back on the Road" and "You Went Away", two tracks from the Lionel Richie album Can't Slow Down, and the Richard Marx album Repeat Offender. Lukather and Jeff Porcaro were heavily involved in the recording of virtually all of Michael Jackson's Thriller. In addition to recording guitar tracks, Lukather has also written or produced music for Lionel Richie, Richard Marx, Chicago, Donna Summer, and The Tubes. He won a Grammy award in 1982 for the George Benson song "Turn Your Love Around" (co-written with Jay Graydon and Bill Champlin).
Solo albums
Lukather has released eight solo studio albums: Lukather (1989), Candyman (1994), Luke (1997), Santamental (2003), Ever Changing Times (2008), All's Well That Ends Well (2010), Transition (2013) and I Found the Sun Again (2021).
1989–1997: Lukather, Candyman, and Luke
The 1989 album Lukather came about after Toto had been recording and playing for 11 years, and the consensus among the band members was to take a break. As Lukather had written a number of songs that did not appear on Toto albums, he decided to pursue a solo album, with the intention of presenting a dimension of his music that fans would be unfamiliar with. He collaborated with many notable musicians, including Eddie Van Halen, Richard Marx, Jan Hammer, Steve Stevens, and fellow Toto members Jeff Porcaro and David Paich. Lukather has said that the album was produced very simply, and that a lot of ambient studio noise—counting off on various tracks, for instance—is audible on it. He also credits bands Pink Floyd, Cream, Led Zeppelin, and guitarists Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton as influences on the album. The single "Swear Your Love" came from the album.
Candyman, recorded and mastered from March 1993 through November 1993, was a collaboration of musicians who were for the most part also in Lukather's band Los Lobotomys. Toto familiars Simon Phillips and David Paich participated as well as David Garfield, John Peña, Chris Trujillo, Lenny Castro, Larry Klimas, Fee Waybill, Richard Page, and Paul Rodgers. Lukather recorded the album in mostly live takes with little overdubbing. Some international fans were confused about whether Candyman was a Steve Lukather album or a Los Lobotomys album. The Japanese and US releases of Candyman were under the Los Lobotomys name rather than Lukather's; the Japanese release also featured a version of the Hendrix song "Red House". The European release of Candyman was credited to Lukather alone. Additionally, the touring band for the album was sometimes introduced as "Steve Lukather and Los Lobotomys" and sometimes as just "Los Lobotomys". The song "Borrowed Time" was released as a single in Europe and included "Red House" as a B-side.
Lukather describes 1997's Luke as a much different and more "introspective" album than his previous two solo efforts. The album is a concentrated collection of many of Lukather's musical influences, and he deliberately let those influences come out on the album. Luke is an experimental album, and like Candyman it was recorded mostly in live sessions with minimal overdubbing and processing afterwards. Luke also features instrumentation not heard on previous Lukather albums: pedal steel, harmonicas, Mellotrons, and experimental guitar, bass, and drum sounds. The US version of Luke includes a version of the Jeff Beck song "The Pump". The song "Hate Everything About U" was released as a single.
2003: Santamental
Santamental, released in October 2003, is a collaborative project featuring several prominent musicians such as guitarists Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Steve Vai, and drummer Gregg Bissonette. When Lukather's record company, Bop City Records, approached him about recording a Christmas album, he responded with a quip about his suitability for the project. The company wanted him to do the record knowing he would approach the project with a unique angle and produce something different from the typical Christmas album. Lukather recruited keyboardist Jeff Babko and guitarist Larry Carlton, who Lukather had worked with previously, to help arrange the songs. The project was a challenge to Lukather, who had to be creative to turn the traditionally simple songs into something interesting for listeners without altering the fundamental structures. He said of the album, "But I never dreamt in a million years that I'd do a Christmas record."
The musicians Lukather chose for Santamental, most of whom were involved in the hard-rock genre, lent a heavy feel to the album. Van Halen recorded guitar tracks for "Joy to the World" after not having been in the studio for some time but immediately made an impression on Lukather with his level of playing. Vai provided guitar work for "Carol of the Bells" along with Lukather's son Trevor, then 14 years old. Slash, who recorded his part in one take, played on the Lukather/Stan Lynch composition "Broken Heart for Christmas". Lukather spoke highly of Slash after the project, calling him the "Keith Richards of our generation". Well-known session guitarist Michael Landau played on the song "Look Out For Angels", and there is a version of "Jingle Bells" featuring a big band and sung by Sammy Davis, Jr. Santamental was recorded in six days, after which Lukather proclaimed it "his first and last Christmas album".
2008–2013: Ever Changing Times, All's Well That Ends Well, and Transition
Ever Changing Times, released on February 22, 2008, is a collection of songs Lukather recorded in 2007 between Toto tours. The album contains contributions from fellow session musicians Bill Champlin, Abe Laboriel, Jr., Leland Sklar, Steve Porcaro, and many others. Lukather's son Trevor contributed as well. Joseph Williams provides backing vocals on five of the tracks. Lukather wrote the songs for the album in a hotel room with his son and a handful of other musicians, using basic equipment. His song-writing philosophy is that if a song sounds good with only guitars and vocals, it will likely sound good after a full production. Lukather collaborated with Grammy Award-winning engineer and producer Steve MacMillan on the project, with the goal of introducing some new methods and techniques into the recording process. Lukather described the final tracks as "perfectly imperfect", preferring to record with the five-piece backing band in one room and in one take. MacMillan encouraged Lukather to use "organic, vintage tones". As a result, Lukather eschewed effects and played the guitar parts directly through tube amplifiers manufactured by Marshall, Vox, and some boutique brands. Lukather commented that MacMillan served as a valuable "second set of ears" in the studio, often encouraging him to keep parts that he normally would have discarded. As Toto had recently disbanded when Ever Changing Times was released, Lukather embarked on a solo tour to promote the album. The shows featured a mixture of songs from the album, songs written for other side projects, and "a few Toto obscurities".
Lukather's sixth studio album, All's Well That Ends Well, was released on October 11, 2010, in Europe and Japan, and November 16 as a digital download worldwide. The material was written predominantly in collaboration with longtime associate C. J. Vanston, and the album features stalwart musicians from Lukather's touring band. Songwriter Randy Goodrum, who has collaborated with Lukather many times over the years including on the 1986 Toto single "I'll Be over You", contributes to the track "Brody's". All's Well That Ends Well draws from Lukather's personal experiences in the two years since Ever Changing Times. Critic Arlene Weiss noted that the album features three distinct flavors of music: one that "bares [Lukather's] soul and emotional heartache", one that pans elements of popular culture like TMZ.com, and one that expresses optimism and enthusiasm about the future. While Lukather focused on instrumental writing and production on previous albums but collaborated with lyricists, he wrote much of the lyrics for All's Well That Ends Well himself. Lukather describes the album as being a "real" and "honest" reflection of the period between 2008 and 2010, when he experienced difficulties within his private life.
In December 2011, Lukather announced the beginning of work on Transition. The album was produced with songwriter and record producer C.J. Vanston and involved musicians Chad Smith, Gregg Bissonette, Leland Sklar, Steve Weingart, and others. Throughout 2012, Lukather released notes and news of the album development through his web site. The title was announced on October 12, 2012. The album was released January 21, 2013.
2020–present: I Found the Sun Again, Bridges
After seven years without the release of any solo material, Lukather released a single entitled "Run to Me" on August 19, 2020. Two months later, he announced that he would release solo albums simultaneously with longtime Toto collaborator Joseph Williams. Lukather's and Williams' albums, on which they mutually contributed, are entitled I Found the Sun Again and Denizen Tenant, respectively, and released on February 26, 2021. Lukather's new album is titled Bridges and will be released on June 16, 2023. It is preceded by the first single, "When I See You Again." On Instagram, he said "My ninth solo album, Bridges, could not be more accurately titled. I see it as a bridge between my solo music and Toto music. This is as close as we will get to a new Toto record."
Side projects
When not working with Toto, Lukather has participated in numerous side projects including playing with jazz fusion band Los Lobotomys and with other session musicians, and touring with Larry Carlton, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and others.
Lukather was a long-time member of the band Los Lobotomys, a collaboration of session musicians including jazz and be-bop player David "Creatchy" Garfield and Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro, replaced after his death by Simon Phillips, who also replaced Porcaro in Toto. Los Lobotomys formed in the mid-1980s and played regular shows in the Los Angeles area, often inviting whatever session musicians happened to be available and in the area. They recorded an album under the Los Lobotomys name in 1989, and the band was heavily involved in the recording of Lukather's Candyman. Los Lobotomys recorded a live album in 2004 comprising several tracks from Candyman and from the 1989 album.
In 1998, Lukather received an invitation to tour Japan with fellow guitarist Larry Carlton after Japanese promoters requested that Carlton's annual tours each be different from the last. Lukather and Carlton exchanged some recorded material and decided that a collaboration would be interesting. Lukather was flattered by the invitation to tour with Carlton, citing him as his favorite guitarist. Lukather speaks highly of their stage efforts, although the two were admittedly outside their normal realm of work. He stated in an interview that "you can hear us having fun on the record—you can hear the smiles on our faces." After several shows, the duo realized that they should record their collaboration even if just for their own use. Guitarist and producer Steve Vai heard one of the subsequent recordings and expressed interest in releasing it under his Favored Nations label, also home to such artists as Eric Johnson and Dweezil Zappa. Vai and Lukather mixed and produced the recording, which is said to be a mixture of jazz, blues, and fusion music. The resulting album, No Substitutions: Live in Osaka, won a 2001 Grammy award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Album reviewers described Lukather as having a heavier style than Carlton. Lukather and Carlton later did an international tour in support of the album.
In 2005, Lukather won critical praise for his rendition of the Jimi Hendrix song "Little Wing" at a gala 90th birthday celebration for jazz guitarist Les Paul. Returning after a five-year absence, the 2012 G3 Tour featured Lukather alongside Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.
In the autumn of 2006, Lukather contributed his cover-version of the Michael Landau-song "I'm Buzzed" (originally from Landau's Tales From The Bulge album) from a live recording of his side band project, El Grupo, to the album project Artists for Charity – Guitarists 4the Kids, produced by Slang Productions, to assist World Vision Canada in helping underprivileged kids in need.
In February 2012, Ringo Starr announced that Lukather would be the guitarist in his All Starr Band for their summer tour. Lukather has been touring with that ensemble since that time, performing three Toto songs ("Hold the Line," "Rosanna," and "Africa") nightly.
Lukather contributes material and expertise to instructional and educational enterprises. In 1985, he released the instructional "Star Licks" guitar video featuring many of the guitar parts from the first five Toto studio albums. It was released on DVD in 2005. The guitarist has also been participating in the Fermatta Master Class Series project, an educational cooperative organized by the Fermatta Music Academy in Mexico.
Lukather has periodically performed with a side band named Nerve Bundle at The Baked Potato in Studio City, CA around Christmas time. The band features Toss Panos on drums, Jeff Babko on keyboards, and Jorgen Carlsson on bass.
Musical style and equipment
Influenced by such blues-rock guitarists as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy Page, and such jazz fusion players as John McLaughlin, and Al Di Meola, Lukather is known for a "melodic and intense" playing style. He has also cited Steely Dan as a major long-time influence—one that emerges prominently in later solo work such as All's Well That Ends Well. Journalist Jude Gold notes that his vibrato is very pronounced and his "exaggerated wide bends" are distinctive and quickly recognizable. Well-versed in music theory, Lukather can follow chord charts and changes in a way typical of jazz musicians—this ability enhances his value as a session musician. In interviews, he has explained how he thinks of the guitar in a "chordal cluster" format, and not the typical "linear scale" format.
Lukather's approach to engineering his sound in the studio is usually simple. He is not known for doing a large number of takes or for incorporating much overdubbing—rather, he has a reputation for doing only single takes for many parts. He has said about this approach: "If a solo didn't work—either because I didn't have the right sound, or because I wasn't inspired at that moment—I'd just move on. A part either works or it doesn't. You can't batter it into submission, or force inspiration to save you. It's always better to just surrender, and then come back later to give it a go with fresh ears." Although he enjoys the technical mastery that is possible in the studio, Lukather prefers the dynamic of performing live on stage. He has stated that dynamics are the most important element of producing a recording with good sound quality.
Despite being known in the past for having an intricate set of effects units, Lukather now says he plays mostly free of such modifications after seeing some overdone commercial unit configurations named after him. Other than some delay, he has not used many effects in recent years. He has held a long association with Bob Bradshaw of Custom Audio Electronics, who designed and manufactured key elements of Lukather's effects rack. Lukather was one of the few official endorsers of EMG pickups, having collaborated on his own Lukather signature "SL20" pickup system, which is in essence a "loaded pickguard" system incorporating two single-coil EMG SLV pickups and an EMG 85 humbucker. The system also has single master volume and tone knobs. In December 2012, Lukather collaborated with DiMarzio pickups on a new set of signature pickups called "Transition". He has been using these pickups in his Music-Man Luke3 guitar.
Lukather endorses Music Man guitars and has a signature model named "Luke" that incorporated his signature EMG pickup system. The guitar started out with only MusicMan specifications (including a Floyd Rose locking vibrato, later replaced with a vintage-style fulcrum bridge), but in 1998, the manufacturer made several customizations to the model to better fit Lukather's playing style. Music Man also produces a Ball Family Reserve Steve Lukather Model that features an alder body with a mahogany "tone block" inlaid under the pickups, capped with a figured maple top and transparent finish. In 2012 a new version of the guitar called the LIII was introduced with a 3% larger but similarly contoured body, all-rosewood neck and passive pickup options (dual humbucker or single-single-humbucker) combined with an active preamp and 12-dB boost activated from a push/push tone pot. the LIII model also debuted Lukather's switch from EMG to custom DiMarzio "Transition" model pickups. In 2013 Lukather changed to a roasted maple neck with a rosewood fret board, citing the exceptional stability of roasted maple while touring as a factor in his decision. As a result, the LIII specification and production was changed to match Lukather's preference. Lukather has also been known to play Ibanez and Valley Arts guitars. His relationship with Ibanez and Valley Arts yielded an endorsement for a brief time in the 1980s with the release of the Ibanez Roadstar RS1010SL and Valley Arts Custom Pro Steve Lukather Signature guitars in 1984–85. He has played Ovation Adamas series acoustic–electric guitars. Starting before his 2010 All's Well That Ends Well tour, Lukather began playing and endorsing Yamaha Studio Response Technology acoustic–electric guitars.
Information about his current equipment can be found on Lukather's website.
Discography
Studio albums
Lukather (1989)
Candyman (1994)
Luke (1997)
Santamental (2003)
Ever Changing Times (2008)
All's Well That Ends Well (2010)
Transition (2013)
I Found the Sun Again (2021)
Bridges (2023)
Collaborative albums
Lotus Gem (with Carlos Santana and Jeff Beck) (1992)
No Substitutions: Live in Osaka (with Larry Carlton) (2001)
An Odd Couple Live (with Edgar Winter) (2010)
With Toto
Toto (1978)
Hydra (1979)
Turn Back (1981)
Toto IV (1982)
Isolation (1984)
Fahrenheit (1986)
The Seventh One (1988)
Kingdom of Desire (1992)
Tambu (1995)
Toto XX (1998)
Mindfields (1999)
Through the Looking Glass (2002)
Falling in Between (2006)
Toto XIV (2015)
Old Is New (2018)
With Los Lobotomys
Los Lobotomys (1989)
With El Grupo
El Grupo Live (2005)
Awards
1982 – Grammy Award for Best R&B Song: Steve Lukather, Jay Graydon, Bill Champlin (for George Benson) – "Turn Your Love Around"
1982 – Grammy Award for Producer of the Year: Toto – Toto IV
1982 – Grammy Award for Album of the Year: Toto – Toto IV
1982 – Grammy Award for Record of the Year: Toto – "Rosanna"
2002 – Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album: Larry Carlton & Steve Lukather – No Substitutions: Live in Osaka
2009 – Musicians Hall Of Fame
2010 – Eddy Christiani Award
2015 – Guitar Player Magazine – Lifetime Achievement Award
Books
The Gospel According to Luke (2018)
References
External links
NAMM Oral History Interview March 12, 2015
Category:1957 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century American guitarists
Category:20th-century American male singers
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:21st-century American guitarists
Category:21st-century American male singers
Category:21st-century American singers
Category:American male guitarists
Category:American male singer-songwriters
Category:American music arrangers
Category:American rock guitarists
Category:Record producers from California
Category:Singer-songwriters from California
Category:American session musicians
Category:Columbia Records artists
Category:Grammy Award winners
Category:Lead guitarists
Category:Toto (band) members
Category:Grant High School (Los Angeles) alumni
Category:Favored Nations artists
Category:Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band members | [] | [
"Lukather was born in San Fernando Valley, California.",
"The text does not provide information on what Lukather's parents were like.",
"The text does not provide specific information on where Lukather went to school.",
"The text provides interesting aspects such as Lukather learning to play multiple instruments such as the violin, keyboards and drums before teaching himself to play the guitar at age seven. It's also interesting how greatly he was influenced by the Beatles, in particular by the guitar playing of George Harrison. Furthermore, his journey from teaching himself guitar to joining a band with his high school mates and becoming interested in being a session musician due to the inspiration from his mentor, Jeff Porcaro, suggests his dedication and passion for music. The formation of the band Toto is another important point mentioned in the text.",
"Yes, Lukather did go on to work with David Paich and the Porcaro brothers, forming the band Toto in 1976.",
"The text does not provide specific information on what Lukather's role was in the band Toto."
] | [
"Yes",
"no",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_65e2874dc2694abaa5ca8ea17b33fe5e_0 | Lawrence Alma-Tadema | Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema Dutch pronunciation: ['l^ur@ns 'alma: 'ta:d@,ma:]; 8 January 1836 - 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter of special British denizenship. | Style | Alma-Tadema's works are remarkable for the way in which flowers, textures and hard reflecting substances, like metals, pottery, and especially marble, are painted - indeed, his realistic depiction of marble led him to be called the 'marbellous painter'. His work shows much of the fine execution and brilliant colour of the old Dutch masters. By the human interest with which he imbues all his scenes from ancient life he brings them within the scope of modern feeling, and charms us with gentle sentiment and playfulness. From early in his career, Alma-Tadema was particularly concerned with architectural accuracy, often including objects that he would see at museums - such as the British Museum in London - in his works. He also read many books and took many images from them. He amassed an enormous number of photographs from ancient sites in Italy, which he used for the most precise accuracy in the details of his compositions. Alma-Tadema was a perfectionist. He worked assiduously to make the most of his paintings, often repeatedly reworking parts of paintings before he found them satisfactory to his own high standards. One humorous story relates that one of his paintings was rejected and instead of keeping it, he gave the canvas to a maid who used it as her table cover. He was sensitive to every detail and architectural line of his paintings, as well as the settings he was depicting. For many of the objects in his paintings, he would depict what was in front of him, using fresh flowers imported from across the continent and even from Africa, rushing to finish the paintings before the flowers died. It was this commitment to veracity that earned him recognition but also caused many of his adversaries to take up arms against his almost encyclopaedic works. Alma-Tadema's work has been linked with that of European Symbolist painters. As an artist of international reputation, he can be cited as an influence on European figures such as Gustav Klimt and Fernand Khnopff. Both painters incorporate classical motifs into their works and use Alma-Tadema's unconventional compositional devices such as abrupt cut-off at the edge of the canvas. They, like Alma-Tadema, also employ coded imagery to convey meaning to their paintings. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_65e2874dc2694abaa5ca8ea17b33fe5e_0_q#0",
"C_65e2874dc2694abaa5ca8ea17b33fe5e_0_q#1",
"C_65e2874dc2694abaa5ca8ea17b33fe5e_0_q#2",
"C_65e2874dc2694abaa5ca8ea17b33fe5e_0_q#3",
"C_65e2874dc2694abaa5ca8ea17b33fe5e_0_q#4",
"C_65e2874dc2694abaa5ca8ea17b33fe5e_0_q#5",
"C_65e2874dc2694abaa5ca8ea17b33fe5e_0_q#6",
"C_65e2874dc2694abaa5ca8ea17b33fe5e_0_q#7",
"C_65e2874dc2694abaa5ca8ea17b33fe5e_0_q#8"
] | [
"What can you tell me about his style?",
"What gave him inspiration for his style?",
"Did anyone of note have anything to say about his style?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Why was it rejected?",
"What was the humorous story?",
"What's the most fascinating aspect of this article?",
"Did he have any inspirations from other artists?",
"What's the most important aspect of his style?"
] | [
0,
2,
1,
0,
2,
1,
2,
1,
0
] | [
2,
2,
1,
0,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
782
],
[
1701
],
[
1134
],
[
970
],
[
1204
],
[
254
],
[
2252
],
[
524
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Alma-Tadema's works are remarkable for the way in which flowers, textures and hard reflecting substances, like metals, pottery, and especially marble, are painted"
],
[
"He amassed an enormous number of photographs from ancient sites in Italy, which he used for the most precise accuracy"
],
[
"many of his adversaries to take up arms against his almost encyclopaedic works."
],
[
"One humorous story relates that one of his paintings was rejected"
],
[
"He worked assiduously to make the most of his paintings, often repeatedly reworking parts of paintings before he found them satisfactory to his own high standards."
],
[
"instead of keeping it, he gave the canvas to a maid who used it as her table cover."
],
[
"His work shows much of the fine execution and brilliant colour of the old Dutch masters."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"From early in his career, Alma-Tadema was particularly concerned with architectural accuracy,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
782,
1701,
1134,
970,
1204,
254,
2252,
524
],
"texts": [
"Alma-Tadema's works are remarkable for the way in which flowers, textures and hard reflecting substances, like metals, pottery, and especially marble, are painted",
"He amassed an enormous number of photographs from ancient sites in Italy, which he used for the most precise accuracy",
"many of his adversaries to take up arms against his almost encyclopaedic works.",
"One humorous story relates that one of his paintings was rejected",
"He worked assiduously to make the most of his paintings, often repeatedly reworking parts of paintings before he found them satisfactory to his own high standards.",
"instead of keeping it, he gave the canvas to a maid who used it as her table cover.",
"His work shows much of the fine execution and brilliant colour of the old Dutch masters.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"From early in his career, Alma-Tadema was particularly concerned with architectural accuracy,"
]
} | Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, and trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in London, England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there. A classical-subject painter, he became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, with languorous figures set in fabulous marbled interiors or against a backdrop of dazzling blue Mediterranean Sea and sky. Alma-Tadema was considered one of the most popular Victorian painters. Though admired during his lifetime for his draftsmanship and depictions of Classical antiquity, his work fell into disrepute after his death, and only since the 1960s has it been re-evaluated for its importance within nineteenth-century British art.
Biography
Early life
Lourens Alma Tadema was born on 8 January 1836 in the village of Dronryp in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. The surname Tadema is an old Frisian patronymic, meaning 'son of Tade', while the names Lourens and Alma came from his godfather. He was the sixth child of Pieter Jiltes Tadema (1797–1840), the village notary, and the third child of Hinke Dirks Brouwer (–1863). His father had three sons from a previous marriage. His parents' first child died young, and the second was Artje (–1876), Lourens' sister, for whom he had great affection.
The Tadema family moved in 1838 to the nearby city of Leeuwarden, where Pieter's position as a notary would be more lucrative. His father died when Lourens was four, leaving his mother with five children: Lourens, his sister, and three boys from his father's first marriage. His mother had artistic leanings, and decided that drawing lessons should be incorporated into the children's education. He received his first art training with a local drawing master hired to teach his older half-brothers.
It was intended that the boy would become a lawyer; but in 1851 at the age of fifteen he suffered a physical and mental breakdown. Diagnosed as consumptive and given only a short time to live, he was allowed to spend his remaining days at his leisure, drawing and painting. Left to his own devices, he regained his health and decided to pursue a career as an artist.
Move to Belgium
In 1852 he entered the Royal Academy of Antwerp in Belgium where he studied early Dutch and Flemish art, under Gustaf Wappers. During Alma-Tadema's four years as a registered student at the academy, he won several awards.
Before leaving the academy, towards the end of 1855, he became assistant to the painter and professor Louis (Lodewijk) Jan de Taeye, whose courses in history and historical costume he had greatly enjoyed at the academy. Although de Taeye was not an outstanding painter, Alma-Tadema respected him and became his studio assistant, working with him for three years. De Taeye introduced him to books that influenced his desire to portray Merovingian subjects early in his career. He was encouraged to depict historical accuracy in his paintings, a trait for which the artist became known.
Alma-Tadema left Taeye's studio in November 1858 returning to Leeuwarden before settling in Antwerp, where he began working with the painter Baron Jan August Hendrik Leys, whose studio was one of the most highly regarded in Belgium. Under his guidance Alma-Tadema painted his first major work: The Education of the children of Clovis (1861). This painting created a sensation among critics and artists when it was exhibited that year at the Artistic Congress in Antwerp. It is said to have laid the foundation of his fame and reputation. Alma-Tadema related that although Leys thought the completed painting better than he had expected, he was critical of the treatment of marble, which he compared to cheese. He collaborated with Hendrik Leys on the series of wall paintings in the Leys Hall on the second floor of Antwerp City Hall, which depict significant moments in the history of The Netherlands.
Alma-Tadema took this criticism very seriously, and it led him to improve his technique and to become the world's foremost painter of marble and variegated granite. Despite any reproaches from his master, The Education of the Children of Clovis was well received by critics and artists alike and was eventually purchased and subsequently given to King Leopold of Belgium.
In 1860 he befriended the Anglo-Dutch Dommersen family of artists in Utrecht In 1862 he made pencil drawings of Mrs. Cornelia Dommershuizen and one of her sons Thomas Hendrik, whose brothers were the painters Pieter Cornelis Dommersen and Cornelis Christiaan Dommersen.
Early works
Merovingian themes were the painter's favourite subject up to the mid-1860s. However Merovingian subjects did not have a wide international appeal, so he switched to themes of life in ancient Egypt, which were more popular. In 1862 Alma-Tadema left Leys's studio and started his own career, establishing himself as a significant classical-subject European artist.
1863 was to alter the course of Alma-Tadema's personal and professional life: on 3 January his invalid
mother died, and on 24 September he was married, in Antwerp City Hall, to Marie-Pauline Gressin-Dumoulin de Boisgirard, the daughter of Eugène Gressin-Dumoulin, a French journalist living near Brussels. Nothing is known of their meeting and little of Pauline herself, as Alma-Tadema never spoke about her after her death in 1869. Her image appears in a number of oils, though he painted her portrait only three times, the most notable appearing in My studio (1867). The couple had three children. Their eldest and only son lived only a few months dying of smallpox. Their two daughters, Laurence (1865–1940) and Anna (1867–1943), both had artistic leanings: the former in literature, the latter in art. Neither would marry.
Alma-Tadema and his wife spent their honeymoon in Florence, Rome, Naples and Pompeii. This, his first visit to Italy, developed his interest in depicting the life of ancient Greece and Rome, especially the latter since he found new inspiration in the ruins of Pompeii, which fascinated him and would inspire much of his work in the coming decades. There he met Geremia Discanno, an Italian painter who had been commissioned by archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli to reproduce the brightly painted frescoes being uncovered in the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum before they faded from exposure. He would consult Discanno a number of times before Discanno's death in 1907 to ensure his paintings of antiquity would reflect the lifestyle of residents of the Greco-Roman world accurately.
During the summer of 1864, Tadema met Ernest Gambart, the most influential print publisher and art dealer of the period. Gambart was highly impressed with the work of Tadema, who was then painting Egyptian Chess Players (1865). The dealer, recognising at once the unusual gifts of the young painter, gave him an order for twenty-four pictures and arranged for three of Tadema's paintings to be shown in London. In 1865, Tadema relocated to Brussels where he was named a knight of the Order of Leopold.
On 28 May 1869, after years of ill health, Pauline died of smallpox at Schaerbeek in Belgium, aged 32. Her death left Tadema disconsolate and depressed. He ceased painting for nearly four months. His sister Artje, who lived with the family, helped with the two daughters then aged five and two. Artje took over the role of housekeeper and remained with the family until 1873 when she married.
During the summer Tadema himself began to suffer from a medical problem which doctors in Brussels were unable to diagnose. Gambart eventually advised him to go to England for another medical opinion. Soon after his arrival in London in December 1869, Alma-Tadema was invited to the home of the painter Ford Madox Brown. There he met Laura Theresa Epps, who was seventeen years old, and fell in love with her at first sight.
Move to England
The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in July 1870 encouraged Alma-Tadema to leave the continent and move to London. His infatuation with Laura Epps played a great part in his relocation to England and in addition Gambart felt that the move would be advantageous to the artist's career. In stating his reasons for the move, Tadema simply said "I lost my first wife, a French lady with whom I married in 1863, in 1869. Having always had a great predilection for London, the only place where, up till then my work had met with buyers, I decided to leave the continent and go to settle in England, where I have found a true home."
With his small daughters and sister Atje, Alma-Tadema arrived in London at the beginning of September 1870. The painter wasted no time in contacting Laura, and it was arranged that he would give her painting lessons. During one of these, he proposed marriage. As he was then thirty-four and Laura was now only eighteen, her father was initially opposed to the idea. Dr Epps finally agreed on the condition that they should wait until they knew each other better. They married in July 1871. Laura, under her married name, also won a high reputation as an artist, and appears in numerous of Alma-Tadema's canvases after their marriage (The Women of Amphissa (1887) being a notable example). This second marriage was enduring and happy, though childless, and Laura became stepmother to Anna and Laurence. Anna became a painter and Laurence became a novelist.
In England he initially adopted the name Laurence Alma Tadema instead of Lourens Alma Tadema and later used the more English spelling Lawrence for his forename. He also incorporated Alma into his surname so that he appeared at the beginning of exhibition catalogues, under "A" rather than under "T". He did not actually hyphenate his last name, but it was done by others and this has since become the convention.
Victorian painter
After his arrival in England, where he was to spend the rest of his life, Alma-Tadema's career was one of continued success. He became one of the most famous and highly paid artists of his time, acknowledged and rewarded. By 1871 he had met and befriended most of the major Pre-Raphaelite painters and it was in part due to their influence that the artist brightened his palette, varied his hues, and lightened his brushwork.
In 1872 Alma-Tadema organised his paintings into an identification system by including an opus number under his signature and assigning his earlier pictures numbers as well. Portrait of my sister, Artje, painted in 1851, is numbered opus I, while two months before his death he completed Preparations in the Coliseum, opus CCCCVIII. Such a system made it more difficult for fakes to be passed off as originals.
In 1873 Queen Victoria in Council by letters patent made Alma-Tadema and his wife what are still up to the present time the last British Denizens created (the legal process has theoretically not yet been abolished in the United Kingdom), with some limited special rights otherwise only accorded to and enjoyed by British subjects (that is, those would now be called British citizens). The previous year he and his wife made a journey on the continent that lasted five and a half months and took them through Brussels, Germany, and Italy. In Italy Alma-Tadema was able to take in the ancient ruins again; this time he purchased several photographs, mostly of the ruins, which began his immense collection of folios with archival material used in the completion of future paintings. In January 1876, he rented a studio in Rome. The family returned to London in April, visiting the Parisian Salon on their way back. In London he regularly met with fellow-artist Emil Fuchs.
Among the most important of his pictures during this period was An Audience at Agrippa's (1876). When an admirer of the painting offered to pay a substantial sum for a painting with a similar theme, Alma-Tadema simply turned the emperor around to show him leaving, in After the Audience.
On 19 June 1879, Alma-Tadema was made a Royal Academician, his most personally important award. Three years later, a major retrospective of his entire oeuvre was organised at the Grosvenor Gallery in London, including 185 of his pictures.
In 1883 he returned to Rome and, most notably, Pompeii, where further excavations had taken place since his last visit. He spent a significant amount of time studying the site, going there daily. These excursions gave him an ample source of subject matter as he began to further his knowledge of daily Roman life. At times, however, he integrated so many objects into his paintings that some said they resembled museum catalogues.
One of his most famous paintings is The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888) – based on an episode from the life of the debauched Roman emperor Elagabalus (Heliogabalus), the painting depicts the emperor suffocating his guests at an orgy under a cascade of rose petals. The blossoms depicted were sent weekly to the artist's London studio from the French Riviera for four months during the winter of 1887–1888.
Among Alma-Tadema's works of this period are: An Earthly Paradise (1891), Unconscious Rivals (1893) Spring (1894), The Coliseum (1896) and The Baths of Caracalla (1899). Although Alma-Tadema's fame rests on his paintings set in antiquity, he also painted portraits, landscapes and watercolours, and made some etchings himself. (Many more were made of his paintings by others).
Personality
For all the quiet charm and erudition of his paintings, Alma-Tadema himself preserved a youthful sense of mischief. He was childlike in his practical jokes and in his sudden bursts of bad temper, which could as suddenly subside into an engaging smile.
In his personal life, Alma-Tadema was an extrovert and had a remarkably warm personality. He had most of the characteristics of a child, coupled with the traits of a consummate professional. A perfectionist, he remained in all respects a diligent, if somewhat obsessive and pedantic worker. He was an excellent businessman, and one of the wealthiest artists of the nineteenth century. Alma-Tadema was as firm in money matters as he was with the quality of his work.
As a man, Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a robust, fun loving and rather portly gentleman. There was not a hint of the delicate artist about him; he was a cheerful lover of wine, women, and parties.
Later years
Alma-Tadema's output decreased with time, partly on account of health, but also because of his obsession with decorating his new home, to which he moved in 1883. Nevertheless, he continued to exhibit throughout the 1880s and into the next decade, receiving a plentiful amount of accolades along the way, including the medal of Honour at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889, election to an honorary membership of the Oxford University Dramatic Society in 1890, and the Great Gold Medal at the International Exposition in Brussels of 1897. In 1899 he was knighted in England, only the eighth artist from the Continent to receive this honour. Not only did he assist with the organisation of the British section at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, he also exhibited two works that earned him the Grand Prix Diploma. He also assisted with the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904 where he was well represented and received.
During this time, Alma-Tadema was very active with theatre design and production, designing many costumes. He also spread his artistic boundaries and began to design furniture, often modelled after Pompeian or Egyptian motifs, illustrations, textiles, and frame making. In late 1902 he visited Egypt. These other interests influenced his paintings, as he often incorporated some of his furniture designs into the composition, and he also used many of his own designs for the clothing of his female subjects. Through his last period of creativity Alma-Tadema continued to produce paintings which repeated the successful formula of women on marble terraces overlooking the sea such as in Silver Favourites (1903). Between 1903 and his death, Alma-Tadema painted less but still produced ambitious paintings such as The Finding of Moses (1904).
On 15 August 1909 Alma-Tadema's wife, Laura, died at the age of fifty-seven. The grief-stricken widower outlived his second wife by less than three years. His last major composition was Preparation in the Coliseum (1912). In the summer of 1912, Alma-Tadema was accompanied by his daughter Anna to Kaiserhof Spa, Wiesbaden, Germany, where he was to undergo treatment for ulceration of the stomach. He died there on 28 June 1912 at the age of seventy-six. He was buried in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral in London.
Style
Alma-Tadema's works are remarkable for the way in which flowers, textures and hard reflecting substances, like metals, pottery, and especially marble, are painted – indeed, his realistic depiction of marble led him to be called the 'marbellous painter'. His work shows much of the fine execution and brilliant colour of the old Dutch masters.
From early in his career, Alma-Tadema was particularly concerned with architectural accuracy, often including objects that he saw at museums – such as the British Museum in London – in his works. He also read many books and took many images from them. He amassed an enormous number of photographs from ancient sites in Italy, which he used to achieve the most precise accuracy in the detail of his compositions.
Alma-Tadema was a perfectionist. He worked assiduously to make the most of his paintings, often repeatedly reworking parts of paintings before he found them satisfactory to his own high standards. One story relates that one of his paintings was rejected and instead of keeping it, he gave the canvas to a maid who used it as her table cover. He was sensitive to every detail and architectural line of his paintings, as well as the settings he was depicting. For many of the objects in his paintings, he would depict what was in front of him, using fresh flowers imported from across the continent and even from Africa, rushing to finish the paintings before the flowers died. It was this commitment to veracity that earned him recognition but also caused many of his critics to adopt negative attitudes towards his almost encyclopaedic works.
Alma-Tadema's work has been linked with that of European Symbolist painters. As an artist of international reputation, he can be cited as an influence on European figures such as Gustav Klimt and Fernand Khnopff. Both painters incorporate classical motifs into their works and use Alma-Tadema's unconventional compositional devices such as abrupt cut-off at the edge of the canvas. They, like Alma-Tadema, also employ coded imagery to convey meaning in their paintings.
Reputation
Alma-Tadema was considered one of the most popular Victorian painters. He was among the most financially successful painters of the Victorian era, though never matching Edwin Henry Landseer. For over sixty years he gave his audience exactly what they wanted: distinctive, elaborate paintings of beautiful people in classical settings. His detailed reconstructions of ancient Rome, with languid men and women posed against white marble in dazzling sunlight provided his audience with a glimpse of a world of the kind they might one day construct for themselves at least in theory if not in reality. As with other painters, the reproduction rights for prints were often worth more than the canvas, and a painting with its rights still attached may have been sold to Gambart for £10,000 in 1874; without rights it was sold again in 1903, when Alma-Tadema's prices were actually higher, for £2,625. Typical prices were between £2,000 and £3,000 in the 1880s, but at least three works sold for between £5,250 and £6,060 in the 1900s. Prices held well until the general collapse of Victorian prices in the early 1920s, when they fell to the hundreds, where they remained until the 1960s; by 1969 £4,600 had been reached again (although the effect of inflation must be allowed for with these figures).
The last years of Alma-Tadema's life saw the rise of Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and Futurism, all of which he disapproved of. As his pupil John Collier wrote, 'it is impossible to reconcile the art of Alma-Tadema with that of Matisse, Gauguin and Picasso.'
His artistic legacy almost vanished. As attitudes of the public in general and the artists in particular became more sceptical of the possibilities of human achievement, his paintings were increasingly denounced. He had been declared "the worst painter of the 19th century" by John Ruskin, and one critic even remarked that his paintings were "about worthy enough to adorn bourbon boxes". After this brief period of being actively derided, he was consigned to relative obscurity for many years. Only since the 1960s has Alma-Tadema's work been re-evaluated for its importance within the nineteenth century, and more specifically, within the evolution of English art.
He is now regarded as one of the principal classical-subject painters of the nineteenth century whose works demonstrate the care and exactitude of an era mesmerised by trying to visualise the past, some of which was being recovered through archaeological research.
Alma-Tadema's meticulous archaeological research, including research into Roman architecture, led to his paintings being used as source material by Hollywood directors in their vision of the ancient world for films such as D. W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916), Ben Hur (1926), Cleopatra (1934), and most notably of all, Cecil B. DeMille's epic remake of The Ten Commandments (1956). Indeed, Jesse Lasky Jr., the co-writer on The Ten Commandments, described how the director would customarily spread out prints of Alma-Tadema paintings to indicate to his set designers the look he wanted to achieve. The designers of the Oscar-winning Roman epic Gladiator used the paintings of Alma-Tadema as a central source of inspiration. Alma-Tadema's paintings were also the inspiration for the design of the interior of Cair Paravel castle in the 2005 film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
In 1962, New York art dealer Robert Isaacson mounted the first show of Alma-Tadema's work in fifty years; by the late 1960s, the revival of interest in Victorian painting gained impetus, and a number of well-attended exhibitions were held. Allen Funt, the creator and host of the American version of the television show Candid Camera, was a collector of Alma-Tadema paintings at a time when the artist's reputation in the 20th century was at its nadir; in a relatively few years he bought 35 works, about ten percent of Alma-Tadema's output. After Funt was robbed by his accountant (who subsequently committed suicide), he was forced to sell his collection at Sotheby's in London in November 1973. From this sale, the interest in Alma-Tadema was re-awakened.
In 1960, the Newman Gallery firstly tried to sell, then give away (without success) one of his most celebrated works, The Finding of Moses (1904). The initial purchaser had paid £5,250 for it on its completion, and subsequent sales were for £861 in 1935, £265 in 1942, and it was "bought in" at £252 in 1960 (having failed to meet its reserve), but when the same picture was auctioned at Christies in New York in May 1995, it sold for £1.75 million. On 4 November 2010 it was sold for $35,922,500 to an undisclosed bidder at Sotheby's New York, a new record both for an Alma-Tadema work and for a Victorian painting. On 5 May 2011, The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra: 41 BC was sold at the same auction house for $29.2 million.
Alma-Tadema's The Tepidarium (1881) is included in the 2006 book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die. Julian Treuherz, Keeper of Art Galleries at National Museums Liverpool, describes it as an "exquisitely painted picture..." which "carries a strong erotic charge, rare for a Victorian painting of the nude".
A blue plaque unveiled in 1975 commemorates Alma-Tadema at 44 Grove End Road, St John's Wood, his home from 1886 until his death in 1912.
Archives
The Cadbury Research Library at the University of Birmingham holds several archive collections relating to Alma-Tadema, including letters, artwork and photography.
Gallery
See also
John William Godward
References and sources
Notes
References
Sources
Ash, Russell: Alma-Tadema, Shire Publications, Aylesbury, 1973,
Ash, Russell: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Pavilion Books, London, 1989, ; Harry N. Abrams Inc. New York, 1990,
Barrow, Rosemary: Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Phaidon Press Inc, 2001,
Calinski, Tobias: Catull in Bild und Ton – Untersuchungen zur Catull-Rezeption in Malerei und Komposition, WBG, Darmstadt 2021
Reitlinger, Gerald; The Economics of Taste, Vol I: The Rise and Fall of Picture Prices 1760–1960, Barrie and Rockliffe, London, 1961
Swanson, Vern G : Alma-Tadema: The Painter of the Victorian Vision of the Ancient World, Ash & Grant, London, 1977, ; Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1977,
Swinglehurst, Edmund: Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Thunder Bay Press, Canada, 2001, (NOTE: the illustration of The Roses of Heliogabalus in this book is printed the wrong way round!)
External links
Global Gallery Bio & Works
218 works by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema at alma-tadema.org
Lourens Alma Tadema artworks (paintings, watercolours, drawings), biography, information and signatures
Painting Locations at ArtCyclopedia
Works by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema in the collection of the Walters Art Museum
Alma-Tadema at MuseumSyndicate
Alma-Tadema in "History of Art"
Alma-Tadema Listening to Homer (1885). A video discussion about the painting from Smarthistory at Khan Academy
Category:1836 births
Category:1912 deaths
Category:19th-century British painters
Category:19th-century Dutch painters
Category:20th-century British painters
Category:Academic art
Category:British male painters
Category:British people of Frisian descent
Category:British printmakers
Category:Dutch printmakers
Category:Dutch male painters
Category:Frisian painters
Category:Knights Bachelor
Category:Members of the Order of Merit
Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
Category:Mythological painters
Category:Neo-Pompeian painters
Category:Orientalist painters
Category:People of the Victorian era
Category:People from Waadhoeke
Category:People from Menaldumadeel
Category:Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal
Category:Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) alumni
Category:Royal Academicians
Category:Burials at St Paul's Cathedral
Category:19th-century British male artists
Category:20th-century British male artists
Category:19th-century Dutch male artists
Lawrence | [
{
"text": "Lawrence may refer to:\n\nEducation\n\nColleges and universities\n Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States\n Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States\n\nPreparatory & high schools\n Lawrence Academy at Groton, a preparatory school in Groton, Massachusetts, United States\n Lawrence College, Ghora Gali, a high school in Pakistan\n Lawrence School, Lovedale, a high school in India\n The Lawrence School, Sanawar, a high school in India\n\nResearch laboratories\n Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States\n Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, United States\n\nPeople\n Lawrence (given name), including a list of people with the name\n Lawrence (surname), including a list of people with the name\n\n Lawrence (band), an American soul-pop group\n Lawrence (judge royal) (died after 1180), Hungarian nobleman, Judge royal 1164–1172\n Lawrence (musician), Lawrence Hayward (born 1961), British musician\n Saint Lawrence (died 258), deacon and Roman Catholic saint, born in Spain\n Lawrence I (bishop of Milan), bishop of Milan from 490 to c. 511, Roman Catholic saint\n Lawrence, Archbishop of Split (died 1099), Benedictine monk and Archbishop of Split 1060–1099\n Brother Lawrence (died 1691), Carmelite friar\n\nPlaces\n\nAustralia\n Lawrence, New South Wales\n Lawrence Rocks, Victoria, Australia\n\nUnited States\n Lawrence, Illinois\n Lawrence, Indiana\n Lawrence, Kansas\n Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, formerly known as Lawrence\n Lawrence, Massachusetts\n Lawrence, Michigan\n Lawrence, Minnesota\n Lawrence, Mississippi\n Lawrence, Nebraska\n Lawrence Brook, New Jersey\n Lawrence, Nassau County, New York, a village\n Lawrence, St. Lawrence County, New York, a town\n Lawrence, Pennsylvania\n Lawrence, Texas\n Lawrence, Utah\n Lawrence, Washington\n Lawrence, Brown County, Wisconsin, a town\n Lawrence, Marquette County, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community\n Lawrence, Rusk County, Wisconsin, a town\n\nOther places\n Lawrence (electoral district), Ontario, Canada\n Lawrence Pond, a community in Conception Bay South, Newfoundland, Canada\n Lawrence, New Zealand\n\nShips\n , a brig which acted as Commodore Oliver Perry's flagship\n , a brig decommissioned in 1846\n , a 400-ton Bainbridge-class destroyer commissioned in 1903 and serving until 1920\n , a Clemson-class destroyer, serving from 1921 to 1945\n , a Charles F. Adams-class destroyer commissioned in 1962, and serving through 1994\n Lawrence (schooner), a schooner launched in 1756\n\nTransport\n Lawrence (Amtrak station), Lawrence, Kansas, U.S.\n Lawrence (Caltrain station) in Santa Clara, California, U.S.\n Lawrence (MBTA station) in Lawrence (near Boston), Massachusetts, U.S.\n Lawrence Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada\n Lawrence station (Toronto), a Lawrence Avenue subway station\n Lawrence West station, a Lawrence Avenue subway station\n Lawrence East station, a Lawrence Avenue subway station\n Lawrence station (CTA), a rapid transit station in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.\n\nOther uses\n Lawrence (crater), a lunar impact crater\n The Lawrence, a newspaper founded 1881\n Lawrence v. Texas, a major Supreme Court of the United States decision\n\nSee also\n \n Larry (disambiguation)\n Laurence, a given name and surname\n Laurens (disambiguation)\n Lawrance (disambiguation)\n Lawrence Academy (disambiguation)\n Lawrence County (disambiguation)\n Lawrence Station (disambiguation)\n Lawrence Township (disambiguation)\n Lawrie (name)\n Lawrenceburg (disambiguation)\n Lawrenceville (disambiguation)\n Saint Lawrence (disambiguation)",
"title": "Lawrence"
}
] | null | null |
C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1 | Scott W. Rothstein | Scott W. Rothstein (born June 10, 1962) is a disbarred lawyer and the former managing shareholder, chairman, and chief executive officer of the now-defunct Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm. He was accused of funding his philanthropy, political contributions, law firm salaries, and an extravagant lifestyle with a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, one of the largest such in history. On December 1, 2009, Rothstein turned himself in to authorities and was subsequently arrested on charges related to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Although his arraignment plea was not guilty, Rothstein cooperated with the Government and reversed his plea to guilty of five federal crimes on January 27, 2010. | Law partner murder | Debra Villegas, who handles his money, is the law firm's chief operating officer. She is co-owner with Rothstein in a home at 2307 Castilla Isle, as of May 2009. According to records, Rothstein originally purchased the property in September 2007, for $1.75 million, and sold it for $10 to a shell corporation in September 2009. In 2005, the year the Ponzi scheme allegedly began, Villegas earned $80,000 a year. In 2007, her salary had increased to $145,000. Villegas received two Swiss watches -- a Rolex and a Breitling -- from her "employer". Rothstein paid off her couch and a bedroom set and held title to her two Honda water scooters. Villegas was living in a $475,000 Weston home that Rothstein signed over to her in July 2009 for $100 and "love and affection," according to the deed. Villegas registered a 2009 $100,000 Maserati GranTurismo at the home in January, 2009. In November 2009, Federal prosecutors seized the home, alleging that it was among Rothstein's ill-gotten assets. Villegas' estranged husband, Tony Villegas, was charged on circumstantial evidence in the March 2008 murder in Plantation, Florida of Melissa Britt Lewis, a partner in Rothstein's firm. Although early news reports wondered at whether the evidence was substantial, according to New Times, "Nine days later, forensic testing revealed that Tony's DNA had been found on Melissa's suit jacket - the same jacket she wore on the day she died." Police sealed the arrest affidavit. As a result of the homicide and the nature of the legal business, Rothstein has a team of "executive protection specialists" to guard the firm and his family, his teen-aged daughter. The prosecutor who had first worked on the Villegas case, Howard Scheinberg, went to work for Rosenfeldt Rothstein Adler. Villegas, a train conductor, remains in jail awaiting trial. The motive was supposedly revenge for Lewis's closeness with Debra. Debra and Melissa share a therapist: Ilene Vinikoor, whose husband, David represents general counsel, David Boden in the Ponzi scheme investigation. "You get anger from people... 'that prick from the Bronx. They say I'm building the law firm too fast, that it must be a house of cards." CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1_q#0",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1_q#1",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1_q#2",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1_q#3",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1_q#4",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1_q#5",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1_q#6",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1_q#7",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1_q#8",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1_q#9",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1_q#10",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_1_q#11"
] | [
"who is scott?",
"what happened with swindle pitch?",
"where did the money go?",
"who did he work with?",
"was he arrested?",
"anything interesting?",
"how much money did he make?",
"when did the scheme begin?",
"was it legal?",
"who was david boden?",
"what was the role of potential defendants?",
"how much money would they pay to mistress?"
] | [
0,
1,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
1,
0,
2,
2,
1,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1534
],
[
2190
],
[
329
],
[
0
],
[
1534
],
[
898
],
[
184
],
[
329
],
[
962
],
[
1970
],
[
2190
],
[
2190
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Rothstein has a team of \"executive protection specialists\" to guard the firm and his family, his teen-aged daughter."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"In 2005, the year the Ponzi scheme allegedly began,"
],
[
"Debra Villegas, who handles his money, is the law firm's chief operating officer. She is co-owner with Rothstein"
],
[
"Rothstein has a team of \"executive protection specialists\" to guard the firm and his family, his teen-aged daughter."
],
[
"Federal prosecutors seized the home, alleging that it was among Rothstein's ill-gotten assets."
],
[
"Rothstein originally purchased the property in September 2007, for $1.75 million, and sold it for $10 to a shell corporation in September 2009."
],
[
"In 2005, the year the Ponzi scheme allegedly began,"
],
[
"Rothstein's ill-gotten assets."
],
[
"David represents general counsel, David Boden in the Ponzi scheme investigation."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1534,
2190,
329,
0,
1534,
898,
184,
329,
962,
1970,
2190,
2190
],
"texts": [
"Rothstein has a team of \"executive protection specialists\" to guard the firm and his family, his teen-aged daughter.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"In 2005, the year the Ponzi scheme allegedly began,",
"Debra Villegas, who handles his money, is the law firm's chief operating officer. She is co-owner with Rothstein",
"Rothstein has a team of \"executive protection specialists\" to guard the firm and his family, his teen-aged daughter.",
"Federal prosecutors seized the home, alleging that it was among Rothstein's ill-gotten assets.",
"Rothstein originally purchased the property in September 2007, for $1.75 million, and sold it for $10 to a shell corporation in September 2009.",
"In 2005, the year the Ponzi scheme allegedly began,",
"Rothstein's ill-gotten assets.",
"David represents general counsel, David Boden in the Ponzi scheme investigation.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Scott W. Rothstein (born June 10, 1962) is an American disbarred lawyer, convicted felon, and the former managing shareholder, chairman, and chief executive officer of the now-defunct Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm. He funded an extravagant lifestyle with a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, one of the largest such in history.
On December 1, 2009, Rothstein turned himself in to authorities and was subsequently arrested on charges related to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
Although his arraignment plea was not guilty, Rothstein reversed his plea to guilty of five federal crimes on January 27, 2010.
Rothstein was denied bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin Rosenbaum, who ruled that due to his ability to forge documents, he was considered a flight risk. He was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison.
Overview
On June 9, 2010, Rothstein received a 50-year prison sentence after a hearing in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, although federal prosecutors initially filed a motion notifying the court they would be seeking a sentence reduction for Rothstein.
His firm had 70 lawyers and 150 employees, with offices in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tallahassee, Florida, New York City and Caracas, Venezuela. The firm focused on labor and employment matters, civil rights, intellectual property, internet law, corporate espionage, personal injury, wrongful death, commercial litigation, real estate, mergers and acquisitions, and governmental relations. His client list included Citicorp, J. C. Penney, Ed Morse Automotive Group, National Beverage, Silversea Cruise Lines, Supra Telecom, and Wells Fargo. Until he was permanently disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court on November 25, 2009, Rothstein was a member of the Florida Bar and admitted by the United States Supreme Court. He had been given an AV Preeminent peer review rating by Martindale-Hubbell.
On November 3, 2009, Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Department of the Treasury agents served a warrant to search the firm's Fort Lauderdale offices. Rothstein sent an email in recent weeks to firm lawyers asking them to investigate which countries refused to extradite criminal suspects to either the U.S. or Israel, and firm lawyers responded that Morocco is one such country. Rothstein had wired $16 million to an individual in Casablanca
and left for Casablanca on October 26, 2009. On October 31, 2009, he sent a suicide text message note to all of his law partners:Sorry for letting you all down. I am a fool. I thought I could fix it, but got trapped by my ego and refusal to fail, and now all I have accomplished is hurting the people I love. Please take care of yourselves and please protect Kimmie [Rothstein's wife]. She knew nothing. Neither did she, nor any of you deserve what I did. I hope God allows me to see you on the other side. Love, Scott.
On November 3, 2009, after many texts from Stuart Rosenfeldt, the president of the firm, urging him to "choose life", Rothstein returned to Fort Lauderdale on a chartered jet, from Casablanca. On November 2, his law firm with only $117,000 in its operating account filed suit against him, asked a judge to dissolve the firm, accusing him of misappropriating hundreds of millions of dollars from investor trust accounts in a Ponzi scheme from an investment business he covertly ran out of his law office.
In 2009, Rothstein resided at the Federal Detention Center, Miami in Downtown Miami, but was later moved to an undisclosed location and his inmate number removed from the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator webpage.
Background and career
Rothstein was born in the Bronx and moved with his parents to Lauderhill, Florida as a teenager. A 1988 Juris Doctor graduate of Fort Lauderdale's Nova Southeastern University's Law School, the Shepard Broad College of Law, and a 1984 Bachelor of Arts graduate of University of Florida, Rothstein's law career began in 1988 and, for nearly fifteen years, he was relatively unknown. In the early 1990s, Rothstein first partnered with attorney Howard Kusnick. First located in Plantation, Florida, Kusnick & Rothstein, P.A. subsequently moved to Ft. Lauderdale. In 2000, Rothstein joined with Rosenfeldt as a name partner at the Hollywood firm, Phillips Eisinger Koss & Rosenfeldt, P.A., which became known as Phillips Eisinger Koss Rothstein & Rosenfeldt, P.A.
In February 2002, Rothstein and Rosenfeldt started their own firm, first known as Rothstein & Rosenfeldt, P.A. Within a month, Pancier was added as a name partner. In July, 2002, adding Susan Dolin, a well-regarded employment lawyer, the firm became known as Rothstein, Rosenfeldt, Dolin & Pancier, P.A. In late 2004, the firm became known simply as Rothstein Rosenfeldt, with Adler being added in March 2005. Melissa Britt Lewis, who was murdered in March, 2008, was with Rothstein from the firm's beginning.
In seven years, he and his partners expanded the firm to 70 lawyers, including former Boca Raton Mayor and sitting Palm Beach County Commissioner Steve Abrams; former judges Julio Gonzalez, Barry Stone, and former Palm Beach circuit judge, William Berger; TV and radio legal commentator and former prosecutor, Ken Padowitz; Carlos Reyes, former South Broward Hospital District commissioner and lobbyist; Arthur Neiwirth, a bankruptcy expert; and Les Stracher, former legal counsel for Morse Auto Group, who represents major auto dealers.
Recent
On September 8, 2011, U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn granted the government's motion to prohibit videotaping Rothstein during a scheduled deposition of him, citing "serious harm" and "security reasons that are unusual in nature." The exact reasons for the judge's decision were sealed.
On June 8, 2011, federal prosecutors filed a motion with the sentencing judge informing him that they would be asking for a sentence reduction for Rothstein. However, on September 26, 2017, prosecutors withdrew their motion for a reduced sentence, saying that he had provided "false material information" in violation of his plea agreement.
Appointment
In August 2008, Governor Crist appointed Rothstein as a member of the 4th District Court of Appeal Judicial nominating commission, a body which is responsible for selecting new judges for appointment to the Court.
Personal life
An observant Jew, Rothstein grew up in a small Bronx apartment, sharing a bedroom with his sister. His father was a salesman "back in the days when you carried a bag up and down the streets of New York." The family moved to Lauderhill, Florida in 1977. His grandmother used her life savings to help put him through school. "I grew up poor. I'm a lunatic about money."
Rothstein was a large contributor to a synagogue off Las Olas with his name affixed to the front facade: The Rothstein Family Downtown Jewish Center Chabad. Rabbi Schneur Kaplan is one of the two people who talked Rothstein out of committing suicide.
He invested in residential property. In 2003, he paid $1.2 million for an intracoastal waterfront house on Castilla Isle in Fort Lauderdale. In March 2005, he bought a neighboring home belonging to Miami Dolphins' Ricky Williams for $2.73 million. While living in Williams' old house, he purchased two other homes on the street and three other homes in Broward for a total residential investment of nearly $20 million. "They call me the king of Castilla."
In 2008, he purchased a $6.45 million waterfront gated Fort Lauderdale home, a $6 million condo in New York in the same building as Marc Dreier,
and a $2.8 million oceanfront estate in Narragansett, Rhode Island.
His second wife, Kimberly Wendell Rothstein, a 35-year-old real-estate agent, helped manage his properties, which also include part-ownership of an office building in Pompano Beach. He and Bova also owned Bova Ristorante, formerly long-time generational Italian family-owned Mario's of Boca, which shut down October 18, 2009. Bova Prime, formerly Riley McDermott's, on Las Olas Boulevard is still operating. On September 11, 2008, the day before Rothstein took ownership, a dispute involving firearms broke out at Riley McDermott's involving Rothstein's security personnel.
He owns parts of an internet technology called company Qtask and V Georgio Spirits Co., LLC with CEO Vie Harvey and the Renato watch company, with partner, Ovi Levy.
Levy is the son of hotelier Shimon Levy, who spent a year in prison in Israel after hiding a criminal kingpin, suspected of two murders.
Rothstein at one time was a minority shareholder of Edify LLC, a health-care benefits consulting company. State Representative Evan Jenne-D-Dania Beach is a $30,000 company consultant, who previously worked a local bank. Rothstein hired Jenne's father, former sheriff and convicted felon, Ken Jenne, as a consultant at his law firm days after Jenne was released from prison on corruption charges. An attorney for Rothstein's law firm serves as the registered agent for Evan Jenne's company, Blue Banyan. Grant Smith, a lifelong friend of Evan Jenne's, is an Edify lobbyist. Edify has worked closely with the state Department of Health to develop wellness programs and also influences certain health-care legislation.
"The Great Gatsby"
In the 2008 interview at his law firm, Rothstein described himself and told how he controlled all aspects of the firm's management:
This is where the evil happens. Look, I sleep in the bed I make. I tend toward the flashy side, but it's a persona. It's just a fucking persona. ... People ask me, 'When do you sleep?' I say I'll sleep when I'm dead. I'm a true Gemini. I joke around that there are 43 people living in my head and you never know what you're going to get. There are some philanthropists in there, some good lawyers, and I like to think some good businessmen. There are also some guys from the streets of the Bronx that stay hidden away until I need them. Does that sound crazy? I am crazy, but crazy in a good way.
His personal office was opulent, with security and a compartmentalized layout. Anyone entering Rothstein's suite of offices had to use an intercom. He could exit, unseen through a second door. In the hallway, an ordinary looking brown door is actually the elevator door. Dozens of surveillance cameras and microphones hang from office ceilings. On his desk: four computer screens and the Five Books of Moses.
He had a Boeing 727 jet and in 2002, flew Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey, and Chris Tucker to Africa on an anti-AIDS mission. He owned an $5 million Warren yacht. His fleet of exotic cars included: 1974, 2006, 2007, and 2008 Ferraris, 2009 Bentley, 2007 Silver Rolls-Royce, and one 2008 and two 2010 Lamborghini Murcielagos — worth about $400,000 each, a pair of $1.6 million Bugattis, and a pair of Harleys which he maintains in an air-conditioned warehouse.
All were allegedly purchased and traded from Euromotorsports, the owner of which has an extensive criminal record.
All were seized shortly after his return from Morocco. He has a watch collection of over 100, valued at $1 million. In 2008, he was working on opening a cigar and martini bar on Las Olas Boulevard and two high-rise residential buildings in Brooklyn with New York partner Dominic Tonnachio. He was to take ownership of a "series of office buildings" on Oakland Park Boulevard.
Roger Stone was a partner with Rothstein in RRA Consulting, an LLC which was set up to provide public affairs assistance to the RRA law firm's legal clients. According to Stone, that business never generated any clients. It was dissolved in late 2008. On August 27, 2009, Stone, the recipient of Rothstein's sponsorship of his blog until July 29, 2009, "StoneZone", wrote a column recommending Rothstein for the seat vacated by Senator Mel Martinez - a man with "a distinguished legal record, has been a key supporter of Governor Crist and John McCain, has an unmatched record of philanthropic activities and would bring an unconventional style of getting things done to Washington. Add Rothstein to the short list." On November 4, 2009, Stone wrote, "Rothstein had no prior business success, no business acumen nor track record that would engender confidence in an investor. He could not read a balance sheet. He could not write or read a business plan. Rothstein was a lawyer, not an entrepreneur."
Stone claims that Rothstein has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) "so severe he never finished a martini, a cigar, a thought, or a sentence, never mind a transaction." According to Stone, neither law firm name partner Russell Adler nor Stuart Rosenfeldt were signatories on the RRA Trust Account.
He "appeared to be something out of a Great Gatsby movie."
Philanthropy and political contributions
In 2008, his Rothstein Family Foundation gave $1 million to Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, where a lobby was to be named for him and his wife. On October 31, 2009 his firm sponsored at a charity golf tournament featuring former Gov. Jeb Bush.
Between 2007 and 2008, he donated $2 million to the American Heart Association, Women in Distress, Alonzo Mourning Charities, Here's Help, and the Dan Marino Foundation.
Politicians of both parties have pledged to donate to charity or return his political contributions. On November 3, 2009, the Florida Republican Party, announced it would give Rothstein's donations ($600,000) to a charity. Gov. Charlie Crist's Senate Campaign ($100,550), state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink ($2,050), Senate President Jeff Atwater, Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, and that the Florida Democratic Party ($200,000) would return some or all of his contributions.
In June 2009, Harry Reid, the late former Democratic Senate majority leader received a contribution of $4,800. A list of FEC filings indexed by NewsMeat include a total of $166,800 to the Republican Party and candidates, including $109,800 to John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, and $17,600 to Democratic candidates.
Law partner murder
Debra Villegas, who handles his money, is the law firm's chief operating officer. She is co-owner with Rothstein in a home at 2307 Castilla Isle, as of May 2009. According to records, Rothstein originally purchased the property in September 2007, for $1.75 million, and sold it for $10 to a shell corporation in September 2009.
In 2005, the year the Ponzi scheme allegedly began, Villegas earned $80,000 a year. In 2007, her salary had increased to $145,000. Villegas received two Swiss watches — a Rolex and a Breitling — from her "employer". Rothstein paid off her couch and a bedroom set and held title to her two Honda water scooters. Villegas was living in a $475,000 Weston home that Rothstein signed over to her in July 2009 for $100 and "love and affection," according to the deed. Villegas registered a 2009 $100,000 Maserati GranTurismo at the home in January, 2009. In November 2009, Federal prosecutors seized the home, alleging that it was among Rothstein's ill-gotten assets.
Villegas' estranged husband, Tony Villegas, was charged on circumstantial evidence in the March 2008 murder in Plantation, Florida of Melissa Britt Lewis, a partner in Rothstein's firm. Although early news reports wondered at whether the evidence was substantial, according to New Times, "Nine days later, forensic testing revealed that Tony's DNA had been found on Melissa's suit jacket – the same jacket she wore on the day she died." Police sealed the arrest affidavit.
Rothstein had a team of "executive protection specialists" to guard the firm and his family, his teen-aged daughter. The prosecutor who had first worked on the Villegas case, Howard Scheinberg, went to work for Rosenfeldt Rothstein Adler. Villegas, a train conductor, remains in jail awaiting trial. Debra and Melissa shared a therapist, Ilene Vinikoor, whose husband, David, represented general counsel, David Boden in the Ponzi scheme investigation.
You get anger from people ... that prick from the Bronx. ... They say I'm building the law firm too fast, that it must be a house of cards.
"Disbarment on consent"
On November 17, 2009, the Florida Bar Executive Committee voted to accept a request by Rothstein to be disbarred. The Florida Supreme Court entered an order permanently disbarring Rothstein on November 25, 2009. Rothstein was removed from the Broward County Grievance Committee, and his name removed from the database of "The Best Lawyers in America".
Trust account
Rothstein, Rosenfeldt, and Adler's trust account was part of the Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program that was paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a month to the Florida Bar Foundation.
$1.2 billion Ponzi scheme
Rothstein's investment scheme involved purchasing what were initially mislabeled as fabricated "structured settlements," described as where people sell large settlements in legal cases for lump sums of cash. Alan Sakowitz, an attorney and real estate developer in Bay Harbor Islands, said that he contacted the FBI in September with concerns about Rothstein.
On Sunday, November 8, 2009, Sakowitz appeared with Kendall Coffey, attorney for Rothstein's law partners, on the Michael Putney Show on WPLG-TV, MIAMI, correcting Coffey for claiming that Rothstein's "investments" involved structured settlements, which they did not. (Note: "structured settlements" as defined by Rothstein in press reports do not meet the definition in IRC 5891(C)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code). Rothstein's resemble investments in pre-settlement funding or pre-settlement financing. In his December 12, 2011 deposition page 24 lines 15-23, Scott Rothstein himself said "It was intentionally made in a way and presented to that firm and the other firms that were looking at the structure issue that it was merely a purchase of dollars already in-house; that it was not a structured settlement because the true definition of a structured settlement is when someone is actually receiving payments over time that has some other value. We didn't have a true definition of a structured settlement, not by any of the statutes. From that perspective we had reason to make sure that this was not structured. Because when you're dealing with structured settlements you need other levels of Court approval. It would have required the manufacturer of literally hundreds of phony orders, which would have led the entire scheme to detection.'
The FBI estimates the loss to be up to a billion dollars from lucrative whistle-blower and employment discrimination cases.
The investors would make up-front cash payments to individuals owed money from the court cases to buy the right to collect the full amount of the settlements later. The investor was guaranteed a minimum of 20 percent investment returns in as little as three months.
Swindle pitch
General counsel David Boden was present for at least one of the swindles, and negotiated the final papers with the investors' lawyers. Rothstein greets and informs the investor his firm was the preeminent sexual harassment law firm in the country. He says he'd figured out a basic formula which was that someone with $10 million net worth was usually willing to pay $2 million in cash to pay off their mistress. The key was confidentiality. Rothstein tells the investor that he would meet potential defendants in his office and would question them about affairs they had with an employee. The defendants would deny it. He pointed to artwork, and said there was a television screen behind it. He tells the investor he turned on a video of the guy having sex with his mistress, and told his client "We can either settle this now, or I can depose your wife, your mistress, you and your son about it." Since defendants" often couldn't or wouldn't pay the entire settlement up-front, Rothstein tells the investor that his first harassment case many years ago, involved a $3.5 million settlement and a million-dollar legal fee, so Rothstein assigned the settlement to a good friend and the plaintiff settles for $3 million without a trial. The "good friend" stood to be paid $3.5 million once the defendant paid up, a half-million dollar profit.
"In 20 years, I have never seen a defendant sue on breach of settlement," Rothstein told them. "The whole idea is that it's secret. Why would they sue?"
Although it did not appear completely legitimate, and it might have appeared that the plaintiffs were short-changed, it makes sense to the potential investor. The idea seems solid. The investor thinks that with enough of these cases at Rothstein's law firm, he could make huge sums of money.
Rothstein then discusses other larger cases: Eli Lilly and Company, involving $1.4 billion with plaintiff representation by Gary Farmer, a firm attorney who negotiated the settlement and who brought the case with him when he arrived at the firm. Several inside whistleblowers went to the fed with unlawful practices regarding the marketing and sales of an anti-psychotic medication called Zyprexa. It was one of the largest qui tam cases in history.
He tells the investor about a potential (allegedly fabricated) case where investors would buy whistle-blower million dollar settlements with a sixty percent short term investor profit. The arrangement would be completely secret; the investor would never know the name of the company or the whistle-blower. The settlement money would be deposited into a trust account at TD Bank, accessible only to the investor at the appropriate time. David Boden follows up with all questions and negotiates the contract.
Court-appointed receiver
On November 2, 2009, Broward Chief Judge Vic Tobin sent an e-mail at 6:45 a.m. to judges about the Rothstein case:
I learned of some very distressing news yesterday. Whoever draws the case try to set the motion today because of the amount of clients and money involved. Also, if you have a case with the firm, please be patient. I don't know if the lawyers will come or not and if they do come, there is no money at this point to go forward with the case or pay firm employees.
On November 3, 2009, retired Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Herbert Stettin was appointed the firm's receiver, responsible for approving the firm's day-to-day financial decisions. Firm president and 50% owner of the firm, Stuart Rosenfeldt, "deposited two-thirds of my life savings in my firm's operating account" to prop up finances in the short-term.
Victims
On November 25, 2009, Attorney William Scherer filed a 289-page Amended Complaint seeking $100,000,000 in civil damages on behalf of his clients, and naming: Toronto Dominion Bank and its associates, Frank Spinosa, Jennifer Kerstetter, and Rosanne Karetsky, Irene Stay, Banyon Income Fund, L.P., Banyon USVI, LLC, George G. Levin, Michael Szafranski, Onyx Options Consultants Corporation, Berenfeld Spritzer Shechter Sheer, LLP., as well as Rothstein and his associates, David Boden, Debra Villegas, Andrew Barnett, and Frank J. Preve, as defendants/co-conspirators.
The Amended Complaint lists people and businesses to whom Rothstein allegedly wired money while he was en route to or inside of Morocco: Rothstein wired $16 million to his tour guide from Boca Raton, Florida, "Ahnick Kahlid". Kahlid transferred the money to Rothstein's new Moroccan bank account opened upon his arrival with a passport as identification at Banque Populaire in Casablanca;
The recipients allegedly are members of the "Israeli Mob"; New York Investors; Florida Investors; Real Estate Investors; and Levin Feeders.
Scherer has said that his clients and all other investors who weren't complicit in the crime will have their money returned. Due to the extreme negligence, TD Bank is liable. "My goal is to get all the money back for the investors from the bank," Scherer said.
On January 27, 2010 Scherer filed an affidavit alleging that Michael Szafranski was complicit in Rothstein's fraud, receiving almost $6.5 million in "ill-gotten" gains directly from Rothstein.
Shimon Levy and Ovi Levy
Shimon Levy allegedly has had deep ties to Dean Heiser and Israeli organized crime and spent a year in an Israeli prison for hiding a mob figure suspected of two "grisly murders". In 1997, his partner at the Sea Club Resort on Fort Lauderdale beach, Zvika Yuz, was a victim of a murder which remains unsolved. His son, Ovi contacted the Plantation Police Department and began receiving protection during the time Rothstein fled to Morocco.
Banyan Capital
Banyan Income Fund, a Fort Lauderdale-based hedge fund, invested hundreds of millions. It was run by Rothstein and involves Fort Lauderdale businessman George G. Levin, who reported Rothstein to the U.S. Attorney's Office for "suspicious activity." According to the lawsuit, Frank J. Preve is Chief Operating Officer and kept an office inside Rothstein et al. He is a convicted bank fraud and embezzlement felon. He pleaded guilty to bank embezzlement charges in 1985 and received ten years probation and a $10,000 fine for falsifying loan documents in another fraudulent scheme. Banyon and other Rothstein investors' accounts were held at a Toronto-Dominion Bank branch in Fort Lauderdale.
Abraxas Discala
Abraxas Discala, a businessman, reportedly raised $30 million through his hedge fund which he invested into Rothstein's scheme.
Partners' income strategy and Rothstein's returns
The allegations are: George Levin was the general partner ("GP") who solicited each limited partner ("LP") to contribute at least $1 million. Initially, each LP contributed $250,000, subject to periodic capital calls up to the amount of their commitments. They were promised 12% annually (15% for first $100 million), to be paid quarterly. The general partner had to maintain a balance of not less than 10% of all contributions after any quarterly distributions. The general partner also gave a "clawback" guaranty to all LP's equal to their original contributions. LP's could not request redemptions during an initial one-year "lock-up" period and were required to give 90 days' notice for any withdrawals. Redemptions would be paid from the GP's own capital account "to the extent available" with a 10% hold-back, but otherwise, only from the purchased lawsuits settlement stream.
Banyon had paid Rothstein's firm at least $656 million, but the law firm anticipated $1.1 billion over a maximum 24-month period. It allegedly received and reinvested about $500 million. Levin expected to make 40% over 24 months but to only pay out 24%. Rothstein's law firm's IOLTA trust accounts established "for the plaintiff" in the purported litigation settlements were used to fund the phony settlement accounts, after the law firm had paid its overhead, keeping its insolvent operation afloat, which included "gifts" to partners and money given to politicians, charities, and pay for a massive advertising budget, as well as Rothstein's personal lifestyle, over three years, amounting to approximately a $500 million loss.
The interest on the funded IOLTA accounts went to the Florida Bar monthly, which was many millions, based on the Banyon contributions. In its prospectus, Banyon claimed to have a legal opinion that Banyon's interest in the IOLTA trust accounts "perfected automatically on execution of the transfer documents" – that the lawsuit proceeds assignments created by general counsel, David Boden. The LP's were warned that they could be taxed on the Partnership's income and realized gains even if no distributions were made. As long as reinvestments were ongoing, the ponzi scheme was facilitated.
Losses
1. Venture capitalist Doug Von Allmen's companies' total loss, approximately $105.5 million, through the Banyon Income Fund include:
The Von Allmen Dynastry Trust, overseen by wife Linda Von Allmen: $7 million.
D&L Partners, Von Allmen's Missouri company: $45 million.
Kretschmar: $8 million
Razorback Funding LLC, a Delaware company: $32 million
D3 Capital Club LLC, Delaware company: $13.5 million
2. BFMC Investment LLC, owned by Barry Florescue: $2.4 million
3. Socialite art dealer Bonnie Barnett, mother of defendant, Andrew Barnett
4. The family of car dealers, Ed and Ted Morse.
5. Ballamor Capital Management, Radnor, PA: $30 million.
Others
On November 19, 2009, Rothstein never appeared for a deposition, noticed in the bankruptcy case by investors' attorney John Genovese at Genovese's law office. Banyon and other Rothstein investors' accounts were held at a Toronto-Dominion Bank branch in Fort Lauderdale.
References
External links
Video tour of Rothstein's law offices
USA v. Scott Rothstein: Report Commencing Criminal Action, December 1, 2009
Federal Charging Information, December 1, 2009 Case No. 09-60331
Rothstein Plea Agreement, Case 0:09-cr-60331-JIC, filed January 27, 2010
Disbarment on Consent, filed November 20, 2009
Amended Civil Complaint filed November 25, 2009, Case No. 09-062943
Attorney Scherer's Opposition to Motion to Disqualify Counsel for Plaintiffs, filed January 28, 2010
Amended Complaint for Dissolution and For Emergency Transfer of Corporate Powers to Stuart A. Rosenfeldt, Case No. 09-059301
Judge's Order Granting Compelling of Bank Records, Case No. 09-059301
Database of Scott W. Rothstein's Political Contributions
Database of Scott W. Rothstein's Corporate Interests
Database of Scott W. Rothstein's registered vehicles
Database of Scott W. Rothstein's Real Estate Transactions
Category:1962 births
Category:2009 in economics
Category:American money launderers
Category:American money managers
Category:American people convicted of fraud
Category:American prisoners and detainees
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:American confidence tricksters
Category:Criminal investigation
Category:Disbarred Florida lawyers
Category:Great Recession
Category:Living people
Category:People convicted of racketeering
Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government
Category:Pyramid and Ponzi schemes
Category:American businesspeople convicted of crimes
Category:21st-century American Jews | [] | null | null |
C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_0 | Scott W. Rothstein | Scott W. Rothstein (born June 10, 1962) is a disbarred lawyer and the former managing shareholder, chairman, and chief executive officer of the now-defunct Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm. He was accused of funding his philanthropy, political contributions, law firm salaries, and an extravagant lifestyle with a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, one of the largest such in history. On December 1, 2009, Rothstein turned himself in to authorities and was subsequently arrested on charges related to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Although his arraignment plea was not guilty, Rothstein cooperated with the Government and reversed his plea to guilty of five federal crimes on January 27, 2010. | Swindle pitch | General counsel David Boden was present for at least one of the swindles, and negotiated the final papers with the investors' lawyers. Rothstein greets and informs the investor his firm was the preeminent sexual harassment law firm in the country. He says he'd figured out a basic formula which was that someone with $10 million net worth was usually willing to pay $2 million in cash to pay off their mistress. The key was confidentiality. Rothstein tells the investor that he would meet potential defendants in his office and would question them about affairs they had with an employee. The defendants would deny it. He pointed to artwork, and said there was a television screen behind it. He tells the investor he turned on a video of the guy having sex with his mistress, and told his client "We can either settle this now, or I can depose your wife, your mistress, you and your son about it." Since defendants" often couldn't or wouldn't pay the entire settlement up-front, Rothstein tells the investor that his first harassment case many years ago, involved a $3.5 million settlement and a million-dollar legal fee, so Rothstein assigned the settlement to a good friend and the plaintiff settles for $3 million without a trial. The "good friend" stood to be paid $3.5 million once the defendant paid up, a half-million dollar profit. "In 20 years, I have never seen a defendant sue on breach of settlement," Rothstein told them. "The whole idea is that it's secret. Why would they sue?" Although it did not appear completely legitimate, and it might have appeared that the plaintiffs were short-changed, it makes sense to the potential investor. The idea seems solid. The investor thinks that with enough of these cases at Rothstein's law firm, he could make huge sums of money. Rothstein then discusses other larger cases: Eli Lilly and Company, involving $1.4 billion with plaintiff representation by Gary Farmer, a firm attorney who negotiated the settlement and who brought the case with him when he arrived at the firm. Several inside whistleblowers went to the fed with unlawful practices regarding the marketing and sales of an anti-psychotic medication called Zyprexa. It was one of the largest qui tam cases in history. He tells the investor about a potential (allegedly fabricated) case where investors would buy whistle-blower million dollar settlements with a sixty percent short term investor profit. The arrangement would be completely secret; the investor would never know the name of the company or the whistle-blower. The settlement money would be deposited into a trust account at TD Bank, accessible only to the investor at the appropriate time. David Boden follows up with all questions and negotiates the contract. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_0_q#0",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_0_q#1",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_0_q#2",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_0_q#3",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_0_q#4",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_0_q#5",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_0_q#6",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_0_q#7",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_0_q#8",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_0_q#9",
"C_b6ec0a73883b44dea82ee7702f56d483_0_q#10"
] | [
"What happened with Swindle Pitch?",
"Where did this money go, was it legal?",
"Who did Rothstein work with?",
"Was the defendat found guilty?",
"What other cases did Rothstein manage or was a part of?",
"Was David Boden innocent of the charges presented against him?",
"Was he convicted or did he get away with it?",
"In what year did this happen?",
"Anything else interesting about the article.",
"What about the potential defendats, what was their roles?",
"Was this artwork important?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
0,
2,
0,
2,
2,
0,
2,
0,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
317
],
[
692
],
[
1287
],
[
2609
],
[
16
],
[
2382
],
[
2186
],
[
1788
],
[
489
],
[
619
],
[
317
]
],
"texts": [
[
"$10 million net worth"
],
[
"He tells the investor he turned on a video of the guy having sex with his mistress, and told his client"
],
[
"the defendant"
],
[
"TD Bank,"
],
[
"David Boden"
],
[
"sixty percent"
],
[
"It was one of the largest qui tam cases in history."
],
[
"Rothstein then discusses other larger cases:"
],
[
"potential defendants"
],
[
"He pointed to artwork,"
],
[
"$10 million net worth was usually willing to pay $2 million in cash to pay off their mistress. The key was confidentiality."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
317,
692,
1287,
2609,
16,
2382,
2186,
1788,
489,
619,
317
],
"texts": [
"$10 million net worth",
"He tells the investor he turned on a video of the guy having sex with his mistress, and told his client",
"the defendant",
"TD Bank,",
"David Boden",
"sixty percent",
"It was one of the largest qui tam cases in history.",
"Rothstein then discusses other larger cases:",
"potential defendants",
"He pointed to artwork,",
"$10 million net worth was usually willing to pay $2 million in cash to pay off their mistress. The key was confidentiality."
]
} | Scott W. Rothstein (born June 10, 1962) is an American disbarred lawyer, convicted felon, and the former managing shareholder, chairman, and chief executive officer of the now-defunct Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm. He funded an extravagant lifestyle with a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, one of the largest such in history.
On December 1, 2009, Rothstein turned himself in to authorities and was subsequently arrested on charges related to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
Although his arraignment plea was not guilty, Rothstein reversed his plea to guilty of five federal crimes on January 27, 2010.
Rothstein was denied bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin Rosenbaum, who ruled that due to his ability to forge documents, he was considered a flight risk. He was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison.
Overview
On June 9, 2010, Rothstein received a 50-year prison sentence after a hearing in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, although federal prosecutors initially filed a motion notifying the court they would be seeking a sentence reduction for Rothstein.
His firm had 70 lawyers and 150 employees, with offices in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tallahassee, Florida, New York City and Caracas, Venezuela. The firm focused on labor and employment matters, civil rights, intellectual property, internet law, corporate espionage, personal injury, wrongful death, commercial litigation, real estate, mergers and acquisitions, and governmental relations. His client list included Citicorp, J. C. Penney, Ed Morse Automotive Group, National Beverage, Silversea Cruise Lines, Supra Telecom, and Wells Fargo. Until he was permanently disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court on November 25, 2009, Rothstein was a member of the Florida Bar and admitted by the United States Supreme Court. He had been given an AV Preeminent peer review rating by Martindale-Hubbell.
On November 3, 2009, Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Department of the Treasury agents served a warrant to search the firm's Fort Lauderdale offices. Rothstein sent an email in recent weeks to firm lawyers asking them to investigate which countries refused to extradite criminal suspects to either the U.S. or Israel, and firm lawyers responded that Morocco is one such country. Rothstein had wired $16 million to an individual in Casablanca
and left for Casablanca on October 26, 2009. On October 31, 2009, he sent a suicide text message note to all of his law partners:Sorry for letting you all down. I am a fool. I thought I could fix it, but got trapped by my ego and refusal to fail, and now all I have accomplished is hurting the people I love. Please take care of yourselves and please protect Kimmie [Rothstein's wife]. She knew nothing. Neither did she, nor any of you deserve what I did. I hope God allows me to see you on the other side. Love, Scott.
On November 3, 2009, after many texts from Stuart Rosenfeldt, the president of the firm, urging him to "choose life", Rothstein returned to Fort Lauderdale on a chartered jet, from Casablanca. On November 2, his law firm with only $117,000 in its operating account filed suit against him, asked a judge to dissolve the firm, accusing him of misappropriating hundreds of millions of dollars from investor trust accounts in a Ponzi scheme from an investment business he covertly ran out of his law office.
In 2009, Rothstein resided at the Federal Detention Center, Miami in Downtown Miami, but was later moved to an undisclosed location and his inmate number removed from the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator webpage.
Background and career
Rothstein was born in the Bronx and moved with his parents to Lauderhill, Florida as a teenager. A 1988 Juris Doctor graduate of Fort Lauderdale's Nova Southeastern University's Law School, the Shepard Broad College of Law, and a 1984 Bachelor of Arts graduate of University of Florida, Rothstein's law career began in 1988 and, for nearly fifteen years, he was relatively unknown. In the early 1990s, Rothstein first partnered with attorney Howard Kusnick. First located in Plantation, Florida, Kusnick & Rothstein, P.A. subsequently moved to Ft. Lauderdale. In 2000, Rothstein joined with Rosenfeldt as a name partner at the Hollywood firm, Phillips Eisinger Koss & Rosenfeldt, P.A., which became known as Phillips Eisinger Koss Rothstein & Rosenfeldt, P.A.
In February 2002, Rothstein and Rosenfeldt started their own firm, first known as Rothstein & Rosenfeldt, P.A. Within a month, Pancier was added as a name partner. In July, 2002, adding Susan Dolin, a well-regarded employment lawyer, the firm became known as Rothstein, Rosenfeldt, Dolin & Pancier, P.A. In late 2004, the firm became known simply as Rothstein Rosenfeldt, with Adler being added in March 2005. Melissa Britt Lewis, who was murdered in March, 2008, was with Rothstein from the firm's beginning.
In seven years, he and his partners expanded the firm to 70 lawyers, including former Boca Raton Mayor and sitting Palm Beach County Commissioner Steve Abrams; former judges Julio Gonzalez, Barry Stone, and former Palm Beach circuit judge, William Berger; TV and radio legal commentator and former prosecutor, Ken Padowitz; Carlos Reyes, former South Broward Hospital District commissioner and lobbyist; Arthur Neiwirth, a bankruptcy expert; and Les Stracher, former legal counsel for Morse Auto Group, who represents major auto dealers.
Recent
On September 8, 2011, U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn granted the government's motion to prohibit videotaping Rothstein during a scheduled deposition of him, citing "serious harm" and "security reasons that are unusual in nature." The exact reasons for the judge's decision were sealed.
On June 8, 2011, federal prosecutors filed a motion with the sentencing judge informing him that they would be asking for a sentence reduction for Rothstein. However, on September 26, 2017, prosecutors withdrew their motion for a reduced sentence, saying that he had provided "false material information" in violation of his plea agreement.
Appointment
In August 2008, Governor Crist appointed Rothstein as a member of the 4th District Court of Appeal Judicial nominating commission, a body which is responsible for selecting new judges for appointment to the Court.
Personal life
An observant Jew, Rothstein grew up in a small Bronx apartment, sharing a bedroom with his sister. His father was a salesman "back in the days when you carried a bag up and down the streets of New York." The family moved to Lauderhill, Florida in 1977. His grandmother used her life savings to help put him through school. "I grew up poor. I'm a lunatic about money."
Rothstein was a large contributor to a synagogue off Las Olas with his name affixed to the front facade: The Rothstein Family Downtown Jewish Center Chabad. Rabbi Schneur Kaplan is one of the two people who talked Rothstein out of committing suicide.
He invested in residential property. In 2003, he paid $1.2 million for an intracoastal waterfront house on Castilla Isle in Fort Lauderdale. In March 2005, he bought a neighboring home belonging to Miami Dolphins' Ricky Williams for $2.73 million. While living in Williams' old house, he purchased two other homes on the street and three other homes in Broward for a total residential investment of nearly $20 million. "They call me the king of Castilla."
In 2008, he purchased a $6.45 million waterfront gated Fort Lauderdale home, a $6 million condo in New York in the same building as Marc Dreier,
and a $2.8 million oceanfront estate in Narragansett, Rhode Island.
His second wife, Kimberly Wendell Rothstein, a 35-year-old real-estate agent, helped manage his properties, which also include part-ownership of an office building in Pompano Beach. He and Bova also owned Bova Ristorante, formerly long-time generational Italian family-owned Mario's of Boca, which shut down October 18, 2009. Bova Prime, formerly Riley McDermott's, on Las Olas Boulevard is still operating. On September 11, 2008, the day before Rothstein took ownership, a dispute involving firearms broke out at Riley McDermott's involving Rothstein's security personnel.
He owns parts of an internet technology called company Qtask and V Georgio Spirits Co., LLC with CEO Vie Harvey and the Renato watch company, with partner, Ovi Levy.
Levy is the son of hotelier Shimon Levy, who spent a year in prison in Israel after hiding a criminal kingpin, suspected of two murders.
Rothstein at one time was a minority shareholder of Edify LLC, a health-care benefits consulting company. State Representative Evan Jenne-D-Dania Beach is a $30,000 company consultant, who previously worked a local bank. Rothstein hired Jenne's father, former sheriff and convicted felon, Ken Jenne, as a consultant at his law firm days after Jenne was released from prison on corruption charges. An attorney for Rothstein's law firm serves as the registered agent for Evan Jenne's company, Blue Banyan. Grant Smith, a lifelong friend of Evan Jenne's, is an Edify lobbyist. Edify has worked closely with the state Department of Health to develop wellness programs and also influences certain health-care legislation.
"The Great Gatsby"
In the 2008 interview at his law firm, Rothstein described himself and told how he controlled all aspects of the firm's management:
This is where the evil happens. Look, I sleep in the bed I make. I tend toward the flashy side, but it's a persona. It's just a fucking persona. ... People ask me, 'When do you sleep?' I say I'll sleep when I'm dead. I'm a true Gemini. I joke around that there are 43 people living in my head and you never know what you're going to get. There are some philanthropists in there, some good lawyers, and I like to think some good businessmen. There are also some guys from the streets of the Bronx that stay hidden away until I need them. Does that sound crazy? I am crazy, but crazy in a good way.
His personal office was opulent, with security and a compartmentalized layout. Anyone entering Rothstein's suite of offices had to use an intercom. He could exit, unseen through a second door. In the hallway, an ordinary looking brown door is actually the elevator door. Dozens of surveillance cameras and microphones hang from office ceilings. On his desk: four computer screens and the Five Books of Moses.
He had a Boeing 727 jet and in 2002, flew Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey, and Chris Tucker to Africa on an anti-AIDS mission. He owned an $5 million Warren yacht. His fleet of exotic cars included: 1974, 2006, 2007, and 2008 Ferraris, 2009 Bentley, 2007 Silver Rolls-Royce, and one 2008 and two 2010 Lamborghini Murcielagos — worth about $400,000 each, a pair of $1.6 million Bugattis, and a pair of Harleys which he maintains in an air-conditioned warehouse.
All were allegedly purchased and traded from Euromotorsports, the owner of which has an extensive criminal record.
All were seized shortly after his return from Morocco. He has a watch collection of over 100, valued at $1 million. In 2008, he was working on opening a cigar and martini bar on Las Olas Boulevard and two high-rise residential buildings in Brooklyn with New York partner Dominic Tonnachio. He was to take ownership of a "series of office buildings" on Oakland Park Boulevard.
Roger Stone was a partner with Rothstein in RRA Consulting, an LLC which was set up to provide public affairs assistance to the RRA law firm's legal clients. According to Stone, that business never generated any clients. It was dissolved in late 2008. On August 27, 2009, Stone, the recipient of Rothstein's sponsorship of his blog until July 29, 2009, "StoneZone", wrote a column recommending Rothstein for the seat vacated by Senator Mel Martinez - a man with "a distinguished legal record, has been a key supporter of Governor Crist and John McCain, has an unmatched record of philanthropic activities and would bring an unconventional style of getting things done to Washington. Add Rothstein to the short list." On November 4, 2009, Stone wrote, "Rothstein had no prior business success, no business acumen nor track record that would engender confidence in an investor. He could not read a balance sheet. He could not write or read a business plan. Rothstein was a lawyer, not an entrepreneur."
Stone claims that Rothstein has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) "so severe he never finished a martini, a cigar, a thought, or a sentence, never mind a transaction." According to Stone, neither law firm name partner Russell Adler nor Stuart Rosenfeldt were signatories on the RRA Trust Account.
He "appeared to be something out of a Great Gatsby movie."
Philanthropy and political contributions
In 2008, his Rothstein Family Foundation gave $1 million to Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, where a lobby was to be named for him and his wife. On October 31, 2009 his firm sponsored at a charity golf tournament featuring former Gov. Jeb Bush.
Between 2007 and 2008, he donated $2 million to the American Heart Association, Women in Distress, Alonzo Mourning Charities, Here's Help, and the Dan Marino Foundation.
Politicians of both parties have pledged to donate to charity or return his political contributions. On November 3, 2009, the Florida Republican Party, announced it would give Rothstein's donations ($600,000) to a charity. Gov. Charlie Crist's Senate Campaign ($100,550), state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink ($2,050), Senate President Jeff Atwater, Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, and that the Florida Democratic Party ($200,000) would return some or all of his contributions.
In June 2009, Harry Reid, the late former Democratic Senate majority leader received a contribution of $4,800. A list of FEC filings indexed by NewsMeat include a total of $166,800 to the Republican Party and candidates, including $109,800 to John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, and $17,600 to Democratic candidates.
Law partner murder
Debra Villegas, who handles his money, is the law firm's chief operating officer. She is co-owner with Rothstein in a home at 2307 Castilla Isle, as of May 2009. According to records, Rothstein originally purchased the property in September 2007, for $1.75 million, and sold it for $10 to a shell corporation in September 2009.
In 2005, the year the Ponzi scheme allegedly began, Villegas earned $80,000 a year. In 2007, her salary had increased to $145,000. Villegas received two Swiss watches — a Rolex and a Breitling — from her "employer". Rothstein paid off her couch and a bedroom set and held title to her two Honda water scooters. Villegas was living in a $475,000 Weston home that Rothstein signed over to her in July 2009 for $100 and "love and affection," according to the deed. Villegas registered a 2009 $100,000 Maserati GranTurismo at the home in January, 2009. In November 2009, Federal prosecutors seized the home, alleging that it was among Rothstein's ill-gotten assets.
Villegas' estranged husband, Tony Villegas, was charged on circumstantial evidence in the March 2008 murder in Plantation, Florida of Melissa Britt Lewis, a partner in Rothstein's firm. Although early news reports wondered at whether the evidence was substantial, according to New Times, "Nine days later, forensic testing revealed that Tony's DNA had been found on Melissa's suit jacket – the same jacket she wore on the day she died." Police sealed the arrest affidavit.
Rothstein had a team of "executive protection specialists" to guard the firm and his family, his teen-aged daughter. The prosecutor who had first worked on the Villegas case, Howard Scheinberg, went to work for Rosenfeldt Rothstein Adler. Villegas, a train conductor, remains in jail awaiting trial. Debra and Melissa shared a therapist, Ilene Vinikoor, whose husband, David, represented general counsel, David Boden in the Ponzi scheme investigation.
You get anger from people ... that prick from the Bronx. ... They say I'm building the law firm too fast, that it must be a house of cards.
"Disbarment on consent"
On November 17, 2009, the Florida Bar Executive Committee voted to accept a request by Rothstein to be disbarred. The Florida Supreme Court entered an order permanently disbarring Rothstein on November 25, 2009. Rothstein was removed from the Broward County Grievance Committee, and his name removed from the database of "The Best Lawyers in America".
Trust account
Rothstein, Rosenfeldt, and Adler's trust account was part of the Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program that was paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a month to the Florida Bar Foundation.
$1.2 billion Ponzi scheme
Rothstein's investment scheme involved purchasing what were initially mislabeled as fabricated "structured settlements," described as where people sell large settlements in legal cases for lump sums of cash. Alan Sakowitz, an attorney and real estate developer in Bay Harbor Islands, said that he contacted the FBI in September with concerns about Rothstein.
On Sunday, November 8, 2009, Sakowitz appeared with Kendall Coffey, attorney for Rothstein's law partners, on the Michael Putney Show on WPLG-TV, MIAMI, correcting Coffey for claiming that Rothstein's "investments" involved structured settlements, which they did not. (Note: "structured settlements" as defined by Rothstein in press reports do not meet the definition in IRC 5891(C)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code). Rothstein's resemble investments in pre-settlement funding or pre-settlement financing. In his December 12, 2011 deposition page 24 lines 15-23, Scott Rothstein himself said "It was intentionally made in a way and presented to that firm and the other firms that were looking at the structure issue that it was merely a purchase of dollars already in-house; that it was not a structured settlement because the true definition of a structured settlement is when someone is actually receiving payments over time that has some other value. We didn't have a true definition of a structured settlement, not by any of the statutes. From that perspective we had reason to make sure that this was not structured. Because when you're dealing with structured settlements you need other levels of Court approval. It would have required the manufacturer of literally hundreds of phony orders, which would have led the entire scheme to detection.'
The FBI estimates the loss to be up to a billion dollars from lucrative whistle-blower and employment discrimination cases.
The investors would make up-front cash payments to individuals owed money from the court cases to buy the right to collect the full amount of the settlements later. The investor was guaranteed a minimum of 20 percent investment returns in as little as three months.
Swindle pitch
General counsel David Boden was present for at least one of the swindles, and negotiated the final papers with the investors' lawyers. Rothstein greets and informs the investor his firm was the preeminent sexual harassment law firm in the country. He says he'd figured out a basic formula which was that someone with $10 million net worth was usually willing to pay $2 million in cash to pay off their mistress. The key was confidentiality. Rothstein tells the investor that he would meet potential defendants in his office and would question them about affairs they had with an employee. The defendants would deny it. He pointed to artwork, and said there was a television screen behind it. He tells the investor he turned on a video of the guy having sex with his mistress, and told his client "We can either settle this now, or I can depose your wife, your mistress, you and your son about it." Since defendants" often couldn't or wouldn't pay the entire settlement up-front, Rothstein tells the investor that his first harassment case many years ago, involved a $3.5 million settlement and a million-dollar legal fee, so Rothstein assigned the settlement to a good friend and the plaintiff settles for $3 million without a trial. The "good friend" stood to be paid $3.5 million once the defendant paid up, a half-million dollar profit.
"In 20 years, I have never seen a defendant sue on breach of settlement," Rothstein told them. "The whole idea is that it's secret. Why would they sue?"
Although it did not appear completely legitimate, and it might have appeared that the plaintiffs were short-changed, it makes sense to the potential investor. The idea seems solid. The investor thinks that with enough of these cases at Rothstein's law firm, he could make huge sums of money.
Rothstein then discusses other larger cases: Eli Lilly and Company, involving $1.4 billion with plaintiff representation by Gary Farmer, a firm attorney who negotiated the settlement and who brought the case with him when he arrived at the firm. Several inside whistleblowers went to the fed with unlawful practices regarding the marketing and sales of an anti-psychotic medication called Zyprexa. It was one of the largest qui tam cases in history.
He tells the investor about a potential (allegedly fabricated) case where investors would buy whistle-blower million dollar settlements with a sixty percent short term investor profit. The arrangement would be completely secret; the investor would never know the name of the company or the whistle-blower. The settlement money would be deposited into a trust account at TD Bank, accessible only to the investor at the appropriate time. David Boden follows up with all questions and negotiates the contract.
Court-appointed receiver
On November 2, 2009, Broward Chief Judge Vic Tobin sent an e-mail at 6:45 a.m. to judges about the Rothstein case:
I learned of some very distressing news yesterday. Whoever draws the case try to set the motion today because of the amount of clients and money involved. Also, if you have a case with the firm, please be patient. I don't know if the lawyers will come or not and if they do come, there is no money at this point to go forward with the case or pay firm employees.
On November 3, 2009, retired Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Herbert Stettin was appointed the firm's receiver, responsible for approving the firm's day-to-day financial decisions. Firm president and 50% owner of the firm, Stuart Rosenfeldt, "deposited two-thirds of my life savings in my firm's operating account" to prop up finances in the short-term.
Victims
On November 25, 2009, Attorney William Scherer filed a 289-page Amended Complaint seeking $100,000,000 in civil damages on behalf of his clients, and naming: Toronto Dominion Bank and its associates, Frank Spinosa, Jennifer Kerstetter, and Rosanne Karetsky, Irene Stay, Banyon Income Fund, L.P., Banyon USVI, LLC, George G. Levin, Michael Szafranski, Onyx Options Consultants Corporation, Berenfeld Spritzer Shechter Sheer, LLP., as well as Rothstein and his associates, David Boden, Debra Villegas, Andrew Barnett, and Frank J. Preve, as defendants/co-conspirators.
The Amended Complaint lists people and businesses to whom Rothstein allegedly wired money while he was en route to or inside of Morocco: Rothstein wired $16 million to his tour guide from Boca Raton, Florida, "Ahnick Kahlid". Kahlid transferred the money to Rothstein's new Moroccan bank account opened upon his arrival with a passport as identification at Banque Populaire in Casablanca;
The recipients allegedly are members of the "Israeli Mob"; New York Investors; Florida Investors; Real Estate Investors; and Levin Feeders.
Scherer has said that his clients and all other investors who weren't complicit in the crime will have their money returned. Due to the extreme negligence, TD Bank is liable. "My goal is to get all the money back for the investors from the bank," Scherer said.
On January 27, 2010 Scherer filed an affidavit alleging that Michael Szafranski was complicit in Rothstein's fraud, receiving almost $6.5 million in "ill-gotten" gains directly from Rothstein.
Shimon Levy and Ovi Levy
Shimon Levy allegedly has had deep ties to Dean Heiser and Israeli organized crime and spent a year in an Israeli prison for hiding a mob figure suspected of two "grisly murders". In 1997, his partner at the Sea Club Resort on Fort Lauderdale beach, Zvika Yuz, was a victim of a murder which remains unsolved. His son, Ovi contacted the Plantation Police Department and began receiving protection during the time Rothstein fled to Morocco.
Banyan Capital
Banyan Income Fund, a Fort Lauderdale-based hedge fund, invested hundreds of millions. It was run by Rothstein and involves Fort Lauderdale businessman George G. Levin, who reported Rothstein to the U.S. Attorney's Office for "suspicious activity." According to the lawsuit, Frank J. Preve is Chief Operating Officer and kept an office inside Rothstein et al. He is a convicted bank fraud and embezzlement felon. He pleaded guilty to bank embezzlement charges in 1985 and received ten years probation and a $10,000 fine for falsifying loan documents in another fraudulent scheme. Banyon and other Rothstein investors' accounts were held at a Toronto-Dominion Bank branch in Fort Lauderdale.
Abraxas Discala
Abraxas Discala, a businessman, reportedly raised $30 million through his hedge fund which he invested into Rothstein's scheme.
Partners' income strategy and Rothstein's returns
The allegations are: George Levin was the general partner ("GP") who solicited each limited partner ("LP") to contribute at least $1 million. Initially, each LP contributed $250,000, subject to periodic capital calls up to the amount of their commitments. They were promised 12% annually (15% for first $100 million), to be paid quarterly. The general partner had to maintain a balance of not less than 10% of all contributions after any quarterly distributions. The general partner also gave a "clawback" guaranty to all LP's equal to their original contributions. LP's could not request redemptions during an initial one-year "lock-up" period and were required to give 90 days' notice for any withdrawals. Redemptions would be paid from the GP's own capital account "to the extent available" with a 10% hold-back, but otherwise, only from the purchased lawsuits settlement stream.
Banyon had paid Rothstein's firm at least $656 million, but the law firm anticipated $1.1 billion over a maximum 24-month period. It allegedly received and reinvested about $500 million. Levin expected to make 40% over 24 months but to only pay out 24%. Rothstein's law firm's IOLTA trust accounts established "for the plaintiff" in the purported litigation settlements were used to fund the phony settlement accounts, after the law firm had paid its overhead, keeping its insolvent operation afloat, which included "gifts" to partners and money given to politicians, charities, and pay for a massive advertising budget, as well as Rothstein's personal lifestyle, over three years, amounting to approximately a $500 million loss.
The interest on the funded IOLTA accounts went to the Florida Bar monthly, which was many millions, based on the Banyon contributions. In its prospectus, Banyon claimed to have a legal opinion that Banyon's interest in the IOLTA trust accounts "perfected automatically on execution of the transfer documents" – that the lawsuit proceeds assignments created by general counsel, David Boden. The LP's were warned that they could be taxed on the Partnership's income and realized gains even if no distributions were made. As long as reinvestments were ongoing, the ponzi scheme was facilitated.
Losses
1. Venture capitalist Doug Von Allmen's companies' total loss, approximately $105.5 million, through the Banyon Income Fund include:
The Von Allmen Dynastry Trust, overseen by wife Linda Von Allmen: $7 million.
D&L Partners, Von Allmen's Missouri company: $45 million.
Kretschmar: $8 million
Razorback Funding LLC, a Delaware company: $32 million
D3 Capital Club LLC, Delaware company: $13.5 million
2. BFMC Investment LLC, owned by Barry Florescue: $2.4 million
3. Socialite art dealer Bonnie Barnett, mother of defendant, Andrew Barnett
4. The family of car dealers, Ed and Ted Morse.
5. Ballamor Capital Management, Radnor, PA: $30 million.
Others
On November 19, 2009, Rothstein never appeared for a deposition, noticed in the bankruptcy case by investors' attorney John Genovese at Genovese's law office. Banyon and other Rothstein investors' accounts were held at a Toronto-Dominion Bank branch in Fort Lauderdale.
References
External links
Video tour of Rothstein's law offices
USA v. Scott Rothstein: Report Commencing Criminal Action, December 1, 2009
Federal Charging Information, December 1, 2009 Case No. 09-60331
Rothstein Plea Agreement, Case 0:09-cr-60331-JIC, filed January 27, 2010
Disbarment on Consent, filed November 20, 2009
Amended Civil Complaint filed November 25, 2009, Case No. 09-062943
Attorney Scherer's Opposition to Motion to Disqualify Counsel for Plaintiffs, filed January 28, 2010
Amended Complaint for Dissolution and For Emergency Transfer of Corporate Powers to Stuart A. Rosenfeldt, Case No. 09-059301
Judge's Order Granting Compelling of Bank Records, Case No. 09-059301
Database of Scott W. Rothstein's Political Contributions
Database of Scott W. Rothstein's Corporate Interests
Database of Scott W. Rothstein's registered vehicles
Database of Scott W. Rothstein's Real Estate Transactions
Category:1962 births
Category:2009 in economics
Category:American money launderers
Category:American money managers
Category:American people convicted of fraud
Category:American prisoners and detainees
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:American confidence tricksters
Category:Criminal investigation
Category:Disbarred Florida lawyers
Category:Great Recession
Category:Living people
Category:People convicted of racketeering
Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government
Category:Pyramid and Ponzi schemes
Category:American businesspeople convicted of crimes
Category:21st-century American Jews | [] | null | null |
C_7be9cafd4da345878598a79c868e3007_0 | The Kinks | The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, in 1964 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most important and influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the United States until their touring ban in 1965. Their third single, the Ray Davies-penned "You Really Got Me", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States. | Legacy | The Kinks are regarded as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the 1960s and early 1970s. Stephen Thomas Erlewine called The Kinks "one of the most influential bands of the British Invasion". They were ranked 65th on Rolling Stone Magazine's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list. Artists influenced by The Kinks include punk rock groups such as the Ramones, The Clash, and The Jam, heavy metal acts including Van Halen and Britpop groups such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Craig Nicholls, singer and guitarist of The Vines, described the Kinks as "great songwriters, so underrated". Pete Townshend, guitarist with the Kinks' contemporaries the Who, credited Ray Davies with inventing "a new kind of poetry and a new kind of language for pop writing that influenced me from the very, very, very beginning." Jon Savage wrote that The Kinks were an influence on late 1960s American psychedelic rock groups "like The Doors, Love and Jefferson Airplane". Music writers and other musicians have acknowledged the influence of the Kinks on the development of hard rock and heavy metal. Musicologist Joe Harrington stated: "'You Really Got Me', 'All Day and All of the Night' and 'I Need You' were predecessors of the whole three-chord genre... [T]he Kinks did a lot to help turn rock 'n' roll (Jerry Lee Lewis) into rock (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Stooges)." Queen guitarist Brian May credited the band with planting "the seed which grew into riff-based music." A musical, Sunny Afternoon, based on the early life of Ray Davies and the formation of the Kinks, opened at the Hampstead Theatre in April 2014. The musical's name came from the band's 1966 hit single "Sunny Afternoon" and features songs from the band's back catalogue. In 2015, it was reported that Julien Temple would direct a biopic of The Kinks titled You Really Got Me, with singer-songwriter Johnny Flynn and actor George MacKay cast to play Ray and Dave Davies, respectively. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_7be9cafd4da345878598a79c868e3007_0_q#0",
"C_7be9cafd4da345878598a79c868e3007_0_q#1",
"C_7be9cafd4da345878598a79c868e3007_0_q#2",
"C_7be9cafd4da345878598a79c868e3007_0_q#3"
] | [
"What was the kinks legacy?",
"Did they have any albums?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Did the Kinks go on tour ever?"
] | [
0,
1,
0,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
1963
],
[
302
],
[
1963
]
],
"texts": [
[
"The Kinks are regarded as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the 1960s and early 1970s."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Artists influenced by The Kinks include punk rock groups such as the Ramones, The Clash, and The Jam,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
1963,
302,
1963
],
"texts": [
"The Kinks are regarded as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the 1960s and early 1970s.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Artists influenced by The Kinks include punk rock groups such as the Ramones, The Clash, and The Jam,",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the United States until their touring ban in 1965. Their third single, the Ray Davies-penned "You Really Got Me", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States.
The Kinks' music drew from a wide range of influences, including American R&B and rock and roll initially, and later adopting British music hall, folk, and country. The band gained a reputation for reflecting English culture and lifestyle, fuelled by Ray Davies' wittily observational writing style, and made apparent in albums such as Face to Face (1966), Something Else (1967), The Village Green Preservation Society (1968), Arthur (1969), Lola Versus Powerman (1970), and Muswell Hillbillies (1971), along with their accompanying singles including the transatlantic hit "Lola" (1970). After a fallow period in the mid-1970s, the band experienced a revival during the late 1970s and early 1980s with their albums Sleepwalker (1977), Misfits (1978), Low Budget (1979), Give the People What They Want (1981) and State of Confusion (1983), the last of which produced one of the band's most successful US hits, "Come Dancing". In addition, groups such as Van Halen, the Jam, the Knack, the Pretenders and the Romantics covered their songs, helping to boost the Kinks' record sales. In the 1990s, Britpop acts such as Blur and Oasis cited the band as a major influence.
The original line-up comprised Ray Davies (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Dave Davies (lead guitar, vocals), Mick Avory (drums, percussion) and Pete Quaife (bass). The Davies brothers remained with the band throughout its history. Quaife was replaced by John Dalton in 1969, with keyboardist John Gosling being added in 1970 (prior to this, session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins played on many of their recordings). After Dalton's 1976 departure, Andy Pyle briefly served as the band's bassist before being replaced by Argent bassist Jim Rodford in 1978. Gosling quit in 1978 and was first replaced by ex-Pretty Things member Gordon Edwards, then more permanently by Ian Gibbons in 1979. Avory left the group in 1984 and was replaced by another Argent member Bob Henrit. The band gave its last public performance in 1996 and broke up in 1997 as a result of creative tension between the Davies brothers.
The Kinks have had five Top 10 singles on the US Billboard chart. Nine of their albums charted in the Top 40. In the UK, they have had seventeen Top 20 singles and five Top 10 albums. Four Kinks albums have been certified gold by the RIAA and the band have sold 50 million records worldwide. Among numerous honours, they received the Ivor Novello Award for "Outstanding Service to British Music". In 1990, the original four members of the Kinks were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as the UK Music Hall of Fame in November 2005. In 2018, after years of ruling out a reunion due to the brothers' animosity and the difficult relationship between longtime drummer Mick Avory and Dave, Ray and Dave Davies finally announced they were working to reform the Kinks, with Avory also on board. However, comments made by each of the Davies brothers in 2020 and 2021 would indicate that in the years since the initial announcement, little (if any) progress has been made towards an actual Kinks reunion for a new studio band album. In 2023, Avory confirmed that the reunion would no longer be taking place due to conflicting opinions of direction between the Davies brothers.
History
Formation (1962–1963)
The Davies brothers were born in suburban North London on Huntingdon Road, East Finchley, the youngest and the only boys among their family's eight children. Their parents, Frederick and Annie Davies, moved the family to 6Denmark Terrace, Fortis Green, in the neighbouring suburb of Muswell Hill. At home the brothers were immersed in a world of varied musical styles, from the music hall of their parents' generation to the jazz and early rock and roll their older sisters enjoyed. Both Ray and his brother Dave, younger by almost three years, learned to play guitar, and they played skiffle and rock and roll together.
The brothers attended William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School (later merged with Tollington Grammar School to become Fortismere School), where they formed a band, the Ray Davies Quartet, with Ray's friend and classmate Pete Quaife and Quaife's friend John Start (although they would also be known as the Pete Quaife Quartet, if the bass player landed a gig for them instead). Their debut at a school dance was well received, which encouraged the group to play at local pubs and bars. The band went through a series of lead vocalists, including Rod Stewart, another student at William Grimshaw, who performed with the group at least once in early 1962. He then formed his own group, Rod Stewart and the Moonrakers, who became a local rival to the Ray Davies Quartet.
In late 1962, Ray Davies left home to study at Hornsey College of Art. He pursued interests in subjects such as film, sketching, theatre, and music, including jazz and blues. When Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated played at the college in December, he asked advice from Alexis Korner, who recommended Giorgio Gomelsky, the former Yardbirds manager, who put Davies in touch with the Soho-based Dave Hunt Band, a professional group of musicians who played jazz and R&B. A few days after the Ray Davies Quartet supported Cyril Stapleton at the Lyceum Ballroom on New Year's Eve, Davies, while still remaining in the Quartet, joined the Dave Hunt Band which briefly included Charlie Watts on drums. In February 1963, Davies left Dave Hunt to join the Hamilton King Band (also known as the Blues Messengers), which had Peter Bardens as pianist. At the end of the spring term, he left Hornsey College with a view to study film at the Central School of Art and Design. Around this time the Quartet changed their name to the Ramrods. Davies has referred to a show the fledgling Kinks played (again as the Ray Davies Quartet) at Hornsey Town Hall on Valentine's Day 1963 as their first important gig. In June, the Hamilton King Band broke up, though the Ramrods kept going, performing under several other names, including the Pete Quaife Band, and the Bo-Weevils, before (temporarily) settling on the Ravens. The fledgling group hired two managers, Grenville Collins and Robert Wace, and in late 1963 former pop singer Larry Page became their third manager. American record producer Shel Talmy began working with the band, and the Beatles' promoter, Arthur Howes, was retained to schedule the Ravens' live shows. The group unsuccessfully auditioned for various record labels until early 1964, when Talmy secured them a contract with Pye Records. During this period they had acquired a new drummer, Mickey Willet; however, Willet left the band shortly before they signed to Pye. The Ravens invited Mick Avory to replace him after seeing an advertisement Avory had placed in Melody Maker. Avory had a background in jazz drumming and had played one gig with the fledgling Rolling Stones.
Around this period, the Ravens decided on a new, permanent name: the Kinks. Numerous explanations of the name's genesis have been offered. In Jon Savage's analysis, they "needed a gimmick, some edge to get them attention. Here it was: 'Kinkiness'—something newsy, naughty but just on the borderline of acceptability. In adopting the 'Kinks' as their name at that time, they were participating in a time-honoured pop ritual—fame through outrage." Manager Robert Wace related his side of the story: "I had a friend... He thought the group was rather fun. If my memory is correct, he came up with the name just as an idea, as a good way of getting publicity... When we went to [the band members] with the name, they were... absolutely horrified. They said, 'We're not going to be called kinky! Ray Davies' account conflicts with Wace's—he recalled that the name was coined by Larry Page, and referenced their "kinky" fashion sense. Davies quoted him as saying, "The way you look, and the clothes you wear, you ought to be called the Kinks." "I've never really liked the name," Ray stated.
Early years (1964–1965)
The band's first single was a cover of the Little Richard song "Long Tall Sally". Bobby Graham, a friend of the band, was recruited to play drums on the recording. He would continue to occasionally substitute for Avory in the studio and play on several of the Kinks' early singles, including the early hits "You Really Got Me", "All Day and All of the Night" and "Tired of Waiting for You". "Long Tall Sally" was released in February 1964, but despite the publicity efforts of the band's managers, the single was almost completely ignored. When their second single, "You Still Want Me", failed to chart, Pye Records threatened to annul the group's contract unless their third single was successful.
"You Really Got Me", a Ray Davies song, influenced by American blues and the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie", was recorded on 15 June 1964 at Pye Studios with a slower and more produced feel than the final single. Ray Davies wanted to re-record the song with a lean, raw sound, but Pye refused to fund another session; Davies was adamant, so the producer, Shel Talmy, broke the stalemate by underwriting the session himself. The band used an independent studio, IBC, and went in on 15 July, getting it done in two takes. The single was released in August 1964, and, supported by a performance on the television show Ready Steady Go! and extensive pirate radio coverage, it entered the UK charts on 15 August, reaching number one on 19 September. Hastily imported by the American label Reprise Records, where the band was signed by legendary executive Mo Ostin, it also made the Top 10 in the United States. The loud, distorted guitar riff and solo on "You Really Got Me"—played by Dave Davies and achieved by a slice he made in the speaker cone of his Elpico amplifier (referred to by the band as the "little green amp")—helped with the song's signature, gritty guitar sound. "You Really Got Me" has been described as "a blueprint song in the hard rock and heavy metal arsenal", and as an influence on the approach of some American garage rock bands. After its release, the group recorded most of the tracks for their debut LP, simply titled Kinks. Consisting largely of covers and revamped traditional songs, it was released on 2October 1964, reaching number four on the UK chart. The group's fourth single, "All Day and All of the Night", another Ray Davies hard rock tune, was released three weeks later, reaching number two in the United Kingdom, and number seven in the United States. The next singles, "Set Me Free" and "Tired of Waiting for You", were also commercially successful, the latter topping the UK singles chart.
The group opened 1965 with their first tour of Australia and New Zealand, with Manfred Mann and the Honeycombs. An intensive performing schedule saw them headline other package tours throughout the year with acts such as the Yardbirds and Mickey Finn. Tensions began to emerge within the band, expressed in incidents such as the on-stage fight between Avory and Dave Davies at the Capitol Theatre, Cardiff, Wales, on 19 May. After finishing the first song, "You Really Got Me", Davies insulted Avory and kicked over his drum set. Avory responded by hitting Davies with his hi-hat stand, rendering him unconscious, before fleeing from the scene, fearing that he had killed his bandmate. Davies was taken to Cardiff Royal Infirmary, where he received 16 stitches to his head. To placate the police, Avory later claimed that it was part of a new act in which the band members would hurl their instruments at each other.
Following a mid-year tour of the United States, the American Federation of Musicians refused permits for the group to appear in concerts there for the next four years, effectively cutting off the Kinks from the main market for rock music at the height of the British Invasion. Although neither the Kinks nor the union revealed a specific reason for the ban, at the time it was widely attributed to their rowdy on-stage behaviour. It has been reported that an incident when the band were taping Dick Clark's TV show Where the Action Is in 1965 led to the ban. Ray Davies recalls in his autobiography, "Some guy who said he worked for the TV company walked up and accused us of being late. Then he started making anti-British comments. Things like 'Just because the Beatles did it, every mop-topped, spotty-faced limey juvenile thinks he can come over here and make a career for himself.; subsequently a punch was thrown and the AFM banned them.
A stopover in Bombay, India, during the band's Australian and Asian tour had led Davies to write the song "See My Friends", released as a single in July 1965. This was an early example of crossover music, and one of the first pop songs of the period to display the direct influence of traditional music from the Indian Subcontinent. Davies had written "See My Friends" with a raga feel after hearing the early morning chants of local fishermen. Music historian Jonathan Bellman argues that the song was "extremely influential" on Davies' musical peers: "And while much has been made of the Beatles' 'Norwegian Wood' because it was the first pop record to use a sitar, it was recorded well after the Kinks' clearly Indian 'See My Friends' was released." Pete Townshend of the Who was particularly affected by the song: See My Friends' was the next time I pricked up my ears and thought, 'God, he's done it again. He's invented something new.' That was the first reasonable use of the drone—far, far better than anything The Beatles did and far, far earlier. It was a European sound rather than an Eastern sound but with a strong, legitimate Eastern influence which had its roots in European folk music." In a widely quoted statement by Barry Fantoni, 1960s celebrity and friend of the Kinks, the Beatles, and the Who, he recalled that it was also an influence on the Beatles: "I remember it vividly and still think it's a remarkable pop song. I was with the Beatles the evening that they actually sat around listening to it on a gramophone, saying 'You know this guitar thing sounds like a sitar. We must get one of those. The song's radical departure from popular music conventions proved unpopular with the band's American following—it hit number 10 in the UK, but stalled at number 111 in the US.
Recording began promptly on the group's next project, Kinda Kinks, starting the day after their return from the Asian tour. The LP—10 of whose 12 songs were originals—was completed and released within two weeks. According to Ray Davies, the band was not completely satisfied with the final cuts, but pressure from the record company meant that no time was available to correct flaws in the mix. Davies later expressed his dissatisfaction with the production, saying, "A bit more care should have been taken with it. I think [producer] Shel Talmy went too far in trying to keep in the rough edges. Some of the double tracking on that is appalling. It had better songs on it than the first album, but it wasn't executed in the right way. It was just far too rushed."
A significant stylistic shift in the Kinks' music became evident in late 1965, with the appearance of singles like "A Well Respected Man" and "Dedicated Follower of Fashion", as well as the band's third album, The Kink Kontroversy, on which session musician Nicky Hopkins made his first appearance with the group on keyboards. These recordings exemplified the development of Davies' songwriting style, from hard-driving rock numbers toward songs rich in social commentary, observation and idiosyncratic character study, all with a uniquely English flavour.
Critical success (1966–1972)
The satirical single "Sunny Afternoon" was the biggest UK hit of summer 1966, topping the charts and displacing the Beatles' "Paperback Writer". Before the release of The Kink Kontroversy, Ray Davies suffered a nervous and physical breakdown, caused by the pressures of touring, writing and ongoing legal squabbles. During his months of recuperation, he wrote several new songs and pondered the band's direction. Quaife was involved in an automobile accident, and after his recovery decided to leave the band. Bassist John Dalton, who was initially hired to fill in for the injured Quaife, subsequently became his official replacement. However, Quaife soon had a change of heart and rejoined the band, and Dalton went back to his previous job as a coalman.
"Sunny Afternoon" was a dry run for the band's next album Face to Face, which displayed Davies' growing ability to craft musically gentle yet lyrically cutting narrative songs about everyday life and people. Hopkins returned for the sessions to play various keyboard instruments, including piano and harpsichord. He played on the band's next two studio albums as well, and was involved on a number of their live BBC recordings before joining the Jeff Beck Group in 1968. Face to Face was released in October 1966 in the UK, where it was well received and peaked at number eight. It was released in the US in December and was tipped as a potential "chart winner" by Billboard magazine. Despite this, it managed only a meagre chart peak of 135—a sign of the band's flagging popularity in the American market.
The Kinks' next single was a social commentary piece entitled "Dead End Street". It was released in November 1966 and became another UK Top 10 hit, although it reached only number 73 in the United States. Melody Maker reviewer Bob Dawbarn praised Ray Davies' ability to create a song with "some fabulous lyrics and a marvellous melody ... combined with a great production", and music scholar Johnny Rogan described it as "a kitchen sink drama without the drama—a static vision of working class stoicism". One of the group's first promotional music videos was produced for the song. It was filmed on Little Green Street, a small 18th-century lane in north London, located off Highgate Road in Kentish Town.
The Kinks' next single, "Waterloo Sunset", was released in May 1967. The lyrics describe two lovers passing over a bridge, with a melancholic observer reflecting on the couple, the Thames, and Waterloo station. The song was rumoured to have been inspired by the romance between two British celebrities of the time, actors Terence Stamp and Julie Christie. Ray Davies denied this in his autobiography, and claimed in a 2008 interview, "It was a fantasy about my sister going off with her boyfriend to a new world and they were going to emigrate and go to another country." Despite its complex arrangement, the sessions for "Waterloo Sunset" lasted a mere ten hours; Dave Davies later commented on the recording: "We spent a lot of time trying to get a different guitar sound, to get a more unique feel for the record. In the end we used a tape-delay echo, but it sounded new because nobody had done it since the 1950s. I remember Steve Marriott of the Small Faces came up and asked me how we'd got that sound. We were almost trendy for a while." The single was one of the Kinks' biggest UK successes (hitting number two on Melody Makers chart), and went on to become one of their most popular and best-known songs. Pop music journalist Robert Christgau called it "the most beautiful song in the English language", and AllMusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine cited it as "possibly the most beautiful song of the rock and roll era". 45 years later, Ray Davies was chosen to perform the song at the closing of the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The songs on the 1967 album, Something Else by the Kinks, developed the musical progressions of Face to Face, adding English music hall influences to the band's sound. Dave Davies scored a major UK chart success with the album's "Death of a Clown". While it was co-written by Ray Davies and recorded by the Kinks, it was also released as a Dave Davies solo single. Overall, however, the album's commercial performance was disappointing, prompting the Kinks to rush out a new single, "Autumn Almanac", in early October. Backed with "Mister Pleasant", the single became another Top5 success for the group. At this point, in a string of 13 singles, 12 of them reached the top 10 in the UK chart. Andy Miller points out that, despite its success, the single marks a turning point in the band's career—it would be their last entry into the UK Top Ten for three years: "In retrospect, 'Autumn Almanac' marked the first hint of trouble for the Kinks. This glorious single, one of the greatest achievements of British 60s pop, was widely criticised at the time for being too similar to previous [Ray] Davies efforts." Nick Jones of Melody Maker asked, "Is it time that Ray stopped writing about grey suburbanites going about their fairly unemotional daily business?... Ray works to a formula, not a feeling, and it's becoming rather boring." Disc jockey Mike Ahern called the song "a load of old rubbish". Dave's second solo single, "Susannah's Still Alive", was released in the UK on 24 November. It sold 59,000 copies, failing to reach the Top 10. Miller states that "by the end of the year, the Kinks were rapidly sliding out of fashion".
Beginning early in 1968, the group largely retired from touring, instead focusing on work in the studio. As the band was not available to promote their material, subsequent releases met with little success. The Kinks' next single, "Wonderboy", released in the spring of 1968, stalled at number 36 and became the band's first single not to make the UK Top Twenty since their early covers. In the face of the band's declining popularity, Davies continued to pursue his personal song-writing style while rebelling against the heavy demands placed on him to keep producing commercial hits, and the group continued to devote time to the studio, centering on a slowly developing project of Ray's called Village Green. In an attempt to revive the group's commercial standing, the Kinks' management booked them on a month-long package tour for April, drawing the group away from the studio. The venues were largely cabarets and clubs; headlining was Peter Frampton's group the Herd. "In general, the teenyboppers were not there to see the boring old Kinks, who occasionally had to endure chants of 'We Want The Herd!' during their brief appearances", commented Andy Miller. The tour proved taxing and stressful—Pete Quaife recalled, "It was a chore, very dull, boring and straightforward... We only did twenty minutes, but it used to drive me absolutely frantic, standing on stage and playing three notes over and over again." At the end of June, the Kinks released the single "Days", which provided a minor, but only momentary, comeback for the group. "I remember playing it when I was at Fortis Green the first time I had a tape of it", Ray said. "I played it to Brian, who used to be our roadie, and his wife and two daughters. They were crying at the end of it. Really wonderful—like going to Waterloo and seeing the sunset. ... It's like saying goodbye to somebody, then afterwards feeling the fear that you actually are alone." "Days" reached number 12 in the United Kingdom and was a Top 20 hit in several other countries, but it did not chart in the United States.
Village Green eventually morphed into their next album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, released in late 1968 in the UK. A collection of thematic vignettes of English town and hamlet life, it was assembled from songs written and recorded over the previous two years. It was greeted with almost unanimously positive reviews from both UK and US rock critics, yet failed to sell strongly. One factor in the album's initial commercial failure was the lack of a popular single. It did not include the moderately successful "Days"; "Starstruck" was released in North America and continental Europe, but was unsuccessful.Kitts, Thomas (2007). p. 121 Though a commercial disappointment, Village Green (the project's original name was adopted as shorthand for the long album title) was embraced by the new underground rock press when it came out in January 1969 in the United States, where the Kinks began to acquire a reputation as a cult band. In The Village Voice, a newly hired Robert Christgau called it "the best album of the year so far". The underground Boston paper Fusion published a review stating, "the Kinks continue, despite the odds, the bad press and their demonstrated lot, to come across. ... Their persistence is dignified, their virtues are stoic. The Kinks are forever, only for now in modern dress." The record did not escape criticism, however. In the student paper California Tech, one writer commented that it was "schmaltz rock... without imagination, poorly arranged and a poor copy of The Beatles". Although Davies later estimated it sold only around 100,000 copies worldwide on its initial release, it has since become the Kinks' best-selling original record. The album remains popular; in 2004, it was re-released in a 3-CD "Deluxe" edition and one of its tracks, "Picture Book", was featured in a popular Hewlett-Packard television commercial, helping to boost the album's popularity considerably.
In early 1969, Quaife again told the band he was leaving. The other members did not take his statement seriously until an article appeared in New Musical Express on 4 April featuring Quaife's new band, Maple Oak, which he had formed without telling the rest of the Kinks. Ray Davies pleaded with him to return for the sessions for their upcoming album, but Quaife refused. Davies immediately called up John Dalton, who had replaced Quaife three years prior, and asked him to rejoin. Dalton remained with the group until the recording of the album Sleepwalker in 1976.
Ray Davies travelled to Los Angeles in April 1969 to help negotiate an end to the American Federation of Musicians' ban on the group, opening up an opportunity for them to return to touring in the US. The group's management quickly made plans for a North American tour, to help restore their standing in the US pop music scene. Before their return to the US, the Kinks recorded another album, Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). As with the previous two albums, Arthur was grounded in characteristically English lyrical and musical hooks. A modest commercial success, it was well received by American music critics. Conceived as the score for a proposed but unrealised television drama, much of the album revolved around themes from the Davies brothers' childhood; their sister Rosie, who had migrated to Australia in the early 1960s with her husband, Arthur Anning, the album's namesake; and life growing up during the Second World War.Kitts, Thomas M. (2007) p. 131 The Kinks embarked on their tour of the US in October 1969. The tour was generally unsuccessful, as the group struggled to find cooperative promoters and interested audiences; many of the scheduled concert dates were cancelled. The band did, however, manage to play a few major venues such as the Fillmore East and Whisky a Go Go.
The band added keyboardist John Gosling to their line-up in early 1970; before this Nicky Hopkins, along with Ray, had done most of the session work on keyboards. In May 1970 Gosling debuted with the Kinks on "Lola", an account of a confused romantic encounter with a transvestite, that became both a UK and a US Top 10 hit, helping return the Kinks to the public eye.Rogan, Johnny (1998). pp. 22–23 The lyrics originally contained the word "Coca-Cola", and as a result the BBC refused to broadcast the song, considering it to be in violation of their policy against product placement. Part of the song was hastily rerecorded by Ray Davies, with the offending line changed to the generic "cherry cola", although in concert the Kinks still used "Coca-Cola". Recordings of both versions of "Lola" exist. The accompanying album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One was released in November 1970. It was a critical and commercial success, charting in the Top 40 in the US, making it their most successful album since the mid-1960s. After the success of "Lola", the band went on to release Percy in 1971, a soundtrack album to a film of the same name about a penis transplant. The album, which consisted largely of instrumentals, did not receive positive reviews. The band's US label, Reprise, declined to release it in the US, precipitating a major dispute that contributed to the band's departure from the label. Directly after the release of the album, the band's contracts with Pye and Reprise expired.
Before the end of 1971, the Kinks signed a five-album deal with RCA Records and received a million-dollar advance, which helped fund the construction of their own recording studio, Konk. Their debut for RCA, Muswell Hillbillies, was replete with the influence of music hall and traditional American musical styles, including country and bluegrass. It is often hailed as their last great record, though it was not as successful as its predecessors. It was named after Muswell Hill, where the Davies brothers were brought up, and contained songs focusing on working-class life and, again, the Davies' childhood. Muswell Hillbillies, despite positive reviews and high expectations, peaked at number 48 on the Record World chart and number 100 on the Billboard chart. It was followed in 1972 by a double album, Everybody's in Show-Biz, which consisted of both studio tracks and live numbers recorded during a two-night stand at Carnegie Hall. The record featured the ballad "Celluloid Heroes" and the Caribbean-themed "Supersonic Rocket Ship", their last UK Top 20 hit for more than a decade. "Celluloid Heroes" is a bittersweet rumination on dead and fading Hollywood stars (Mickey Rooney was still alive), in which the narrator declares that he wishes his life were like a movie "because celluloid heroes never feel any pain... and celluloid heroes never really die."Davies, Ray. "Celluloid Heroes" lyrics. Davray Music Ltd. (1972) The album was moderately successful in the United States, peaking at number 47 in Record World and number 70 in Billboard. It marks the transition between the band's early 1970s rock material and the theatrical incarnation in which they immersed themselves for the next four years.
Theatrical incarnation (1973–1976)
In 1973, Ray Davies dived headlong into the theatrical style, beginning with the rock opera Preservation, a sprawling chronicle of social revolution, and a more ambitious outgrowth of the earlier Village Green Preservation Society ethos. In conjunction with the Preservation project, the Kinks' line-up was expanded to include a horn section and female backup singers, essentially reconfiguring the group as a theatrical troupe.
Ray Davies' marital problems during this period began to affect the band adversely, particularly after his wife, Rasa, took their children and left him in June 1973. Davies became depressed; during a July gig at White City Stadium he told the audience he was "fucking sick of the whole thing", and was retiring.Hollingsworth, Roy (21 July 1973). "Thank you for the days, Ray". Melody Maker. He subsequently collapsed after a drug overdose and was taken to hospital. With Ray Davies in a seemingly critical condition, plans were discussed for Dave to continue as frontman in a worst-case scenario. Ray recovered from his illness as well as his depression, but throughout the remainder of the Kinks' theatrical incarnation the band's output remained uneven, and their already fading popularity declined even more. John Dalton later commented that when Davies "decided to work again... I don't think he was totally better, and he's been a different person ever since."
Preservation Act 1 (1973) and Preservation Act 2 (1974) received generally poor reviews. The story on the albums involved an anti-hero called Mr Flash, and his rival and enemy Mr Black (played by Dave Davies during live shows), an ultra-purist and corporatist. Preservation Act 2 was the first album recorded at Konk Studio; from this point forward, virtually every Kinks studio recording was produced by Ray Davies at Konk. The band embarked on an ambitious US tour throughout late 1974, adapting the Preservation story for stage. Author Robert Polito: "[Ray] Davies expanded the Kinks into a road troupe of perhaps a dozen costumed actors, singers and horn players. ... Smoother and tighter than on record, Preservation live proved funnier as well."
Davies began another project for Granada Television, a musical called Starmaker. After a broadcast with Ray Davies in the starring role and the Kinks as both back-up band and ancillary characters, the project eventually morphed into the concept album The Kinks Present a Soap Opera, released in May 1975, in which Ray Davies fantasised about what would happen if a rock star traded places with a "normal Norman" and took a 9–5 job.Hickey, Dave. "Soap Opera: Rock Theater That Works". Village Voice, 19 May 1975 In August 1975, the Kinks recorded their final theatrical work, Schoolboys in Disgrace, a backstory biography of Preservation's Mr Flash. The record was a modest success, peaking at number 45 on the Billboard charts.
Return to commercial success (1977–1985)
Following the termination of their contract with RCA, the Kinks signed with Arista Records in 1976. With the encouragement of Arista's management they stripped back down to a five-man core group and were reborn as an arena rock band. John Dalton left the band before finishing the sessions for the debut Arista album. Andy Pyle was brought in to complete the sessions and to play on the subsequent tour. Sleepwalker, released in 1977, marked a return to success for the group as it peaked at number 21 on the Billboard chart. After its release and the recording of the follow-up, Misfits, Andy Pyle and keyboardist John Gosling left the group to work together on a separate project. In May 1978, Misfits, the Kinks' second Arista album, was released. It included the US Top 40 hit "A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy", which helped make the record another success for the band. The non-album single "Father Christmas" has remained a popular track. Driven by session drummer Henry Spinetti's drumming and Dave Davies' heavy guitar the song "Father Christmas" has become a classic seasonal favorite on mainstream radio. For the following tour, the band recruited ex-Argent bassist Jim Rodford and ex–Pretty Things keyboardist Gordon Edwards. Edwards was soon fired from The Kinks for failing to show up to recordings sessions, and the band recorded 1979's Low Budget as a quartet, with Ray Davies handling keyboard duties. Keyboardist Ian Gibbons was recruited for the subsequent tour, and became a permanent member of the group. Despite the personnel changes, the popularity of the band's records and live shows continued to grow.
Beginning in the late 1970s, bands such as the Jam ("David Watts"), the Pretenders ("Stop Your Sobbing", "I Go to Sleep"), the Romantics ("Hung On You"), and the Knack ("The Hard Way") recorded covers of Kinks songs, which helped bring attention to the group's new releases. In 1978, Van Halen covered "You Really Got Me" for their debut single, a Top 40 US hit, helping boost the band's commercial resurgence (Van Halen later covered "Where Have All the Good Times Gone", another early Kinks song which had been covered by David Bowie on his 1973 album Pin Ups). The hard rock sound of Low Budget, released in 1979, helped make it the Kinks' second gold album and highest charting original album in the US, where it peaked at number 11. In 1980, the group's third live album, One for the Road, was produced, along with a video of the same title, bringing the group's concert-drawing power to a peak that would last into 1983. Dave Davies also took advantage of the group's improved commercial standing to fulfill his decade-long ambitions to release albums of his solo work. The first was the eponymous Dave Davies in 1980. It was also known by its catalogue number "AFL1-3603" because of its cover art, which depicted Dave Davies as a leather-jacketed piece of price-scanning barcode. He produced another, less successful, solo album in 1981, Glamour.
The next Kinks album, Give the People What They Want, was released in late 1981 and reached number 15 in the US. The record attained gold status and featured the UK hit single "Better Things" as well as "Destroyer", a major Mainstream Rock hit for the group. To promote the album, the Kinks spent the end of 1981 and most of 1982 touring relentlessly, and played multiple sell-out concerts throughout Australia, Japan, England and the US. The tour culminated with a performance at the US Festival in San Bernardino, California, for a crowd of 205,000. In spring 1983, the song "Come Dancing" became their biggest American hit since "Tired of Waiting for You", peaking at number six. It also became the group's first Top 20 hit in the UK since 1972, peaking at number 12 in the charts. The accompanying album, State of Confusion, was another commercial success, reaching number 12 in the US, but, like all the group's albums since 1967, it failed to chart in the UK. Another single released from the record, "Don't Forget to Dance", became a US top 30 hit and minor UK chart entry.
The Kinks' second wave of popularity remained at a peak with State of Confusion, but that success began to fade, a trend that also affected their British rock contemporaries the Rolling Stones and the Who. During the second half of 1983, Ray Davies started work on an ambitious solo film project, Return to Waterloo, about a London commuter who daydreams that he is a serial murderer. The film gave actor Tim Roth a significant early role. Davies' commitment to writing, directing and scoring the new work caused tension in his relationship with his brother. Another problem was the stormy end of the relationship between Ray Davies and Chrissie Hynde. The old feud between Dave Davies and drummer Mick Avory also re-ignited. Davies eventually refused to work with Avory, and called for him to be replaced by Bob Henrit, former drummer of Argent (of which Jim Rodford had also been a member). Avory left the band, and Henrit was brought in to take his place. Ray Davies, who was still on amiable terms with Avory, invited him to manage Konk Studios. Avory accepted, and continued to serve as a producer and occasional contributor on later Kinks albums.
Between the completion of Return to Waterloo and Avory's departure, the band had begun work on Word of Mouth, their final Arista album, released in November 1984. As a result it includes Avory on three tracks, with Henrit and a drum machine on the rest. Many of the songs also appeared as solo recordings on Ray Davies' Return to Waterloo soundtrack album. Word of Mouths lead track, "Do It Again", was released as a single in April 1985. It reached number 41 in the US, the band's last entry into the Billboard Hot 100. Coinciding with the album's release, the first three books on the Kinks were published: The Kinks: The Official Biography, by Jon Savage; The Kinks Kronikles, by rock critic John Mendelsohn, who had overseen the 1972 The Kink Kronikles compilation album; and The Kinks – The Sound And The Fury (The Kinks – A Mental Institution in the US), by Johnny Rogan.
Decline in popularity and split (1986–1997)
In early 1986, the group signed with MCA Records in the United States and London Records in the UK. Their first album for the new labels, Think Visual, released later that year, was a moderate success, peaking at number 81 on the Billboard albums chart. Songs like the ballad "Lost and Found" and "Working at the Factory" concerned blue-collar life on an assembly line, while the title track was an attack on the very MTV video culture from which the band had profited earlier in the decade. The Kinks followed Think Visual in 1987 with another live album, The Road, which was a mediocre commercial and critical performer. In 1989, the Kinks released UK Jive, a commercial failure, making only a momentary entry into the album charts at number 122. MCA Records ultimately dropped them, leaving the Kinks without a label deal for the first time in over a quarter of a century. Longtime keyboardist Ian Gibbons left the group and was replaced by Mark Haley.
In 1990, their first year of eligibility, the Kinks were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mick Avory and Pete Quaife were present for the award. The induction, however, did not revive the Kinks' stalled career. A compilation from the MCA Records period, Lost & Found (1986–1989), was released in 1991 to fulfil contractual obligations, and marked the official end of the group's relationship with MCA. The band then signed with Columbia Records and released the five-song EP Did Ya in 1991 which, despite being coupled with a new studio re-recording of the band's 1968 British hit "Days", failed to chart.
The Kinks reverted to a four-piece band for the recording of their first Columbia album, Phobia, in 1993. Following Mark Haley's departure after the band's sellout performance at the Royal Albert Hall, London, Gibbons rejoined the Kinks for a US tour. Phobia managed only one week in the US Billboard chart at number 166; as had by then become usual for the band, it made no impression in the UK. One single, "Only a Dream", narrowly failed to reach the British chart. "Scattered", the album's final candidate for release as a single, was announced, followed by TV and radio promotion, but the record was unavailable in stores—several months later a small number appeared on the collector market. The group was dropped by Columbia in 1994. In the same year, the band released the first version of the album To the Bone on their own Konk label in the UK. This live acoustic album was partly recorded on the highly successful UK tours of 1993 and 1994 and partly in the Konk studio, before a small, invited audience. Two years later the band released a new, improved, live double CD set in the US, which retained the same name and contained two new studio tracks, "Animal" and "To The Bone". The CD set also featured new treatments of many old Kinks hits. The record drew respectable press but failed to chart in either the US or the UK.
The band's profile rose considerably in the mid-1990s, primarily as a result of the "Britpop" boom. Several of the most prominent bands of the decade cited the Kinks as a major influence. Despite such accolades, the group's commercial viability continued to decline. They gradually became less active, leading Ray and Dave Davies to pursue their own interests. Each released an autobiography; Ray's X-Ray was published in early 1995, and Dave responded with his memoir Kink, published a year later. The Kinks gave their last public performance in mid-1996, and the group assembled for what would turn out to be their last time together at a party for Dave's 50th birthday. Kinks chronicler and historian Doug Hinman stated, "The symbolism of the event was impossible to overlook. The party was held at the site of the brothers' very first musical endeavour, the Clissold Arms pub, across the street from their childhood home on Fortis Green in North London."
Solo work and recognition (1998–present)
The band members subsequently focused on solo projects, and both Davies brothers released their own studio albums. Talk of a Kinks reunion circulated (including an aborted studio reunion of the original band members in 1999), but neither Ray nor Dave Davies showed much interest in playing together again. Meanwhile, former members John Gosling, John Dalton and Mick Avory had regrouped in 1994 and started performing on the oldies circuit along with guitar-player/singer Dave Clarke as the Kast Off Kinks.
Ray Davies released the solo album Storyteller, a companion piece to X-Ray, in 1998. Originally written two years earlier as a cabaret-style show, it celebrated his old band and his estranged brother. Seeing the programming possibilities in his music/dialogue/reminiscence format, the American music television network VH1 launched a series of similar projects featuring established rock artists titled VH1 Storytellers. Dave Davies spoke favourably of a Kinks reunion in early 2003, and as the 40th anniversary of the group's breakthrough neared, both the Davies brothers expressed interest in working together again. However, hopes for a reunion were dashed in June 2004 when Dave suffered a stroke while exiting an elevator, temporarily impairing his ability to speak and play guitar. Following Dave's recovery, the Kinks were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in November 2005, with all four of the original band members in attendance. The induction helped fuel sales for the group; in August 2007, a re-entry of The Ultimate Collection, a compilation of material spanning the band's career, reached number 32 on the UK Top 100 album chart and number one on the UK Indie album chart. Quaife, who had been receiving kidney dialysis for more than ten years, died on 23 June 2010, at the age of 66. On 20 January 2018, long-time bassist Jim Rodford died at the age of 76. In July 2019, keyboardist Ian Gibbons died of cancer.
Possible reunion
In June 2018, the Davies brothers said they were working on a new Kinks studio album with Avory. In July 2019, the band again said they were working on new music. However, in a December 2020 interview with The New York Times, Ray Davies did not indicate that much work has been done, saying "I'd like to work with Dave again—if he'll work with me." When asked about a reunion in an interview published January 2021, Dave Davies said "We've been talking about it. I mean there's a lot of material and, you know, it could still happen."
In March 2023, Avory laid to rest rumours of a reunion, citing differences between the Davies brothers: "I don't think it's possible now – one thing, health-wise. And I don't think we could ever work it out because Dave wanted to do it one way, and Ray wanted to do it the other – which was quite normal thinking for them. [...] Ray thought [of] doing it as an 'evolution tour' – you have different people who came into the band and what songs they recorded on and what songs effected them. I thought that would be more interesting. But I think Dave just wanted 'a band' – not particularly with me in it. Just reform something like they had when I left – just a band with him and Ray in it, really."
Live performances
The first live performance of the Ray Davies Quartet, the band that would become the Kinks, was at a dance for their school, William Grimshaw, in 1962. The band performed under several names between 1962 and 1963—the Pete Quaife Band, the Bo-Weevils, the Ramrods, and the Ravens—before settling on the Kinks in early 1964. Ray has stated that a performance at Hornsey Town Hall on Valentine's Day 1963 was when the band were truly born.
The Kinks made their first tour of Australia and New Zealand in January 1965 as part of a "package" bill that included Manfred Mann and the Honeycombs. They performed and toured relentlessly, headlining package tours throughout 1965 with performers such as the Yardbirds and Mickey Finn. Tensions began to emerge within the band, expressed in incidents such as the on-stage fight between drummer Mick Avory and Dave Davies at The Capitol Theatre, Cardiff, Wales on 19 May. After finishing the first song, "You Really Got Me", Davies insulted Avory and kicked over his drum set. Avory responded by hitting Davies with his hi-hat stand, rendering him unconscious, before fleeing from the scene, fearing that he had killed his bandmate. Davies was taken to Cardiff Royal Infirmary, where he received 16 stitches to his head. To placate police, Avory later claimed that it was part of a new act in which the band members would hurl their instruments at each other. Following their summer 1965 American tour, the American Federation of Musicians refused permits for the group to appear in concerts in the United States for the next four years,Alterman, Loraine. Who Let the Kinks In?. Rolling Stone, 18 December 1969 possibly due to their rowdy on-stage behaviour.
In April 1969 Davies helped negotiate an end to the American Federation of Musician ban on the group, which allowed plans for a North American tour. However, over the next few years, Davies went into a state of depression, not helped by his collapsing marriage, culminating in his onstage announcement that he was "sick of it all" at a gig in White City Stadium, London in 1973. A review of the concert published in Melody Maker stated: "Davies swore on stage. He stood at The White City and swore that he was 'F...... sick of the whole thing' ... He was 'Sick up to here with it' ... and those that heard shook their heads. Mick just ventured a disbelieving smile, and drummer on through 'Waterloo Sunset. Davies proceeded to try to announce that the Kinks were breaking up as the band were leaving the stage, but this attempt was foiled by the group's publicity management, who pulled the plug on the microphone system.
Musical style
The Kinks started out playing the then popular R&B and blues styles; then, under the influence of the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" recording, developed louder rock and hard rock sounds. Due to their pioneering contribution to the field, they have often been labelled as "the original punks". Dave Davies was "really bored with this guitar sound—or lack of an interesting sound" so he purchased "a little green amplifier... an Elpico" from a radio spares shop in Muswell Hill, and "twiddled around with it", including "taking the wires going to the speaker and putting a jack plug on there and plugging it straight into my AC30" (a larger amplifier), but didn't get the sound he wanted until he got frustrated and "got a single-sided Gillette razorblade and cut round the cone [from the centre to the edge]... so it was all shredded but still on there, still intact. I played and I thought it was amazing." The jagged sound of the amplifier was replicated in the studio; the Elpico was plugged into the Vox AC30, and the resulting effect became a mainstay in The Kinks' early recordings—most notably on "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night".
From 1966 onwards, the Kinks came to be known for their adherence to traditions of English music and culture, during a period when many other British bands dismissed their heritage in favour of American blues, R&B and pop styles. Ray Davies recalled that at a distinct moment in 1965 he decided to break away from the American scene, and write more introspective and intelligent songs. "I decided I was going to use words more, and say things. I wrote 'A Well Respected Man'. That was the first real word-oriented song I wrote... [I also] abandoned any attempt to Americanise my accent." The Kinks' allegiance to English styles was strengthened by the ban placed on them by the American Federation of Musicians. The ban cut them off from the American record buying public, the world's largest musical market, forcing them to focus on Britain and mainland Europe. The Kinks expanded on their English sound throughout the remainder of the 1960s, incorporating elements of music hall, folk, and baroque music through use of harpsichord, acoustic guitar, mellotron, and horns, in albums such as Face to Face, Something Else by the Kinks, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, and Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), creating some of the most influential and important music of the period.
Beginning with Everybody's In Show-biz (1972), Ray Davies began exploring theatrical concepts on the group's albums; these themes became manifest on the 1973 album Preservation Act 1 and continued through Schoolboys In Disgrace (1976). The Kinks were less commercially successful with these conceptual works, and were dropped by RCA which had signed them in 1971. In 1977 they moved to Arista Records, who insisted on a more traditional rock format. Sleepwalker (1977), which heralded their return to commercial success, featured a mainstream, relatively slick production style that would become their norm. The band returned to hard rock for Low Budget (1979), and continued to record within the genre throughout the remainder of their career, combining this with pop music in the 1980s with albums such as Give the People What They Want and songs such as "Better Things".
Legacy
The Kinks are regarded as one of the most influential rock acts of the 1960s and early 1970s. Stephen Thomas Erlewine called them "one of the most influential bands of the British Invasion". They were ranked 65th on Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list.
Artists influenced by the Kinks include punk rock groups such as the Ramones, the Clash, Blondie, and the Jam, heavy metal acts including Van Halen and Britpop groups such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Craig Nicholls, singer and guitarist of the Vines, described the Kinks as "great songwriters, so underrated". Pete Townshend, guitarist with the Kinks' contemporaries the Who, credited Ray Davies with inventing "a new kind of poetry and a new kind of language for pop writing that influenced me from the very, very, very beginning." Jon Savage wrote that the Kinks were an influence on late 1960s American psychedelic rock groups "like the Doors, Love and Jefferson Airplane". Music writers and other musicians have acknowledged the influence of the Kinks on the development of hard rock and heavy metal. Musicologist Joe Harrington stated: "You Really Got Me', 'All Day and All of the Night' and 'I Need You' were predecessors of the whole three-chord genre... [T]he Kinks did a lot to help turn rock 'n' roll (Jerry Lee Lewis) into rock." Queen guitarist Brian May credited the band with planting "the seed which grew into riff-based music."
They have two albums, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (No. 384), and Something Else by the Kinks (No. 478) on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. They have three songs on the same magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list as updated in September 2021: "Waterloo Sunset" (No. 14), "You Really Got Me" (No. 176), and "Lola" (No. 386). A musical, Sunny Afternoon, based on the early life of Ray Davies and the formation of the Kinks, opened at the Hampstead Theatre in April 2014. The musical's name came from the band's 1966 hit single "Sunny Afternoon" and features songs from the band's back catalogue.
In 2015, it was reported that Julien Temple would direct a biopic of the Kinks titled You Really Got Me, but as of 2021 nothing had come of the project. Temple previously released a documentary about Ray Davies titled Imaginary Man.
MembersPast members Ray Davies – lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, harmonica
Dave Davies – lead guitar, backing and lead vocals, occasional keyboards
Mick Avory – drums, percussion
Pete Quaife – bass, backing vocals
John Dalton – bass, backing vocals
Andy Pyle – bass
Jim Rodford – bass, backing vocals
John Gosling – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
Gordon Edwards – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
Ian Gibbons – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
Mark Haley – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
Bob Henrit – drums, percussion Major album contributors Rasa Davies – backing vocals from Kinks to The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
Bobby Graham – drums, percussion on select tracks from Kinks and Kinda Kinks
Nicky Hopkins – keyboards, piano from The Kink Kontroversy to The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society ()
Clem Cattini – drums, percussion on select tracks from The Kink Kontroversy and drum overdubs on Misfits
Discography
The Kinks were active for over three decades between 1964 and 1996, releasing 24 studio and 4 live albums. The first two albums were differently released in UK and US partly due to difference in popularity of the extended play format (the UK market liked it, the US market did not, so US albums had the EP releases bundled onto them), and partly due to the US albums including the hit singles, and the UK albums not; after The Kink Kontroversy in 1965 the albums were the same. There have been somewhere between 100 and 200 compilation albums released worldwide. Their hit singles included three UK number-one singles, starting in 1964 with "You Really Got Me"; plus 18 Top 40 singles in the 1960s alone and further Top 40 hits in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Kinks had five Top 10 singles on the US Billboard chart. Nine of their albums charted in the Top 40. In the UK, the group had seventeen Top 20 singles along with five Top 10 albums. The RIAA has certified four of the Kinks' albums as gold records. Greatest Hits!, released in 1965, was certified gold for sales of 1,000,000 on 28 November 1968—six days after the release of The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, which failed to chart worldwide. The group would not receive another gold record award until 1979's Low Budget. The 1980 live album One For The Road was certified gold on 8December 1980. Give The People What They Want, released in 1981, received its certification on 25 January 1982, for sales of 500,000 copies. Despite not selling at the time of its release,The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society was awarded a gold disc in the UK in 2018 for selling more than 100,000 copies. ASCAP, the performing-rights group, presented the Kinks with an award for "One of the Most Played Songs Of 1983" for the hit single "Come Dancing".Studio albums Kinks
Kinda Kinks
The Kink Kontroversy
Face to Face
Something Else by the Kinks
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One
Percy
Muswell Hillbillies
Everybody's in Show-Biz
Preservation Act 1
Preservation Act 2
Soap Opera
Schoolboys in Disgrace
Sleepwalker
Misfits
Low Budget
Give the People What They Want
State of Confusion
Word of Mouth
Think Visual
UK Jive
Phobia Live albums'''
Live at Kelvin Hall
One for the Road
Live: The Road
To the Bone
BBC Sessions: 1964–1977''
See also
Do It Again, 2009 documentary film
Freakbeat
Swinging London
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Category:1963 establishments in England
Category:1996 disestablishments in England
Category:2018 establishments in England
Category:Arista Records artists
Category:Beat groups
Category:British Invasion artists
Category:British rhythm and blues boom musicians
Category:English hard rock musical groups
Category:English rock music groups
Category:Musical groups established in 1963
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1997
Category:Musical groups from London
Category:Pye Records artists
Category:RCA Records artists
Category:Reprise Records artists
Category:Sibling musical groups
Category:MCA Records artists
Category:London Records artists | [] | [
"The Kinks were regarded as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the 1960s and early 1970s, and one of the most influential bands of the British Invasion. Rock groups, heavy metal acts and Britpop groups were influenced by The Kinks' music. They are credited with helping to turn rock 'n' roll into rock and inventing a new kind of language for pop writing. They are also credited with helping to develop hard rock and heavy metal, and Queen guitarist Brian May credited them with planting the seed for riff-based music.",
"The context does not provide information on whether The Kinks had any albums.",
"Yes, other interesting aspects in the context include the fact that a musical, Sunny Afternoon, was made based on the early life of Ray Davies and the formation of The Kinks. It opened at the Hampstead Theatre in April 2014. Also, in 2015, it was reported that a biopic titled You Really Got Me would be directed by Julien Temple, with Johnny Flynn and George MacKay cast to play Ray and Dave Davies, respectively.",
"The context does not provide information on whether The Kinks ever went on tour."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_1 | Peter Arnett | Peter Gregg Arnett, ONZM (born 13 November 1934) is a New Zealand-born journalist holding both New Zealand and US citizenship. Arnett worked for National Geographic magazine, and later for various television networks, most notably CNN. He is known for his coverage of the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. He was awarded the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for his work in Vietnam from 1962 to 1975, mostly reporting for the Associated Press. | The Gulf War | Arnett worked for CNN for 18 years ending in 1999. During the Gulf War, he became a household name worldwide when he became the only reporter with live coverage directly from Baghdad. His dramatic reports often had air raid sirens blaring and the sound of US bombs exploding in the background. Together with two other CNN journalists, Bernard Shaw and John Holliman, Arnett brought continuous coverage from Baghdad for the 16 initial intense hours of the war (17 January 1991). Although 40 foreign journalists were present at the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad at the time, only CNN possessed the means -- a private phone line connected to neighboring Amman, Jordan -- to communicate to the outside world. CNN broadcast Arnett's extended call live for several hours, with a picture of Arnett as video. Soon the other journalists left Iraq, including the two CNN colleagues, which left Arnett as the sole remaining reporter. His accounts of civilian damage caused by the bombing were not well received by the coalition war administration, who by their constant use of terms like "smart bombs" and "surgical precision" in their public statements, had tried to project an image that civilian casualties would be at a minimum. White House sources would later state that Arnett was being used as a tool for Iraqi disinformation, and CNN received a letter from 34 members of the United States Congress accusing Arnett of "unpatriotic journalism". Two weeks into the war, Arnett was able to obtain an exclusive, uncensored interview with Saddam Hussein. The Gulf War became the first war to be seen truly live on TV, due to Arnett's reporting from the "other side", for a period of five weeks. About halfway through the war the CIA approached Mr. Arnett. They believed that the Iraqi military was operating a high-level communication network from the basement of the Al Rashid Hotel, which is where Mr. Arnett and a few others from CNN were staying. The CIA wanted him out so the Air Force could bomb the hotel, but Mr. Arnett refused. He said he had been given a tour of the hotel and denied there was such a facility. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_1_q#0",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_1_q#1",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_1_q#2",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_1_q#3",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_1_q#4",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_1_q#5",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_1_q#6",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_1_q#7",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_1_q#8",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_1_q#9"
] | [
"When did he cover the gulf war?",
"what are highlites of his coverage there?",
"did he win any awards or recognition for this work?",
"Interesting aspects of the coverage?",
"anything else important or notable?",
"what happened next?",
"so how did it turn out?",
"what else happened during this time?",
"How was this received?",
"was he reprimanded?"
] | [
0,
0,
1,
2,
0,
0,
1,
2,
0,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
367
],
[
1463
],
[
2112
],
[
557
],
[
1942
],
[
2008
],
[
2112
],
[
1545
],
[
1352
],
[
2112
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Arnett brought continuous coverage from Baghdad for the 16 initial intense hours of the war (17 January 1991"
],
[
"Arnett was able to obtain an exclusive, uncensored interview with Saddam Hussein."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"at the time, only CNN possessed the means -- a private phone line connected to neighboring Amman, Jordan -- to communicate to the outside world."
],
[
"The CIA wanted him out so the Air Force could bomb the hotel, but Mr. Arnett refused."
],
[
"Mr. Arnett refused. He said he had been given a tour of the hotel and denied there was such a facility."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"The Gulf War became the first war to be seen truly live on TV, due to Arnett's reporting from the \"other side\", for a period of five weeks."
],
[
"34 members of the United States Congress accusing Arnett of \"unpatriotic journalism\"."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
367,
1463,
2112,
557,
1942,
2008,
2112,
1545,
1352,
2112
],
"texts": [
"Arnett brought continuous coverage from Baghdad for the 16 initial intense hours of the war (17 January 1991",
"Arnett was able to obtain an exclusive, uncensored interview with Saddam Hussein.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"at the time, only CNN possessed the means -- a private phone line connected to neighboring Amman, Jordan -- to communicate to the outside world.",
"The CIA wanted him out so the Air Force could bomb the hotel, but Mr. Arnett refused.",
"Mr. Arnett refused. He said he had been given a tour of the hotel and denied there was such a facility.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"The Gulf War became the first war to be seen truly live on TV, due to Arnett's reporting from the \"other side\", for a period of five weeks.",
"34 members of the United States Congress accusing Arnett of \"unpatriotic journalism\".",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Peter Gregg Arnett (born 13 November 1934) is a New Zealand-born American journalist. He is known for his coverage of the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. He was awarded the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for his work in Vietnam from 1962 to 1965, mostly reporting for the Associated Press.
Arnett also worked for National Geographic magazine, and later for various television networks, most notably for nearly two decades at CNN. Arnett published a memoir, Live from the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad, 35 Years in the World's War Zones (1994). In March 1997, Arnett interviewed Osama bin Laden, leader of Al-Qaeda. The journalism school at the Southern Institute of Technology in New Zealand was named for Arnett.
Early life
Arnett was born in 1934 in Riverton, in New Zealand's Southland region. His first job as a journalist was with The Southland Times.
Vietnam
During his early years in journalism, Arnett worked in Southeast Asia, largely based in Bangkok. In 1960 he started publishing a small English-language newspaper in Laos. Eventually, he made his way to Vietnam, which the French had abandoned after being defeated at Dien Bien Phu by communists from North Vietnam.
Arnett became a reporter for the Associated Press, based in Saigon in the South, in the years when the United States began to get involved in the civil conflict and through the Vietnam War. On 7 July 1963, in what became known as the Double Seven Day scuffle, he was injured in a widely reported physical altercation between a group of western journalists and South Vietnamese undercover police. The reporters were trying to cover Buddhist protests against the South Vietnamese government. His articles, such as "Death of Supply Column 21," about an event during Operation Starlite in August 1965, resulted in raising the ire of the American government, which had been increasing the number of forces in the region.
Arnett accompanied troops on dozens of missions, including the battle of Hill 875, in November 1967. An American detachment was sent to rescue another unit that was stranded in hostile territory, and the rescuers were nearly killed during the operation. In September 1972, Arnett joined a group of U.S. peace activists, including William Sloane Coffin and David Dellinger, on a trip to Hanoi, North Vietnam, to accept three American prisoners of war for return to the United States.
Arnett wrote in an unvarnished manner when reporting stories of ordinary soldiers and civilians. Arnett's writing was often criticized by administration spokesmen as negative, who wanted to keep reporting of the war positive. General William Westmoreland, President Lyndon B. Johnson and others in power put pressure on the AP to get rid of or transfer Arnett from the region.
In what is considered one of his iconic dispatches, published on 7 February 1968, Arnett wrote about the Battle of Bến Tre: "'It became necessary to destroy the town to save it,' a United States major said today. He was talking about the decision by allied commanders to bomb and shell the town regardless of civilian casualties, to rout the Vietcong." The quotation was gradually altered in subsequent publications, eventually becoming the more familiar, "We had to destroy the village in order to save it." The accuracy of the original quotation and its source have often been called into question. Arnett never revealed his source, except to say that it was one of four officers he interviewed that day. US Army Major Phil Cannella, the senior officer present at Bến Tre, suggested the quotation might have been a distortion of something he said to Arnett. The New Republic at the time attributed the quotation to US Air Force Major Chester L. Brown. In Walter Cronkite's 1971 book, Eye on the World, Arnett reasserted the quotation was something "one American major said to me in a moment of revelation."
Arnett was one of the last western reporters remaining in Saigon after its fall and capture by the People's Army of Vietnam. Occupying soldiers showed him how they had entered the city.
Arnett wrote the 26-part mini-series documentary, Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War (1980), produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
At the time of the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, Arnett was working for Parade magazine. With a contact named Healy, he entered Afghanistan illegally from Pakistan; both men were dressed in traditional clothing as natives and led by Mujahideen guides. They continued to a Jalalabad hideaway of approximately fifty rebels. The trip came to an end when Healy fell into the Kunar River, ruining the pair's cameras. Later, Arnett would recount the story to journalist Artyom Borovik, who was covering the Soviet side of the war.
Gulf War
Beginning in 1981, Arnett worked for CNN for 18 years, ending in 1999. During the Gulf War, he became a household name worldwide as the only reporter to have live coverage directly from Baghdad, especially during the first 16 hours. His dramatic reports often were accompanied by the sound of air raid sirens blaring and US bombs exploding in the background. Together with two other CNN journalists, Bernard Shaw and John Holliman, Arnett brought continuous coverage from Baghdad for the 16 initial intense hours of the war (17 January 1991). Although 40 foreign journalists were present at the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad at the time, only CNN possessed the means — a private phone line connected to neighboring Amman, Jordan — to communicate to the outside world. CNN broadcast Arnett's extended call live for several hours, with a picture of Arnett as video. Soon the other journalists left Iraq, including the two CNN colleagues, which left Arnett as the sole remaining reporter.
His accounts of civilian damage caused by the bombing were not well received by the coalition war administration. Its spokesmen had emphasized terms such as "smart bombs" and "surgical precision" in their public statements, in an effort to project keeping civilian casualties would be at a minimum. White House sources would later attack Arnett, saying that he was being used as a tool for Iraqi disinformation.
Two weeks into the war, Arnett was able to obtain an exclusive, uncensored interview with Saddam Hussein. Due to Arnett's reporting from the "other side", for a period of five weeks, the Gulf War was the first to be broadcast live on TV.
About halfway through the war, representatives of the CIA approached Arnett. They believed that the Iraqi military was operating a high-level communication network from the basement of the Al Rashid Hotel, which is where Arnett and other staff from CNN were staying. The CIA wanted him out so the Air Force could bomb the hotel, but Arnett refused. He said he had been given a tour of the hotel and denied there was such a facility.
Interview with Osama Bin Laden
In March 1997, Arnett of CNN interviewed Osama bin Laden, leader of Al-Qaeda, after Bin Laden declared jihad on the United States. Asked by Arnett, "What are your future plans?", Bin Laden said, "You'll see them and hear about them in the media, God willing".
Operation Tailwind
In 1998, Arnett narrated a report on the joint venture (between CNN and Time magazine) program called NewsStand, covering "Operation Tailwind" in Laos in 1970.
The report, titled The Valley of Death, claimed that in 1970, the United States Army had used sarin, a nerve agent, against a group of deserting U.S. soldiers in Laos. The men who allegedly conducted the attack were an elite Green Berets A-Team. The report was expressly approved by both CNN Chairman Tom Johnson and CNN President Rick Kaplan. In response, the Pentagon commissioned another report contradicting that of CNN's. CNN subsequently conducted its own investigation. It concluded that the "journalism [in the Valley of Death] was flawed" and retracted the story. While all 12 men of the Green Beret A-Team were wounded in action during Operation Tailwind, no sarin was involved.
Due to a number of rebuttals claiming the CNN report was flawed, three or more of the individuals responsible were fired or forced to resign. Arnett was reprimanded, and left the network in April 1999, apparently due to "lingering fallout" from Tailwind.
Invasion of Iraq 2003
On assignment for NBC and National Geographic, Arnett went to Iraq in 2003 to cover the U.S. invasion. After a press meeting there, he granted an interview to state-run Iraqi TV on 31 March 2003. In it he said:
Earlier in the interview he said:
When Arnett's remarks sparked a "firestorm of protest", NBC initially defended him, saying he had given the interview as a professional courtesy and that his remarks were "analytical in nature". A day later, though, NBC, MSNBC and National Geographic all severed their relationships with Arnett. In response to Arnett's statement on Iraqi TV, NBC stated:
Arnett responded:
Later that day, Arnett was hired by the British tabloid, The Daily Mirror, which had opposed the war. A couple of days later he also received work from Greek television channel NET television, and Belgian VTM.
Academic career
After retiring as a field reporter in 2007, Arnett lives in Los Angeles.
He also teaches journalism at Shantou University in China. In New Zealand, the Peter Arnett School of Journalism was named for him at the Southern Institute of Technology; the journalism school closed in 2015.
Personal life
In 1964, Arnett married Nina Nguyen, a Vietnamese woman. They had two children, Elsa and Andrew. Nina and Peter separated in 1983, divorced more than 20 years later, then reconciled in 2006.
Elsa Arnett attended Stuyvesant High School in New York and Harvard University. After graduating, she went into journalism, became a reporter, worked for several months on The Washington Post as an intern and then joined The Boston Globe. She worked with her father on his 1994 memoir about his reporting life. Elsa Arnett is married to former White House lawyer John Yoo.
In the 2007 New Year Honours, Arnett was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to journalism.
In popular culture
Peter Arnett appeared in Robert Wiener's book Live from Baghdad. He appeared as a character in the 2002 HBO film of the same name, where he was portrayed by actor Bruce McGill.
The book, as well as the film, features Arnett's work as part of Wiener's crew in Baghdad. Arnett joined the team as tensions between Iraq and the West were escalating toward an imminent military encounter. CNN sent Arnett to Baghdad because of his experience in covering military conflicts. Arnett was part of the live coverage beginning on 16 January 1991, the start of the Gulf War air campaign, where he and colleagues Bernard Shaw and John Holliman kept broadcasting from their Al-Rasheed Hotel room amid extensive aerial bombing by the Western Coalition forces.
Arnett's interview with Bin Laden in 1997 became the subject of the movie 'A War Story' produced for television. Arnett's role was played by John Leigh.
Selected works
Live from the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad: 35 Years in the World's War Zones. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
Saigon Has Fallen: A Wartime Recollection by the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist. New York: Rosetta Books/Associated Press, 2015
See also
CNN controversies
List of New Zealand television personalities
References
Bibliography
External links
Sully, François, "Associated Press' Peter Arnett testing the first flame thrower captured from the Vietcong in Vietnam", photograph; 8 December 1965. Copyright Healey Library, UMass Boston; via openvault.wgbh.org.
Category:American television reporters and correspondents
Category:American war correspondents
Category:American war correspondents of the Vietnam War
Category:War correspondents of the Vietnam War
Category:1934 births
Category:Living people
Category:CNN people
Category:People from Riverton, New Zealand
Category:Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting winners
Category:New Zealand television presenters
Category:New Zealand emigrants to the United States
Category:Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Category:People with acquired American citizenship
Category:Ngāi Tahu people
Category:20th-century American journalists
Category:American male journalists | [
{
"text": "Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes bibliography as a word having two senses: one, a list of books for further study or of works consulted by an author (or enumerative bibliography); the other one, applicable for collectors, is \"the study of books as physical objects\" and \"the systematic description of books as objects\" (or descriptive bibliography).\n\nEtymology \nThe word was used by Greek writers in the first three centuries CE to mean the copying of books by hand. In the 12th century, the word started being used for \"the intellectual activity of composing books.\" The 17th century then saw the emergence of the modern meaning, that of description of books. Currently, the field of bibliography has expanded to include studies that consider the book as a material object. Bibliography, in its systematic pursuit of understanding the past and the present through written and printed documents, describes a way and means of extracting information from this material. Bibliographers are interested in comparing versions of texts to each other rather than in interpreting their meaning or assessing their significance.\n\nField of study \nBibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868–1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about \"the science of bibliography.\" However, there have recently been voices claiming that \"the bibliographical paradigm\" is obsolete, and it is not today common in LIS. A defence of the bibliographical paradigm was provided by Hjørland (2007).\n\nThe quantitative study of bibliographies is known as bibliometrics, which is today an influential subfield in LIS and is used for major collection decisions such as the cancellation of big deals, through data analysis tools like Unpaywall Journals.\n\nBranches \nCarter and Barker describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). These two distinct concepts and practices have separate rationales and serve differing purposes. Innovators and originators in the field include W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, Philip Gaskell and G. Thomas Tanselle.\n\nBowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production (3). He refers to descriptive bibliography as the systematic description of a book as a material or physical artefact. Analytical bibliography, the cornerstone of descriptive bibliography, investigates the printing and all physical features of a book that yield evidence establishing a book's history and transmission (Feather 10). It is the preliminary phase of bibliographic description and provides the vocabulary, principles and techniques of analysis that descriptive bibliographers apply and on which they base their descriptive practice.\n\nDescriptive bibliographers follow specific conventions and associated classification in their description. Titles and title pages are transcribed in a quasi-facsimile style and representation. Illustration, typeface, binding, paper, and all physical elements related to identifying a book follow formulaic conventions, as Bowers established in his foundational opus, The Principles of Bibliographic Description. The thought expressed in this book expands substantively on W. W. Greg's groundbreaking theory that argued for the adoption of formal bibliographic principles (Greg 29). Fundamentally, analytical bibliography is concerned with objective, physical analysis and history of a book while descriptive bibliography employs all data that analytical bibliography furnishes and then codifies it with a view to identifying the ideal copy or form of a book that most nearly represents the printer's initial conception and intention in printing.\n\nIn addition to viewing bibliographic study as being composed of four interdependent approaches (enumerative, descriptive, analytical, and textual), Bowers notes two further subcategories of research, namely historical bibliography and aesthetic bibliography. Both historical bibliography, which involves the investigation of printing practices, tools, and related documents, and aesthetic bibliography, which examines the art of designing type and books, are often employed by analytical bibliographers.\n\nD. F. McKenzie extended previous notions of bibliography as set forth by Greg, Bowers, Gaskell and Tanselle. He describes the nature of bibliography as \"the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the processes of their transmission, including their production and reception\" (1999 12). This concept broadens the scope of bibliography to include \"non-book texts\" and an accounting for their material form and structure, as well as textual variations, technical and production processes that bring sociocultural context and effects into play. McKenzie's perspective contextualizes textual objects or artefacts with sociological and technical factors that have an effect on production, transmission and, ultimately, ideal copy (2002 14). Bibliography, generally, concerns the material conditions of books [as well as other texts] how they are designed, edited, printed, circulated, reprinted, collected.\n\nBibliographic works differ in the amount of detail depending on the purpose and can generally be divided into two categories: enumerative bibliography (also called compilative, reference or systematic), which results in an overview of publications in a particular category and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books. In earlier times, bibliography mostly focused on books. Now, both categories of bibliography cover works in other media including audio recordings, motion pictures and videos, graphic objects, databases, CD-ROMs and websites.\n\nEnumerative bibliography \n\nAn enumerative bibliography is a systematic list of books and other works such as journal articles. Bibliographies range from \"works cited\" lists at the end of books and articles, to complete and independent publications. A notable example of a complete, independent publication is Gow's A. E. Housman: A Sketch, Together with a List of His Classical Papers (1936). As separate works, they may be in bound volumes such as those shown on the right, or computerized bibliographic databases. A library catalog, while not referred to as a \"bibliography,\" is bibliographic in nature. Bibliographical works are almost always considered to be tertiary sources.\n\nEnumerative bibliographies are based on a unifying principle such as creator, subject, date, topic or other characteristic. An entry in an enumerative bibliography provides the core elements of a text resource including a title, the creator(s), publication date and place of publication. Belanger (1977) distinguishes an enumerative bibliography from other bibliographic forms such as descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography or textual bibliography in that its function is to record and list, rather than describe a source in detail or with any reference to the source's physical nature, materiality or textual transmission. The enumerative list may be comprehensive or selective. One noted example would be Tanselle's bibliography that exhaustively enumerates topics and sources related to all forms of bibliography. A more common and particular instance of an enumerative bibliography relates to specific sources used or considered in preparing a scholarly paper or academic term paper.\n\nCitation styles vary.\nAn entry for a book in a bibliography usually contains the following elements:\n creator(s)\n title\n place of publication\n publisher or printer\n date of publication\n\nAn entry for a journal or periodical article usually contains:\n creator(s)\n article title\n journal title\n volume\n pages\n date of publication\n\nA bibliography may be arranged by author, topic, or some other scheme. Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument. These descriptions, usually a few sentences long, provide a summary of the source and describe its relevance. Reference management software may be used to keep track of references and generate bibliographies as required.\n\nBibliographies differ from library catalogs by including only relevant items rather than all items present in a particular library. However, the catalogs of some national libraries effectively serve as national bibliographies, as the national libraries own almost all their countries' publications.\n\nDescriptive bibliography \nFredson Bowers described and formulated a standardized practice of descriptive bibliography in his Principles of Bibliographical Description\n(1949). Scholars to this day treat Bowers' scholarly guide as authoritative. In this classic text, Bowers describes the basic function of bibliography as, \"[providing] sufficient data so that a reader may identify the book described, understand the printing, and recognize the precise contents\" (124).\n\nDescriptive bibliographies as scholarly product \nDescriptive bibliographies as a scholarly product usually include information on the following aspect of a given book as a material object:\nFormat and Collation/Pagination Statement—a conventional, symbolic formula that describes the book block in terms of sheets, folds, quires, signatures, and pages\n\nAccording to Bowers (193), the format of a book is usually abbreviated in the collation formula:\nBroadsheet: I° or b.s. or bs.\nFolio: 2° or fol.\nQuarto: 4° or 4to or Q° or Q\nOctavo: 8° or 8vo\nDuodecimo: 12° or 12mo\nSexto-decimo: 16° or 16mo\nTricesimo-secundo: 32° or 32mo\nSexagesimo-quarto: 64° or 64mo\nThe collation, which follows the format, is the statement of the order and size of the gatherings.\nFor example, a quarto that consists of the signed gatherings:\n2 leaves signed A, 4 leaves signed B, 4 leaves signed C, and 2 leaves signed D\nwould be represented in the collation formula:\n4°: A2B-C4D2\nBinding—a description of the binding techniques (generally for books printed after 1800)\nTitle Page Transcription—a transcription of the title page, including rule lines and ornaments\nContents—a listing of the contents (by section) in the book\nPaper—a description of the physical properties of the paper, including production process, an account of chain-line measurements, and a description of watermarks (if present)\nIllustrations—a description of the illustrations found in the book, including printing process (e.g. woodblock, intaglio, etc.), measurements, and locations in the text\nPresswork—miscellaneous details gleaned from the text about its production\nCopies Examined—an enumeration of the copies examined, including those copies' location (i.e. belonging to which library or collector)\n\nAnalytical bibliography \nThis branch of the bibliographic discipline examines the material features of a textual artefact—such as type, ink, paper, imposition, format, impressions and states of a book—to essentially recreate the conditions of its production. Analytical bibliography often uses collateral evidence—such as general printing practices, trends in format, responses and non-responses to design, etc.—to scrutinize the historical conventions and influences underlying the physical appearance of a text. The bibliographer utilizes knowledge gained from the investigation of physical evidence in the form of a descriptive bibliography or textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination and cataloging of a text as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while textual bibliography (or textual criticism) identifies variations—and the aetiology of variations—in a text with a view to determining \"the establishment of the most correct form of [a] text\" (Bowers 498[1]).\n\nBibliographers \n\nA bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. A person who limits such efforts to a specific field or discipline is a subject bibliographer.\"\n\nA bibliographer, in the technical meaning of the word, is anyone who writes about books. But the accepted meaning since at least the 18th century is a person who attempts a comprehensive account—sometimes just a list, sometimes a fuller reckoning—of the books written on a particular subject. In the present, bibliography is no longer a career, generally speaking; bibliographies tend to be written on highly specific subjects and by specialists in the field.\n\nThe term bibliographer is sometimes—in particular subject bibliographer—today used about certain roles performed in libraries and bibliographic databases.\n\nOne of the first bibliographers was Conrad Gessner who sought to list all books printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in Bibliotheca Universalis (1545).\n\nNon-book material \nSystematic lists of media other than books can be referred to with terms formed analogously to bibliography:\n Discography—recorded music\n Filmography—films\n Webography (or webliography)—websites\n Arachniography, a term coined by NASA research historian Andrew J. Butrica, which means a reference list of URLs about a particular subject. It is equivalent to a bibliography in a book. The name derives from arachne in reference to a spider and its web.\n\nSee also \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (in Wikipedia)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Blum, Rudolf. (1980) Bibliographia. An Inquiry in Its Definition and Designations, Dawson, American Library Association.\n Bowers, Fredson. (1995) Principles of Bibliographical Description, Oak Knoll Press.\n Duncan, Paul Shaner. (1973) How to Catalog a Rare Book, 2nd ed., rev., American Library Association.\n \n Gaskell, Philip. (2000) A New Introduction to Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press.\n McKerrow, R. B. (1927) An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford: Clarendon Press\n Schneider, Georg. (1934) Theory and History of Bibliography, New York: Scarecrow Press.\n National Library of Canada, Committee on Bibliography and Information Services for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Guidelines for the Compilation of a Bibliography (National Library of Canada, 1987). N.B.: This is a brief guide to accurately practical bibliography, not a study concerning more precise and systematic bibliography.\n \nRobinson, A. M. Lewin (1966) Systematic Bibliography; rev. ed. London: Clive Bingley\n\nExternal links \n\n Oxford Bibliographies Online, in-depth annotated bibliographies by scholars in selected fields\n Introduction to Bibliography, a comprehensive syllabus by G. Thomas Tanselle\n The Bibliographical Society of America, a resource for information about current work in the field of bibliography\n Studies in Bibliography, the journal of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia\n A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology, (University of Zaragoza) includes thousands of listings on literary, philological and other subjects\n\n \nCategory:Book design\nCategory:Book terminology\nCategory:Textual scholarship",
"title": "Bibliography"
}
] | [
"Arnett covered the Gulf War in 1991.",
"Arnett became a household name worldwide when he became the only reporter with live coverage directly from Baghdad during the Gulf War. His dramatic reports often included the sounds of air raid sirens and bombs exploding in the background. He and two other CNN journalists brought continuous coverage from Baghdad for the initial 16 hours of the war. After the other journalists left Iraq, Arnett remained as the sole reporter. His accounts of civilian damage caused by the bombing were criticized by the coalition war administration. Two weeks into the war, Arnett obtained an exclusive, uncensored interview with Saddam Hussein. Halfway through the war, the CIA wanted him out of the Al Rashid Hotel where he was staying, believing the Iraqi military was operating a high-level communication network from its basement, but Arnett refused to leave.",
"The context does not provide information on whether Arnett won any awards or recognition for his coverage of the Gulf War.",
"Arnett's coverage of the Gulf War was quite unique and dramatic. He was the only reporter providing live coverage directly from Baghdad, often with the sounds of air raid sirens and bombs in the background. Arnett was the sole remaining reporter in Iraq after his colleagues left, making his on-the-ground reporting particularly significant. A notable moment was when Arnett secured an exclusive interview with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein two weeks into the war. In addition, the CIA approached Arnett halfway through the war, wanting him to leave the Al Rashid Hotel due to suspicions of Iraqi military operations. Despite the pressure, Arnett refused to leave. His experience illustrated the challenging, pressured, and significant nature of wartime journalism.",
"Aside from the intense scenario of reporting under air raid sirens and bombings, the context also mentions an episode in which Arnett's reports of civilian damage caused by the bombings were controversial. They were ill-received by the coalition war administration, which had been trying to present the war as having minimal civilian casualties through the use of language like \"smart bombs\" and \"surgical precision.\" Also, following these reports, Arnett was accused of \"unpatriotic journalism\" in a letter to CNN by 34 members of the U.S. Congress. The White House even accused him of being a tool for Iraqi disinformation. These instances highlight the challenging journalistic and political environment in which Arnett had to work.",
"The context does not provide information on what happened next after Arnett's coverage of the Gulf War.",
"The context does not provide information on how Arnett's situation turned out after his Gulf War coverage.",
"The context does not provide additional information on what else happened during the time of Arnett's coverage of the Gulf War.",
"Arnett's reporting from the Gulf War was met with controversy. His firsthand accounts of civilian damage caused by the bombing weren't well-received by the coalition war administration. They had tried to project an image of minimal civilian casualties, using terms like \"smart bombs\" and \"surgical precision\". Arnett was later accused by White House sources of being a tool for Iraqi disinformation. CNN, his employer, received a letter from 34 members of the United States Congress accusing Arnett of \"unpatriotic journalism\".",
"The context does not provide information on whether Arnett was reprimanded for his reporting during the Gulf War."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_0 | Peter Arnett | Peter Gregg Arnett, ONZM (born 13 November 1934) is a New Zealand-born journalist holding both New Zealand and US citizenship. Arnett worked for National Geographic magazine, and later for various television networks, most notably CNN. He is known for his coverage of the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. He was awarded the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for his work in Vietnam from 1962 to 1975, mostly reporting for the Associated Press. | Operation Tailwind | In 1998, Arnett narrated a report on the joint venture (between CNN and Time magazine) program called NewsStand, covering "Operation Tailwind". The report, titled The Valley of Death, claimed that the United States Army had used sarin against a group of deserting U.S. soldiers in Laos in 1970. The men allegedly involved were an elite Green Beret A-Team. The report was expressly approved by both CNN Chairman Tom Johnson and CNN President Rick Kaplan. In response, the Pentagon commissioned another report contradicting CNN's. CNN subsequently conducted its own investigation, which concluded that the "journalism [in the Valley of Death] was flawed" and retracted the story. While all 12 men of the Green Beret A-Team were wounded in action during Operation Tailwind, no sarin was involved. Due to the US Government's insistence that the CNN report was flawed, three or more of the individuals responsible were fired or forced to resign. Arnett was reprimanded, and eventually left the network. The co-producers of the report, April Oliver and Jack Smith, were dismissed. They sued Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, claiming they had been wrongfully fired, and Time Warner ultimately paid millions of dollars to settle their lawsuits, along with other suits brought by military personnel who claimed to have been libeled in the Oliver/Smith report. Senior producer Pam Hill and others resigned. Oliver was later quoted by the World Socialist Web Site (International Committee of the Fourth International) as saying that: [Arnett's] firing was a direct result of Pentagon pressure. Perry Smith [a retired USAF major general and former CNN consultant who resigned in protest over the Tailwind report] told The Wall Street Journal last July that CNN would not get cooperation from the Pentagon unless Peter Arnett was fired. [...] They will do anything to stem the flow of information. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_0_q#0",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_0_q#1",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_0_q#2",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_0_q#3",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_0_q#4",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_0_q#5",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_0_q#6",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_0_q#7",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_0_q#8",
"C_7576129012b04fe8b0e371c87894f6f8_0_q#9"
] | [
"What was Operation Tailwind?",
"How was the program received?",
"Did anyone dispute that?",
"What happened after this?",
"What was the result of the lawsuit?",
"Did they lose a lot of money?",
"Was he fired?",
"Around what year was this?",
"How did Arnett react?",
"Did he win?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
0,
2,
2,
0,
0,
2,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
3
],
[
145
],
[
796
],
[
1033
],
[
1173
],
[
1756
],
[
1535
],
[
3
],
[
1083
],
[
1173
]
],
"texts": [
[
"1998, Arnett narrated a report on the joint venture (between CNN and Time magazine) program called NewsStand, covering \"Operation Tailwind\"."
],
[
"The report, titled The Valley of Death, claimed that the United States Army had used sarin against a group of deserting U.S. soldiers in Laos in 1970."
],
[
"Due to the US Government's insistence that the CNN report was flawed, three or more of the individuals responsible were fired or forced to resign."
],
[
"April Oliver and Jack Smith, were dismissed. They sued Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, claiming they had been wrongfully fired,"
],
[
"Time Warner ultimately paid millions of dollars to settle their lawsuits, along with other suits brought by military personnel"
],
[
"CNN would not get cooperation from the Pentagon unless Peter Arnett was fired. [...] They will do anything to stem the flow of information."
],
[
"Arnett's] firing was a direct result of Pentagon pressure."
],
[
"1998,"
],
[
"sued Time Warner,"
],
[
"Time Warner ultimately paid millions of dollars to settle their lawsuits, along with other suits brought by military personnel"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
3,
145,
796,
1033,
1173,
1756,
1535,
3,
1083,
1173
],
"texts": [
"1998, Arnett narrated a report on the joint venture (between CNN and Time magazine) program called NewsStand, covering \"Operation Tailwind\".",
"The report, titled The Valley of Death, claimed that the United States Army had used sarin against a group of deserting U.S. soldiers in Laos in 1970.",
"Due to the US Government's insistence that the CNN report was flawed, three or more of the individuals responsible were fired or forced to resign.",
"April Oliver and Jack Smith, were dismissed. They sued Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, claiming they had been wrongfully fired,",
"Time Warner ultimately paid millions of dollars to settle their lawsuits, along with other suits brought by military personnel",
"CNN would not get cooperation from the Pentagon unless Peter Arnett was fired. [...] They will do anything to stem the flow of information.",
"Arnett's] firing was a direct result of Pentagon pressure.",
"1998,",
"sued Time Warner,",
"Time Warner ultimately paid millions of dollars to settle their lawsuits, along with other suits brought by military personnel"
]
} | Peter Gregg Arnett (born 13 November 1934) is a New Zealand-born American journalist. He is known for his coverage of the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. He was awarded the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for his work in Vietnam from 1962 to 1965, mostly reporting for the Associated Press.
Arnett also worked for National Geographic magazine, and later for various television networks, most notably for nearly two decades at CNN. Arnett published a memoir, Live from the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad, 35 Years in the World's War Zones (1994). In March 1997, Arnett interviewed Osama bin Laden, leader of Al-Qaeda. The journalism school at the Southern Institute of Technology in New Zealand was named for Arnett.
Early life
Arnett was born in 1934 in Riverton, in New Zealand's Southland region. His first job as a journalist was with The Southland Times.
Vietnam
During his early years in journalism, Arnett worked in Southeast Asia, largely based in Bangkok. In 1960 he started publishing a small English-language newspaper in Laos. Eventually, he made his way to Vietnam, which the French had abandoned after being defeated at Dien Bien Phu by communists from North Vietnam.
Arnett became a reporter for the Associated Press, based in Saigon in the South, in the years when the United States began to get involved in the civil conflict and through the Vietnam War. On 7 July 1963, in what became known as the Double Seven Day scuffle, he was injured in a widely reported physical altercation between a group of western journalists and South Vietnamese undercover police. The reporters were trying to cover Buddhist protests against the South Vietnamese government. His articles, such as "Death of Supply Column 21," about an event during Operation Starlite in August 1965, resulted in raising the ire of the American government, which had been increasing the number of forces in the region.
Arnett accompanied troops on dozens of missions, including the battle of Hill 875, in November 1967. An American detachment was sent to rescue another unit that was stranded in hostile territory, and the rescuers were nearly killed during the operation. In September 1972, Arnett joined a group of U.S. peace activists, including William Sloane Coffin and David Dellinger, on a trip to Hanoi, North Vietnam, to accept three American prisoners of war for return to the United States.
Arnett wrote in an unvarnished manner when reporting stories of ordinary soldiers and civilians. Arnett's writing was often criticized by administration spokesmen as negative, who wanted to keep reporting of the war positive. General William Westmoreland, President Lyndon B. Johnson and others in power put pressure on the AP to get rid of or transfer Arnett from the region.
In what is considered one of his iconic dispatches, published on 7 February 1968, Arnett wrote about the Battle of Bến Tre: "'It became necessary to destroy the town to save it,' a United States major said today. He was talking about the decision by allied commanders to bomb and shell the town regardless of civilian casualties, to rout the Vietcong." The quotation was gradually altered in subsequent publications, eventually becoming the more familiar, "We had to destroy the village in order to save it." The accuracy of the original quotation and its source have often been called into question. Arnett never revealed his source, except to say that it was one of four officers he interviewed that day. US Army Major Phil Cannella, the senior officer present at Bến Tre, suggested the quotation might have been a distortion of something he said to Arnett. The New Republic at the time attributed the quotation to US Air Force Major Chester L. Brown. In Walter Cronkite's 1971 book, Eye on the World, Arnett reasserted the quotation was something "one American major said to me in a moment of revelation."
Arnett was one of the last western reporters remaining in Saigon after its fall and capture by the People's Army of Vietnam. Occupying soldiers showed him how they had entered the city.
Arnett wrote the 26-part mini-series documentary, Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War (1980), produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
At the time of the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, Arnett was working for Parade magazine. With a contact named Healy, he entered Afghanistan illegally from Pakistan; both men were dressed in traditional clothing as natives and led by Mujahideen guides. They continued to a Jalalabad hideaway of approximately fifty rebels. The trip came to an end when Healy fell into the Kunar River, ruining the pair's cameras. Later, Arnett would recount the story to journalist Artyom Borovik, who was covering the Soviet side of the war.
Gulf War
Beginning in 1981, Arnett worked for CNN for 18 years, ending in 1999. During the Gulf War, he became a household name worldwide as the only reporter to have live coverage directly from Baghdad, especially during the first 16 hours. His dramatic reports often were accompanied by the sound of air raid sirens blaring and US bombs exploding in the background. Together with two other CNN journalists, Bernard Shaw and John Holliman, Arnett brought continuous coverage from Baghdad for the 16 initial intense hours of the war (17 January 1991). Although 40 foreign journalists were present at the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad at the time, only CNN possessed the means — a private phone line connected to neighboring Amman, Jordan — to communicate to the outside world. CNN broadcast Arnett's extended call live for several hours, with a picture of Arnett as video. Soon the other journalists left Iraq, including the two CNN colleagues, which left Arnett as the sole remaining reporter.
His accounts of civilian damage caused by the bombing were not well received by the coalition war administration. Its spokesmen had emphasized terms such as "smart bombs" and "surgical precision" in their public statements, in an effort to project keeping civilian casualties would be at a minimum. White House sources would later attack Arnett, saying that he was being used as a tool for Iraqi disinformation.
Two weeks into the war, Arnett was able to obtain an exclusive, uncensored interview with Saddam Hussein. Due to Arnett's reporting from the "other side", for a period of five weeks, the Gulf War was the first to be broadcast live on TV.
About halfway through the war, representatives of the CIA approached Arnett. They believed that the Iraqi military was operating a high-level communication network from the basement of the Al Rashid Hotel, which is where Arnett and other staff from CNN were staying. The CIA wanted him out so the Air Force could bomb the hotel, but Arnett refused. He said he had been given a tour of the hotel and denied there was such a facility.
Interview with Osama Bin Laden
In March 1997, Arnett of CNN interviewed Osama bin Laden, leader of Al-Qaeda, after Bin Laden declared jihad on the United States. Asked by Arnett, "What are your future plans?", Bin Laden said, "You'll see them and hear about them in the media, God willing".
Operation Tailwind
In 1998, Arnett narrated a report on the joint venture (between CNN and Time magazine) program called NewsStand, covering "Operation Tailwind" in Laos in 1970.
The report, titled The Valley of Death, claimed that in 1970, the United States Army had used sarin, a nerve agent, against a group of deserting U.S. soldiers in Laos. The men who allegedly conducted the attack were an elite Green Berets A-Team. The report was expressly approved by both CNN Chairman Tom Johnson and CNN President Rick Kaplan. In response, the Pentagon commissioned another report contradicting that of CNN's. CNN subsequently conducted its own investigation. It concluded that the "journalism [in the Valley of Death] was flawed" and retracted the story. While all 12 men of the Green Beret A-Team were wounded in action during Operation Tailwind, no sarin was involved.
Due to a number of rebuttals claiming the CNN report was flawed, three or more of the individuals responsible were fired or forced to resign. Arnett was reprimanded, and left the network in April 1999, apparently due to "lingering fallout" from Tailwind.
Invasion of Iraq 2003
On assignment for NBC and National Geographic, Arnett went to Iraq in 2003 to cover the U.S. invasion. After a press meeting there, he granted an interview to state-run Iraqi TV on 31 March 2003. In it he said:
Earlier in the interview he said:
When Arnett's remarks sparked a "firestorm of protest", NBC initially defended him, saying he had given the interview as a professional courtesy and that his remarks were "analytical in nature". A day later, though, NBC, MSNBC and National Geographic all severed their relationships with Arnett. In response to Arnett's statement on Iraqi TV, NBC stated:
Arnett responded:
Later that day, Arnett was hired by the British tabloid, The Daily Mirror, which had opposed the war. A couple of days later he also received work from Greek television channel NET television, and Belgian VTM.
Academic career
After retiring as a field reporter in 2007, Arnett lives in Los Angeles.
He also teaches journalism at Shantou University in China. In New Zealand, the Peter Arnett School of Journalism was named for him at the Southern Institute of Technology; the journalism school closed in 2015.
Personal life
In 1964, Arnett married Nina Nguyen, a Vietnamese woman. They had two children, Elsa and Andrew. Nina and Peter separated in 1983, divorced more than 20 years later, then reconciled in 2006.
Elsa Arnett attended Stuyvesant High School in New York and Harvard University. After graduating, she went into journalism, became a reporter, worked for several months on The Washington Post as an intern and then joined The Boston Globe. She worked with her father on his 1994 memoir about his reporting life. Elsa Arnett is married to former White House lawyer John Yoo.
In the 2007 New Year Honours, Arnett was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to journalism.
In popular culture
Peter Arnett appeared in Robert Wiener's book Live from Baghdad. He appeared as a character in the 2002 HBO film of the same name, where he was portrayed by actor Bruce McGill.
The book, as well as the film, features Arnett's work as part of Wiener's crew in Baghdad. Arnett joined the team as tensions between Iraq and the West were escalating toward an imminent military encounter. CNN sent Arnett to Baghdad because of his experience in covering military conflicts. Arnett was part of the live coverage beginning on 16 January 1991, the start of the Gulf War air campaign, where he and colleagues Bernard Shaw and John Holliman kept broadcasting from their Al-Rasheed Hotel room amid extensive aerial bombing by the Western Coalition forces.
Arnett's interview with Bin Laden in 1997 became the subject of the movie 'A War Story' produced for television. Arnett's role was played by John Leigh.
Selected works
Live from the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad: 35 Years in the World's War Zones. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
Saigon Has Fallen: A Wartime Recollection by the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist. New York: Rosetta Books/Associated Press, 2015
See also
CNN controversies
List of New Zealand television personalities
References
Bibliography
External links
Sully, François, "Associated Press' Peter Arnett testing the first flame thrower captured from the Vietcong in Vietnam", photograph; 8 December 1965. Copyright Healey Library, UMass Boston; via openvault.wgbh.org.
Category:American television reporters and correspondents
Category:American war correspondents
Category:American war correspondents of the Vietnam War
Category:War correspondents of the Vietnam War
Category:1934 births
Category:Living people
Category:CNN people
Category:People from Riverton, New Zealand
Category:Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting winners
Category:New Zealand television presenters
Category:New Zealand emigrants to the United States
Category:Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Category:People with acquired American citizenship
Category:Ngāi Tahu people
Category:20th-century American journalists
Category:American male journalists | [
{
"text": "Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes bibliography as a word having two senses: one, a list of books for further study or of works consulted by an author (or enumerative bibliography); the other one, applicable for collectors, is \"the study of books as physical objects\" and \"the systematic description of books as objects\" (or descriptive bibliography).\n\nEtymology \nThe word was used by Greek writers in the first three centuries CE to mean the copying of books by hand. In the 12th century, the word started being used for \"the intellectual activity of composing books.\" The 17th century then saw the emergence of the modern meaning, that of description of books. Currently, the field of bibliography has expanded to include studies that consider the book as a material object. Bibliography, in its systematic pursuit of understanding the past and the present through written and printed documents, describes a way and means of extracting information from this material. Bibliographers are interested in comparing versions of texts to each other rather than in interpreting their meaning or assessing their significance.\n\nField of study \nBibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868–1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about \"the science of bibliography.\" However, there have recently been voices claiming that \"the bibliographical paradigm\" is obsolete, and it is not today common in LIS. A defence of the bibliographical paradigm was provided by Hjørland (2007).\n\nThe quantitative study of bibliographies is known as bibliometrics, which is today an influential subfield in LIS and is used for major collection decisions such as the cancellation of big deals, through data analysis tools like Unpaywall Journals.\n\nBranches \nCarter and Barker describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). These two distinct concepts and practices have separate rationales and serve differing purposes. Innovators and originators in the field include W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, Philip Gaskell and G. Thomas Tanselle.\n\nBowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production (3). He refers to descriptive bibliography as the systematic description of a book as a material or physical artefact. Analytical bibliography, the cornerstone of descriptive bibliography, investigates the printing and all physical features of a book that yield evidence establishing a book's history and transmission (Feather 10). It is the preliminary phase of bibliographic description and provides the vocabulary, principles and techniques of analysis that descriptive bibliographers apply and on which they base their descriptive practice.\n\nDescriptive bibliographers follow specific conventions and associated classification in their description. Titles and title pages are transcribed in a quasi-facsimile style and representation. Illustration, typeface, binding, paper, and all physical elements related to identifying a book follow formulaic conventions, as Bowers established in his foundational opus, The Principles of Bibliographic Description. The thought expressed in this book expands substantively on W. W. Greg's groundbreaking theory that argued for the adoption of formal bibliographic principles (Greg 29). Fundamentally, analytical bibliography is concerned with objective, physical analysis and history of a book while descriptive bibliography employs all data that analytical bibliography furnishes and then codifies it with a view to identifying the ideal copy or form of a book that most nearly represents the printer's initial conception and intention in printing.\n\nIn addition to viewing bibliographic study as being composed of four interdependent approaches (enumerative, descriptive, analytical, and textual), Bowers notes two further subcategories of research, namely historical bibliography and aesthetic bibliography. Both historical bibliography, which involves the investigation of printing practices, tools, and related documents, and aesthetic bibliography, which examines the art of designing type and books, are often employed by analytical bibliographers.\n\nD. F. McKenzie extended previous notions of bibliography as set forth by Greg, Bowers, Gaskell and Tanselle. He describes the nature of bibliography as \"the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the processes of their transmission, including their production and reception\" (1999 12). This concept broadens the scope of bibliography to include \"non-book texts\" and an accounting for their material form and structure, as well as textual variations, technical and production processes that bring sociocultural context and effects into play. McKenzie's perspective contextualizes textual objects or artefacts with sociological and technical factors that have an effect on production, transmission and, ultimately, ideal copy (2002 14). Bibliography, generally, concerns the material conditions of books [as well as other texts] how they are designed, edited, printed, circulated, reprinted, collected.\n\nBibliographic works differ in the amount of detail depending on the purpose and can generally be divided into two categories: enumerative bibliography (also called compilative, reference or systematic), which results in an overview of publications in a particular category and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books. In earlier times, bibliography mostly focused on books. Now, both categories of bibliography cover works in other media including audio recordings, motion pictures and videos, graphic objects, databases, CD-ROMs and websites.\n\nEnumerative bibliography \n\nAn enumerative bibliography is a systematic list of books and other works such as journal articles. Bibliographies range from \"works cited\" lists at the end of books and articles, to complete and independent publications. A notable example of a complete, independent publication is Gow's A. E. Housman: A Sketch, Together with a List of His Classical Papers (1936). As separate works, they may be in bound volumes such as those shown on the right, or computerized bibliographic databases. A library catalog, while not referred to as a \"bibliography,\" is bibliographic in nature. Bibliographical works are almost always considered to be tertiary sources.\n\nEnumerative bibliographies are based on a unifying principle such as creator, subject, date, topic or other characteristic. An entry in an enumerative bibliography provides the core elements of a text resource including a title, the creator(s), publication date and place of publication. Belanger (1977) distinguishes an enumerative bibliography from other bibliographic forms such as descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography or textual bibliography in that its function is to record and list, rather than describe a source in detail or with any reference to the source's physical nature, materiality or textual transmission. The enumerative list may be comprehensive or selective. One noted example would be Tanselle's bibliography that exhaustively enumerates topics and sources related to all forms of bibliography. A more common and particular instance of an enumerative bibliography relates to specific sources used or considered in preparing a scholarly paper or academic term paper.\n\nCitation styles vary.\nAn entry for a book in a bibliography usually contains the following elements:\n creator(s)\n title\n place of publication\n publisher or printer\n date of publication\n\nAn entry for a journal or periodical article usually contains:\n creator(s)\n article title\n journal title\n volume\n pages\n date of publication\n\nA bibliography may be arranged by author, topic, or some other scheme. Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument. These descriptions, usually a few sentences long, provide a summary of the source and describe its relevance. Reference management software may be used to keep track of references and generate bibliographies as required.\n\nBibliographies differ from library catalogs by including only relevant items rather than all items present in a particular library. However, the catalogs of some national libraries effectively serve as national bibliographies, as the national libraries own almost all their countries' publications.\n\nDescriptive bibliography \nFredson Bowers described and formulated a standardized practice of descriptive bibliography in his Principles of Bibliographical Description\n(1949). Scholars to this day treat Bowers' scholarly guide as authoritative. In this classic text, Bowers describes the basic function of bibliography as, \"[providing] sufficient data so that a reader may identify the book described, understand the printing, and recognize the precise contents\" (124).\n\nDescriptive bibliographies as scholarly product \nDescriptive bibliographies as a scholarly product usually include information on the following aspect of a given book as a material object:\nFormat and Collation/Pagination Statement—a conventional, symbolic formula that describes the book block in terms of sheets, folds, quires, signatures, and pages\n\nAccording to Bowers (193), the format of a book is usually abbreviated in the collation formula:\nBroadsheet: I° or b.s. or bs.\nFolio: 2° or fol.\nQuarto: 4° or 4to or Q° or Q\nOctavo: 8° or 8vo\nDuodecimo: 12° or 12mo\nSexto-decimo: 16° or 16mo\nTricesimo-secundo: 32° or 32mo\nSexagesimo-quarto: 64° or 64mo\nThe collation, which follows the format, is the statement of the order and size of the gatherings.\nFor example, a quarto that consists of the signed gatherings:\n2 leaves signed A, 4 leaves signed B, 4 leaves signed C, and 2 leaves signed D\nwould be represented in the collation formula:\n4°: A2B-C4D2\nBinding—a description of the binding techniques (generally for books printed after 1800)\nTitle Page Transcription—a transcription of the title page, including rule lines and ornaments\nContents—a listing of the contents (by section) in the book\nPaper—a description of the physical properties of the paper, including production process, an account of chain-line measurements, and a description of watermarks (if present)\nIllustrations—a description of the illustrations found in the book, including printing process (e.g. woodblock, intaglio, etc.), measurements, and locations in the text\nPresswork—miscellaneous details gleaned from the text about its production\nCopies Examined—an enumeration of the copies examined, including those copies' location (i.e. belonging to which library or collector)\n\nAnalytical bibliography \nThis branch of the bibliographic discipline examines the material features of a textual artefact—such as type, ink, paper, imposition, format, impressions and states of a book—to essentially recreate the conditions of its production. Analytical bibliography often uses collateral evidence—such as general printing practices, trends in format, responses and non-responses to design, etc.—to scrutinize the historical conventions and influences underlying the physical appearance of a text. The bibliographer utilizes knowledge gained from the investigation of physical evidence in the form of a descriptive bibliography or textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination and cataloging of a text as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while textual bibliography (or textual criticism) identifies variations—and the aetiology of variations—in a text with a view to determining \"the establishment of the most correct form of [a] text\" (Bowers 498[1]).\n\nBibliographers \n\nA bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. A person who limits such efforts to a specific field or discipline is a subject bibliographer.\"\n\nA bibliographer, in the technical meaning of the word, is anyone who writes about books. But the accepted meaning since at least the 18th century is a person who attempts a comprehensive account—sometimes just a list, sometimes a fuller reckoning—of the books written on a particular subject. In the present, bibliography is no longer a career, generally speaking; bibliographies tend to be written on highly specific subjects and by specialists in the field.\n\nThe term bibliographer is sometimes—in particular subject bibliographer—today used about certain roles performed in libraries and bibliographic databases.\n\nOne of the first bibliographers was Conrad Gessner who sought to list all books printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in Bibliotheca Universalis (1545).\n\nNon-book material \nSystematic lists of media other than books can be referred to with terms formed analogously to bibliography:\n Discography—recorded music\n Filmography—films\n Webography (or webliography)—websites\n Arachniography, a term coined by NASA research historian Andrew J. Butrica, which means a reference list of URLs about a particular subject. It is equivalent to a bibliography in a book. The name derives from arachne in reference to a spider and its web.\n\nSee also \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (in Wikipedia)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Blum, Rudolf. (1980) Bibliographia. An Inquiry in Its Definition and Designations, Dawson, American Library Association.\n Bowers, Fredson. (1995) Principles of Bibliographical Description, Oak Knoll Press.\n Duncan, Paul Shaner. (1973) How to Catalog a Rare Book, 2nd ed., rev., American Library Association.\n \n Gaskell, Philip. (2000) A New Introduction to Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press.\n McKerrow, R. B. (1927) An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford: Clarendon Press\n Schneider, Georg. (1934) Theory and History of Bibliography, New York: Scarecrow Press.\n National Library of Canada, Committee on Bibliography and Information Services for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Guidelines for the Compilation of a Bibliography (National Library of Canada, 1987). N.B.: This is a brief guide to accurately practical bibliography, not a study concerning more precise and systematic bibliography.\n \nRobinson, A. M. Lewin (1966) Systematic Bibliography; rev. ed. London: Clive Bingley\n\nExternal links \n\n Oxford Bibliographies Online, in-depth annotated bibliographies by scholars in selected fields\n Introduction to Bibliography, a comprehensive syllabus by G. Thomas Tanselle\n The Bibliographical Society of America, a resource for information about current work in the field of bibliography\n Studies in Bibliography, the journal of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia\n A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology, (University of Zaragoza) includes thousands of listings on literary, philological and other subjects\n\n \nCategory:Book design\nCategory:Book terminology\nCategory:Textual scholarship",
"title": "Bibliography"
}
] | [
"The text does not provide specific information on what Operation Tailwind was.",
"The program, which claimed that the U.S. Army had used sarin against a group of deserting U.S. soldiers in Laos in 1970, was controversial. It was contradicted by a report commissioned by the Pentagon, which provoked CNN to conduct its own investigation. CNN concluded that the report's journalism was flawed, and retracted the story. This resulted in the firing or resignation of several individuals, including Arnett, who was also reprimanded. The co-producers April Oliver and Jack Smith, who were dismissed, ended up suing Time Warner for wrongful firing, resulting in Time Warner paying a settlement of millions of dollars.",
"Yes, the Pentagon disputed the report by commissioning another report that contradicted CNN's. CNN also conducted its own investigation, which concluded that the journalism in the report was flawed, leading to the retraction of the story. There were also lawsuits brought by military personnel who claimed to have been libeled in the report.",
"Following this, several individuals responsible for the report were either fired or forced to resign. Peter Arnett, the narrator, was reprimanded and eventually left the network, while co-producers April Oliver and Jack Smith, were dismissed. Oliver and Smith later sued Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, for wrongful termination. Time Warner ended up paying millions in settlements for their lawsuits, as well as for suits brought by military personnel who claimed to have been libeled in the report. In addition, senior producer Pam Hill and others also resigned.",
"The result of the lawsuits brought by April Oliver and Jack Smith against Time Warner, as well as suits brought by military personnel, was that Time Warner had to pay millions of dollars in settlements.",
"Although the exact amount is not stated, the text indicates that Time Warner had to pay millions of dollars in settlements for several lawsuits, which is generally considered a significant monetary loss.",
"The text mentions that Peter Arnett was reprimanded and eventually left the network. However, it does not explicitly state whether he was fired.",
"The controversial report, and the consequent actions such as retractions, firings, resignations, and lawsuits, took place around 1998, the year when the report was narrated.",
"The text does not provide specific information on how Arnett reacted to the events.",
"The text does not provide information about Peter Arnett personally winning or losing anything in the context of these events."
] | [
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"no",
"no",
"Yes",
"no",
"no"
] |
C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1 | Al Kaline | Kaline was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. His family was poor. Several relatives played semi-pro baseball, but no one in his family had graduated from high school. When he was eight years old, Kaline developed osteomyelitis and had a segment of bone removed from his left foot. | Early days | Kaline bypassed the minor league system and joined the Tigers directly from high school as an 18-year-old "bonus baby" signee, receiving $35,000 ($320,137 in today's dollars) to sign with the team. He made his major league debut on June 25, 1953 in Philadelphia as a late-inning replacement for outfielder Jim Delsing. Kaline wore number 25 during his rookie campaign, but asked teammate Pat Mullin for his No. 6 after the 1953 season ended. Kaline wore the number for the rest of his major league playing career. He was known simply as "Six" in the Tiger clubhouse. In 1955, at age 20, Kaline ended the season with a .340 batting average, becoming the youngest player ever to win the American League batting title. No 20-year-old major league player had won a batting title since Ty Cobb in 1907. During the 1955 season, Kaline became the 13th man in major league history to hit two home runs in the same inning, became the youngest to hit three home runs in one game, and finished the year with 200 hits, 27 home runs and 102 RBIs. He also finished second to Yogi Berra in the American League's 1955 Most Valuable Player Award voting. He was selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the first in a string of consecutive All-Star selections that lasted through 1967. Kaline followed in 1956 with a .314 batting average with 27 home runs and 128 RBIs. He led the league in outfield assists with 18 in 1956 and again in 1958 with 23. Kaline was out for several games in 1958 after he was hit by a pitch. He missed several games in 1959 after he was hit by a thrown ball and sustained a fracture in his cheekbone. Kaline had been knocked out from the blow and initial speculation was that he could miss six weeks of the season. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1_q#0",
"C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1_q#1",
"C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1_q#2",
"C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1_q#3",
"C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1_q#4",
"C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1_q#5",
"C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1_q#6",
"C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1_q#7",
"C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1_q#8",
"C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1_q#9",
"C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1_q#10",
"C_7957f36876b3407ea15ba21f5b660a15_1_q#11"
] | [
"What happened in Al Kaline's early days?",
"How much was this bonus?",
"Did he do well in the team?",
"What other stats does he have with the team?",
"Did he win any tournaments with the team?",
"Did he break any records with the team?",
"Did he break any other records with the team?",
"How many home runs did he score with the team at any given season?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Did he ever change teams in his early years?",
"Did he also play baseball in high school?",
"What are other interesting aspects about his early years?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
0,
0,
2,
2,
0
] | [
2,
2,
0,
2,
2,
0,
0,
2,
0,
1,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
137
],
[
568
],
[
975
],
[
1138
],
[
641
],
[
1366
],
[
1298
],
[
823
],
[
44
],
[
1740
],
[
1517
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Kaline bypassed the minor league system and joined the Tigers directly from high school as an 18-year-old \"bonus baby\" signee,"
],
[
"$35,000 ($320,137 in today's dollars)"
],
[
"In 1955, at age 20, Kaline ended the season with a .340 batting average,"
],
[
"finished the year with 200 hits, 27 home runs and 102 RBIs."
],
[
"He was selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game,"
],
[
"becoming the youngest player ever to win the American League batting title."
],
[
"He led the league in outfield assists with 18 in 1956 and again in 1958 with 23."
],
[
"in 1956 with a .314 batting average with 27 home runs and 128 RBIs."
],
[
"Kaline became the 13th man in major league history to hit two home runs in the same inning,"
],
[
"joined the Tigers directly from high school"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"He missed several games in 1959 after he was hit by a thrown ball and sustained a fracture in his cheekbone."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
137,
568,
975,
1138,
641,
1366,
1298,
823,
44,
1740,
1517
],
"texts": [
"Kaline bypassed the minor league system and joined the Tigers directly from high school as an 18-year-old \"bonus baby\" signee,",
"$35,000 ($320,137 in today's dollars)",
"In 1955, at age 20, Kaline ended the season with a .340 batting average,",
"finished the year with 200 hits, 27 home runs and 102 RBIs.",
"He was selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game,",
"becoming the youngest player ever to win the American League batting title.",
"He led the league in outfield assists with 18 in 1956 and again in 1958 with 23.",
"in 1956 with a .314 batting average with 27 home runs and 128 RBIs.",
"Kaline became the 13th man in major league history to hit two home runs in the same inning,",
"joined the Tigers directly from high school",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"He missed several games in 1959 after he was hit by a thrown ball and sustained a fracture in his cheekbone."
]
} | Albert William Kaline ( ; December 19, 1934 – April 6, 2020), nicknamed "Mr. Tiger", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers. For most of his career, Kaline played in the outfield, mainly as a right fielder where he won ten Gold Glove Awards and was known for his strong throwing arm. He was selected to 18 All-Star Games, including selections each year between 1955 and 1967. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980, his first time on the ballot.
Near the end of his career, Kaline also played as first baseman and, in his last season, was the Tigers' designated hitter. He retired soon after reaching the 3,000 hit milestone. Immediately after retiring from playing, he became the Tigers' TV color commentator, a position he held until 2002. Kaline worked for the Tigers as a front office assistant from 2003 until his death in 2020.
Early life
Kaline was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Naomi (Morgan) and Nicholas Kaline. His family was poor. Several of his relatives played semi-professional baseball, but no one in the family had graduated from high school. When he was eight years old, Kaline developed osteomyelitis and had two inches of bone removed from his left foot. The surgery left him with scarring and permanent deformity, but he was an outstanding pitcher in youth baseball. Kaline had learned to throw a fastball, changeup and curveball by the age of nine.
Kaline attended Baltimore's Southern High School, where he starred in basketball and also played football until he sustained a cheek injury. When he tried out for the baseball team, there was no room on the pitching staff so Kaline moved to the outfield. He earned all-state honors in baseball all four years. Kaline said that he was a poor student but that he was well-liked by his teachers. He said that his teachers passed him, believing he would become a baseball player.
MLB career
Early years
Kaline bypassed Minor League Baseball and joined the Tigers directly from high school as an 18-year-old "bonus baby" signee, receiving $35,000 ($ in 2020 dollars) to sign with the team. The Detroit scout who had tracked him through high school, Ed Katalinas, said, "To me he was the prospect that a scout creates in his mind and then prays that someone will come along to fit the pattern."
He made his major league debut on June 25, 1953 in Philadelphia as a late-inning replacement for outfielder Jim Delsing. Kaline wore number 25 during his rookie campaign, but asked teammate Pat Mullin for his No. 6 after the 1953 season ended. Kaline wore the number for the rest of his major league playing career.
In 1955, at age 20, Kaline ended the season with a .340 batting average, becoming the youngest player ever to win the American League (AL) batting title. No 20-year-old major league player had won a batting title since Ty Cobb in 1907. During the 1955 season, Kaline became the 13th man in major league history to hit two home runs in the same inning, became the youngest to hit three home runs in one game, and finished the year with 200 hits, 27 home runs and 102 runs batted in (RBIs). He also finished second to Yogi Berra in the American League's 1955 Most Valuable Player Award voting. He was selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the first in a string of consecutive All-Star selections that lasted through 1967.
Kaline followed in 1956 with a .314 batting average, 27 home runs and a career-high 128 RBIs, finishing third in the AL MVP voting. He led the league in outfield assists with 18 in 1956 and again in 1958 with 23. In 1957, he won the first of what would be ten Gold Glove Awards over the next eleven seasons. Kaline was out for several games in 1958 after he was hit by a pitch. He missed several games in 1959 after he was hit by a thrown ball and sustained a fracture in his cheekbone. Kaline had been knocked out from the blow and initial speculation was that he could miss six weeks of the season. Kaline ended up missing only 18 games, and finished the 1959 season with a .327 batting average and 27 home runs. He also led the AL in slugging percentage (.530) and OPS (.940).
Middle career
Following the departure of Harvey Kuenn, Kaline played the entire 1960 season in center field, the only time of his career he would do so. In 1961, the Tigers acquired Bill Bruton from the Milwaukee Braves to play center field, allowing Kaline to move back to right field.
In 1961, Kaline led the majors with 41 doubles and hit .324 to finish second in the AL batting race (behind teammate Norm Cash). The Tigers won 101 games, to date the third-highest win total in team history, but still finished eight games behind a New York Yankees team that was led by the home run heroics of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. Kaline began the 1962 season hitting .345 with 13 home runs and 38 RBIs in 35 games. On May 26 of that season, he sustained a broken collarbone while making a game-ending catch on a ball hit by New York's Elston Howard. He missed 57 games due to the injury and Detroit was unable to seriously compete for a pennant due to his absence. When healthy, Kaline was great in 1962, hitting a career-high 29 home runs and driving in 94 runs in only 100 games.
By late March 1963, Kaline said that he felt good and he was hitting .373 in 53 spring training at-bats. In the 1963 regular season, Kaline hit .312 with 27 home runs and 101 RBIs, finishing second to Elston Howard in the American League's Most Valuable Player Award voting. Kaline experienced pain in his left foot, the one that had been affected by osteomyelitis as a child, throughout the 1964 season. His batting average dropped to .293 that season. Kaline tried to ignore the pain, but he saw physicians who thought he was suffering from gout and administered injections.
Still in pain the following season, Kaline saw an orthopedic surgeon who prescribed corrective shoes. "I feel so much better than I did before, that it's ridiculous", Kaline said by June 1965. Sportswriter Milton Gross described Kaline's deformed foot, saying, "The pinky and middle finger don't touch the ground. The fourth toe is stretched. The second and third are shortened. The first and third toes overlap the second and the fourth is beginning to overlap the big toe, which has begun to bend to the left. It is hard to believe, but for all of his career with the Tigers while he has been called the perfect player, Kaline has bordered on being a cripple."
In 1966, Kaline tied his career high with 29 home runs. In the summer of 1967, the normally calm Kaline broke a bone in his hand when he struck a baseball bat against a bat rack. Kaline missed a month of play. When he returned, the Tigers were in a four-team pennant race, but the team finished the season one game behind the first place Boston Red Sox.
Kaline missed two months of the 1968 season with a broken arm, but he returned to the lineup when Tiger manager Mayo Smith benched shortstop Ray Oyler and sent center fielder Mickey Stanley to play shortstop to make room for Kaline in the outfield. ESPN later called Smith's move one of the ten greatest coaching decisions of the century. In the 1968 World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals won three of the first four games of the series and were leading Game 5 by a score of 3–2 in the seventh inning, when Kaline hit a bases loaded single to drive in two runs. The Tigers won that game, and then won Game 6 in a blowout. Kaline had two hits, two runs scored and three RBI in the Tigers' 10-run third inning of Game 6. Detroit went on to win Game 7 for their first world championship since 1945. In his only World Series appearance, Kaline hit .379 with two home runs and eight RBIs in seven games. For their victory, Kaline and his teammates each received bonus checks of $10,000 (at a time when Kaline's salary was "about $70,000").
Final seasons
In 1970, Kaline sustained a freak, near-fatal injury in an outfield collision. In a game at Milwaukee's County Stadium on May 30, against the Milwaukee Brewers, Kaline collided with center fielder Jim Northrup as they both pursued a fly ball. Kaline fell to the warning track injured. Alertly, left fielder Willie Horton rushed over and quickly recognized that Kaline was turning blue. Horton reached in and cleared Kaline's airway, saving his life.
After hitting .294 in 1971, Kaline became the first Tiger to sign a $100,000 ($ in today's dollars) contract. He had turned down a pay raise from $95,000 to $100,000 the previous year, saying he did not feel like he deserved it after hitting .278 with 16 home runs in 1970. Detroit contended all season for the 1972 pennant, trailing the Red Sox by a half-game before a series against them to end the regular season. Kaline batted eight times in two games, registering five hits and three runs scored. Detroit won those first two games and clinched the AL East pennant. Kaline batted .313 in 106 games in 1972, topping .300 for the first time since 1967. The Tigers lost the 1972 American League Championship Series to the Oakland Athletics that year after Reggie Jackson stole home in the decisive fifth game of the series. In March 1973, Kaline won the Roberto Clemente Award in recognition of the honor he brought to baseball on and off the field.
On September 24, 1974, Kaline became the 12th player in MLB history to reach the 3,000 hit milestone, when he hit a double off the Orioles' Dave McNally. After reaching the milestone, Kaline announced that he would retire at season's end. "I'm glad it's over. I really am. I don't think I'll miss it. I may miss spring training", Kaline said after his last game on October 3, 1974.
Kaline finished his career with 3,007 hits (currently 32nd on the all-time list), 498 doubles, 75 triples, 399 home runs (a Tigers record and currently 58th on the all-time list), 1,622 runs scored, 1,277 bases on balls, and 1,582 RBIs (currently 44th on the all-time list). He batted over .300 nine times in his career to finish with a lifetime batting average of .297 and hit 25 or more home runs seven times in his career. Kaline also holds Tiger career records for games played (2,834), walks (1,277), and sacrifice flies (104). He had more walks than strikeouts (1,020). His highest season strikeout total came in his final season, with 75. Prior to that, Kaline never struck out more than 66 times in a season. Among position players, Kaline ranks 29th all-time (15th among outfielders) in Wins Against Replacement (WAR) with a career mark of 92.8.
Defensively, Kaline finished his career with an overall .987 fielding percentage. In his first full season (1954), he recorded 16 outfield assists, including three in one game (July 7 against the Chicago White Sox). He recorded 84 outfield assists between 1954 and 1958, posting a career-high 23 in 1958. After that season, baserunners rarely tested his arm, and his assist numbers dropped.
Honors
Kaline was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980, becoming the tenth player in history to be inducted in his first year of eligibility. He was named on 340 of the 385 ballots (88.3%) cast by sportswriters. Kaline and Duke Snider were the only candidates elected by the sportswriters in 1980. Kaline later said, "I really never thought I would choose an individual thing that happened just to me over a team thing like the World Series. But I would have to say this is the biggest thing that has ever happened to me."
Kaline was honored by the Tigers as the first of their players to have his uniform number (6) retired. Versatile and well-rounded, he won ten Gold Glove Awards (1957–59 and 1961–67) for excellence in the field and appeared in the All-Star game 15 times (1955–67, 1971, 1974). In 1998, Kaline ranked Number 76 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
Cherry Street, which ran behind the left-field stands at Tiger Stadium, was renamed Kaline Drive in his honor in 1970. On September 27, 1999, when Detroit played its last game at Tiger Stadium against the Kansas City Royals, Kaline was invited to appear in uniform and present the last lineup card to the umpires. He did so along with George Brett, former Kansas City Royals' great and fellow Hall of Famer.
Kaline was regarded as a well-rounded player by his contemporaries. Baltimore Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson said of him, "There have been a lot of great defensive players. The fella who could do everything is Al Kaline. He was just the epitome of what a great outfielder is all about – great speed, catches the ball and throws the ball well." Manager Billy Martin once said, "I have always referred to Al Kaline as 'Mister Perfection'. He does it all — hitting, fielding, running, throwing — and he does it with that extra touch of brilliancy that marks him as a super ballplayer... Al fits in anywhere, at any position in the lineup and any spot in the batting order."
The 1993 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was dedicated to Kaline on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of his hometown's only other Midsummer Classic. Kaline, along with Leon Day and former Baltimore Orioles star Brooks Robinson, threw out the ceremonial first pitch to end the pregame ceremonies. Kaline's ceremonial first pitch was caught by future Detroit Tiger Ivan Rodriguez, who was starting his All-Star debut.
Post-playing career
After his playing career, Kaline lived in the Detroit area, also maintaining a house in Florida, and he remained active within the Tigers organization, serving first as a color commentator on the team's television broadcasts (1975–2002) mostly with play by play announcer and former Tiger and fellow Hall of Famer George Kell, and then later as a consultant to the team. Starting in 2003, Kaline served as a special assistant to Tigers President/CEO/General Manager Dave Dombrowski, and his duties included coaching/mentoring outfielders during spring training. Former Tigers teammate Willie Horton also holds this position, and the two threw out the first pitch of the 2006 World Series at Comerica Park. Kaline continued in his assistant role until his death in 2020. His 67 years with one team was one of the longest tenures in MLB history.
Because of his lengthy career and longtime association with the Tigers organization, Kaline's nickname was "Mr. Tiger." Kaline's grandson Colin Kaline was selected by the Tigers in the 25th round of the 2007 MLB draft. He did not sign, choosing to play baseball at Florida Southern College. The team drafted him again in the 2011 MLB draft, this time in the 26th round. He played in the low minor leagues with the Detroit organization in 2011–12.
Personal life
Kaline married his high school sweetheart, Madge Louise Hamilton, in 1954. He had two sons, Mark Albert Kaline (b. August 21, 1957) and Michael Keith Kaline (b. 1962). Michael played college baseball at Miami University and was the grandfather of Colin Kaline, who had a short Minor League career and was a college coach.
Kaline died in his home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, on April 6, 2020; the cause of death was not reported.
See also
List of members of the Baseball Hall of Fame
List of Major League Baseball retired numbers
List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
List of Gold Glove Award winners at outfield
List of baseball players who went directly to Major League Baseball
List of Major League Baseball career doubles leaders
List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders
List of Major League Baseball career total bases leaders
List of Major League Baseball batting champions
List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise
References
External links
Al Kaline at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
Al Kaline at Baseball Biography
Al Kaline at Encyclopedia.com
Al Kaline at The Baseball Page
"Al Kaline – the Detroit Tigers' 'Mr. Perfection'" at the Detroit News
"Why The Red Sox Passed Up Al Kaline", Baseball Digest, February 1971
"Al Kaline: I Want 3000 Hits", Baseball Digest, July 1972
Al Kaline profile, Baseball Digest, February 1991
Category:National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
Category:1934 births
Category:2020 deaths
Category:American League All-Stars
Category:Detroit Tigers announcers
Category:Detroit Tigers players
Category:Major League Baseball right fielders
Category:Major League Baseball designated hitters
Category:Gold Glove Award winners
Category:Major League Baseball broadcasters
Category:Baseball players from Baltimore
Category:American League batting champions
Category:Major League Baseball players with retired numbers
Category:American sportsmen | [] | [
"Al Kaline joined the Tigers directly from high school as an 18-year-old \"bonus baby\" signee, receiving $35,000 to sign with the team. He made his major league debut on June 25, 1953 in Philadelphia as a late-inning replacement for outfielder Jim Delsing. He initially wore number 25 during his rookie campaign, but switched to No. 6 after the 1953 season ended. In 1955, at age 20, he ended the season with a .340 batting average, becoming the youngest player ever to win the American League batting title. During the same 1955 season, he hit two home runs in the same inning, became the youngest to hit three home runs in one game, and finished the year with 200 hits, 27 home runs, and 102 RBIs. He was also selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.",
"Al Kaline received a bonus of $35,000 to sign with the Detroit Tigers.",
"Yes, Al Kaline performed exceptionally well on the team. At age 20, he became the youngest player ever to win the American League batting title with a .340 batting average. During the 1955 season, he hit two home runs in a single inning, became the youngest player to hit three home runs in a game, and finished the year with 200 hits, 27 home runs, and 102 RBIs. In 1956, he had a .314 batting average with 27 home runs and 128 RBIs. He led the league in outfield assists in 1956 and in 1958. He was also consistently selected for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game from 1955 through 1967.\n",
"Apart from his batting averages, home runs, and RBIs, Al Kaline also had impressive statistics in other areas. He led the league in outfield assists with 18 in 1956 and again in 1958 with 23. Despite sustaining injuries in 1958 and 1959 which led him to miss several games, Kaline was a consistent performer throughout his early career. He was named to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game consistently from 1955 through to 1967, further highlighting his contribution to the team.",
"The context does not provide information on whether Al Kaline won any tournaments with the Tigers.",
"Yes, Al Kaline broke a few records while with the Tigers. In 1955, at age 20, he became the youngest player ever to win the American League batting title. No 20-year-old major league player had won a batting title since Ty Cobb in 1907. Also during the 1955 season, Kaline became the 13th man in major league history to hit two home runs in the same inning, and became the youngest to hit three home runs in one game.",
"The context does not provide information on any other records that Al Kaline may have broken with the Tigers.",
"The context mentions two seasons' home run statistics for Al Kaline. In 1955, he hit 27 home runs. In the following year, 1956, he hit the same number of home runs, 27.",
"Yes, there are several interesting aspects about this article. One notable aspect is that Al Kaline bypassed the minor league system and joined the Detroit Tigers right from high school at the young age of 18. Also, despite being so young, he had a very successful start to his career, earning a .340 batting average and becoming the youngest player ever to win the American League batting title at age 20. Not only that, but he also became the 13th man in major league history to hit two home runs in the same inning and the youngest ever to hit three home runs in a single game. Despite serious injuries in 1958 and 1959, he continued to perform exceptionally, demonstrating his resilience.",
"The context does not provide any information about Al Kaline changing teams in his early years.",
"The context does not provide information about Al Kaline playing baseball in high school.",
"Al Kaline signed with the Detroit Tigers directly from high school, skipping the minor league system. Considered a \"bonus baby\" signee, he received $35,000 to sign with the team. Within two years of his major league debut, he became the youngest player ever to win the American League batting title at the age of 20. His batting prowess was also evidenced by him hitting two home runs in the same inning and becoming the youngest player ever to hit three home runs in a single game in 1955. Also noteworthy is that Kaline was consistently selected for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game from 1955 through 1967, one of the signs of his sustained high performance."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"no",
"Yes",
"no",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_1 | LeVar Burton | Burton was born to American parents at the U.S. Army Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in West Germany. His mother, Erma Gene (nee Christian), was a social worker, administrator, and educator. His father, Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, was a photographer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps at the time he was stationed at Landstuhl. Burton and his two sisters were raised by his mother in Sacramento, California. | Early work | Burton first appeared on television in a drama about a misunderstood deaf boy. LeVar Burton made his film acting debut in 1977 when he played Kunta Kinte in the ABC award-winning drama series Roots, based on the novel by Alex Haley. Burton's audition for the role of Kinte was the first of his professional career. As a result of his performance, he was nominated for the Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Burton reprised the role of Kunta Kinte in the 1988 television film Roots: The Gift. When asked about the societal impacts of Roots, Burton is quoted as saying, "It expanded the consciousness of people. Blacks and whites began to see each other as human beings, not as stereotypes. And if you throw a pebble into the pond, you're going to get ripples. I think the only constant is change, and it's always slow. Anything that happens overnight is lacking in foundation. Roots is part of a changing trend, and it's still being played out." Burton played a role as a visitor to Fantasy Island, was a participant in Battle of the Network Stars, a guest of the Muppet Show's televised premiere party for the release of The Muppet Movie, and a frequent guest on several game shows. In 1986, he appeared in the music video for the song "Word Up!" by the funk/R&B group Cameo. Burton accepted an invitation to host Rebop, a multicultural series designed for young people ages 9-15, produced by WGBH for PBS. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_1_q#0",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_1_q#1",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_1_q#2",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_1_q#3",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_1_q#4",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_1_q#5",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_1_q#6"
] | [
"What was Levar doing when he was younger?",
"Did he have many other parts?",
"Was roots before reading rainbow?",
"When did he start acting?",
"Did he have any training in acting, such as schooling?",
"Did he work with any other well known actors?",
"What other job titles did he hold besides acting?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
1,
1,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
79
],
[
411
],
[
79
],
[
1413
],
[
950
],
[
1282
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Burton first appeared on television in a drama about a misunderstood deaf boy."
],
[
"LeVar Burton made his film acting debut in 1977 when he played Kunta Kinte in the ABC award-winning drama series Roots,"
],
[
"Burton reprised the role of Kunta Kinte in the 1988 television film Roots: The Gift."
],
[
"LeVar Burton made his film acting debut in 1977"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Burton played a role as a visitor to Fantasy Island,"
],
[
"Burton accepted an invitation to host Rebop, a multicultural series designed for young people ages 9-15,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
79,
411,
79,
1413,
950,
1282
],
"texts": [
"Burton first appeared on television in a drama about a misunderstood deaf boy.",
"LeVar Burton made his film acting debut in 1977 when he played Kunta Kinte in the ABC award-winning drama series Roots,",
"Burton reprised the role of Kunta Kinte in the 1988 television film Roots: The Gift.",
"LeVar Burton made his film acting debut in 1977",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Burton played a role as a visitor to Fantasy Island,",
"Burton accepted an invitation to host Rebop, a multicultural series designed for young people ages 9-15,"
]
} | Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host. He played Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), and was host of the PBS Kids educational television series Reading Rainbow for more than 23 years (1983–2006). He received 12 Daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award as host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow.
His other roles include Cap Jackson in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), Donald Lang in Dummy (1979), Tommy Price in The Hunter (1980), which earned him an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, and Martin Luther King Jr. in Ali (2001). Burton received the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards for his narration of the book The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. In 1990, he was honored for his achievements in television with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Burton was chosen as the Grand Marshal of the 2022 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.
Early life
Burton was born in Landstuhl, West Germany. His mother, Erma Gene (née Christian), was a social worker, administrator, and educator, while his father and namesake was a photographer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps stationed at Landstuhl at the time of his son's birth. Burton and his two sisters were raised by his mother in Sacramento, California.
As a teen, Burton, who was raised Catholic, entered St. Pius X Minor Seminary in Galt, California, intending to become a priest. At 17, questioning the Catholic faith, he changed his vocation to acting, and at 19, while an undergraduate at the University of Southern California, he won a starring role in the 1977 television miniseries Roots.
Career
Early work
Burton made his acting debut in 1976 with Almos' a Man, a film based on the Richard Wright short story "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," in which he stars alongside Madge Sinclair.
Roots
Burton's breakthrough role was as the young Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), based on the novel of the same name by Alex Haley. Burton has described his first day playing Kunta as the start of his professional career. As a result of his performance, he was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series category.
He reprised the role of Kunta Kinte in the 1988 television film Roots: The Gift. When asked about the societal influence of Roots, Burton is quoted as saying: "It expanded the consciousness of people. Blacks and whites began to see each other as human beings, not as stereotypes. And if you throw a pebble into the pond, you're going to get ripples. I think the only constant is change, and it's always slow. Anything that happens overnight is lacking in foundation. Roots is part of a changing trend, and it's still being played out."
Reading Rainbow
Burton was the host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow starting in 1983 for PBS. The series ran for 23 seasons.
After Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2006, Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ, a new media company for children. Reading Rainbow was reimagined as an all new application for the iPad in 2012, and was an immediate success, becoming the number-one educational application within 36 hours. At RRKIDZ, Burton serves as co-founder and curator-in-chief, ensuring that the projects produced under the banner meet the high expectations and trust of the Reading Rainbow brand.
On May 28, 2014, Burton and numerous coworkers from other past works started a Kickstarter campaign project to bring back Reading Rainbow. To keep with the changing formats to which young children are exposed, his efforts are being directed at making this new program web based, following the success of the tablet application he helped create in recent years. His desire is to have the new Reading Rainbow be integrated into the classrooms of elementary schools across the country, and for schools in need to have free access. The Kickstarter campaign has since raised more than $5 million, reaching triple its goal in only three days.
In 2017, Burton was sued by the public broadcasting company WNED-TV for alleged copyright infringement for use of the Reading Rainbow brand in marketing the new iPad app and other online media. RRKIDZ later became known as LeVar Burton Kids and the iPad app, Skybrary.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
In 1986, Gene Roddenberry approached Burton with the role of Lieutenant Junior Grade Geordi La Forge in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. The character is blind but is granted "sight" through the use of a prosthetic device called a VISOR worn over his eyes. La Forge began as the USS Enterprise's helmsman, and as of the show's second season, had become its chief engineer. At the time, Burton was considerably better known than Patrick Stewart in the United States, due to his roles in Roots and Reading Rainbow. When the show premiered, the Associated Press stated that Burton's role was essentially the "new Spock". In a 2019 interview, Burton laughed in disbelief at the idea, stating "that speculation never came to fruition." Burton also portrayed La Forge in the subsequent feature films based on Star Trek: The Next Generation, from Star Trek Generations (1994) to Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). He directed two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise. He reprised the role of LaForge in the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard (2023).
Other appearances
Burton played a role as a visitor to Fantasy Island, guest star on “The Love Boat”, was a participant in Battle of the Network Stars, a guest of the Muppet Shows televised premiere party for the release of The Muppet Movie, and a frequent guest on several game shows.
In 1986, he appeared in the music video for the song "Word Up!" by the funk/R&B group Cameo.
In 1987, Burton played Dave Robinson, a journalist (sports writer), in the third season of Murder, She Wrote, episode 16 – "Death Takes a Dive", starring Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher.
Burton accepted an invitation to host Rebop, a multicultural series designed for young people aged 9–15, produced by WGBH for PBS.
On television, Burton has helped dramatize the last days of Jim Jones's suicide cult in Guyana, the life and times of Jesse Owens, and the life of the nine-year-old Booker T. Washington. He portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the 2001 film Ali. He also portrayed Detroit Tiger Ron LeFlore in the television movie One in a Million, The Ron LeFlore Story.
In 1992, a clip of Burton's voice was sampled by DC Talk for the track "Time is..." on their album Free at Last. The sample is at the very end of the song, in which Burton can be heard saying: "Whoa, wait a minute."
He has also lent his voice to several animated projects, including Kwame in the cartoon series Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990–1993) and The New Adventures of Captain Planet (1993–1996), Family Guy, Batman: The Animated Series and Gargoyles. Burton is on the audio version of books such as The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. Burton has been cast as voice actor for Black Lightning in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies DVD.
Burton appeared several times as a celebrity guest on the Dick Clark-hosted $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramids, from 1982 until 1988. Burton also was the strongest link in the special Star Trek episode of The Weakest Link. He defeated his final opponent Robert Picardo and won $167,500 for his charity, Junior Achievement of Southern California, a record for the show at that time and the largest amount won in any Celebrity Edition of the show (it was later surpassed by a $188,500 win in a "Tournament of Losers" episode).
He has made appearances in such sitcoms as Becker.
Burton is the host and executive producer of a documentary titled The Science of Peace, which was in production as of 2007. It investigates the science and technology aimed at enabling world peace, sometimes called peace science. The film explores some of the concepts of shared noetic consciousness, having been sponsored in part by the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
He appeared in an April Fool's episode of Smosh pretending to have taken over the channel and making various edits at popular Smosh videos.
He makes occasional appearances on This Week in Tech, where he is a self-proclaimed "nerd", and also participated in the Consumer Electronics Show 2010.
In 2010, Burton made an appearance on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! as the ghost of himself in the episode "Greene Machine". In February 2011, he made an appearance as himself on NBC's Community in the episode "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking", and then again in January 2014's "Geothermal Escapism".
Burton has appeared as a fictionalized, humorous version of himself on The Big Bang Theory, first appearing in the episode "The Toast Derivation", in which he almost attends a party thrown by Sheldon (before swearing off Twitter), in November 2012 in the episode "The Habitation Configuration", in which he appears on "Fun With Flags" in exchange for lunch and gas money, and again in the November 2014 episode "The Champagne Reflection", in which he returns for the 232nd episode of "Fun With Flags" in exchange for Sheldon deleting his contact details.
In 2012, he had a recurring role as dean Paul Haley on the TNT series Perception. For the second season (2013), he became part of the regular cast.
In 2014, he had a guest appearance in an introduction section for the 200th episode of Achievement Hunter's show, Achievement Hunter Weekly Update (AHWU). In May 2014, he appeared as a guest on the YouTube channel SciShow, explaining the science behind double, tertiary, and quaternary rainbows. Late in 2014, he had another guest appearance on a 24-hour Extra Life, a fundraising organization for Children's Miracle Network hospitals, stream by Rooster Teeth. Burton has also taped a recycling field trip for YouTube.
In 2017, Burton began a podcast, LeVar Burton Reads. Each episode features Burton reading a short story. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he continues to read on his podcast and also give live readings three times a week during a Twitter livestream focused at different times to different children, young adults, and adult audiences.
In November 2020, he appeared as himself on The Eric Andre Show. His segment was a callback to Lance Reddick's interview (2013) in which he mentioned LeVar by name and dressed as an amalgam of Kunta Kinte and Geordi La Forge.
Burton served as a guest host on Jeopardy! from July 26 to 30, 2021. This came after a petition asking the show's producers to select him was signed by more than 250,000 fans. The ratings during his appearance were below average due to tapering audience curiosity and forced viewership competition with NBC's coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which trampled syndicated shows across the board. He has been very critical of the show's guest host process, stating that the show's then executive producer Mike Richards expressed disbelief about Burton wanting the job. According to Burton, Richards also claimed to have no interest in hosting the show himself even though this was disproven by later events.
Burton also teaches the "Power of Storytelling" in the MasterClass.
Directing
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Burton directed episodes for each of the various Star Trek series then in production. He has directed more Star Trek episodes than any other former regular cast member.
He has also directed episodes of Charmed, JAG, Las Vegas, and Soul Food: The Series, as well as the miniseries Miracle's Boys and the biopic The Tiger Woods Story. He also directed the 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie Smart House starring Katey Sagal, Kevin Kilner and Jessica Steen. In August 2020, it was revealed that Burton will sit in the director's chair for Two-Front War from Lou Reda Productions, a multi-perspective docuseries will give "an emotionally raw look at the connection between the fight for civil rights in America and the struggle for equality of Black soldiers in Vietnam".
His first theatrical film direction was Blizzard (2003), for which he received a "Best of Fest" award from the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, and a Genie Award nomination for his work on the film's theme song, "Center of My Heart".
Burton is on the board of directors for the Directors Guild of America.
Personal life
LeVar Burton married Stephanie Cozart, a professional make-up artist, on October 3, 1992. Burton has two children, son Eian Burton Smith and daughter Michaela "Mica" Jean Burton. The family lives in Sherman Oaks, California.
Burton does not identify with any religion, saying: "I walked away from the seminary, I walked away from Catholicism, I walked away from organized religion because I felt that there was more for me to explore in the world, and that I could do that without adhering to one specific belief system or another."
In 2012, Burton joined the board of directors for the AIDS Research Alliance, a non-profit, medical research organization dedicated to finding a cure for AIDS.
In 2016, Burton was one of the five inaugural honorees to the Sacramento Walk of Stars. In 2019, Councilmember Larry Carr, representing the Meadowview neighborhood, led the renaming of Richfield Park to LeVar Burton Park in his honor. The park is in the Meadowview neighborhood, near the house where Burton and his sisters grew up.
Filmography
Awards and honors
Awards
Nominations
1977 – Emmy – Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Performance in a Drama or Comedy Series – Roots (Part 1, "Kunta Kinte")
1998, 2001, 2005 – Image Awards variously for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series and Outstanding Youth or Children's Series/Special — Reading Rainbow (both as Self and as Executive Producer)
1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1999 – Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Children's Series – Reading Rainbow (Executive Producer)
1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 – Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Reading Rainbow (Self)
2004 – Genie Award – Best Achievement in Music-Original Song – Blizzard (Co-composer "Center of My Heart")
2006 – Black Reel Award – Best Director-Television – Miracle's Boys
Wins
1990 – Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7030 Hollywood Boulevard for television achievement
1992 – Peabody Award – Reading Rainbow (as executive producer of episode, "The Wall")
1994, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2003 – Image Award – variously for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series and Outstanding Youth or Children's Series/Special – Reading Rainbow (both as Self and as Executive Producer)
2000 – Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album – The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.
1990, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 – Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Children's Series – Reading Rainbow (Executive Producer)
2001, 2002 – Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Reading Rainbow (Self)
2003 – Television Critics Association Award – Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming – Reading Rainbow (Executive Producer)
2003 - Audie Award for Inspirational or Spiritual Title - Conversations with God for Teens
2004 – Chicago International Children's Film Festival – Best of Fest – Blizzard (Director)
2010 - Audie Awards for Audiobook of the Year and Multi-Voiced Performance - Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales
2012 - Audie Award for Original Work - METAtropolis: Cascadia
2022 - Lifetime Achievement Award, Children's and Family Emmys
Books
Aftermath, 1997,
The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm, 2014,
A Kids Book About Imagination, 2021,
See also
References
Further reading
Nishikawa, Kinohi. "LeVar Burton". The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature. Ed. Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey Jr., 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. 219.
External links
RRKIDZ (Reading Rainbow) – LeVar Burton, Co-Founder, Curator-in-Chief
Burton / Wolfe Entertainment (production company)
Category:1957 births
Category:African-American male actors
Category:African-American television directors
Category:African-American television personalities
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:American male voice actors
Category:American podcasters
Category:American television directors
Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners
Category:Former Roman Catholics
Category:Grammy Award winners
Category:Living people
Category:Male actors from California
Category:Male actors from Sacramento, California
Category:PBS people
Category:Reading Rainbow
Category:USC School of Dramatic Arts alumni
Category:People from Landstuhl
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:HIV/AIDS activists
Category:African-American religious skeptics
Category:20th-century African-American people
Category:21st-century African-American people
Category:Jeopardy! | [] | null | null |
C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_0 | LeVar Burton | Burton was born to American parents at the U.S. Army Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in West Germany. His mother, Erma Gene (nee Christian), was a social worker, administrator, and educator. His father, Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, was a photographer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps at the time he was stationed at Landstuhl. Burton and his two sisters were raised by his mother in Sacramento, California. | Reading Rainbow | Burton was the host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow starting in 1983 for PBS. The series ran for 23 seasons, making it one of the longest-running children's programs on the network. The series garnered over 200 broadcast awards over its run, including a Peabody Award and 26 Emmy Awards, 11 of which were in the Outstanding Children's Series category. Burton himself won 12 Emmy awards as host and producer of the show. After Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2006, Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ, a new media company for children. Reading Rainbow was reimagined as an all new application for the iPad in 2012, and was an immediate success, becoming the number-one educational application within 36 hours. At RRKIDZ, Burton serves as co-founder and curator-in-chief, ensuring that the projects produced under the banner meet the high expectations and trust of the Reading Rainbow brand. On May 28, 2014, Burton and numerous coworkers from other past works started a Kickstarter campaign project to bring back Reading Rainbow. To keep with the changing formats to which young children are exposed, his efforts are being directed at making this new program web-based, following the success of the tablet application he helped create in recent years. His desire is to have the new Reading Rainbow be integrated into the classrooms of elementary schools across the country, and for schools in need to have free access. The Kickstarter campaign has since raised over $5 million, reaching triple its goal in only three days. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_0_q#0",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_0_q#1",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_0_q#2",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_0_q#3",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_0_q#4",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_0_q#5",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_0_q#6",
"C_7c33a863b63f474fb9f927d55f90a0ab_0_q#7"
] | [
"What was Reading Rainbow?",
"What was Burtons role with the series?",
"Did the show win any awards or special recognition?",
"What year did Reading Rainbow end?",
"Did the show win any other awards beside the broadcast awards?",
"Did Burton do any other work related to the series after it went off of TV?",
"How was RRKIDZ related to Reading Rainbow?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?"
] | [
2,
0,
0,
2,
0,
0,
2,
2
] | [
2,
2,
0,
2,
0,
0,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
88
],
[
0
],
[
212
],
[
437
],
[
264
],
[
479
],
[
617
],
[
973
]
],
"texts": [
[
"The series ran for 23 seasons,"
],
[
"Burton was the host and executive producer"
],
[
"over 200 broadcast awards"
],
[
"Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2006,"
],
[
"Peabody Award"
],
[
"Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ,"
],
[
"Reading Rainbow was reimagined as an all new application for the iPad in 2012,"
],
[
"On May 28, 2014, Burton and numerous coworkers from other past works started a Kickstarter campaign project to bring back Reading Rainbow."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
88,
0,
212,
437,
264,
479,
617,
973
],
"texts": [
"The series ran for 23 seasons,",
"Burton was the host and executive producer",
"over 200 broadcast awards",
"Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2006,",
"Peabody Award",
"Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ,",
"Reading Rainbow was reimagined as an all new application for the iPad in 2012,",
"On May 28, 2014, Burton and numerous coworkers from other past works started a Kickstarter campaign project to bring back Reading Rainbow."
]
} | Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host. He played Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), and was host of the PBS Kids educational television series Reading Rainbow for more than 23 years (1983–2006). He received 12 Daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award as host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow.
His other roles include Cap Jackson in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), Donald Lang in Dummy (1979), Tommy Price in The Hunter (1980), which earned him an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, and Martin Luther King Jr. in Ali (2001). Burton received the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards for his narration of the book The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. In 1990, he was honored for his achievements in television with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Burton was chosen as the Grand Marshal of the 2022 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.
Early life
Burton was born in Landstuhl, West Germany. His mother, Erma Gene (née Christian), was a social worker, administrator, and educator, while his father and namesake was a photographer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps stationed at Landstuhl at the time of his son's birth. Burton and his two sisters were raised by his mother in Sacramento, California.
As a teen, Burton, who was raised Catholic, entered St. Pius X Minor Seminary in Galt, California, intending to become a priest. At 17, questioning the Catholic faith, he changed his vocation to acting, and at 19, while an undergraduate at the University of Southern California, he won a starring role in the 1977 television miniseries Roots.
Career
Early work
Burton made his acting debut in 1976 with Almos' a Man, a film based on the Richard Wright short story "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," in which he stars alongside Madge Sinclair.
Roots
Burton's breakthrough role was as the young Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), based on the novel of the same name by Alex Haley. Burton has described his first day playing Kunta as the start of his professional career. As a result of his performance, he was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series category.
He reprised the role of Kunta Kinte in the 1988 television film Roots: The Gift. When asked about the societal influence of Roots, Burton is quoted as saying: "It expanded the consciousness of people. Blacks and whites began to see each other as human beings, not as stereotypes. And if you throw a pebble into the pond, you're going to get ripples. I think the only constant is change, and it's always slow. Anything that happens overnight is lacking in foundation. Roots is part of a changing trend, and it's still being played out."
Reading Rainbow
Burton was the host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow starting in 1983 for PBS. The series ran for 23 seasons.
After Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2006, Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ, a new media company for children. Reading Rainbow was reimagined as an all new application for the iPad in 2012, and was an immediate success, becoming the number-one educational application within 36 hours. At RRKIDZ, Burton serves as co-founder and curator-in-chief, ensuring that the projects produced under the banner meet the high expectations and trust of the Reading Rainbow brand.
On May 28, 2014, Burton and numerous coworkers from other past works started a Kickstarter campaign project to bring back Reading Rainbow. To keep with the changing formats to which young children are exposed, his efforts are being directed at making this new program web based, following the success of the tablet application he helped create in recent years. His desire is to have the new Reading Rainbow be integrated into the classrooms of elementary schools across the country, and for schools in need to have free access. The Kickstarter campaign has since raised more than $5 million, reaching triple its goal in only three days.
In 2017, Burton was sued by the public broadcasting company WNED-TV for alleged copyright infringement for use of the Reading Rainbow brand in marketing the new iPad app and other online media. RRKIDZ later became known as LeVar Burton Kids and the iPad app, Skybrary.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
In 1986, Gene Roddenberry approached Burton with the role of Lieutenant Junior Grade Geordi La Forge in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. The character is blind but is granted "sight" through the use of a prosthetic device called a VISOR worn over his eyes. La Forge began as the USS Enterprise's helmsman, and as of the show's second season, had become its chief engineer. At the time, Burton was considerably better known than Patrick Stewart in the United States, due to his roles in Roots and Reading Rainbow. When the show premiered, the Associated Press stated that Burton's role was essentially the "new Spock". In a 2019 interview, Burton laughed in disbelief at the idea, stating "that speculation never came to fruition." Burton also portrayed La Forge in the subsequent feature films based on Star Trek: The Next Generation, from Star Trek Generations (1994) to Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). He directed two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise. He reprised the role of LaForge in the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard (2023).
Other appearances
Burton played a role as a visitor to Fantasy Island, guest star on “The Love Boat”, was a participant in Battle of the Network Stars, a guest of the Muppet Shows televised premiere party for the release of The Muppet Movie, and a frequent guest on several game shows.
In 1986, he appeared in the music video for the song "Word Up!" by the funk/R&B group Cameo.
In 1987, Burton played Dave Robinson, a journalist (sports writer), in the third season of Murder, She Wrote, episode 16 – "Death Takes a Dive", starring Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher.
Burton accepted an invitation to host Rebop, a multicultural series designed for young people aged 9–15, produced by WGBH for PBS.
On television, Burton has helped dramatize the last days of Jim Jones's suicide cult in Guyana, the life and times of Jesse Owens, and the life of the nine-year-old Booker T. Washington. He portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the 2001 film Ali. He also portrayed Detroit Tiger Ron LeFlore in the television movie One in a Million, The Ron LeFlore Story.
In 1992, a clip of Burton's voice was sampled by DC Talk for the track "Time is..." on their album Free at Last. The sample is at the very end of the song, in which Burton can be heard saying: "Whoa, wait a minute."
He has also lent his voice to several animated projects, including Kwame in the cartoon series Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990–1993) and The New Adventures of Captain Planet (1993–1996), Family Guy, Batman: The Animated Series and Gargoyles. Burton is on the audio version of books such as The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. Burton has been cast as voice actor for Black Lightning in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies DVD.
Burton appeared several times as a celebrity guest on the Dick Clark-hosted $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramids, from 1982 until 1988. Burton also was the strongest link in the special Star Trek episode of The Weakest Link. He defeated his final opponent Robert Picardo and won $167,500 for his charity, Junior Achievement of Southern California, a record for the show at that time and the largest amount won in any Celebrity Edition of the show (it was later surpassed by a $188,500 win in a "Tournament of Losers" episode).
He has made appearances in such sitcoms as Becker.
Burton is the host and executive producer of a documentary titled The Science of Peace, which was in production as of 2007. It investigates the science and technology aimed at enabling world peace, sometimes called peace science. The film explores some of the concepts of shared noetic consciousness, having been sponsored in part by the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
He appeared in an April Fool's episode of Smosh pretending to have taken over the channel and making various edits at popular Smosh videos.
He makes occasional appearances on This Week in Tech, where he is a self-proclaimed "nerd", and also participated in the Consumer Electronics Show 2010.
In 2010, Burton made an appearance on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! as the ghost of himself in the episode "Greene Machine". In February 2011, he made an appearance as himself on NBC's Community in the episode "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking", and then again in January 2014's "Geothermal Escapism".
Burton has appeared as a fictionalized, humorous version of himself on The Big Bang Theory, first appearing in the episode "The Toast Derivation", in which he almost attends a party thrown by Sheldon (before swearing off Twitter), in November 2012 in the episode "The Habitation Configuration", in which he appears on "Fun With Flags" in exchange for lunch and gas money, and again in the November 2014 episode "The Champagne Reflection", in which he returns for the 232nd episode of "Fun With Flags" in exchange for Sheldon deleting his contact details.
In 2012, he had a recurring role as dean Paul Haley on the TNT series Perception. For the second season (2013), he became part of the regular cast.
In 2014, he had a guest appearance in an introduction section for the 200th episode of Achievement Hunter's show, Achievement Hunter Weekly Update (AHWU). In May 2014, he appeared as a guest on the YouTube channel SciShow, explaining the science behind double, tertiary, and quaternary rainbows. Late in 2014, he had another guest appearance on a 24-hour Extra Life, a fundraising organization for Children's Miracle Network hospitals, stream by Rooster Teeth. Burton has also taped a recycling field trip for YouTube.
In 2017, Burton began a podcast, LeVar Burton Reads. Each episode features Burton reading a short story. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he continues to read on his podcast and also give live readings three times a week during a Twitter livestream focused at different times to different children, young adults, and adult audiences.
In November 2020, he appeared as himself on The Eric Andre Show. His segment was a callback to Lance Reddick's interview (2013) in which he mentioned LeVar by name and dressed as an amalgam of Kunta Kinte and Geordi La Forge.
Burton served as a guest host on Jeopardy! from July 26 to 30, 2021. This came after a petition asking the show's producers to select him was signed by more than 250,000 fans. The ratings during his appearance were below average due to tapering audience curiosity and forced viewership competition with NBC's coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which trampled syndicated shows across the board. He has been very critical of the show's guest host process, stating that the show's then executive producer Mike Richards expressed disbelief about Burton wanting the job. According to Burton, Richards also claimed to have no interest in hosting the show himself even though this was disproven by later events.
Burton also teaches the "Power of Storytelling" in the MasterClass.
Directing
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Burton directed episodes for each of the various Star Trek series then in production. He has directed more Star Trek episodes than any other former regular cast member.
He has also directed episodes of Charmed, JAG, Las Vegas, and Soul Food: The Series, as well as the miniseries Miracle's Boys and the biopic The Tiger Woods Story. He also directed the 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie Smart House starring Katey Sagal, Kevin Kilner and Jessica Steen. In August 2020, it was revealed that Burton will sit in the director's chair for Two-Front War from Lou Reda Productions, a multi-perspective docuseries will give "an emotionally raw look at the connection between the fight for civil rights in America and the struggle for equality of Black soldiers in Vietnam".
His first theatrical film direction was Blizzard (2003), for which he received a "Best of Fest" award from the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, and a Genie Award nomination for his work on the film's theme song, "Center of My Heart".
Burton is on the board of directors for the Directors Guild of America.
Personal life
LeVar Burton married Stephanie Cozart, a professional make-up artist, on October 3, 1992. Burton has two children, son Eian Burton Smith and daughter Michaela "Mica" Jean Burton. The family lives in Sherman Oaks, California.
Burton does not identify with any religion, saying: "I walked away from the seminary, I walked away from Catholicism, I walked away from organized religion because I felt that there was more for me to explore in the world, and that I could do that without adhering to one specific belief system or another."
In 2012, Burton joined the board of directors for the AIDS Research Alliance, a non-profit, medical research organization dedicated to finding a cure for AIDS.
In 2016, Burton was one of the five inaugural honorees to the Sacramento Walk of Stars. In 2019, Councilmember Larry Carr, representing the Meadowview neighborhood, led the renaming of Richfield Park to LeVar Burton Park in his honor. The park is in the Meadowview neighborhood, near the house where Burton and his sisters grew up.
Filmography
Awards and honors
Awards
Nominations
1977 – Emmy – Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Performance in a Drama or Comedy Series – Roots (Part 1, "Kunta Kinte")
1998, 2001, 2005 – Image Awards variously for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series and Outstanding Youth or Children's Series/Special — Reading Rainbow (both as Self and as Executive Producer)
1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1999 – Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Children's Series – Reading Rainbow (Executive Producer)
1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 – Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Reading Rainbow (Self)
2004 – Genie Award – Best Achievement in Music-Original Song – Blizzard (Co-composer "Center of My Heart")
2006 – Black Reel Award – Best Director-Television – Miracle's Boys
Wins
1990 – Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7030 Hollywood Boulevard for television achievement
1992 – Peabody Award – Reading Rainbow (as executive producer of episode, "The Wall")
1994, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2003 – Image Award – variously for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series and Outstanding Youth or Children's Series/Special – Reading Rainbow (both as Self and as Executive Producer)
2000 – Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album – The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.
1990, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 – Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Children's Series – Reading Rainbow (Executive Producer)
2001, 2002 – Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Reading Rainbow (Self)
2003 – Television Critics Association Award – Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming – Reading Rainbow (Executive Producer)
2003 - Audie Award for Inspirational or Spiritual Title - Conversations with God for Teens
2004 – Chicago International Children's Film Festival – Best of Fest – Blizzard (Director)
2010 - Audie Awards for Audiobook of the Year and Multi-Voiced Performance - Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales
2012 - Audie Award for Original Work - METAtropolis: Cascadia
2022 - Lifetime Achievement Award, Children's and Family Emmys
Books
Aftermath, 1997,
The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm, 2014,
A Kids Book About Imagination, 2021,
See also
References
Further reading
Nishikawa, Kinohi. "LeVar Burton". The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature. Ed. Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey Jr., 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. 219.
External links
RRKIDZ (Reading Rainbow) – LeVar Burton, Co-Founder, Curator-in-Chief
Burton / Wolfe Entertainment (production company)
Category:1957 births
Category:African-American male actors
Category:African-American television directors
Category:African-American television personalities
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:American male voice actors
Category:American podcasters
Category:American television directors
Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners
Category:Former Roman Catholics
Category:Grammy Award winners
Category:Living people
Category:Male actors from California
Category:Male actors from Sacramento, California
Category:PBS people
Category:Reading Rainbow
Category:USC School of Dramatic Arts alumni
Category:People from Landstuhl
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:HIV/AIDS activists
Category:African-American religious skeptics
Category:20th-century African-American people
Category:21st-century African-American people
Category:Jeopardy! | [] | [
"Reading Rainbow was a children's television series hosted and executive produced by Burton that ran for 23 seasons on PBS, starting in 1983. It won several awards, including a Peabody Award and 26 Emmy Awards. Burton and his business partner later reimagined Reading Rainbow as an application for the iPad in 2012.",
"Burton was the host and executive producer of the Reading Rainbow series.",
"Yes, Reading Rainbow garnered over 200 broadcast awards over its run, including a Peabody Award and 26 Emmy Awards, 11 of which were in the Outstanding Children's Series category. Burton himself won 12 Emmy awards as host and producer of the show.",
"Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2006.",
"Based on the given context, Reading Rainbow won both broadcast awards, which totaled over 200, and included a Peabody Award. It also won 26 Emmy Awards, 11 of which were in the Outstanding Children's Series category. No other types of awards are mentioned in the context.",
"Yes, after Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2006, Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ, a new media company for children. They reimagined Reading Rainbow as an all new application for the iPad in 2012. Burton serves as co-founder and curator-in-chief at RRKIDZ. Furthermore, in 2014, Burton started a Kickstarter campaign project to bring back Reading Rainbow as a web-based program.",
"RRKIDZ is a new media company for children formed by Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe. After acquiring the global rights to the Reading Rainbow brand, this company was the one that reimagined and relaunched Reading Rainbow as an iPad application in 2012.",
"One interesting aspect from the article is that Burton, along with numerous coworkers from past works, started a Kickstarter campaign in 2014 to bring back Reading Rainbow in a new, web-based format. This campaign was hugely successful, reaching triple its goal in only three days and raising over $5 million. Another noteworthy point is Burton's aim for the new Reading Rainbow to be integrated into classrooms of elementary schools across the country and for schools in need to have free access."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_0 | New Order (band) | New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. New Order were formed in the demise of their previous post-punk band Joy Division, following the suicide of vocalist Ian Curtis. They were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. Their integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most critically acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. | Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985-1987 | 1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing "The Perfect Kiss"--the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme--and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex. Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"--referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"--originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead--would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions. In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The single reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart, but would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_0_q#0",
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_0_q#1",
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_0_q#2",
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_0_q#3",
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_0_q#4",
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_0_q#5",
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_0_q#6"
] | [
"What happened during the low-life?",
"Was low life an album?",
"When was brotherhood?",
"what were some of their songs?",
"Was Substance another album?",
"Why was this album important?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?"
] | [
0,
1,
2,
0,
0,
2,
0
] | [
2,
0,
2,
2,
0,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
0
],
[
573
],
[
646
],
[
1093
],
[
1093
],
[
1940
]
],
"texts": [
[
"1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing"
],
[
"1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles,"
],
[
"Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides."
],
[
"The album notably featured \"Bizarre Love Triangle\" and \"Angel Dust\" ("
],
[
"Substance was an important album"
],
[
"Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time"
],
[
"The single reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
0,
573,
646,
1093,
1093,
1940
],
"texts": [
"1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, brandishing",
"1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles,",
"Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides.",
"The album notably featured \"Bizarre Love Triangle\" and \"Angel Dust\" (",
"Substance was an important album",
"Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time",
"The single reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart,"
]
} | New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The members regrouped after the disbandment of their previous band Joy Division due to the death by suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. They were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and they worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.
While the band's early years were overshadowed by the legacy of Joy Division, their experience of the early 1980s New York club scene saw them increasingly incorporate dance rhythms and electronic instrumentation into their work. Their 1983 hit "Blue Monday" became the best-selling 12-inch single of all time and a popular club track. In the 1980s, they released successful albums such as Power, Corruption & Lies (1983), Technique (1989), and the singles compilation Substance (1987). They disbanded in 1993 to work on individual projects before reuniting in 1998. In the years since then New Order has gone through various hiatuses and personnel changes, most prominently the departure of Hook in 2007 due to personal disputes with the other members. In 2015, they released their tenth studio album, Music Complete. In 2023, both Joy Division and New Order were nominated as one act for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
History
Origins and formation: 1977–1980
Between 1977 and 1980, Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, and Bernard Sumner were members of the post-punk band Joy Division, often featuring heavy production input from producer Martin Hannett. Curtis committed suicide on 18 May 1980, the day before Joy Division were scheduled to depart for their first American tour, and prior to the release of the band's second album, Closer. The rest of the band decided soon after Curtis's death that they would carry on. Prior to his death, the members had agreed not to continue under the Joy Division name should any one member leave. On 29 July 1980, the still unnamed trio debuted live at Manchester's Beach Club. Rob Gretton, the band's manager for over 20 years, is credited for having found the name New Order in an article in The Guardian titled "The People's New Order of Kampuchea". The band adopted this name, despite its previous use for former Stooge Ron Asheton's band The New Order. The group states that the name New Order (as was also the case with "Joy Division") does not draw a direct line to Nazism or fascism.
The band rehearsed with each member taking turns on vocals. Sumner ultimately took the role, as he could sing when he wasn't playing his guitar. They wanted to complete the line-up with someone they knew well, and whose musical skill and style was compatible with their own. Gretton suggested Morris's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert, and she was invited to join the band in early October 1980 as keyboardist and guitarist. Her first live performance with the band occurred at The Squat in Manchester on 25 October 1980.
Movement: 1981–1982
The initial release as New Order was the single "Ceremony", backed with "In a Lonely Place". These two songs were written in the weeks before Curtis died by suicide. With the release of Movement in November 1981, New Order initially started on a similar route as their previous incarnation, performing dark, melodic songs, albeit with an increased use of synthesisers. The band viewed the period as a low point, as they were still reeling from Curtis' death. Hook commented that the only positive thing to come out of the Movement sessions was that producer Martin Hannett had showed the band how to use a mixing board, which allowed them to produce records by themselves from then on. More recently, Hook indicated a change of heart: "I think Movement gets a raw deal in general really—for me, when you consider the circumstances in which it was written, it is a fantastic record."
New Order visited New York City again in 1981, where the band were introduced to post-disco, freestyle and electro. The band had taken to listening to Italian disco to cheer themselves up, while Morris taught himself drum programming. The singles that followed, "Everything's Gone Green" and "Temptation", saw a change in direction toward dance music.
The Haçienda, Factory Records' own nightclub (largely funded by New Order) opened in May 1982 in Manchester and was even issued a Factory catalogue number: FAC51. The opening of UK's first ever superclub was marked by a nearly 23-minute instrumental piece originally entitled "Prime 5 8 6", but released 15 years later as "Video 5 8 6". Composed primarily by Sumner and Morris, "Prime 5 8 6"/"Video 5 8 6" was an early version of "5 8 6" that contained rhythm elements that would later surface on "Blue Monday" and "Ultraviolence".
Power, Corruption & Lies: 1983–1984
Power, Corruption & Lies, released in May 1983, was a synthesiser-based outing and a dramatic change in sound from Joy Division and the preceding album, although the band had been hinting at the increased use of technology during the music-making process for a number of years then, including their work as Joy Division. Starting from what earlier singles had hinted, this was where the band had found their footing, mixing early techno music with their earlier guitar-based sound and showing the strong influence of acts like Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder. Even further in this direction was the electronically sequenced, four-on-the-floor single "Blue Monday". Inspired by Klein + M.B.O.'s "Dirty Talk" and Sylvester's disco classic, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)", "Blue Monday" became the best-selling independent 12" single of all time in the UK; however, (much to the chagrin of the buying public) it was not on the track list of Power, Corruption & Lies. The song was included however on the cassette format in some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, and on the original North American CD release of the album, alongside its B-side, "The Beach". "Blue Monday" was also included on the 2008 collector's edition of Power, Corruption & Lies.
The 1983 single "Confusion" firmly established the group as a dance music force, inspiring many musicians in subsequent years. In 1984 they followed the largely synthesised single "Thieves Like Us" with the heavy guitar-drum-bass rumble of "Murder", a not-too-distant cousin of "Ecstasy" from the Power, Corruption & Lies album. KROQ Los Angeles DJ Jed the Fish claims New Order had more to do with the emergence of house music than the Warehouse music of Chicago and "Frankie Knuckles and the whole so-called House music scene. Unless you were actually from regional Chicago, had you ever heard of House music until New Order? Be real, now."
Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985–1987
1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, guitar-based and electronic, and included "The Perfect Kiss"—the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme—and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex.
Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" (a Top 20 hit in Australia and New Zealand) and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"—referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"—originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead—would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions.
In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The song was one of four new tracks recorded for the American comedy film Salvation!, and reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart. However, it would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order.
Technique, Republic and first break-up: 1988–1993
By this time, the group was heavily influenced by the Balearic sounds of Ibiza, which were making their way into the Haçienda. Partly recorded at Mediterranean Sound studios on Ibiza, Technique was released in February 1989. The album entered the charts at number one in the UK and contained a mix of acid house influence (as on opening track "Fine Time") and a more traditional rock sound (as on the single "Run 2"). The album is a blend of upbeat, accessible music coupled with blunt, poignant lyrics. During the summer of 1989, New Order supported Technique by touring with Public Image Ltd, Throwing Muses and the Sugarcubes across the United States and Canada in what the press dubbed the "Monsters of Alternative Rock" tour. Around this time, band members also began side projects including Electronic (Sumner with Johnny Marr) and Revenge (Hook with Davyth Hicks). Morris and Gilbert began to work together on outside TV theme production work. In 1991, the band were sued by the publishing company of American singer John Denver, who alleged that the guitar break in "Run 2" was similar to his song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". The case was settled out of court and the song has since been credited to both New Order and John Denver.
In 1990, New Order recorded the official song of the England national football team's 1990 World Cup campaign, "World in Motion", under the ad hoc band name EnglandNewOrder. The song, co-written with comedian Keith Allen, was the band's sole number one UK hit. The song was originally planned to be titled "E for England", however the Football Association vetoed the title upon realising that this was a reference to ecstasy; a drug heavily associated with the Haçienda. (Allen claimed that his original draft lyrics included "E is for England, England starts with E / We'll all be smiling when we're in Italy.") The song also featured chanting from members of the England team and Allen, and a guest rap from England player John Barnes. It was again produced by Stephen Hague, who the band chose to produce their next album.
The band's next album Republic was shadowed by the collapse of their longtime label Factory Records. The label had been ailing due to financial difficulties, and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1992. New Order never had a formal contract with Factory. Although unusual for a major group, this was Factory's standard practice until the mid-1980s. Because of this, the band, rather than Factory Records, legally owned all of their recordings. This has been cited by Wilson himself as the main reason London Records' 1992 offer to buy the ailing label fell through. Following Factory's collapse, New Order signed with London, as did Morris and Gilbert separately for their side project The Other Two, whose debut album was originally intended for release on Factory. Republic, released around the world in 1993, spawned the singles "Regret"—New Order's highest-charting single in the US—"Ruined in a Day", "World", and "Spooky".
Following the release and promotion of Republic, the band put New Order on hold while focusing on side projects; with The Other Two's debut album released in 1993. In 1994, a second singles collection was released, entitled The Best of New Order. It featured all of the band's singles since Substance as well as a few extra tracks: "Vanishing Point" (from 1989's Technique), "The Perfect Kiss", "Thieves Like Us", "Shellshock", and remixes of "True Faith", "Bizarre Love Triangle", "1963", and "Round & Round". The new versions of "True Faith" and "1963" (the latter as a more guitar-oriented version produced by Arthur Baker) were released as singles to promote the album. In the US, the track listing was altered to set it apart from Substance as well as the UK release of The Best of New Order which had been available months prior. This collection was followed by a remix album, The Rest of New Order, featuring a selection of existing and newly commissioned mixes of classic New Order tracks. Some versions contained an extra disc or cassette composed entirely of remixes of "Blue Monday". "Blue Monday" was released as a single for a third time to promote the collection.
Reformation and Get Ready: 1998–2003
The group reconvened in 1998 at the suggestion of Rob Gretton. Nearly five years had passed since they had last seen each other. Sumner said, "We decided before we agreed to doing any gig, to have a meeting, and if anyone had any grudges to bear, to iron them out." By the second meeting everyone agreed to continue playing, scheduling their reunion gig for the Phoenix Festival that same year. In addition to rarer songs, New Order also decided to begin playing Joy Division songs again. When the Phoenix Festival was cancelled due to low ticket sales, New Order instead played the last night of that year's Reading Festival.
Their 2001 release Get Ready largely departed from their more electronic style and focused on more guitar oriented music. According to Sumner, "Get Ready was guitar-heavy simply because we felt that we'd left that instrument alone for a long time." Longtime fan Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins played guitar and sang back-up on the track "Turn My Way," and in 2001 toured with the band on dates in the UK, US, and Japan for a short period of time. Phil Cunningham (formerly of Marion) joined the band in a live capacity, deputising for Gilbert who declined to tour in favour of caring for her and Morris' children. Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie provided vocals on the track "Rock the Shack". Singles from the album included "Crystal," "60 Miles an Hour" and Someone Like You."
In 2002, Q featured New Order on their list of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die", although this was as part of a sub-list of "5 Bands That Could Go Either Way". Both New Order and Joy Division were portrayed in the Michael Winterbottom film 24 Hour Party People, depicting the rise and fall of Factory Records as seen through the eyes of label founder Tony Wilson. Cameos by Wilson himself, along with Mark E. Smith of the Fall and former members of Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets, lent a degree of legitimacy to the proceedings. The film touched on some of Factory's other artists, including Happy Mondays and the Durutti Column. The soundtrack featured the new track "Here to Stay," produced by the Chemical Brothers, which was released as a single. The single's music video highlighted scenes taken from the film.
Waiting for the Sirens' Call, Singles and second break-up: 2004–2007
The band released a new album on 27 March 2005, titled Waiting for the Sirens' Call, their first with new member Phil Cunningham. Cunningham replaced Gilbert (now married to Morris) so she could look after their children. Singles from this album were "Krafty", "Jetstream" (which features guest vocals by Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters), and the title track. At the 2005 NME Awards, New Order and Joy Division received the award for "Godlike Geniuses" (for lifetime achievement). Previous winners include Ozzy Osbourne, the Clash, and Happy Mondays. In 2006 the album track "Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Dance Recording.
In the autumn of 2005, the group released another greatest hits compilation, in the form of Singles. The two-disc release was an updated version of the Substance collection and contained every single released from their 1981 debut all the way through to "Waiting for the Sirens' Call". However, unlike Substance, which focused almost exclusively on the 12" versions of the group's singles, Singles collected the 7" versions, many of which (like "Ceremony", "Temptation" and "Confusion") had never been released on CD. The album was accompanied by a two-disc DVD set, titled Item, that collected the extended UK version of NewOrderStory with a DVD of all New Order music videos as well as two newly commissioned videos for "Temptation '87" and "Ceremony".
The New Order: Live in Glasgow DVD was recorded at the Glasgow Academy in 2006 and features 18 tracks, including 4 Joy Division songs. Next to that, the release also contains a bonus disc of footage from the band's personal archive including 1980s footage from Glastonbury (June 1981), Rome, Cork, Rotterdam and Toronto.
In 2006, the band played several one-off live dates as well as short tours in the UK, Brazil and Argentina. After their Buenos Aires show in November 2006, Peter Hook suggested that the band should stop touring. In early May 2007, Hook was interviewed by British radio station XFM—originally to talk about his contribution to the debut album of Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell's new band Satellite Party—and stated that "Me and Bernard aren't working together." Further complicating the news, NewOrderOnline, a website with support from New Order management, reported that according to "a source close to the band", "The news about the split is false... New Order still exists despite what [Hook] said ... Peter Hook can leave the band, but this doesn't mean the end of New Order." However, Sumner revealed in 2009 that he no longer wished to make music as New Order.
Reunion with new line-up, Lost Sirens and Music Complete: 2011–2016
In September 2011, the band announced that they would perform for the first time since 2006, at the Ancienne Belgique, Brussels on 17 October and at the Bataclan, Paris on 18 October. The band's line-up included keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, who returned to the band after a ten-year break, and Bad Lieutenant bassist Tom Chapman in place of Peter Hook. They played subsequent shows in London and South America in December, and released Live at the London Troxy, a live album from their performance on 10 December 2011 at The Troxy in London.
They continued to tour throughout 2012, including a short tour of New Zealand and Australia in February/March, and several festival appearances in 2012. New Order performed at Hyde Park with Blur and the Specials to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
Lost Sirens was released in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2013. Lost Sirens is an eight-track album of songs recorded during the sessions for Waiting for the Sirens' Call. The album was discussed by Gillian Gilbert in a Brazilian interview to promote the band's appearance in São Paulo. She acknowledged issues with former member Peter Hook, and stated there was "a lot going on behind the scenes on the copyright" delaying the release.
The band debuted their first new song since the Waiting for the Sirens' Call sessions, "Singularity", during Lollapalooza Chile in March 2014. In July, the group toured North America, where they debuted another song, "Plastic". On 2 September the band signed to Mute Records. The New Order back catalogue remains with Warner Music.
On 22 September 2015, the band released a new album, Music Complete, their first without Peter Hook. The album was produced mostly by the band themselves, except "Singularity" and "Unlearn This Hatred", both produced by Tom Rowlands, while "Superheated" features additional production by Stuart Price.
On 13 May 2016, New Order released a follow-up remix album Complete Music, which consists of extended and reworked mixes of each track from Music Complete.
In November 2015, Peter Hook sued Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert. In an objection, it was revealed that Sumner, Morris and Gilbert had set up a new company behind Hook's back, that it has generated an income of £7.8 million in four years while Hook received only a fraction of that. The three members argued they had treated Hook fairly and that his stake in the band's royalties was reasonable, despite the fact that in four years, Hook had only received "1.25 per cent of the band's royalties and other income from merchandising and performances". The judge ruled that there was "at least a reasonable prospect" of Hook proving that he was not getting a fair share of royalties and other income and rejected Sumner and Morris's lawyer argument. The judge was willing to hear the case but urged the parties to come to an agreement rather than suffer legal costs of around £900,000. On 20 September 2017, the band announced that a full and final settlement had been reached in the dispute.
Touring and recent work: 2017–present
On 13 July 2017, New Order played a concert at Manchester International Festival with Liam Gillick. On 12 July 2019 the performance was released as a live album titled Σ(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes.. (Live at MIF). The collaboration between Gillick and New Order was the subject of a documentary feature titled 'New Order: Decades', directed by Mike Christie and broadcast in the UK by Sky Arts and Showtime in the USA.
On 23 August 2018, the band played the first date of a North American tour at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul Minnesota, US. According to the band's official website, other stops on the tour included Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, DC; Toronto, Ontario; Long Beach, California; Kahului, Hawaii; and Honolulu, Hawaii. As of 24 August 2018, a single show in Santiago, Chile had been announced for 21 November 2018.
In January 2020, the band played a four night residency in Florida, and in February 2020, they announced a co-headlining tour in North America with the Pet Shop Boys, and that the only concert in the UK in 2020 would be at The O2 on 10 October. These tour dates were later rescheduled for 2021.
On 8 September 2020 the band released the single "Be a Rebel" 5 years after their previous release. A music video for the single, directed by NYSU, premiered on YouTube on 2 December.
On 11 February 2021, the band announced their plans to release a live album and concert film of their 2018 show at London's Alexandra Palace, directed by Mike Christie. Entitled Education Entertainment Recreation (Live at Alexandra Palace), it was released on 7 May.
New Order kicked-off their Unity Tour (with the Pet Shop Boys) on 17 September 2022. The tour consisted of 13 dates in the United States and Canada.
New Order kicked off their 2023 UK and European tour on 21 September 2023. .
Other projects
In 1988, Bernard Sumner teamed up with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to form the group Electronic, also enlisting the help of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys. Electronic regrouped in 1996 for Raise the Pressure, which also featured Karl Bartos (formerly of Kraftwerk). The project's third album Twisted Tenderness was released in 1999 after which the band dissolved.
In June 2009, Sumner formed a new band called Bad Lieutenant with Phil Cunningham (guitar) and Jake Evans (guitar and vocals). Their album Never Cry Another Tear was released on 5 October 2009. In addition to Cunningham and Evans the album also features appearances by Stephen Morris (drums), Jack Mitchell (drums), Tom Chapman (bass) and Alex James (bass). The live band included Morris on drums and Tom Chapman on bass.
Peter Hook has been involved with several other projects. In the 1990s, Hook recorded with Killing Joke with a view to joining the band. However, original bassist Martin 'Youth' Glover instead returned to the band. In 1995 he toured with the Durutti Column. He has recorded one album with the band Revenge with Davyth Hicks and Chris Jones and two with Monaco (both as bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist) with David Potts. Monaco scored a club and alternative radio hit with "What Do You Want From Me?" in 1997. Hook also formed a band called Freebass with fellow bass players Mani (the Stone Roses) and Andy Rourke (the Smiths) in addition to vocalist Gary Briggs. Freebass was active from 2007 to 2010. He also contributed to Perry Farrell's Satellite Party. Hook's current band Peter Hook and the Light is touring and performing full albums from both Joy Division and New Order.
In 1990 Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris formed their own band, The Other Two. The Other Two released its first single "Tasty Fish" in 1991 and released two albums, The Other Two & You in 1993 and Super Highways in 1999. They have also been involved in scoring television soundtracks, like Making Out. In 2007, Gilbert and Morris remixed two tracks for the Nine Inch Nails remixes album Year Zero Remixed.
BeMusic
"BeMusic" was a name the band used for their publishing company (the LP label for Movement says "B Music" in large letters, though using an italic ß for the letter B). All four members of the band used the name for production work for other artists' recordings between 1982 and 1985.
The first BeMusic credit was for Peter Hook producing Stockholm Monsters in 1982. Other artists with producer or musician credit for "BeMusic" were 52nd Street, Section 25, Marcel King, Quando Quango, Paul Haig, Thick Pigeon, Nyam Nyam, and Life.
Their production work as BeMusic was collected on two LTM Recordings compilation CDs, Cool As Ice: The BeMusic Productions and Twice As Nice (which also included production work by Donald Johnson, of A Certain Ratio, and Arthur Baker).
Influences, style and legacy
New Order's signature tracks such as 1982's "Temptation", 1983's "Blue Monday" and 1987's "True Faith" can be observed blending genres of rock and dance. Founding member Hook stated that the band's shift from playing cold, dark tracks from 1981 to producing electro/rock tracks from 1982 was inspired by the music of German electronic group Kraftwerk, US rock band Sparks who had produced disco/electro-rock music with producer Giorgio Moroder on their No. 1 in Heaven album, and the Moroder/Donna Summer collaboration on "I Feel Love". Along with Kraftwerk, the English bands Cabaret Voltaire, the Human League, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) educated frontman Bernard Sumner that one "could make music without guitars". New Order's collaboration with New York DJ Arthur Baker was inspired by the records' sounds of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force.
According to a staff-written AllMusic history, the band are regarded as "the first alternative dance" music group, having "fused icy, gloomy post-punk with Kraftwerk-style synth-pop". They have also been labelled as synth-pop, post-punk, new wave, dance-rock, electronic rock, and electronica.
They have heavily influenced techno, rock, and pop musicians including Moby, and were themselves influenced by the likes of David Bowie and Neu!. They have also influenced electro, freestyle and house. New Order's Kraftwerk influence was acknowledged by their single "Krafty", which had cover art referencing "Autobahn".
Drummer Stephen Morris plays a mixture of acoustic and electronic drums, and in many cases plays along seamlessly with sequenced parts. All the band members could and did switch instruments throughout gigs, as evidenced on Jonathan Demme's video for "The Perfect Kiss" and the concert videos Taras Shevchenko (recorded in New York, November 1981) and Pumped Full of Drugs (Tokyo, May 1985). During such live gigs, Sumner alternated between guitar, keyboards, melodica and (on the track "Confusion") bass; Gilbert switched between keyboards and guitar, Morris between drums and keyboards, and Hook played both bass and electronic drums. Taras Shevchenko is also notable for the fact all four members of the group have left the stage before the final song, "Temptation", comes to a complete end.
Reputation
Both New Order and Joy Division were among the most successful artists on the Factory Records label, which was run by Granada television personality Tony Wilson, and partnered with Factory in the financing of the Manchester club The Haçienda. Speaking in 2009, fellow synth-pop musician Phil Oakey described New Order's slow-burn career as cult musicians as being unusually prolonged and effective: "If you want to make a lot of money out of pop, be number 3 a lot. Like New Order did."
Cover artwork
Almost all New Order recordings have minimalist packaging and Peter Saville was the art director. The group's record sleeves bucked the 1980s trend by rarely showing the band members (with the exception of the Low-Life album) or even providing basic information such as the band name or title of the release. Song names were often hidden within the shrink wrapped package, either on the disc itself (such as the "Blue Monday" single), on an inconspicuous part of an inner sleeve ("The Perfect Kiss" single), or written in a cryptic colour code invented by Saville (Power, Corruption & Lies). Saville said his intention was to sell the band as a "mass-produced secret" of sorts, and that the minimalist style was enough to allow fans to identify the band's products without explicit labelling. He frequently sent the artwork straight to the printer, unreviewed by either the band or the label. Their 1983 album, Power, Corruption & Lies, was one of ten classic album covers from British artists commemorated on a UK postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail.
Awards and nominations
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1983
| rowspan="3" | NME Awards
| Power, Corruption & Lies
| Best Dressed Sleeve
|
|-
| "Blue Monday"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Themselves
| Best Group
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1988
| Brit Awards
| "True Faith"
| Best British Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Pollstar Concert Industry Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| rowspan=2|Most Creative Stage Production
|
|-
| 1990
|
|-
| 1991
| Ivor Novello Awards
| "World in Motion"
| Best Selling A Side
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1993
| Mercury Prize
| Republic
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Billboard Music Awards
| Themselves
| Top Modern Rock Tracks Artist
|
|-
| rowspan=3|"Regret"
| Top Modern Rock Track
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1994
| rowspan=2|Brit Awards
| British Single of the Year
|
|-
| British Video of the Year
|
|-
| D&AD Awards
| "World (The Price of Love)"
| Pop Promo Video
| style="background:#BF8040"| Wood Pencil
|-
| 1999
| rowspan=1|Q Awards
| Themselves
| Q Inspiration Award
|
|-
| 2000
| ASCAP Pop Music Awards
| "Blue Monday"
| Most Performed Song
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2001
|Q Awards
| "Crystal"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Žebřík Music Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Surprise
|
|-
| 2005
| NME Awards
| Godlike Genius Award
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2006
| Grammy Awards
| "Guilt is a Useless Emotion"
| Best Dance Recording
|
|-
| MTV VMAJ
| "Krafty"
| Best Dance Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2012
| UK Festival Awards
| rowspan="3" | Themselves
| Headliner of the Year
|
|-
| Artrocker Awards
| Legend Award
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2015
| rowspan="2" | Q Awards
| Q Outstanding Contribution To Music
|
|-
| "Restless"
| Best Track
|
|-
|Best Art Vinyl
|Music Complete
| Best Art Vinyl
|
|-
| 2016
| International Dance Music Awards
| "Plastic"
| Best Alternative/Rock Dance Track
|
|-
| 2019
| Silver Clef Awards
| Bernard Sumner
| Outstanding Achievement Award
|
Members
Current members
Bernard Sumner – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming, melodica (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Stephen Morris – drums, percussion, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Gillian Gilbert – keyboards, guitars, programming, occasional vocals (1980–1993, 1998–2001, 2011–present)
Phil Cunningham – guitars, keyboards, electronic percussion (2001–2007, 2011–present)
Tom Chapman – bass, keyboards (2011–present)
Former members
Peter Hook – bass, electronic percussion, vocals, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007)
Timeline
Discography
Movement (1981)
Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
Low-Life (1985)
Brotherhood (1986)
Technique (1989)
Republic (1993)
Get Ready (2001)
Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005)
Lost Sirens (2013)
Music Complete (2015)
References
Further reading
Hickey, Dec. From Heaven to Heaven. New Order Live. The Early Years (1981-1984) at Close Quarters. London: Dec Hickey, 2012.
Edge, Brian. New Order + Joy Division: Pleasures and Wayward Distractions. London: Omnibus Press, 1988.
Flowers, Claude. New Order + Joy Division: Dreams Never End. London: Omnibus Press, 1995.
Johnson, Mark. An Ideal For Living: An History Of Joy Division. London: Bobcat Books, 1984.
Middles, Mick. From Joy Division to New Order: The Factory Story. London: Virgin Books, 1996.
External links
New Order Online – band-endorsed fansite
Category:Alternative dance musical groups
Category:English electronic rock musical groups
Category:English post-punk music groups
Category:English synth-pop groups
Category:English new wave musical groups
Category:British synth-pop new wave groups
Category:Dance-rock musical groups
Category:Brit Award winners
Category:Ivor Novello Award winners
Category:1980 establishments in England
Category:1993 disestablishments in England
Category:1998 establishments in England
Category:2007 disestablishments in England
Category:2011 establishments in England
Category:Musical groups established in 1980
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1993
Category:Musical groups reestablished in 1998
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2007
Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2011
Category:Qwest Records artists
Category:Reprise Records artists
Category:Mute Records artists
Category:Factory Records artists
Category:Factory Benelux artists
Category:Musical quintets
Category:Musical groups from Manchester | [] | [
"In 1985, during the Low-Life era, New Order refined and mixed their styles. This era featured the song \"The Perfect Kiss\", the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme, and \"Sub-culture\". Also, during this time, a track was produced called \"Angel Dust\" which married a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects.",
"Yes, \"Low-Life\" was an album by New Order released in 1985.",
"The album \"Brotherhood\" was released by New Order in 1986.",
"Some of New Order's songs mentioned in the text include \"The Perfect Kiss\", \"Sub-culture\", \"Shellshock\", \"Thieves Like Us\", \"Elegia\", \"Bizarre Love Triangle\", \"Angel Dust\", \"True Faith\", \"Temptation\", \"Confusion\", \"Procession\", \"Murder\" and \"Touched by the Hand of God\".",
"Yes, \"Substance\" was a compilation album by New Order, released in the summer of 1987. It was an important album as it collected the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time.",
"The album \"Substance\" was important because it collected New Order's 12-inch singles onto a CD for the first time. It also featured new versions of songs like \"Temptation\" and \"Confusion\", and the new single \"True Faith\". Several B-sides and additional A-sides like \"Procession\" and \"Murder\" were included on a second disc.",
"Yes, the article mentions New Order's music being featured in the 1986 film Pretty in Pink. However, the instrumental versions of \"Thieves Like Us\" and \"Elegia\" were not included in the soundtrack album. Also, in 1987, their single \"True Faith\" became a hit on MTV and their first American top 40 hit. The B-side of this single, \"1963\", was later released as a single in its own right. The band also released \"Touched by the Hand of God\", which reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 on the UK Independent Singles chart. The video for this song, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, parodied glam-metal."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_1 | New Order (band) | New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. New Order were formed in the demise of their previous post-punk band Joy Division, following the suicide of vocalist Ian Curtis. They were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. Their integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most critically acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. | Movement: 1981-1982 | The initial release as New Order was the single "Ceremony", backed with "In a Lonely Place". These two songs were written in the weeks before Curtis took his own life. With the release of Movement in November 1981, New Order initially started on a similar route as their previous incarnation, performing dark, melodic songs, albeit with an increased use of synthesisers. The band viewed the period as a low point, as they were still reeling from Curtis' death. Hook commented that the only positive thing to come out of the Movement sessions was that producer Martin Hannett had showed the band how to use a mixing board, which allowed them to produce records by themselves from then on. More recently, Hook indicated a change of heart: "I think Movement gets a raw deal in general really - for me, when you consider the circumstances in which it was written, it is a fantastic record." New Order visited New York City again in 1981, where the band were introduced to post-disco, freestyle and electro. The band had taken to listening to Italian disco to cheer themselves up, while Morris taught himself drum programming. The singles that followed, "Everything's Gone Green" and "Temptation", saw a change in direction toward dance music. The Hacienda, Factory Records' own nightclub (largely funded by New Order) opened in May 1982 in Manchester and was even issued a Factory catalogue number: FAC51. The opening of UK's first ever superclub was marked by a nearly 23-minute instrumental piece originally entitled "Prime 5 8 6", but released 15 years later as "Video 5 8 6". Composed primarily by Sumner and Morris, "Prime 5 8 6"/"Video 5 8 6" was an early version of "5 8 6" that contained rhythm elements that would later surface on "Blue Monday" and "Ultraviolence". CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_1_q#0",
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_1_q#1",
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_1_q#2",
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_1_q#3",
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_1_q#4",
"C_c4ad59da577244249188768367627591_1_q#5"
] | [
"what was movement?",
"did it win any awards?",
"what happened after movement?",
"any other interesting information?",
"did it do well?",
"what songs were most popular?"
] | [
2,
1,
2,
0,
1,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
168
],
[
1773
],
[
1241
],
[
1404
],
[
1773
],
[
1619
]
],
"texts": [
[
"With the release of Movement in November 1981, New Order initially started on a similar route as their previous incarnation, performing dark, melodic songs,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"The Hacienda, Factory Records' own nightclub (largely funded by New Order) opened in May 1982 in Manchester"
],
[
"The opening of UK's first ever superclub was marked by a nearly 23-minute instrumental piece originally entitled \"Prime 5 8 6\", but released 15 years later"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"\"Prime 5 8 6\"/\"Video 5 8 6\" was an early version of \"5 8 6\" that contained rhythm elements that would later surface on \"Blue Monday\" and \"Ultraviolence\"."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
168,
1773,
1241,
1404,
1773,
1619
],
"texts": [
"With the release of Movement in November 1981, New Order initially started on a similar route as their previous incarnation, performing dark, melodic songs,",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"The Hacienda, Factory Records' own nightclub (largely funded by New Order) opened in May 1982 in Manchester",
"The opening of UK's first ever superclub was marked by a nearly 23-minute instrumental piece originally entitled \"Prime 5 8 6\", but released 15 years later",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"\"Prime 5 8 6\"/\"Video 5 8 6\" was an early version of \"5 8 6\" that contained rhythm elements that would later surface on \"Blue Monday\" and \"Ultraviolence\"."
]
} | New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The members regrouped after the disbandment of their previous band Joy Division due to the death by suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. They were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and they worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.
While the band's early years were overshadowed by the legacy of Joy Division, their experience of the early 1980s New York club scene saw them increasingly incorporate dance rhythms and electronic instrumentation into their work. Their 1983 hit "Blue Monday" became the best-selling 12-inch single of all time and a popular club track. In the 1980s, they released successful albums such as Power, Corruption & Lies (1983), Technique (1989), and the singles compilation Substance (1987). They disbanded in 1993 to work on individual projects before reuniting in 1998. In the years since then New Order has gone through various hiatuses and personnel changes, most prominently the departure of Hook in 2007 due to personal disputes with the other members. In 2015, they released their tenth studio album, Music Complete. In 2023, both Joy Division and New Order were nominated as one act for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
History
Origins and formation: 1977–1980
Between 1977 and 1980, Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, and Bernard Sumner were members of the post-punk band Joy Division, often featuring heavy production input from producer Martin Hannett. Curtis committed suicide on 18 May 1980, the day before Joy Division were scheduled to depart for their first American tour, and prior to the release of the band's second album, Closer. The rest of the band decided soon after Curtis's death that they would carry on. Prior to his death, the members had agreed not to continue under the Joy Division name should any one member leave. On 29 July 1980, the still unnamed trio debuted live at Manchester's Beach Club. Rob Gretton, the band's manager for over 20 years, is credited for having found the name New Order in an article in The Guardian titled "The People's New Order of Kampuchea". The band adopted this name, despite its previous use for former Stooge Ron Asheton's band The New Order. The group states that the name New Order (as was also the case with "Joy Division") does not draw a direct line to Nazism or fascism.
The band rehearsed with each member taking turns on vocals. Sumner ultimately took the role, as he could sing when he wasn't playing his guitar. They wanted to complete the line-up with someone they knew well, and whose musical skill and style was compatible with their own. Gretton suggested Morris's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert, and she was invited to join the band in early October 1980 as keyboardist and guitarist. Her first live performance with the band occurred at The Squat in Manchester on 25 October 1980.
Movement: 1981–1982
The initial release as New Order was the single "Ceremony", backed with "In a Lonely Place". These two songs were written in the weeks before Curtis died by suicide. With the release of Movement in November 1981, New Order initially started on a similar route as their previous incarnation, performing dark, melodic songs, albeit with an increased use of synthesisers. The band viewed the period as a low point, as they were still reeling from Curtis' death. Hook commented that the only positive thing to come out of the Movement sessions was that producer Martin Hannett had showed the band how to use a mixing board, which allowed them to produce records by themselves from then on. More recently, Hook indicated a change of heart: "I think Movement gets a raw deal in general really—for me, when you consider the circumstances in which it was written, it is a fantastic record."
New Order visited New York City again in 1981, where the band were introduced to post-disco, freestyle and electro. The band had taken to listening to Italian disco to cheer themselves up, while Morris taught himself drum programming. The singles that followed, "Everything's Gone Green" and "Temptation", saw a change in direction toward dance music.
The Haçienda, Factory Records' own nightclub (largely funded by New Order) opened in May 1982 in Manchester and was even issued a Factory catalogue number: FAC51. The opening of UK's first ever superclub was marked by a nearly 23-minute instrumental piece originally entitled "Prime 5 8 6", but released 15 years later as "Video 5 8 6". Composed primarily by Sumner and Morris, "Prime 5 8 6"/"Video 5 8 6" was an early version of "5 8 6" that contained rhythm elements that would later surface on "Blue Monday" and "Ultraviolence".
Power, Corruption & Lies: 1983–1984
Power, Corruption & Lies, released in May 1983, was a synthesiser-based outing and a dramatic change in sound from Joy Division and the preceding album, although the band had been hinting at the increased use of technology during the music-making process for a number of years then, including their work as Joy Division. Starting from what earlier singles had hinted, this was where the band had found their footing, mixing early techno music with their earlier guitar-based sound and showing the strong influence of acts like Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder. Even further in this direction was the electronically sequenced, four-on-the-floor single "Blue Monday". Inspired by Klein + M.B.O.'s "Dirty Talk" and Sylvester's disco classic, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)", "Blue Monday" became the best-selling independent 12" single of all time in the UK; however, (much to the chagrin of the buying public) it was not on the track list of Power, Corruption & Lies. The song was included however on the cassette format in some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, and on the original North American CD release of the album, alongside its B-side, "The Beach". "Blue Monday" was also included on the 2008 collector's edition of Power, Corruption & Lies.
The 1983 single "Confusion" firmly established the group as a dance music force, inspiring many musicians in subsequent years. In 1984 they followed the largely synthesised single "Thieves Like Us" with the heavy guitar-drum-bass rumble of "Murder", a not-too-distant cousin of "Ecstasy" from the Power, Corruption & Lies album. KROQ Los Angeles DJ Jed the Fish claims New Order had more to do with the emergence of house music than the Warehouse music of Chicago and "Frankie Knuckles and the whole so-called House music scene. Unless you were actually from regional Chicago, had you ever heard of House music until New Order? Be real, now."
Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Substance: 1985–1987
1985's Low-Life refined and sometimes mixed the two styles, guitar-based and electronic, and included "The Perfect Kiss"—the video for which was filmed by Jonathan Demme—and "Sub-culture". In February 1986, the soundtrack album to Pretty in Pink featuring "Shellshock" was released on A&M Records. An instrumental version of "Thieves Like Us" and the instrumental "Elegia" appeared in the film but were not on the soundtrack album. Later that summer, New Order headlined a line-up that included the Smiths, the Fall, and A Certain Ratio during the Festival of the Tenth Summer at Manchester's G-Mex.
Brotherhood (1986) divided the two approaches onto separate album sides. The album notably featured "Bizarre Love Triangle" (a Top 20 hit in Australia and New Zealand) and "Angel Dust" (of which a remixed instrumental version is available on the UK "True Faith" CD video single, under the title "Evil Dust"), a track which marries a synth break beat with Low-Life-era guitar effects. While New Order toured North America with friends Echo & the Bunnymen, the summer of 1987 saw the release of the compilation Substance, which featured the new single "True Faith". Substance was an important album in collecting the group's 12-inch singles onto CD for the first time and featured new versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion"—referred to as "Temptation '87" and "Confusion '87". A second disc featured several of the B-sides from the singles on the first disc, as well as additional A-sides "Procession" and "Murder". The single, "True Faith", with its surreal video, became a hit on MTV and the band's first American top 40 hit. The single's B-side, "1963"—originally planned on being the A-side until the group's label convinced them to release "True Faith" instead—would later be released as a single in its own right several years later, with two new versions.
In December 1987, the band released a further single, "Touched by the Hand of God", with a Kathryn Bigelow-directed video parodying glam-metal. The song was one of four new tracks recorded for the American comedy film Salvation!, and reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 in the UK Independent Singles chart. However, it would not appear on an album until the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order.
Technique, Republic and first break-up: 1988–1993
By this time, the group was heavily influenced by the Balearic sounds of Ibiza, which were making their way into the Haçienda. Partly recorded at Mediterranean Sound studios on Ibiza, Technique was released in February 1989. The album entered the charts at number one in the UK and contained a mix of acid house influence (as on opening track "Fine Time") and a more traditional rock sound (as on the single "Run 2"). The album is a blend of upbeat, accessible music coupled with blunt, poignant lyrics. During the summer of 1989, New Order supported Technique by touring with Public Image Ltd, Throwing Muses and the Sugarcubes across the United States and Canada in what the press dubbed the "Monsters of Alternative Rock" tour. Around this time, band members also began side projects including Electronic (Sumner with Johnny Marr) and Revenge (Hook with Davyth Hicks). Morris and Gilbert began to work together on outside TV theme production work. In 1991, the band were sued by the publishing company of American singer John Denver, who alleged that the guitar break in "Run 2" was similar to his song "Leaving on a Jet Plane". The case was settled out of court and the song has since been credited to both New Order and John Denver.
In 1990, New Order recorded the official song of the England national football team's 1990 World Cup campaign, "World in Motion", under the ad hoc band name EnglandNewOrder. The song, co-written with comedian Keith Allen, was the band's sole number one UK hit. The song was originally planned to be titled "E for England", however the Football Association vetoed the title upon realising that this was a reference to ecstasy; a drug heavily associated with the Haçienda. (Allen claimed that his original draft lyrics included "E is for England, England starts with E / We'll all be smiling when we're in Italy.") The song also featured chanting from members of the England team and Allen, and a guest rap from England player John Barnes. It was again produced by Stephen Hague, who the band chose to produce their next album.
The band's next album Republic was shadowed by the collapse of their longtime label Factory Records. The label had been ailing due to financial difficulties, and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1992. New Order never had a formal contract with Factory. Although unusual for a major group, this was Factory's standard practice until the mid-1980s. Because of this, the band, rather than Factory Records, legally owned all of their recordings. This has been cited by Wilson himself as the main reason London Records' 1992 offer to buy the ailing label fell through. Following Factory's collapse, New Order signed with London, as did Morris and Gilbert separately for their side project The Other Two, whose debut album was originally intended for release on Factory. Republic, released around the world in 1993, spawned the singles "Regret"—New Order's highest-charting single in the US—"Ruined in a Day", "World", and "Spooky".
Following the release and promotion of Republic, the band put New Order on hold while focusing on side projects; with The Other Two's debut album released in 1993. In 1994, a second singles collection was released, entitled The Best of New Order. It featured all of the band's singles since Substance as well as a few extra tracks: "Vanishing Point" (from 1989's Technique), "The Perfect Kiss", "Thieves Like Us", "Shellshock", and remixes of "True Faith", "Bizarre Love Triangle", "1963", and "Round & Round". The new versions of "True Faith" and "1963" (the latter as a more guitar-oriented version produced by Arthur Baker) were released as singles to promote the album. In the US, the track listing was altered to set it apart from Substance as well as the UK release of The Best of New Order which had been available months prior. This collection was followed by a remix album, The Rest of New Order, featuring a selection of existing and newly commissioned mixes of classic New Order tracks. Some versions contained an extra disc or cassette composed entirely of remixes of "Blue Monday". "Blue Monday" was released as a single for a third time to promote the collection.
Reformation and Get Ready: 1998–2003
The group reconvened in 1998 at the suggestion of Rob Gretton. Nearly five years had passed since they had last seen each other. Sumner said, "We decided before we agreed to doing any gig, to have a meeting, and if anyone had any grudges to bear, to iron them out." By the second meeting everyone agreed to continue playing, scheduling their reunion gig for the Phoenix Festival that same year. In addition to rarer songs, New Order also decided to begin playing Joy Division songs again. When the Phoenix Festival was cancelled due to low ticket sales, New Order instead played the last night of that year's Reading Festival.
Their 2001 release Get Ready largely departed from their more electronic style and focused on more guitar oriented music. According to Sumner, "Get Ready was guitar-heavy simply because we felt that we'd left that instrument alone for a long time." Longtime fan Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins played guitar and sang back-up on the track "Turn My Way," and in 2001 toured with the band on dates in the UK, US, and Japan for a short period of time. Phil Cunningham (formerly of Marion) joined the band in a live capacity, deputising for Gilbert who declined to tour in favour of caring for her and Morris' children. Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie provided vocals on the track "Rock the Shack". Singles from the album included "Crystal," "60 Miles an Hour" and Someone Like You."
In 2002, Q featured New Order on their list of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die", although this was as part of a sub-list of "5 Bands That Could Go Either Way". Both New Order and Joy Division were portrayed in the Michael Winterbottom film 24 Hour Party People, depicting the rise and fall of Factory Records as seen through the eyes of label founder Tony Wilson. Cameos by Wilson himself, along with Mark E. Smith of the Fall and former members of Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets, lent a degree of legitimacy to the proceedings. The film touched on some of Factory's other artists, including Happy Mondays and the Durutti Column. The soundtrack featured the new track "Here to Stay," produced by the Chemical Brothers, which was released as a single. The single's music video highlighted scenes taken from the film.
Waiting for the Sirens' Call, Singles and second break-up: 2004–2007
The band released a new album on 27 March 2005, titled Waiting for the Sirens' Call, their first with new member Phil Cunningham. Cunningham replaced Gilbert (now married to Morris) so she could look after their children. Singles from this album were "Krafty", "Jetstream" (which features guest vocals by Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters), and the title track. At the 2005 NME Awards, New Order and Joy Division received the award for "Godlike Geniuses" (for lifetime achievement). Previous winners include Ozzy Osbourne, the Clash, and Happy Mondays. In 2006 the album track "Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Dance Recording.
In the autumn of 2005, the group released another greatest hits compilation, in the form of Singles. The two-disc release was an updated version of the Substance collection and contained every single released from their 1981 debut all the way through to "Waiting for the Sirens' Call". However, unlike Substance, which focused almost exclusively on the 12" versions of the group's singles, Singles collected the 7" versions, many of which (like "Ceremony", "Temptation" and "Confusion") had never been released on CD. The album was accompanied by a two-disc DVD set, titled Item, that collected the extended UK version of NewOrderStory with a DVD of all New Order music videos as well as two newly commissioned videos for "Temptation '87" and "Ceremony".
The New Order: Live in Glasgow DVD was recorded at the Glasgow Academy in 2006 and features 18 tracks, including 4 Joy Division songs. Next to that, the release also contains a bonus disc of footage from the band's personal archive including 1980s footage from Glastonbury (June 1981), Rome, Cork, Rotterdam and Toronto.
In 2006, the band played several one-off live dates as well as short tours in the UK, Brazil and Argentina. After their Buenos Aires show in November 2006, Peter Hook suggested that the band should stop touring. In early May 2007, Hook was interviewed by British radio station XFM—originally to talk about his contribution to the debut album of Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell's new band Satellite Party—and stated that "Me and Bernard aren't working together." Further complicating the news, NewOrderOnline, a website with support from New Order management, reported that according to "a source close to the band", "The news about the split is false... New Order still exists despite what [Hook] said ... Peter Hook can leave the band, but this doesn't mean the end of New Order." However, Sumner revealed in 2009 that he no longer wished to make music as New Order.
Reunion with new line-up, Lost Sirens and Music Complete: 2011–2016
In September 2011, the band announced that they would perform for the first time since 2006, at the Ancienne Belgique, Brussels on 17 October and at the Bataclan, Paris on 18 October. The band's line-up included keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, who returned to the band after a ten-year break, and Bad Lieutenant bassist Tom Chapman in place of Peter Hook. They played subsequent shows in London and South America in December, and released Live at the London Troxy, a live album from their performance on 10 December 2011 at The Troxy in London.
They continued to tour throughout 2012, including a short tour of New Zealand and Australia in February/March, and several festival appearances in 2012. New Order performed at Hyde Park with Blur and the Specials to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
Lost Sirens was released in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2013. Lost Sirens is an eight-track album of songs recorded during the sessions for Waiting for the Sirens' Call. The album was discussed by Gillian Gilbert in a Brazilian interview to promote the band's appearance in São Paulo. She acknowledged issues with former member Peter Hook, and stated there was "a lot going on behind the scenes on the copyright" delaying the release.
The band debuted their first new song since the Waiting for the Sirens' Call sessions, "Singularity", during Lollapalooza Chile in March 2014. In July, the group toured North America, where they debuted another song, "Plastic". On 2 September the band signed to Mute Records. The New Order back catalogue remains with Warner Music.
On 22 September 2015, the band released a new album, Music Complete, their first without Peter Hook. The album was produced mostly by the band themselves, except "Singularity" and "Unlearn This Hatred", both produced by Tom Rowlands, while "Superheated" features additional production by Stuart Price.
On 13 May 2016, New Order released a follow-up remix album Complete Music, which consists of extended and reworked mixes of each track from Music Complete.
In November 2015, Peter Hook sued Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert. In an objection, it was revealed that Sumner, Morris and Gilbert had set up a new company behind Hook's back, that it has generated an income of £7.8 million in four years while Hook received only a fraction of that. The three members argued they had treated Hook fairly and that his stake in the band's royalties was reasonable, despite the fact that in four years, Hook had only received "1.25 per cent of the band's royalties and other income from merchandising and performances". The judge ruled that there was "at least a reasonable prospect" of Hook proving that he was not getting a fair share of royalties and other income and rejected Sumner and Morris's lawyer argument. The judge was willing to hear the case but urged the parties to come to an agreement rather than suffer legal costs of around £900,000. On 20 September 2017, the band announced that a full and final settlement had been reached in the dispute.
Touring and recent work: 2017–present
On 13 July 2017, New Order played a concert at Manchester International Festival with Liam Gillick. On 12 July 2019 the performance was released as a live album titled Σ(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes.. (Live at MIF). The collaboration between Gillick and New Order was the subject of a documentary feature titled 'New Order: Decades', directed by Mike Christie and broadcast in the UK by Sky Arts and Showtime in the USA.
On 23 August 2018, the band played the first date of a North American tour at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul Minnesota, US. According to the band's official website, other stops on the tour included Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, DC; Toronto, Ontario; Long Beach, California; Kahului, Hawaii; and Honolulu, Hawaii. As of 24 August 2018, a single show in Santiago, Chile had been announced for 21 November 2018.
In January 2020, the band played a four night residency in Florida, and in February 2020, they announced a co-headlining tour in North America with the Pet Shop Boys, and that the only concert in the UK in 2020 would be at The O2 on 10 October. These tour dates were later rescheduled for 2021.
On 8 September 2020 the band released the single "Be a Rebel" 5 years after their previous release. A music video for the single, directed by NYSU, premiered on YouTube on 2 December.
On 11 February 2021, the band announced their plans to release a live album and concert film of their 2018 show at London's Alexandra Palace, directed by Mike Christie. Entitled Education Entertainment Recreation (Live at Alexandra Palace), it was released on 7 May.
New Order kicked-off their Unity Tour (with the Pet Shop Boys) on 17 September 2022. The tour consisted of 13 dates in the United States and Canada.
New Order kicked off their 2023 UK and European tour on 21 September 2023. .
Other projects
In 1988, Bernard Sumner teamed up with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to form the group Electronic, also enlisting the help of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys. Electronic regrouped in 1996 for Raise the Pressure, which also featured Karl Bartos (formerly of Kraftwerk). The project's third album Twisted Tenderness was released in 1999 after which the band dissolved.
In June 2009, Sumner formed a new band called Bad Lieutenant with Phil Cunningham (guitar) and Jake Evans (guitar and vocals). Their album Never Cry Another Tear was released on 5 October 2009. In addition to Cunningham and Evans the album also features appearances by Stephen Morris (drums), Jack Mitchell (drums), Tom Chapman (bass) and Alex James (bass). The live band included Morris on drums and Tom Chapman on bass.
Peter Hook has been involved with several other projects. In the 1990s, Hook recorded with Killing Joke with a view to joining the band. However, original bassist Martin 'Youth' Glover instead returned to the band. In 1995 he toured with the Durutti Column. He has recorded one album with the band Revenge with Davyth Hicks and Chris Jones and two with Monaco (both as bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist) with David Potts. Monaco scored a club and alternative radio hit with "What Do You Want From Me?" in 1997. Hook also formed a band called Freebass with fellow bass players Mani (the Stone Roses) and Andy Rourke (the Smiths) in addition to vocalist Gary Briggs. Freebass was active from 2007 to 2010. He also contributed to Perry Farrell's Satellite Party. Hook's current band Peter Hook and the Light is touring and performing full albums from both Joy Division and New Order.
In 1990 Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris formed their own band, The Other Two. The Other Two released its first single "Tasty Fish" in 1991 and released two albums, The Other Two & You in 1993 and Super Highways in 1999. They have also been involved in scoring television soundtracks, like Making Out. In 2007, Gilbert and Morris remixed two tracks for the Nine Inch Nails remixes album Year Zero Remixed.
BeMusic
"BeMusic" was a name the band used for their publishing company (the LP label for Movement says "B Music" in large letters, though using an italic ß for the letter B). All four members of the band used the name for production work for other artists' recordings between 1982 and 1985.
The first BeMusic credit was for Peter Hook producing Stockholm Monsters in 1982. Other artists with producer or musician credit for "BeMusic" were 52nd Street, Section 25, Marcel King, Quando Quango, Paul Haig, Thick Pigeon, Nyam Nyam, and Life.
Their production work as BeMusic was collected on two LTM Recordings compilation CDs, Cool As Ice: The BeMusic Productions and Twice As Nice (which also included production work by Donald Johnson, of A Certain Ratio, and Arthur Baker).
Influences, style and legacy
New Order's signature tracks such as 1982's "Temptation", 1983's "Blue Monday" and 1987's "True Faith" can be observed blending genres of rock and dance. Founding member Hook stated that the band's shift from playing cold, dark tracks from 1981 to producing electro/rock tracks from 1982 was inspired by the music of German electronic group Kraftwerk, US rock band Sparks who had produced disco/electro-rock music with producer Giorgio Moroder on their No. 1 in Heaven album, and the Moroder/Donna Summer collaboration on "I Feel Love". Along with Kraftwerk, the English bands Cabaret Voltaire, the Human League, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) educated frontman Bernard Sumner that one "could make music without guitars". New Order's collaboration with New York DJ Arthur Baker was inspired by the records' sounds of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force.
According to a staff-written AllMusic history, the band are regarded as "the first alternative dance" music group, having "fused icy, gloomy post-punk with Kraftwerk-style synth-pop". They have also been labelled as synth-pop, post-punk, new wave, dance-rock, electronic rock, and electronica.
They have heavily influenced techno, rock, and pop musicians including Moby, and were themselves influenced by the likes of David Bowie and Neu!. They have also influenced electro, freestyle and house. New Order's Kraftwerk influence was acknowledged by their single "Krafty", which had cover art referencing "Autobahn".
Drummer Stephen Morris plays a mixture of acoustic and electronic drums, and in many cases plays along seamlessly with sequenced parts. All the band members could and did switch instruments throughout gigs, as evidenced on Jonathan Demme's video for "The Perfect Kiss" and the concert videos Taras Shevchenko (recorded in New York, November 1981) and Pumped Full of Drugs (Tokyo, May 1985). During such live gigs, Sumner alternated between guitar, keyboards, melodica and (on the track "Confusion") bass; Gilbert switched between keyboards and guitar, Morris between drums and keyboards, and Hook played both bass and electronic drums. Taras Shevchenko is also notable for the fact all four members of the group have left the stage before the final song, "Temptation", comes to a complete end.
Reputation
Both New Order and Joy Division were among the most successful artists on the Factory Records label, which was run by Granada television personality Tony Wilson, and partnered with Factory in the financing of the Manchester club The Haçienda. Speaking in 2009, fellow synth-pop musician Phil Oakey described New Order's slow-burn career as cult musicians as being unusually prolonged and effective: "If you want to make a lot of money out of pop, be number 3 a lot. Like New Order did."
Cover artwork
Almost all New Order recordings have minimalist packaging and Peter Saville was the art director. The group's record sleeves bucked the 1980s trend by rarely showing the band members (with the exception of the Low-Life album) or even providing basic information such as the band name or title of the release. Song names were often hidden within the shrink wrapped package, either on the disc itself (such as the "Blue Monday" single), on an inconspicuous part of an inner sleeve ("The Perfect Kiss" single), or written in a cryptic colour code invented by Saville (Power, Corruption & Lies). Saville said his intention was to sell the band as a "mass-produced secret" of sorts, and that the minimalist style was enough to allow fans to identify the band's products without explicit labelling. He frequently sent the artwork straight to the printer, unreviewed by either the band or the label. Their 1983 album, Power, Corruption & Lies, was one of ten classic album covers from British artists commemorated on a UK postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail.
Awards and nominations
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1983
| rowspan="3" | NME Awards
| Power, Corruption & Lies
| Best Dressed Sleeve
|
|-
| "Blue Monday"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Themselves
| Best Group
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1988
| Brit Awards
| "True Faith"
| Best British Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Pollstar Concert Industry Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| rowspan=2|Most Creative Stage Production
|
|-
| 1990
|
|-
| 1991
| Ivor Novello Awards
| "World in Motion"
| Best Selling A Side
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1993
| Mercury Prize
| Republic
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan=2|Billboard Music Awards
| Themselves
| Top Modern Rock Tracks Artist
|
|-
| rowspan=3|"Regret"
| Top Modern Rock Track
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1994
| rowspan=2|Brit Awards
| British Single of the Year
|
|-
| British Video of the Year
|
|-
| D&AD Awards
| "World (The Price of Love)"
| Pop Promo Video
| style="background:#BF8040"| Wood Pencil
|-
| 1999
| rowspan=1|Q Awards
| Themselves
| Q Inspiration Award
|
|-
| 2000
| ASCAP Pop Music Awards
| "Blue Monday"
| Most Performed Song
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2001
|Q Awards
| "Crystal"
| Best Single
|
|-
| Žebřík Music Awards
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best International Surprise
|
|-
| 2005
| NME Awards
| Godlike Genius Award
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2006
| Grammy Awards
| "Guilt is a Useless Emotion"
| Best Dance Recording
|
|-
| MTV VMAJ
| "Krafty"
| Best Dance Video
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2012
| UK Festival Awards
| rowspan="3" | Themselves
| Headliner of the Year
|
|-
| Artrocker Awards
| Legend Award
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2015
| rowspan="2" | Q Awards
| Q Outstanding Contribution To Music
|
|-
| "Restless"
| Best Track
|
|-
|Best Art Vinyl
|Music Complete
| Best Art Vinyl
|
|-
| 2016
| International Dance Music Awards
| "Plastic"
| Best Alternative/Rock Dance Track
|
|-
| 2019
| Silver Clef Awards
| Bernard Sumner
| Outstanding Achievement Award
|
Members
Current members
Bernard Sumner – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming, melodica (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Stephen Morris – drums, percussion, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007, 2011–present)
Gillian Gilbert – keyboards, guitars, programming, occasional vocals (1980–1993, 1998–2001, 2011–present)
Phil Cunningham – guitars, keyboards, electronic percussion (2001–2007, 2011–present)
Tom Chapman – bass, keyboards (2011–present)
Former members
Peter Hook – bass, electronic percussion, vocals, keyboards, programming (1980–1993, 1998–2007)
Timeline
Discography
Movement (1981)
Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
Low-Life (1985)
Brotherhood (1986)
Technique (1989)
Republic (1993)
Get Ready (2001)
Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005)
Lost Sirens (2013)
Music Complete (2015)
References
Further reading
Hickey, Dec. From Heaven to Heaven. New Order Live. The Early Years (1981-1984) at Close Quarters. London: Dec Hickey, 2012.
Edge, Brian. New Order + Joy Division: Pleasures and Wayward Distractions. London: Omnibus Press, 1988.
Flowers, Claude. New Order + Joy Division: Dreams Never End. London: Omnibus Press, 1995.
Johnson, Mark. An Ideal For Living: An History Of Joy Division. London: Bobcat Books, 1984.
Middles, Mick. From Joy Division to New Order: The Factory Story. London: Virgin Books, 1996.
External links
New Order Online – band-endorsed fansite
Category:Alternative dance musical groups
Category:English electronic rock musical groups
Category:English post-punk music groups
Category:English synth-pop groups
Category:English new wave musical groups
Category:British synth-pop new wave groups
Category:Dance-rock musical groups
Category:Brit Award winners
Category:Ivor Novello Award winners
Category:1980 establishments in England
Category:1993 disestablishments in England
Category:1998 establishments in England
Category:2007 disestablishments in England
Category:2011 establishments in England
Category:Musical groups established in 1980
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1993
Category:Musical groups reestablished in 1998
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2007
Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2011
Category:Qwest Records artists
Category:Reprise Records artists
Category:Mute Records artists
Category:Factory Records artists
Category:Factory Benelux artists
Category:Musical quintets
Category:Musical groups from Manchester | [] | [
"Movement was the title of an album released by New Order in November 1981. It comprised of dark, melodic songs with an increased use of synthesisers. The band itself viewed the album as a low point, predominantly due to their grief over the death of Curtis.",
"The context does not provide information on whether the album \"Movement\" by New Order won any awards.",
"After the release of \"Movement\", New Order visited New York City again in 1981, where they were introduced to post-disco, freestyle and electro music. The band listened to Italian disco to uplift their spirits and Morris learnt drum programming. Their subsequent singles, \"Everything's Gone Green\" and \"Temptation\" marked a change in their music towards dance music. In May 1982, they opened The Hacienda, Factory Records' own nightclub in Manchester.",
"One interesting information is that the nightclub The Hacienda, which was largely funded by New Order, was given a Factory catalogue number: FAC51. The opening of this nightclub was marked by a nearly 23-minute instrumental piece originally entitled \"Prime 5 8 6\", but released 15 years later as \"Video 5 8 6\". This piece was primarily composed by Sumner and Morris and contained rhythm elements that would later be used in the tracks \"Blue Monday\" and \"Ultraviolence\".",
"The context does not provide information on how well the nightclub The Hacienda or the instrumental piece \"Prime 5 8 6\"/\"Video 5 8 6\" did after they were introduced.",
"The context does not provide information on which songs by New Order were the most popular."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_0 | Boston (band) | Boston is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, who had their most notable successes during the 1970s and 1980s. Centered on multi-instrumentalist founder and leader Tom Scholz, the band is a staple of classic rock radio playlists. Boston's best-known works include the songs "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Foreplay/Long Time", "Rock and Roll Band", "Smokin'", "Don't Look Back", "A Man I'll Never Be", and "Amanda". They have sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including 31 million albums in the United States, of which 17 million were from their self-titled debut album and seven million were for their second album, | Death of Brad Delp (2007) | On March 9, 2007, lead singer Delp committed suicide at his home in Atkinson, New Hampshire. Police found him dead in his master bathroom, along with several notes for whoever would find him. In the bathroom where he committed suicide, two charcoal grills were found on the bathroom fixtures, and the door sealed with duct tape and a towel underneath. Police Lt. William Baldwin called the death "untimely" and said that no foul play was indicated. Delp was alone at the time of his death, according to the police report. He was found by his fiancee, who saw a dryer hose attached to his car. According to the New Hampshire medical examiner, his death was the result of suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning as evidenced by carboxyhemoglobin. Delp's last concert with Boston was performed at Boston Symphony Hall on November 13, 2006, at a concert honoring Doug Flutie. A concert in honor of Delp named "Come Together: A Tribute to Brad Delp" occurred on August 19, 2007, at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston. The concert included, in order of appearance, Ernie and the Automatics, Beatlejuice, Farrenheit, Extreme, Godsmack, RTZ, Orion the Hunter, and finally the current version of Boston. All of the living members of Boston were invited to perform in the concert. The singers for Boston included Michael Sweet of Stryper, former band member Curly Smith, band member Kimberley Dahme, and a Boston fan from North Carolina named Tommy DeCarlo, who was chosen to sing based on his performances of Boston cover songs on his MySpace page. Another former Boston vocalist, Fran Cosmo, was unable to sing because of a ruptured blood vessel in his throat, but did play guitar. Jim Masdea, Fran Sheehan, and even Barry Goudreau joined Scholz and the rest of the band on stage for the finale, "Don't Look Back". Curly Smith and Kimberley Dahme split the lead vocal on the finale. Sib Hashian, while present, refused to go on stage with the other Boston alumni, citing discomfort with Tom Scholz. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_0_q#0",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_0_q#1",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_0_q#2",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_0_q#3",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_0_q#4",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_0_q#5",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_0_q#6",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_0_q#7"
] | [
"what was the depth of brad delp?",
"why did he kill himself?",
"anything interesting about the article?",
"who performed?",
"why did they perform?",
"when was the concert?",
"did the proceeds go toward a special cause?",
"what lead up to brad delp death?"
] | [
0,
1,
0,
0,
0,
0,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
0,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
1994
],
[
870
],
[
1061
],
[
870
],
[
955
],
[
1994
],
[
1994
]
],
"texts": [
[
"On March 9, 2007, lead singer Delp committed suicide at his home in Atkinson, New Hampshire. Police found him dead in his master bathroom,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"A concert in honor of Delp named \"Come Together: A Tribute to Brad Delp\" occurred on August 19, 2007,"
],
[
"Ernie and the Automatics, Beatlejuice, Farrenheit, Extreme, Godsmack, RTZ, Orion the Hunter, and finally the current version of Boston."
],
[
"A concert in honor of Delp"
],
[
"August 19, 2007,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
1994,
870,
1061,
870,
955,
1994,
1994
],
"texts": [
"On March 9, 2007, lead singer Delp committed suicide at his home in Atkinson, New Hampshire. Police found him dead in his master bathroom,",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"A concert in honor of Delp named \"Come Together: A Tribute to Brad Delp\" occurred on August 19, 2007,",
"Ernie and the Automatics, Beatlejuice, Farrenheit, Extreme, Godsmack, RTZ, Orion the Hunter, and finally the current version of Boston.",
"A concert in honor of Delp",
"August 19, 2007,",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Boston is an American rock band formed by Tom Scholz in Boston, Massachusetts, that had its most commercial successes during the 1970s and 1980s. The band's core members include multi-instrumentalist, founder and leader Scholz, who played the majority of instruments on the band's 1976 self-titled debut album, and former lead vocalist Brad Delp, among a number of other musicians who varied from album to album. Boston's best-known songs include: "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Foreplay/Long Time", "Rock and Roll Band", "Smokin'", "Don't Look Back", "A Man I'll Never Be", "Hitch a Ride", "Party", "Amanda" and "Feelin' Satisfied". The band has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including 31 million units sold in the United States, of which 17 million were the band's debut album and seven million copies of the band's second studio album, Don't Look Back (1978), placing the group amongst the world's best-selling music artists. Altogether, the band has released six studio albums in a career spanning over years. Boston was ranked the 63rd-best hard rock artist by VH1.
After original longtime lead singer Brad Delp died in 2007, a number of vocalists have taken the stage; since 2013 Tommy DeCarlo had remained the group's lead singer. Other current members of the band include guitarist Gary Pihl, bassist Tracy Ferrie, drummer Jeff Neal and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Beth Cohen. Stryper frontman and vocalist Micheal Sweet filled in on vocals after the death of Brad Delp.
History
Early years (1969–1975)
Tom Scholz first started writing music in 1969 while he was attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he wrote an instrumental song, "Foreplay". While attending MIT, Scholz joined the band Freehold, where he met guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Jim Masdea, who would later become members of Boston. Vocalist Brad Delp was added to the collective in 1970. After graduating with a master's degree, Scholz worked for Polaroid, using his salary to build a recording studio in his basement, and to finance demonstration tapes recorded in professional recording studios. These early demo tapes were recorded with (at various times) Delp on vocals, Goudreau on guitar, Masdea on drums, and Scholz on guitar, bass, and keyboards. The demo tapes were sent to record companies, but received consistent rejections. In 1973 Scholz formed the band Mother's Milk with Delp, Goudreau, and Masdea. That group disbanded by 1974, but Scholz subsequently worked with Masdea and Delp to produce six new demos, including "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Rock and Roll Band", "Something About You" (then entitled "Life Isn't Easy"), "Hitch a Ride" (then entitled "San Francisco Day"), and "Don't Be Afraid". Scholz stated they finished four of the six by the end of 1974, and they finished "More Than a Feeling" and "Something About You" in 1975. Scholz played all the instruments on the demos, except for the drums, which were played by Masdea, and used self-designed pedals to create the desired guitar sounds.
This final demo tape attracted the attention of promoters Paul Ahern and Charlie McKenzie. Masdea left the band around this time. According to Scholz, the managers insisted that Masdea had to be replaced before the band could get a recording deal. Years later, Delp told journalist Chuck Miller: "[Jim] actually told me he was losing interest in playing drums. I know Tom felt very bad when the whole thing happened. And then, of course, we started getting some interest." Scholz and Delp signed a deal with Epic Records after Masdea's departure, thanks to Ahern and McKenzie. Before the deal could be finalized, the band had to do a live audition for the record-company executives. The duo recruited Goudreau on guitar, bassist Fran Sheehan, and drummer Sib Hashian to create a performing unit that could replicate Scholz's richly layered recordings on stage. According to Scholz, Masdea had insisted on performing a drum solo during the audition. Scholz stated that "The night before we auditioned I was going over a few things, trying to get everybody psyched up, and this guy says, 'You know, I don't think
In addition to the firing of Masdea, the record label insisted that Scholz re-record the demo tapes in a professional studio. However, Scholz wanted to record them in his basement studio so that he could work at his own pace. Scholz and producer John Boylan hatched a plan to send the rest of the band to Los Angeles to make the record label happy, while Scholz recorded most of Boston's debut album at home, with Masdea playing drums on the track "Rock and Roll Band" and Scholz playing the other instruments. The multitrack tapes were then brought to Los Angeles, where Delp added vocals and the album was mixed by Boylan. Then, the band was named "Boston", by suggestion of Boylan and engineer Warren Dewey.
Boston and Don't Look Back (1976–1978)
The debut album, Boston, released on August 25, 1976, ranks as one of the best-selling debut albums in U.S. history with over 17 million copies sold.
During late summer and early fall of 1976, Boston attracted publicity due to the record sales. However, according to Cameron Crowe in Rolling Stone, there was "a conscious effort to de-emphasize Scholz as the total mastermind behind Boston". After opening for Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Foghat, and others in the fall, the band embarked on a headlining tour in the winter and spring of 1976–1977 to support the album. This helped establish Boston as one of rock's top acts within a short time, being nominated for a Grammy Award as a "Best New Artist". Boston was the first band in history to make their New York City debut at Madison Square Garden.
The album spawned three singles, "More Than a Feeling", "Long Time", and "Peace of Mind", all of which made the national charts. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and remained on the charts for 132 weeks.
Despite having problems with manager Paul Ahern, being caught in the middle of a fight between Ahern and his business partner Charles McKenzie, and doing most of the recording work alone, Scholz completed the second Boston album two years after the debut album's release. The second album, Don't Look Back, was released by Epic in August 1978. At the time, this was considered a long gap between albums, but Scholz still considered Don't Look Back to be a rush job and was unhappy with the album's second side in particular. Overall, Don't Look Back sold about half as well as the debut album, eventually selling over 7 million records.
Another tour followed (playing with the likes of AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Sammy Hagar, and the Doobie Brothers), and the album's title track became a top-five hit. Additionally, two other singles, "A Man I'll Never Be" and "Feelin' Satisfied", went top 40 and top 50, respectively. Despite the success, Scholz's relationship with Ahern completely deteriorated. Delayed by technical renovations to his studio, Scholz eventually began the process of working on Boston's third album, determined to complete the album at his own pace and up to his demanding standard.
Solo projects and CBS lawsuit (1979–1985)
In late 1979, Scholz began writing new material, but Boston's former co-manager, Paul Ahern, argued that according to an agreement Scholz had signed years earlier with Ahern, Ahern owned a percentage of all songs Scholz wrote from that point on. Delayed further by the dispute, Scholz suggested that in the meantime, the individual members should work on whatever other projects they might be considering.
Goudreau then decided to record a solo album that featured Boston members Delp and Hashian, and which was recorded with the help of Paul Grupp, an engineer and producer familiar with Scholz's studio techniques. The album, released in 1980, was titled Barry Goudreau and featured the minor hit single "Dreams". Tension arose when CBS's marketing connected Goudreau's solo album to Boston's signature guitar sound, despite Scholz not having played at all on this album. Scholz objected to the ad copy, but it became irrelevant when Epic dropped promotion on Goudreau's album citing lack of interest. Goudreau left the band in 1981 and formed Orion the Hunter. Delp contributed vocals and co-wrote songs on the debut album, but returned to Boston and recorded vocals on the third Boston album.
While Scholz and Delp were recording new material for the third Boston album, CBS filed a $60 million lawsuit against Scholz, alleging breach of contract for failing to deliver a new Boston album on time.
During this same period, Scholz founded his high-tech company Scholz Research & Development (SR&D), which made amplifiers and other musical electronic equipment. Its most famous product, the Rockman amplifier, was introduced in 1982.
The legal trouble slowed progress toward the completion of the next album, which took six years to record and produce. Joining Scholz in the album's development again were Delp and Jim Masdea. In 1985, guitarist Gary Pihl left Sammy Hagar's touring band to work with Scholz as both a musician and an SR&D executive. As CBS v. Scholz played out in court, CBS opted to withhold royalty payments to Scholz, hoping to force him to settle on unfavorable terms.
The lawsuit's first round was eventually decided in Scholz's favor, and Scholz moved the band to MCA Records.
The CBS case took seven years to run its course, and in April 1990, Scholz won.
Third Stage (1986–1988)
Despite the adversity, progress continued to be made on the third Boston album. A tape of one of the songs, "Amanda", leaked out of the studio in 1984. The song became the lead single when Third Stage was finally released on September 23, 1986.
The album topped the Billboard 200 while the lead single "Amanda" went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and the subsequent singles "We're Ready" and "Can'tcha Say" reached numbers 9 and 20, respectively. "Cool the Engines" also got significant airplay on rock radio. The album sold over 4 million copies.
The group headed off on tour to promote Third Stage in 1987 and 1988. Third Stage was played in sequence in its entirety during the shows, with expanded arrangements of some cuts. Boston opened with "Rock and Roll Band" and brought back the original drummer, Jim Masdea, to play drums for this one song. For the tour, the group was joined by Doug Huffman and David Sikes, both of whom stayed with the band into the mid-1990s.
Departure of Delp; Walk On (1989–1996)
By spring 1990, Scholz was back in the studio working on the band's fourth studio album. Later that year, Delp told Scholz he wanted to concentrate on other projects, and might not be available for some time. With Delp's departure, Scholz was then the last remaining original member. Before he left, Delp co-wrote with Scholz and David Sikes the song "Walk On", which eventually became the title track of the new album.
Delp subsequently joined Barry Goudreau's new band, RTZ. Scholz eventually replaced him with vocalist Fran Cosmo, who had been in Goudreau's previous band Orion the Hunter.
For the second album in a row, and for the second time in a decade, Scholz's work was delayed by renovations to his studio. In the end, eight years passed between Third Stage and Walk On, which was released in June 1994. Walk On was certified platinum by the RIAA, and reached No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Unlike Boston's previous albums, it failed to chart in the top 5. It produced one hit single, "I Need Your Love", which was widely played on some rock radio stations. Delp reunited with Boston at the end of 1994. Their first appearance was for two benefit shows at the House of Blues on December 12–13, 1994, in Cambridge. The band also handed a check of $5,000 to Globe Santa and another check of $5,000 to Operation Christmas in Fall River.
The group, with Delp now back in the band, toured in the summer of 1995 with both Cosmo and Delp combining vocals. By that time drummer Huffman had been replaced by Curly Smith, who was previously with Jo Jo Gunne. Following the conclusion of the "Livin' For You" tour in 1995, Scholz announced that a greatest hits album would be released. Initially planned for release in August 1996, the album was pushed back to a 1997 release date.
Greatest Hits and Corporate America (1997–2006)
Boston released a compilation album in 1997, titled simply Boston: Greatest Hits. The album featured all of the band's hit singles except "We're Ready", "Can'tcha Say (You Believe In Me)/Still In Love", and "I Need Your Love" along with three new songs, "Higher Power", "Tell Me", and an instrumental version of the "Star Spangled Banner". Smith and Sikes left the band in late 1997 and recorded an album together.
Scholz headed back to the studio in 1998 to begin work on a fifth album, which eventually turned out to be Corporate America. The title track of "Corporate America" was uploaded by Tom Scholz to MP3.com under the pseudonym of "Downer's Revenge" in early 2002 in order to test the album's appeal to a younger demographic. The song reached No. 2 on the progressive rock charts on the website for two weeks.
November 2002 marked the release of Corporate America on the independent label Artemis Records. This album featured the largest Boston lineup ever; returning members included Delp and Cosmo on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Scholz on lead guitar and keyboards, and Gary Pihl on guitar, along with new members Anthony Cosmo on rhythm guitar, Jeff Neal on drums, and Kimberley Dahme on bass, acoustic guitar, and vocals. Dahme, Delp, and Cosmo all contributed lead vocals to the album. The group embarked on a national tour in support of the album in 2003 and 2004. In 2006, the first two Boston albums appeared in remastered form.
Death of Brad Delp (2007)
On March 9, 2007, lead singer Delp died by suicide at his home in Atkinson, New Hampshire. Police found him dead in his master bathroom, along with several notes for whoever would find him. In the bathroom where he died, two charcoal grills were found on the bathroom fixtures, and the door was sealed with duct tape and a towel underneath. Police called the death "untimely" and said no foul play was indicated. Delp was alone at the time of his death, according to the police report. He was found by his fiancée, who saw a dryer hose attached to his car. According to the New Hampshire medical examiner, his death was the result of suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Delp's last concert with Boston was performed at Boston Symphony Hall on November 13, 2006, at a concert honoring Doug Flutie.
A concert in honor of Delp named "Come Together: A Tribute to Brad Delp" occurred on August 19, 2007, at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston. The concert included Ernie and the Automatics, Beatlejuice, Farrenheit, Extreme, Godsmack, RTZ, Orion the Hunter, and finally the current version of Boston.
All of the living members of Boston were invited to perform in the concert. The singers for Boston included Michael Sweet of Stryper, former band member Curly Smith, band member Kimberley Dahme, and a Boston fan from North Carolina named Tommy DeCarlo, who was chosen to sing based on his performances of Boston cover songs on his MySpace page.
New line-up and intermittent performances (2008–2012)
The ongoing conflicts among the surviving band members spilled over to the 2008 Presidential campaign. Barry Goudreau appeared with Mike Huckabee and played with him at some rallies in New Hampshire. Huckabee used "More Than a Feeling" as a campaign theme song. Scholz, a self-described "Obama supporter", sent an open letter to Huckabee in February 2008 stating that the band had never endorsed any candidate, and that he had never authorized the use of "More Than a Feeling" as Huckabee's theme song. Scholz made a point of saying that he, and not Goudreau or Sheehan, actually played all the guitars on "More Than a Feeling" as well as most of Boston's songs. Huckabee eventually stopped using the song for his campaign.
In the spring of 2008, Scholz and Sweet introduced a new Boston lineup, which subsequently did a North American summer tour, playing 53 dates in 12 weeks (on a double bill with Styx). Scholz was the only founding member of Boston to play on the tour, although longtime member Gary Pihl was also part of the band, and Dahme and Neal returned on bass and drums, respectively. DeCarlo and Sweet shared lead vocals.
In January 2009, Greatest Hits was re-released as a remastered disc.
Michael Sweet left the band in August 2011 in order to focus on Stryper. In 2012, guitarist and vocalist David Victor joined the band, beginning in the studio, where he contributed vocals to several tracks on the album in progress.
Scholz and Pihl led the band on a 2012 North American tour, beginning on June 28, 2012, at the Seminole Hard Rock Live arena in Hollywood, Florida and ending on September 8 at the U.S. Cellular Grandstand in Hutchinson, Kansas. Victor and DeCarlo shared lead vocals, with drummer Curly Smith returning for the first time in over a decade, and former Stryper member Tracy Ferrie on bass. Neither Dahme nor Neal played on the tour.
Life, Love & Hope (2013–2017)
Boston's sixth album, Life, Love & Hope, was released on December 3, 2013, by Frontiers Records; it includes lead vocals from Brad Delp, Tommy DeCarlo, Kimberley Dahme, David Victor, and Tom Scholz. Work on the album started in 2002. On December 11, 2013, Boston re-recorded a Christmas song, "God Rest Ye Metal Gentlemen 2013" (previously released in 2002 as "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"). In 2014 Boston embarked on the "Heaven on Earth Tour" spanning the United States and Japan with a lineup including Scholz, Pihl, DeCarlo, Victor and Ferrie. Dahme returned, this time performing rhythm guitar and vocals, and drumming duties were split between Neal and Smith, with Neal handling the first leg of the tour. Victor departed the lineup partway through the tour for unspecified reasons. In his stead, Siobhan Magnus joined the tour as a guest vocalist in July, performing lead vocals on 'Walk On'.
In 2015, Boston launched another tour with a lineup consisting of Scholz, Pihl, DeCarlo, Ferrie and new member Beth Cohen, who performed keyboards, rhythm guitar and vocals. Cohen had previously recorded with the group on both Corporate America and Life, Love & Hope as a vocalist and flautist. Initially, the lineup was to include former Spock's Beard drummer and vocalist Nick D'Virgilio for its first month of shows, with Neal then returning, but D'Virgilio proved "not the right fit" and Smith rejoined in his place. This seven-person lineup proved Boston's most stable lineup in some time, touring as well in the summers of 2016 and 2017. The 2016 tour marked the group's 40th anniversary and included shows in Boston's Wang Theatre, their first full performances in their namesake town since 1994.
On March 22, 2017, former drummer Sib Hashian died after collapsing on a Legends of Rock cruise ship.
Upcoming seventh album (2017–present)
In April 2017, Scholz reported that he has been writing new material for the seventh Boston album. He told Sun Herald, "I find that I'm in a position that I really need to write things that we can play at the shows. We play basically everything that people expect to hear that we can fit into two hours. We also do a lot of things that aren't on any of the records by adding things and segues and instrumental parts, so I always have to come up with new stuff. It's quite a challenge. I have to write new things for the tour every year, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. But I got sidetracked in the studio, recording. Now, I'm actually a performing musician, and I have to tell you, it's much more fun." When asked the same month about a potential release date of the album, Scholz said, "Who knows? I'm only 70. I figure I've got 30 years."
Spaceship theme
A prominent theme on Boston's album covers is the presence of a guitar-shaped spaceship, ostensibly a generation or colony ship carrying the city of Boston inside a clear dome, with the city's name emblazoned across the front. The original spaceship was designed in 1976 by Paula Scher and illustrated by Roger Huyssen with lettering by Gerard Huerta for Epic Records.
Appearances
Boston (1976) – Two long lines of guitar shaped starships flee a planet that is breaking apart. The ships all have blue flames coming out of the bottom.
Don't Look Back (1978) – The Boston ship is flying low or perhaps hovering over a grassy, crystalline planet. The ship has searchlights on.
Third Stage (1986) – The Boston ship is headed towards a large flat spaceship resembling a bank of pipe organ pipes over a blue planet.
Walk On (1994) – The Boston ship is shown crashing through a rock outcropping.
Greatest Hits (1997, compilation album) – The Boston ship is flying low over a planet with turquoise rocks and a turquoise tower in the distance.
Corporate America (2002) – The Boston ship is flying towards Earth and the United States.
Life, Love & Hope (2013) – The Boston ship is flying in space, near a nebula.
Their spaceship also appeared on their tours in the late 1980s, early 1990s, and early 2000s in the form of a giant lighting rig and accompanied on stage by their giant pipe-organ set piece, which is known to Boston insiders as Bertha because of its sheer size.
Innovation and style
Boston's genre is considered by most to be hard rock and arena rock, while combining elements of progressive rock into its music.
Boston founder, guitarist, and primary songwriter Tom Scholz's blend of musical styles, ranging from classical to 1960s English pop, has resulted in a unique sound, most consistently realized on the first two albums (Boston and Don't Look Back). This sound is characterized by multiple lead and blended harmonies guitar work (usually harmonized in thirds), often alternating between and then mixing electric and acoustic guitars. The band's harmonic style has been characterized as being "violin-like" without using synthesizers. Scholz is well-regarded for the development of complex, multi-tracked guitar harmonies. Another contributing factor is the use of handmade, high-tech equipment, such as the Rockman, used by artists such as Journey guitarist Neal Schon, the band ZZ Top, and Ted Nugent. Def Leppard's album Hysteria was created using only Rockman technology. Scholz's production style combines deep, aggressive, comparatively short guitar riffing and nearly ethereal, generally longer note vocal harmonies. A heavier, lower, and darker overall approach came in the next two albums (Third Stage and Walk On). The original track "Higher Power", on the Greatest Hits album, exhibits a near Neue Deutsche Härte and almost techno influence with its sequencer-sounding keyboards, a sound most fully realized on Corporate America'''s title track.
Tom Scholz also credited the late Brad Delp with helping to create Boston's sound with his signature vocal style. Delp, who was strongly influenced by the Beatles, was well known for his extended vocal range, shown on hits such as "More Than a Feeling".
Members
Current lineup
Tom Scholz – guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, percussion, backing vocals (1976–present)
Gary Pihl – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1985–present)
Jeff Neal – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2002–2008, 2014–2016, 2017–present)
Tommy DeCarlo – lead vocals, keyboards, percussion (2007–present)
Tracy Ferrie – bass, backing vocals (2012–present)
Beth Cohen – vocals, keyboards, guitar (2015–present)
Curly Smith – drums, harmonica, piano, backing vocals (1994–1997, 2012–2017, ?–present)
Discography
Studio albums Boston (1976)Don't Look Back (1978)Third Stage (1986)Walk On (1994)Corporate America (2002)Life, Love & Hope'' (2013)
References
External links
thirdstage.ca
Category:1976 establishments in Massachusetts
Category:Epic Records artists
Category:Hard rock musical groups from Massachusetts
Category:MCA Records artists
Category:Musical groups established in 1976
Category:Musical groups from Boston | [] | [
"The text does not provide information on the depth of Brad Delp.",
"The text does not provide specific information on why Brad Delp committed suicide.",
"The article discusses the unfortunate suicide of Brad Delp, lead singer of the band, Boston. After his death, a tribute concert was held, with several bands performing, and living members of Boston were invited to play. Interestingly, one of the vocalists chosen to sing was not a professional musician, but a fan from North Carolina who had gained recognition for his performances of Boston cover songs on his MySpace page.",
"At the tribute concert in honor of Brad Delp, the following artists and bands performed: Ernie and the Automatics, Beatlejuice, Farrenheit, Extreme, Godsmack, RTZ, Orion the Hunter, and the current version of Boston. The singers for Boston included Michael Sweet of Stryper, former band member Curly Smith, band member Kimberley Dahme, and a fan named Tommy DeCarlo. Former Boston vocalist Fran Cosmo, although unable to sing due to a ruptured blood vessel in his throat, played guitar. Jim Masdea, Fran Sheehan, and Barry Goudreau joined the band on stage for the finale.",
"They performed as part of a tribute concert in honor of Brad Delp, the lead singer of the band Boston, who had committed suicide.",
"The concert in honor of Brad Delp, named \"Come Together: A Tribute to Brad Delp\", took place on August 19, 2007.",
"The text does not provide information on whether the proceeds from the concert went toward a special cause.",
"The text does not provide specific details on the events leading up to Brad Delp's death. It is mentioned that he was found dead in his master bathroom, where he had apparently committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Two charcoal grills were found on the bathroom fixtures and the door had been sealed with duct tape. His last concert with Boston was performed at Boston Symphony Hall on November 13, 2006, but there is no direct information provided on events that led to his suicide.\n"
] | [
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_1 | Boston (band) | Boston is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, who had their most notable successes during the 1970s and 1980s. Centered on multi-instrumentalist founder and leader Tom Scholz, the band is a staple of classic rock radio playlists. Boston's best-known works include the songs "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Foreplay/Long Time", "Rock and Roll Band", "Smokin'", "Don't Look Back", "A Man I'll Never Be", and "Amanda". They have sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including 31 million albums in the United States, of which 17 million were from their self-titled debut album and seven million were for their second album, | Departure of Delp; Walk On (1989-1996) | Tom Scholz first started writing music in 1969 while he was attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he wrote an instrumental, titled "Foreplay". While attending MIT, Scholz joined the band Freehold, where he met guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Jim Masdea, who would later become members of Boston. Vocalist Brad Delp was added to the collective in 1970. After graduating with a master's degree, Scholz worked for Polaroid, where he used his salary to build a recording studio in his basement, and to finance demo tapes recorded in professional recording studios. These early demo tapes were recorded with (at various times) Delp on vocals, Goudreau on guitar, Masdea on drums, and Scholz on guitar, bass and keyboards. The demo tapes were sent to record companies, but received consistent rejections. In 1973 Scholz formed the band Mother's Milk with Delp, Goudreau, and Masdea. That group disbanded by 1974, but Scholz subsequently worked with Masdea and Delp to produce six new demos, including "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Rock and Roll Band", "Something About You" (then entitled "Life Isn't Easy"), "Hitch a Ride" (then entitled "San Francisco Day"), and "Don't Be Afraid". Scholz stated they finished four of the six by the end of 1974, and they finished "More Than a Feeling" and "Something About You" in 1975. Scholz played all the instruments on the demos, except for the drums, which were played by Masdea, and used self-designed pedals to create the desired guitar sound. The violin-like sound of the guitars was created in the early 1970s by Scholz. This final demo tape attracted the attention of promoters Paul Ahern and Charlie McKenzie. Masdea left the band around this time. According to Scholz, the managers insisted that Masdea had to be replaced before the band could get a recording deal. Years later, Delp told journalist Chuck Miller: "[Jim] actually told me he was losing interest in playing drums. I know Tom felt very bad when the whole thing happened. And then, of course, we started getting some interest." Scholz and Delp signed a deal with Epic Records after Masdea's departure, thanks to Ahern and McKenzie. Before the deal could be finalized, the band had to do a live audition for the record company executives. The duo recruited Goudreau on guitar, bassist Fran Sheehan and drummer Sib Hashian to create a performing unit which could replicate Scholz's richly layered recordings on stage. The showcase was a success and the band agreed to put out ten albums over the next six years. In addition to the firing of Masdea, the record label insisted that Scholz re-record the demo tapes in a professional studio. However, Scholz wanted the record to be recorded in his basement studio so that he could work at his own pace. The label agreed, and offered to split the producer's royalty with Scholz. Upon request of Scholz, Masdea played drums on the track "Rock and Roll Band", and the instrumentation was recorded in Scholz's studio. The multitrack tapes were then brought to Los Angeles, where Delp added vocals and the album was mixed by John Boylan. It was then that the band was named "Boston", by suggestion of Boylan and engineer Warren Dewey. In late 1979, Scholz began writing new material, but Boston's former co-manager, Paul Ahern, argued that, according to an agreement Scholz had signed years earlier with Ahern, Ahern owned a percentage of all songs Scholz wrote from that point on. Delayed further by the dispute, Scholz suggested that in the meantime the individual members should work on whatever other projects they might be considering. Goudreau then decided to record a solo album that featured Boston members Delp and Hashian, and which was recorded with the help of Paul Grupp, an engineer and producer familiar with Scholz's studio techniques. The album, released in 1980, was titled Barry Goudreau and featured the minor hit single "Dreams". There was tension when CBS's marketing connected Goudreau's solo album to Boston's signature guitar sound, despite Scholz not having played at all on this album. Scholz objected to the ad copy, but it became irrelevant when Epic dropped promotion on Goudreau's album citing lack of interest. Goudreau left the band in 1981 and formed Orion the Hunter. Delp contributed vocals and co-wrote songs on the debut album, but returned to Boston and recorded vocals on the third Boston album. While Scholz and Delp were recording new material for the third Boston album, CBS filed a $60 million lawsuit against Scholz, alleging breach of contract for failing to deliver a new Boston album on time. During this same period, Scholz founded his high-tech company Scholz Research & Development (SR&D), which made amplifiers and other musical electronic equipment. Its most famous product, the Rockman amplifier, was introduced in 1982. The legal trouble slowed progress toward the completion of the next album, which took six years to record and produce. Joining Scholz in the album's development again were Delp and Jim Masdea. In 1985, guitarist Gary Pihl left Sammy Hagar's touring band to work with Scholz as both a musician and an SR&D executive. As CBS v. Scholz played out in court, CBS opted to withhold royalty payments to Scholz, hoping to force him to settle on unfavorable terms. The lawsuit's first round was eventually decided in Scholz's favor, and Scholz moved the band to MCA Records. By spring 1990, Scholz was back in the studio working on the band's fourth studio album. Later that year, Delp told Scholz he wanted to concentrate on other projects, and might not be available for some time. With Delp's departure, Scholz was then the last remaining original member. Before he left, Delp co-wrote with Scholz and David Sikes the song "Walk On", which eventually became the title track of the new album. Delp subsequently joined Barry Goudreau's new band, RTZ. Scholz eventually replaced him with Fran Cosmo, who had been in Goudreau's previous band Orion the Hunter. For the second album in a row, and for the second time in a decade, Scholz's work was delayed by renovations to his studio. In the end, eight years passed between Third Stage and Walk On, which was released in June 1994. Walk On was certified platinum by the RIAA, and reached No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Unlike Boston's previous albums, it failed to chart in the top 5. It produced one hit single, "I Need Your Love", which was widely played on some rock radio stations. Delp reunited with Boston at the end of 1994. Their first appearance was for two benefit shows at the House of Blues on December 12-13, 1994, in Cambridge. The band also handed a check of $5,000 to Globe Santa and another check of $5,000 to Operation Christmas in Fall River. The group, with Delp now back in the band, toured in the summer of 1995 with both Cosmo and Delp combining vocals. By that time drummer Huffman had been replaced by Curly Smith, who was previously with Jo Jo Gunne. Following the conclusion of the "Livin' For You" tour in 1995, Scholz announced that a greatest hits album would be released. Initially planned for release in August 1996, the album was pushed back to a 1997 release date. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_1_q#0",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_1_q#1",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_1_q#2",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_1_q#3",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_1_q#4",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_1_q#5",
"C_c61d7973b8b2435f80b9d464781ec3a2_1_q#6"
] | [
"What happened in 1989?",
"what was that album called?",
"was the album successful?",
"did they produce any other music?",
"were any of these on the charts?",
"what happened with the promoters?",
"did they go on tour?"
] | [
0,
2,
1,
0,
2,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
5433
],
[
5733
],
[
7222
],
[
1023
],
[
1606
],
[
1622
],
[
7222
]
],
"texts": [
[
"By spring 1990, Scholz was back in the studio working on the band's fourth studio album."
],
[
"Delp co-wrote with Scholz and David Sikes the song \"Walk On\", which eventually became the title track of the new album."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"\"More Than a Feeling\", \"Peace of Mind\", \"Rock and Roll Band\", \"Something About You\" ("
],
[
"final demo tape attracted the attention of promoters Paul Ahern and Charlie McKenzie."
],
[
"attracted the attention of promoters"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
5433,
5733,
7222,
1023,
1606,
1622,
7222
],
"texts": [
"By spring 1990, Scholz was back in the studio working on the band's fourth studio album.",
"Delp co-wrote with Scholz and David Sikes the song \"Walk On\", which eventually became the title track of the new album.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"\"More Than a Feeling\", \"Peace of Mind\", \"Rock and Roll Band\", \"Something About You\" (",
"final demo tape attracted the attention of promoters Paul Ahern and Charlie McKenzie.",
"attracted the attention of promoters",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Boston is an American rock band formed by Tom Scholz in Boston, Massachusetts, that had its most commercial successes during the 1970s and 1980s. The band's core members include multi-instrumentalist, founder and leader Scholz, who played the majority of instruments on the band's 1976 self-titled debut album, and former lead vocalist Brad Delp, among a number of other musicians who varied from album to album. Boston's best-known songs include: "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Foreplay/Long Time", "Rock and Roll Band", "Smokin'", "Don't Look Back", "A Man I'll Never Be", "Hitch a Ride", "Party", "Amanda" and "Feelin' Satisfied". The band has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including 31 million units sold in the United States, of which 17 million were the band's debut album and seven million copies of the band's second studio album, Don't Look Back (1978), placing the group amongst the world's best-selling music artists. Altogether, the band has released six studio albums in a career spanning over years. Boston was ranked the 63rd-best hard rock artist by VH1.
After original longtime lead singer Brad Delp died in 2007, a number of vocalists have taken the stage; since 2013 Tommy DeCarlo had remained the group's lead singer. Other current members of the band include guitarist Gary Pihl, bassist Tracy Ferrie, drummer Jeff Neal and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Beth Cohen. Stryper frontman and vocalist Micheal Sweet filled in on vocals after the death of Brad Delp.
History
Early years (1969–1975)
Tom Scholz first started writing music in 1969 while he was attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he wrote an instrumental song, "Foreplay". While attending MIT, Scholz joined the band Freehold, where he met guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Jim Masdea, who would later become members of Boston. Vocalist Brad Delp was added to the collective in 1970. After graduating with a master's degree, Scholz worked for Polaroid, using his salary to build a recording studio in his basement, and to finance demonstration tapes recorded in professional recording studios. These early demo tapes were recorded with (at various times) Delp on vocals, Goudreau on guitar, Masdea on drums, and Scholz on guitar, bass, and keyboards. The demo tapes were sent to record companies, but received consistent rejections. In 1973 Scholz formed the band Mother's Milk with Delp, Goudreau, and Masdea. That group disbanded by 1974, but Scholz subsequently worked with Masdea and Delp to produce six new demos, including "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Rock and Roll Band", "Something About You" (then entitled "Life Isn't Easy"), "Hitch a Ride" (then entitled "San Francisco Day"), and "Don't Be Afraid". Scholz stated they finished four of the six by the end of 1974, and they finished "More Than a Feeling" and "Something About You" in 1975. Scholz played all the instruments on the demos, except for the drums, which were played by Masdea, and used self-designed pedals to create the desired guitar sounds.
This final demo tape attracted the attention of promoters Paul Ahern and Charlie McKenzie. Masdea left the band around this time. According to Scholz, the managers insisted that Masdea had to be replaced before the band could get a recording deal. Years later, Delp told journalist Chuck Miller: "[Jim] actually told me he was losing interest in playing drums. I know Tom felt very bad when the whole thing happened. And then, of course, we started getting some interest." Scholz and Delp signed a deal with Epic Records after Masdea's departure, thanks to Ahern and McKenzie. Before the deal could be finalized, the band had to do a live audition for the record-company executives. The duo recruited Goudreau on guitar, bassist Fran Sheehan, and drummer Sib Hashian to create a performing unit that could replicate Scholz's richly layered recordings on stage. According to Scholz, Masdea had insisted on performing a drum solo during the audition. Scholz stated that "The night before we auditioned I was going over a few things, trying to get everybody psyched up, and this guy says, 'You know, I don't think
In addition to the firing of Masdea, the record label insisted that Scholz re-record the demo tapes in a professional studio. However, Scholz wanted to record them in his basement studio so that he could work at his own pace. Scholz and producer John Boylan hatched a plan to send the rest of the band to Los Angeles to make the record label happy, while Scholz recorded most of Boston's debut album at home, with Masdea playing drums on the track "Rock and Roll Band" and Scholz playing the other instruments. The multitrack tapes were then brought to Los Angeles, where Delp added vocals and the album was mixed by Boylan. Then, the band was named "Boston", by suggestion of Boylan and engineer Warren Dewey.
Boston and Don't Look Back (1976–1978)
The debut album, Boston, released on August 25, 1976, ranks as one of the best-selling debut albums in U.S. history with over 17 million copies sold.
During late summer and early fall of 1976, Boston attracted publicity due to the record sales. However, according to Cameron Crowe in Rolling Stone, there was "a conscious effort to de-emphasize Scholz as the total mastermind behind Boston". After opening for Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Foghat, and others in the fall, the band embarked on a headlining tour in the winter and spring of 1976–1977 to support the album. This helped establish Boston as one of rock's top acts within a short time, being nominated for a Grammy Award as a "Best New Artist". Boston was the first band in history to make their New York City debut at Madison Square Garden.
The album spawned three singles, "More Than a Feeling", "Long Time", and "Peace of Mind", all of which made the national charts. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and remained on the charts for 132 weeks.
Despite having problems with manager Paul Ahern, being caught in the middle of a fight between Ahern and his business partner Charles McKenzie, and doing most of the recording work alone, Scholz completed the second Boston album two years after the debut album's release. The second album, Don't Look Back, was released by Epic in August 1978. At the time, this was considered a long gap between albums, but Scholz still considered Don't Look Back to be a rush job and was unhappy with the album's second side in particular. Overall, Don't Look Back sold about half as well as the debut album, eventually selling over 7 million records.
Another tour followed (playing with the likes of AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Sammy Hagar, and the Doobie Brothers), and the album's title track became a top-five hit. Additionally, two other singles, "A Man I'll Never Be" and "Feelin' Satisfied", went top 40 and top 50, respectively. Despite the success, Scholz's relationship with Ahern completely deteriorated. Delayed by technical renovations to his studio, Scholz eventually began the process of working on Boston's third album, determined to complete the album at his own pace and up to his demanding standard.
Solo projects and CBS lawsuit (1979–1985)
In late 1979, Scholz began writing new material, but Boston's former co-manager, Paul Ahern, argued that according to an agreement Scholz had signed years earlier with Ahern, Ahern owned a percentage of all songs Scholz wrote from that point on. Delayed further by the dispute, Scholz suggested that in the meantime, the individual members should work on whatever other projects they might be considering.
Goudreau then decided to record a solo album that featured Boston members Delp and Hashian, and which was recorded with the help of Paul Grupp, an engineer and producer familiar with Scholz's studio techniques. The album, released in 1980, was titled Barry Goudreau and featured the minor hit single "Dreams". Tension arose when CBS's marketing connected Goudreau's solo album to Boston's signature guitar sound, despite Scholz not having played at all on this album. Scholz objected to the ad copy, but it became irrelevant when Epic dropped promotion on Goudreau's album citing lack of interest. Goudreau left the band in 1981 and formed Orion the Hunter. Delp contributed vocals and co-wrote songs on the debut album, but returned to Boston and recorded vocals on the third Boston album.
While Scholz and Delp were recording new material for the third Boston album, CBS filed a $60 million lawsuit against Scholz, alleging breach of contract for failing to deliver a new Boston album on time.
During this same period, Scholz founded his high-tech company Scholz Research & Development (SR&D), which made amplifiers and other musical electronic equipment. Its most famous product, the Rockman amplifier, was introduced in 1982.
The legal trouble slowed progress toward the completion of the next album, which took six years to record and produce. Joining Scholz in the album's development again were Delp and Jim Masdea. In 1985, guitarist Gary Pihl left Sammy Hagar's touring band to work with Scholz as both a musician and an SR&D executive. As CBS v. Scholz played out in court, CBS opted to withhold royalty payments to Scholz, hoping to force him to settle on unfavorable terms.
The lawsuit's first round was eventually decided in Scholz's favor, and Scholz moved the band to MCA Records.
The CBS case took seven years to run its course, and in April 1990, Scholz won.
Third Stage (1986–1988)
Despite the adversity, progress continued to be made on the third Boston album. A tape of one of the songs, "Amanda", leaked out of the studio in 1984. The song became the lead single when Third Stage was finally released on September 23, 1986.
The album topped the Billboard 200 while the lead single "Amanda" went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and the subsequent singles "We're Ready" and "Can'tcha Say" reached numbers 9 and 20, respectively. "Cool the Engines" also got significant airplay on rock radio. The album sold over 4 million copies.
The group headed off on tour to promote Third Stage in 1987 and 1988. Third Stage was played in sequence in its entirety during the shows, with expanded arrangements of some cuts. Boston opened with "Rock and Roll Band" and brought back the original drummer, Jim Masdea, to play drums for this one song. For the tour, the group was joined by Doug Huffman and David Sikes, both of whom stayed with the band into the mid-1990s.
Departure of Delp; Walk On (1989–1996)
By spring 1990, Scholz was back in the studio working on the band's fourth studio album. Later that year, Delp told Scholz he wanted to concentrate on other projects, and might not be available for some time. With Delp's departure, Scholz was then the last remaining original member. Before he left, Delp co-wrote with Scholz and David Sikes the song "Walk On", which eventually became the title track of the new album.
Delp subsequently joined Barry Goudreau's new band, RTZ. Scholz eventually replaced him with vocalist Fran Cosmo, who had been in Goudreau's previous band Orion the Hunter.
For the second album in a row, and for the second time in a decade, Scholz's work was delayed by renovations to his studio. In the end, eight years passed between Third Stage and Walk On, which was released in June 1994. Walk On was certified platinum by the RIAA, and reached No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Unlike Boston's previous albums, it failed to chart in the top 5. It produced one hit single, "I Need Your Love", which was widely played on some rock radio stations. Delp reunited with Boston at the end of 1994. Their first appearance was for two benefit shows at the House of Blues on December 12–13, 1994, in Cambridge. The band also handed a check of $5,000 to Globe Santa and another check of $5,000 to Operation Christmas in Fall River.
The group, with Delp now back in the band, toured in the summer of 1995 with both Cosmo and Delp combining vocals. By that time drummer Huffman had been replaced by Curly Smith, who was previously with Jo Jo Gunne. Following the conclusion of the "Livin' For You" tour in 1995, Scholz announced that a greatest hits album would be released. Initially planned for release in August 1996, the album was pushed back to a 1997 release date.
Greatest Hits and Corporate America (1997–2006)
Boston released a compilation album in 1997, titled simply Boston: Greatest Hits. The album featured all of the band's hit singles except "We're Ready", "Can'tcha Say (You Believe In Me)/Still In Love", and "I Need Your Love" along with three new songs, "Higher Power", "Tell Me", and an instrumental version of the "Star Spangled Banner". Smith and Sikes left the band in late 1997 and recorded an album together.
Scholz headed back to the studio in 1998 to begin work on a fifth album, which eventually turned out to be Corporate America. The title track of "Corporate America" was uploaded by Tom Scholz to MP3.com under the pseudonym of "Downer's Revenge" in early 2002 in order to test the album's appeal to a younger demographic. The song reached No. 2 on the progressive rock charts on the website for two weeks.
November 2002 marked the release of Corporate America on the independent label Artemis Records. This album featured the largest Boston lineup ever; returning members included Delp and Cosmo on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Scholz on lead guitar and keyboards, and Gary Pihl on guitar, along with new members Anthony Cosmo on rhythm guitar, Jeff Neal on drums, and Kimberley Dahme on bass, acoustic guitar, and vocals. Dahme, Delp, and Cosmo all contributed lead vocals to the album. The group embarked on a national tour in support of the album in 2003 and 2004. In 2006, the first two Boston albums appeared in remastered form.
Death of Brad Delp (2007)
On March 9, 2007, lead singer Delp died by suicide at his home in Atkinson, New Hampshire. Police found him dead in his master bathroom, along with several notes for whoever would find him. In the bathroom where he died, two charcoal grills were found on the bathroom fixtures, and the door was sealed with duct tape and a towel underneath. Police called the death "untimely" and said no foul play was indicated. Delp was alone at the time of his death, according to the police report. He was found by his fiancée, who saw a dryer hose attached to his car. According to the New Hampshire medical examiner, his death was the result of suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Delp's last concert with Boston was performed at Boston Symphony Hall on November 13, 2006, at a concert honoring Doug Flutie.
A concert in honor of Delp named "Come Together: A Tribute to Brad Delp" occurred on August 19, 2007, at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston. The concert included Ernie and the Automatics, Beatlejuice, Farrenheit, Extreme, Godsmack, RTZ, Orion the Hunter, and finally the current version of Boston.
All of the living members of Boston were invited to perform in the concert. The singers for Boston included Michael Sweet of Stryper, former band member Curly Smith, band member Kimberley Dahme, and a Boston fan from North Carolina named Tommy DeCarlo, who was chosen to sing based on his performances of Boston cover songs on his MySpace page.
New line-up and intermittent performances (2008–2012)
The ongoing conflicts among the surviving band members spilled over to the 2008 Presidential campaign. Barry Goudreau appeared with Mike Huckabee and played with him at some rallies in New Hampshire. Huckabee used "More Than a Feeling" as a campaign theme song. Scholz, a self-described "Obama supporter", sent an open letter to Huckabee in February 2008 stating that the band had never endorsed any candidate, and that he had never authorized the use of "More Than a Feeling" as Huckabee's theme song. Scholz made a point of saying that he, and not Goudreau or Sheehan, actually played all the guitars on "More Than a Feeling" as well as most of Boston's songs. Huckabee eventually stopped using the song for his campaign.
In the spring of 2008, Scholz and Sweet introduced a new Boston lineup, which subsequently did a North American summer tour, playing 53 dates in 12 weeks (on a double bill with Styx). Scholz was the only founding member of Boston to play on the tour, although longtime member Gary Pihl was also part of the band, and Dahme and Neal returned on bass and drums, respectively. DeCarlo and Sweet shared lead vocals.
In January 2009, Greatest Hits was re-released as a remastered disc.
Michael Sweet left the band in August 2011 in order to focus on Stryper. In 2012, guitarist and vocalist David Victor joined the band, beginning in the studio, where he contributed vocals to several tracks on the album in progress.
Scholz and Pihl led the band on a 2012 North American tour, beginning on June 28, 2012, at the Seminole Hard Rock Live arena in Hollywood, Florida and ending on September 8 at the U.S. Cellular Grandstand in Hutchinson, Kansas. Victor and DeCarlo shared lead vocals, with drummer Curly Smith returning for the first time in over a decade, and former Stryper member Tracy Ferrie on bass. Neither Dahme nor Neal played on the tour.
Life, Love & Hope (2013–2017)
Boston's sixth album, Life, Love & Hope, was released on December 3, 2013, by Frontiers Records; it includes lead vocals from Brad Delp, Tommy DeCarlo, Kimberley Dahme, David Victor, and Tom Scholz. Work on the album started in 2002. On December 11, 2013, Boston re-recorded a Christmas song, "God Rest Ye Metal Gentlemen 2013" (previously released in 2002 as "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"). In 2014 Boston embarked on the "Heaven on Earth Tour" spanning the United States and Japan with a lineup including Scholz, Pihl, DeCarlo, Victor and Ferrie. Dahme returned, this time performing rhythm guitar and vocals, and drumming duties were split between Neal and Smith, with Neal handling the first leg of the tour. Victor departed the lineup partway through the tour for unspecified reasons. In his stead, Siobhan Magnus joined the tour as a guest vocalist in July, performing lead vocals on 'Walk On'.
In 2015, Boston launched another tour with a lineup consisting of Scholz, Pihl, DeCarlo, Ferrie and new member Beth Cohen, who performed keyboards, rhythm guitar and vocals. Cohen had previously recorded with the group on both Corporate America and Life, Love & Hope as a vocalist and flautist. Initially, the lineup was to include former Spock's Beard drummer and vocalist Nick D'Virgilio for its first month of shows, with Neal then returning, but D'Virgilio proved "not the right fit" and Smith rejoined in his place. This seven-person lineup proved Boston's most stable lineup in some time, touring as well in the summers of 2016 and 2017. The 2016 tour marked the group's 40th anniversary and included shows in Boston's Wang Theatre, their first full performances in their namesake town since 1994.
On March 22, 2017, former drummer Sib Hashian died after collapsing on a Legends of Rock cruise ship.
Upcoming seventh album (2017–present)
In April 2017, Scholz reported that he has been writing new material for the seventh Boston album. He told Sun Herald, "I find that I'm in a position that I really need to write things that we can play at the shows. We play basically everything that people expect to hear that we can fit into two hours. We also do a lot of things that aren't on any of the records by adding things and segues and instrumental parts, so I always have to come up with new stuff. It's quite a challenge. I have to write new things for the tour every year, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. But I got sidetracked in the studio, recording. Now, I'm actually a performing musician, and I have to tell you, it's much more fun." When asked the same month about a potential release date of the album, Scholz said, "Who knows? I'm only 70. I figure I've got 30 years."
Spaceship theme
A prominent theme on Boston's album covers is the presence of a guitar-shaped spaceship, ostensibly a generation or colony ship carrying the city of Boston inside a clear dome, with the city's name emblazoned across the front. The original spaceship was designed in 1976 by Paula Scher and illustrated by Roger Huyssen with lettering by Gerard Huerta for Epic Records.
Appearances
Boston (1976) – Two long lines of guitar shaped starships flee a planet that is breaking apart. The ships all have blue flames coming out of the bottom.
Don't Look Back (1978) – The Boston ship is flying low or perhaps hovering over a grassy, crystalline planet. The ship has searchlights on.
Third Stage (1986) – The Boston ship is headed towards a large flat spaceship resembling a bank of pipe organ pipes over a blue planet.
Walk On (1994) – The Boston ship is shown crashing through a rock outcropping.
Greatest Hits (1997, compilation album) – The Boston ship is flying low over a planet with turquoise rocks and a turquoise tower in the distance.
Corporate America (2002) – The Boston ship is flying towards Earth and the United States.
Life, Love & Hope (2013) – The Boston ship is flying in space, near a nebula.
Their spaceship also appeared on their tours in the late 1980s, early 1990s, and early 2000s in the form of a giant lighting rig and accompanied on stage by their giant pipe-organ set piece, which is known to Boston insiders as Bertha because of its sheer size.
Innovation and style
Boston's genre is considered by most to be hard rock and arena rock, while combining elements of progressive rock into its music.
Boston founder, guitarist, and primary songwriter Tom Scholz's blend of musical styles, ranging from classical to 1960s English pop, has resulted in a unique sound, most consistently realized on the first two albums (Boston and Don't Look Back). This sound is characterized by multiple lead and blended harmonies guitar work (usually harmonized in thirds), often alternating between and then mixing electric and acoustic guitars. The band's harmonic style has been characterized as being "violin-like" without using synthesizers. Scholz is well-regarded for the development of complex, multi-tracked guitar harmonies. Another contributing factor is the use of handmade, high-tech equipment, such as the Rockman, used by artists such as Journey guitarist Neal Schon, the band ZZ Top, and Ted Nugent. Def Leppard's album Hysteria was created using only Rockman technology. Scholz's production style combines deep, aggressive, comparatively short guitar riffing and nearly ethereal, generally longer note vocal harmonies. A heavier, lower, and darker overall approach came in the next two albums (Third Stage and Walk On). The original track "Higher Power", on the Greatest Hits album, exhibits a near Neue Deutsche Härte and almost techno influence with its sequencer-sounding keyboards, a sound most fully realized on Corporate America'''s title track.
Tom Scholz also credited the late Brad Delp with helping to create Boston's sound with his signature vocal style. Delp, who was strongly influenced by the Beatles, was well known for his extended vocal range, shown on hits such as "More Than a Feeling".
Members
Current lineup
Tom Scholz – guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, percussion, backing vocals (1976–present)
Gary Pihl – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1985–present)
Jeff Neal – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2002–2008, 2014–2016, 2017–present)
Tommy DeCarlo – lead vocals, keyboards, percussion (2007–present)
Tracy Ferrie – bass, backing vocals (2012–present)
Beth Cohen – vocals, keyboards, guitar (2015–present)
Curly Smith – drums, harmonica, piano, backing vocals (1994–1997, 2012–2017, ?–present)
Discography
Studio albums Boston (1976)Don't Look Back (1978)Third Stage (1986)Walk On (1994)Corporate America (2002)Life, Love & Hope'' (2013)
References
External links
thirdstage.ca
Category:1976 establishments in Massachusetts
Category:Epic Records artists
Category:Hard rock musical groups from Massachusetts
Category:MCA Records artists
Category:Musical groups established in 1976
Category:Musical groups from Boston | [] | [
"The text does not provide information on what happened in 1989.",
"The text does not provide information on an album associated with the year 1989.",
"The text does not provide information on the success of an album associated with the year 1989.",
"Yes, after the release of their first album, Boston continued to produce music. In late 1979, Tom Scholz, the band's founder, began writing new material for what would become their third album. However, the album was delayed due to various factors, including a legal dispute with CBS. The album took six years to record and produce and its progress was further slowed due to the lawsuit. Despite these setbacks, Scholz continued working on the band's subsequent albums. For instance, he was back in the studio by spring 1990 working on their fourth studio album. So, even throughout their legal troubles and lineup changes, Boston continued to create music.",
"Yes, according to the text, their third album was delayed but eventually released, and in 1994, their album \"Walk On\" reached No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. However, it was noted that unlike previous Boston albums, \"Walk On\" failed to chart in the top 5. The song \"I Need Your Love\" from the \"Walk On\" album was a hit single and was widely played on some rock radio stations.",
"Promoters Paul Ahern and Charlie McKenzie attracted attention with Tom Scholz's final demo tape and were instrumental in securing a record deal for the band with Epic Records. However, before the deal was finalized, the band had to do a live audition for the record company executives. Ahern later became involved in a legal dispute with Scholz over an agreement that Ahern claimed gave him ownership of a percentage of all songs Scholz wrote. This dispute caused further delay in the production of new material.",
"Yes, Boston went on tour. For instance, they toured in the summer of 1995 with both Fran Cosmo and Brad Delp combining vocals. This tour followed the release of their album \"Walk On\". They also performed two benefit shows at the House of Blues in Cambridge in December 1994."
] | [
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"No"
] |
C_c0ffd310ba134e19ae6a9fb0c7cbd0c3_1 | Ai (singer) | Ai Carina Uemura (Zhi Cun Ai karina, Uemura Ai Karina, born November 2, 1981), known mononymously as Ai (Japanese pronunciation: [ai], stylized as AI or A.I. ) is a Japanese-American singer and songwriter who was born in Los Angeles. Ai spent her childhood in both Kagoshima, Japan and Los Angeles. She debuted as a singer in 2000, later moving to Def Jam Japan and rising to fame with her album 2004 Ai. | 1981-2000: Early life, SX4 | Ai was born in Los Angeles in 1981. Her father was Japanese and her mother was half Italian-American and half Japanese. She moved to Kagoshima in Japan when she was 4, and went to elementary school and junior high school in Japan. Ai was motivated to become a singer in her early teens, after singing at a cousin's wedding, having many people ask her if she wanted to be a professional singer, and hearing a gospel performance at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles in 1993. After graduating from junior high school in Japan, Ai returned to Los Angeles for high school, enrolling at Glendale High School, however found high school difficult due to never formally studying English. After making it through the audition process, she switched to the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, majoring in ballet. She became a member of the school's gospel choir. In 1998, she performed in a gospel choir at a Mary J. Blige concert at the Universal Amphitheatre, performing of "A Dream." In the same year, she appeared as a dancer in the music video for Janet Jackson's song "Go Deep." In 1999, she joined an Asian girl group called SX4, who were produced by George Brown of Kool & the Gang. Ai was a member of the group for two years, and later in 1999 the group were offered a record label deal. While on her summer holiday in Kagoshima, she performed Monica's "For You I Will" on a local radio station, which led to her being scouted by BMG Japan. She decided to take the offer, and after leaving SX4 and graduating from high school in June 2000, moved to Tokyo and debuted as a musician later in 2000. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_c0ffd310ba134e19ae6a9fb0c7cbd0c3_1_q#0",
"C_c0ffd310ba134e19ae6a9fb0c7cbd0c3_1_q#1",
"C_c0ffd310ba134e19ae6a9fb0c7cbd0c3_1_q#2",
"C_c0ffd310ba134e19ae6a9fb0c7cbd0c3_1_q#3",
"C_c0ffd310ba134e19ae6a9fb0c7cbd0c3_1_q#4",
"C_c0ffd310ba134e19ae6a9fb0c7cbd0c3_1_q#5"
] | [
"Where was Ai born?",
"When did she first show interest in music?",
"what kind of music did she perform as a teenager?",
"was she raised in a religious environment?",
"when did she change from gospel music to other kinds of music?",
"what happened in 1999?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
2,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
15
],
[
275
],
[
873
],
[
449
],
[
1110
],
[
1119
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Los Angeles"
],
[
"early teens,"
],
[
"gospel choir"
],
[
"Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles"
],
[
"In 1999,"
],
[
"she joined an Asian girl group"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
15,
275,
873,
449,
1110,
1119
],
"texts": [
"Los Angeles",
"early teens,",
"gospel choir",
"Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles",
"In 1999,",
"she joined an Asian girl group"
]
} | , known mononymously as Ai (, stylized as AI or A.I. ), is a Japanese-American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, spokeswoman, and actress. Born in Los Angeles, California, Ai moved to Kagoshima, at age 4. Motivated to become a singer, Ai returned to Los Angeles, attending the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. While in Los Angeles, Ai began her musical career performing as part of a gospel choir at a Mary J. Blige concert and as a dancer for Janet Jackson's music video, "Go Deep". She briefly joined the Asian girl group SX4 in 1999 until she graduated high school.
After being discovered by BMG in 2000, Ai relocated to Japan and released her debut album, My Name is Ai (2001), to very little commercial success. Signing to Def Jam Records Japan in 2002, Ai became the first woman signed to the label. She released two studio albums under the label, Original Ai (2003) and 2004 Ai. With the release of her third studio album, Ai rose to mainstream prominence in Japan. Signing to Island Records, Ai released her fourth studio album, Mic-a-Holic Ai in 2005. Its second single "Story" became one of the biggest singles of the 2000s in Japan, peaking at number 8 on the Japanese Oricon singles chart, and was the sixth single in history to receive a triple million digital certification by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).
Ai's fifth studio album, What's Goin' On Ai (2006), featured the top-ten singles "Believe" and "I Wanna Know", the latter receiving a Gold certification from the RIAJ. Her sixth studio album, Don't Stop Ai (2007) saw similar success, which received a Gold certification. In 2009, she released her seventh studio album, Viva Ai, which charted in the top ten of the Japanese Oricon albums chart. Ai's compilation album, Best Ai (2009), became her first number one album and was certified Platinum. In 2010, she released her eighth studio album, The Last Ai, which marked her last release under Island Records.
In 2011, Ai left Universal Music Group and signed a global publishing deal with EMI. Her Gold certified ninth studio album Independent (2012) served as her international debut and first release under EMI Music Japan. To promote the album, Ai toured in Japan and her hometown, Los Angeles, California. Her tenth studio album Moriagaro (2013) marked her first release under EMI Records Japan following EMI Music Japan's absorption into Universal Music Japan as a sublabel. Her fourth compilation album, The Best (2015) peaked at number 3 on the Oricon Albums chart and number 2 on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart, later being certified Gold by the RIAJ. Its successor, The Feat. Best (2016) charted within the top 30 of both the Japan Hot Albums and Oricon Albums chart.
Ai's eleventh studio album, Wa to Yo (2017) experimented with traditional Japanese and electronic sounds. Its second single, "Kira Kira" was nominated for the Grand Prix award and won the Excellent Works Award at the 59th Japan Records Awards. Her sixth compilation album Kansha!!!!! - Thank You for 20 Years New and Best (2019) was issued to celebrate her twenty years in the music industry. Further celebrating her twenty-year anniversary, Ai released the extended plays It's All Me, Vol. 1 (2020) and It's All Me, Vol. 2 (2021). In December 2021, Ai announced her twelfth studio album, Dream. The album was released in February 2022.
Life and career
1981–1997: Early life and education
Ai was born in Los Angeles in 1981. Her father is Japanese and her mother is American of Italian and Native Okinawan descent. She moved to Kagoshima in Japan when she was 4, and went to elementary school and junior high school in Japan.
Ai was motivated to become a singer in her early teens, after singing at a cousin's wedding, having many people ask her if she wanted to be a professional singer, and hearing a gospel performance at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles in 1993. After graduating from junior high school in Japan, Ai returned to Los Angeles for high school, enrolling at Glendale High School, however found high school difficult due to never formally studying English. After making it through the audition process, she switched to the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, majoring in ballet. She became a member of the school's gospel choir.
1998–1999: Career beginnings
While attending Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, Ai began her musical career by performing in a gospel choir at a Mary J. Blige concert at the Universal Amphitheatre, performing of "A Dream". In the same year, she appeared as a dancer in the music video for Janet Jackson's song "Go Deep". In 1999, Ai joined an Asian girl group called SX4, who were produced by George Brown of Kool & the Gang. Later in 1999, the group was offered a record label deal.
2000–2004: Relocation to Japan
While on a summer holiday in Kagoshima, Ai performed Monica's "For You I Will" on a local radio station, which led to her being scouted by BMG. She decided to take the offer, and after leaving SX4 and graduating from high school in June 2000, moved to Tokyo and debuted as a musician later in 2000.
Ai debuted under BMG Japan sublabel RCA Records with the single "Cry, Just Cry" in November 2000. Two additional singles were released, "U Can Do" and "Shining Star". Although the latter failed to chart, "Shining Star" charted and peaked at number 98 on the Oricon singles chart. Eventually, her debut studio album, My Name Is Ai was released in November 2001. Although not commercially successful, the album peaked at number 86 on the Oricon albums chart.
In 2002 Ai moved to Def Jam Japan and became the first female artist signed to the label. Ai claimed that she felt more at home under Def Jam, as many of her co-workers shared her musical tastes. Her first album under the label in 2003 Original Ai debuted at 15 on Oricon'''s album charts, and her second, 2004 Ai, debuted at number three. In 2004, she won the Space Shower Music Video Awards' award for Best R&B Video, with her song "Thank U".
After moving to Def Jam, Ai increasingly began collaborating with musicians, especially Japanese hip-hop and rap artists (though under BMG, Ai had collaborated with Mao Denda, and Soul'd Out rapper Diggy-Mo'). She was featured as a rapper on the Suite Chic single "Uh Uh,,,,,", a collaboration between Namie Amuro, Verbal of M-Flo, and music producer Ryōsuke Imai in 2003. Other musicians Ai collaborated with in this period were Afra, Boy-Ken, Joe Budden, Dabo, Deli, Double, Heartsdales, Ken Hirai, M-Flo, Sphere of Influence and Zeebra. Towards the end of 2004, Ai's former label BMG released a compilation album titled Flashback to Ai. The compilation featured songs originally recorded for her debut studio album. Soon after, Ai left Def Jam Japan and signed to Island Records and Universal Sigma. The label released a compilation titled Feat. Ai of songs that have her as a featured artist.
2005–2010: "Story", rise in fame
In 2005, Ai released the ballad single "Story", which became the biggest hit of her career. A sleeper hit, the song charted for 20 weeks in the top 30 in 2005 and 2006 and went on to sell over three million ringtones, one million cellphone downloads, and 270,000 physical copies. Ai later performed "Story" at the prestigious 56th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen New Years music concert. Her next studio album, Mic-a-holic Ai, was the best selling album of her career, being certified double Platinum by the RIAJ.
Ai's first single of 2006, the ballad "Believe", was also a success: it debuted at number two, and sold more than one million ringtones. The song was used as the theme song of the Kenji Sakaguchi starring medical drama, Team Medical Dragon. Her next two albums, What's Goin' On Ai (2006) and Don't Stop Ai (2007) were also greatly commercially successful, being certified Platinum and Gold respectively. In 2007, Ai made her debut performance in the United States at the El Ray Theatre with an audience around 800. In 2008, Ai returned to Los Angeles for her Ai Loves LA concert at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. The performance was a benefit concert for the Go For Broke National Education Center, an organization that commemorates Japanese Americans who served in the United States Army during World War II.
In 2009, Ai released her seventh studio album Viva Ai, which charted in the top ten of the Japanese Oricon albums chart. Her greatest hits album, Best Ai was released the same year. Best Ai later became Ai's first album to top the Oricon Albums chart. Ai debuted as a film director in August 2009 with her short film, Take Action, which was recorded in Los Angeles. Alongside Anna Tsuchiya and Micro, Ai also directed the drama film, Blue Pacific Stories. Later that year, Ai performed "Okuribito" and "Story" at the 3rd Asia Pacific Screen Awards which was held in Gold Coast, Australia.
In 2010, Ai collaborated with many artists such as Namie Amuro, Miliyah Kato, Chaka Khan and Boyz II Men on her 10th anniversary album, The Last Ai. Both Ai and Khan won the International Collaboration Artists of the Year at the 2010 Billboard Japan Music Awards for the song "One More Try" and a cover of Khan's "Through the Fire".
2011–2016: Independent, Moriagaro and The Best
In June 2011, Ai signed a global publishing deal with EMI and a record deal with EMI Music Japan. She collaborated with The Jacksons on December 13 and 14, 2011, at the Michael Jackson Tribute Live tribute concerts held in Tokyo. She performed the vocals in the third act for Michael Jackson's songs. She also performed and released the theme song for the event, "Letter in the Sky" featuring the Jacksons. In November 2011, Ai released the song "Happiness", a collaboration with Coca-Cola for their winter 2011 campaign. The song was a hit, being certified Gold in two different mediums. The song revitalized the sales of her ninth studio album, Independent, which has sold more than 60,000 copies. Independent was Ai's first album to be released internationally outside of Asia. In promotion of the album, Ai embarked on the Independent Tour 2012. The tour included a performance at Club Nokia in Los Angeles. In the same year, Ai announced she was working on her US debut album. One song, a remix of Diggy Simmons song "Put You On" featuring Chris Brown and Diggy Simmons himself was released, however the album was never released.
On April 1, 2013, EMI Music Japan was completely merged into Universal Music Japan as a sublabel by the name of EMI Records Japan as a result of Universal Music's purchase of EMI in September 2012. Ai's tenth studio album, Moriagaro, was released in July 2013, serving as her first release under EMI Japan, although was not released outside of Asia. Its lead single "Voice" peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 and was certified Platinum. Later that year, Ai performed "Story" in collaboration with figure skater and two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu at the touring ice show Fantasy on Ice amongst others. In 2014, Ai was transferred to EMI Records after EMI Japan was split and rebranded. A previously unreleased English version of Ai's single "Story" was featured in the Japanese dub of the Disney film Big Hero 6 in October 2014.
In January 2015, Ai recorded the song "Off Love" for Spicy Chocolate and Sly and Robbie's Grammy-nominated album, The Reggae Power. In November 2015, Ai released a compilation album, The Best, to celebrate fifteen years in the music industry. The compilation album was reissued in mid-2016. In 2016, Ai signed with Def Jam Recordings in partnership with EMI Records. She later released "Minna ga Minna ga Eiyū", which became a sleeper hit, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. The original 100-second version of the song was certified Platinum while the full version was certified Gold. A third compilation release of tracks with featured artists titled The Feat. Best was issued in November 2016. In promotion of these compilation releases, Ai embarked on The Best Tour.
2017–2022: Wa to Yo, twenty-year anniversary and Dream
Ai teased her eleventh studio album, Wa to Yo on social media in April 2017. Wanting to "convey the goodness of Japan" to the rest of the world and "the goodness of the overseas to Japanese people", Ai collaborated with several producers, artists and songwriters from both Japan and the west. The lead single "Justice Will Prevail at Last" was released in May 2017. Wa to Yo was released in June 2017 and was her second international album release outside of Asia. The album was reissued in October 2017, titled Wa to Yo to. The album peaked at number 11 on the Oricon weekly chart.
In early 2019, Ai traveled to her hometown, Los Angeles, California, to record new material to celebrate twenty years in the music industry and for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Her fourth compilation album, Kansha!!!!! - Thank You for 20 Years New and Best, was released in November 2019, serving as her first international compilation release. In April 2020, Ai was revealed to be one of the artists performing for Global Citizen's Together At Home concert. Performing various songs from her discography, Ai was the first and only artist in Japan to participate in the event. In June 2020, Ai's extended play, It's All Me, Vol. 1 was announced and originally was planned to be released on the start of the 2020 Olympics, but instead was released on July 8, 2020, after the event was postponed to summer 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lead single of It's All Me, Vol. 1, "Summer Magic" was her second single to be released internationally. Its Japanese version was included in an advertisement for the Amazon Echo.
In November 2020, "Not So Different" was released digitally as the lead single for Ai's extended play, It's All Me, Vol. 2. In December 2020, Ai partnered with One Young World and released a special music video of the song in support of the project. A remix of "Not So Different" featuring Japanese rapper Awich was released on December 11, 2020, as a promotional single. A promotional single, "Hope" was released on January 30, 2021, with its music video premiering the same day. Ai partnered with deleteC, a non-profit organization in Japan aiming to support cancer treatment. It's All Me, Vol. 2 later was released in February 2021. In March 2021, EMI released a compilation EP of songs by Ai titled Self Selection "Hip Hop". In June 2021, Ai's previous releases with Def Jam Japan, Universal Sigma and Island Records were made available internationally for digital streaming.
On June 28, 2021, Ai released "The Moment" featuring Japanese rapper Yellow Bucks. On the same day, she performed the song with Yellow Bucks and DJ Ryow on CDTV, a Japanese TV channel by TBS. In August 2021, she released a single featuring Dachi Miura, titled "In the Middle". In September 2021, Ai announced her next single, "Aldebaran". The song serves as the theme song for the NHK television drama, Come Come Everybody. Upon its release in November, it became her first charting single on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 since her 2017 single, "Kira Kira". The song debuted and peaked at number 37 on the chart. On the Oricon charts, "Aldebaran" peaked at number 4 on the Daily Digital Singles Chart and number 6 on the weekly Digital Singles Chart. Ai performed "Aldebaran" at the 72nd NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen on December 31, 2021, her fourth appearance on the show. In December 2021, Ai announced her twelfth studio album on social media, Dream. The nine-track album was released in February 2022. A tour titled after the album began on May 14, 2022 until December. In April 2022, Ai was featured on the front cover of Music Magazine. In May 2022, "Aldebaran" won the Best Drama Song award at the 111th Television Drama Academy Awards.
2023: Respect Tour, upcoming global tour
In April 2023, Ai announced the Respect Tour, her fourteenth headlining concert tour. The tour is expected to have 80,000 people attending with the easing of COVID-19 prevention rules in Japan. A single titled after the tour was released on May 22. In May, Ai performed live in Hiroshima on the same day the 49th G7 summit took place. Ai performed and gave a speech to the spouses of world leaders, including First Lady Jill Biden and Akshata Murty, the wife of Rishi Sunak. Within that same month, a global tour additionally was announced by her management company where Ai will raise donations for UNICEF Japan.
Artistry
Influences
Ai's earliest musical influence was gospel music, which she discovered when her mother's friend took her to a gospel church during junior high school. In an interview with Vogue, Ai stated Michael Jackson is one of her biggest musical influences. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Janet Jackson, Puff Daddy, Usher, Mary. J. Blige, Tupac Shakur, and Whitney Houston have also heavily influenced Ai while she was a teenager.
Musical styles
Ai's discography spans R&B, hip hop, pop, J-pop, and dance genres. Critics have compared her to Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, and Missy Elliott. The Los Angeles Times has described Ai as a "fast-rising diva with authentic American-sounding R&B". While her early works are primarily marketed as R&B, her ninth and tenth studio albums, Independent and Moriagaro experimented with dance-pop. Ai's eleventh studio album Wa to Yo experimented with traditional Japanese and electropop sounds, while also featuring a return to her early R&B sound. Her 2019 greatest hits album Kansha!!!!! - Thank You for 20 Years New and Best heavily featured gospel influences. Ai's twelfth studio album Dream has been described as a pop and R&B album with influence from hip hop and gospel music.
Other ventures
In April 2011, Ai presented a music documentary, Ai Miss Michael Jackson: King of Pop no Kiseki, that was recorded for Music On! TV. In the documentary, she traveled to the United States and interviewed members of the Jackson family in their home.
For the American musical comedy Glee's season two episode "Britney/Brittany", Ai dubbed the voice of Britney Spears in the Japanese release.
Products and endorsements
As is standard for Japanese musicians, Ai has featured as a spokesman, or has her music featured, for many products. Ai's songs have been used as TV commercial songs, drama theme songs, film theme songs and TV show ending theme songs.
Ai has worked on four major Coca-Cola TV commercial campaigns, two featuring her own songs ("You Are My Star" (2009), "Happiness" (2011)) and two featuring collaborations (K'naan's "Wavin' Flag" (2009), Namie Amuro's "Wonder Woman" (2011)). She has also been featured in two Audio-Technica campaigns (using "My Friend (Live Version)" and "I'll Remember You", a campaign for Japan Airlines ("Brand New Day") and Pepsi Nex with "I Wanna Know".
Ai's most high-profile work for a TV drama was the theme song for 2006's primetime drama Team Medical Dragon, "Believe", which was one of her greatest hits, selling over one million ringtones. Ai also sung the theme song for the drama's second series, "One". Ai also worked on the theme song for the 2010 primetime drama Keishichō Keizoku Sōsahan, "Nemurenai Machi". Other program theme songs include the Japanese theme song for the American drama Heroes ("Taisetsu na Mono"), and the 15th ending theme for the children's animation Crayon Shin-chan, "Crayon Beats"). In 2005, Ai's song "Alive (English Version)" was used as an insert song for the South Korean drama Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang.
Many of Ai's songs have been used in films. Her "Story" song was remade (also with its English version) for Disney's box office Big Hero 6 in 2014. She performed the theme song for Departures (2008), the winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009. She has also sung the theme songs for Crayon Shin-chan: The Legend Called Buri Buri 3 Minutes Charge (2005), Pray (2005), Lalapipo (2009) and Berserk Golden Age Arc I: The Egg of the High King (2012). Her music has been featured on the soundtracks of TKO Hiphop (2005), the musical film Memories of Matsuko (2006), in which Ai cameoed to perform the song, and Heat Island (2007).
Legacy
In Japan, Ai has earned the nickname "Queen of hip-hop soul".
With her management company The Mic-a-holics, Ai helped launch the careers of many Japanese acts, including Japanese singer Riri. In 2012, The Independent listed Ai as the next big thing in Asian pop.
Personal life
On March 6, 2013, Ai announced her engagement to Hiro, the leader and vocalist of the rock band Kaikigesshoku. The pair had been dating for 10 years, and wed in January 2014. On August 28, 2015, Ai gave birth to her first child, a baby girl. On July 24, 2018, it was revealed Ai was pregnant with her second child. Her second child, a boy, was born on December 29, 2018.
In 2019, outdoor advertisements for Ai's single, "Summer Magic" were displayed at Shinjuku Station. The advertisement displayed a search result of her name, which showed top results for artificial intelligence (AI), while a cut off photo of Ai herself appeared on the bottom of the search result. On Twitter, Ai revealed her distaste of artificial intelligence being the top results when searching her name mononymously on search engines.
In 2020, Ai was appointed an official artist of One Young World Japan.
In May 2023, Ai became a volunteer of UNICEF Japan, coinciding with the 49th G7 summit that took place in Hiroshima. Having a desire for world peace and equality, Ai commented in an interview that she wants to "...take the message of peace and policy change to not only the G7 leaders gathering in Hiroshima, but to our children across the world who grow up, or may grow up, in the midst of strife and conflict."
Controversy
In 2012, Ai was part of a controversy regarding the murder of Nicola Furlong. Reports from The Japan Times and Irish Independent stated James Blackston and Richard Hinds were working for Ai as performers for her Independent Tour 2012. On May 21, a day after the tour performance in Sendai, Blackston was at a dance school within the city teaching dance moves for a number of Ai songs to students. Regarding allegations of a connection to the crime, Ai and her representative team declined to make an official statement.
Discography
My Name Is Ai (2001)
Original Ai (2003)
2004 Ai (2004)
Mic-a-holic Ai (2005)
What's Goin' On Ai (2006)
Don't Stop Ai (2007)
Viva Ai (2009)
The Last Ai (2010)
Independent (2012)
Moriagaro (2013)
Wa to Yo (2017)Dream'' (2022)
Filmography
Film
Television
Director
Tours
Original Ai Live Tour (2003)
2004 Ai Live Tour (2004)
Mic-a-holic Ai Tour '05 (2005)
What's Goin On Ai Tour (2006)
Don't Stop Ai Tour (2008)
Viva Ai Tour (2009)
Ai Tour (2011)
Independent Tour 2012 (2012)
Moriagaro Tour (2013)
The Best Tour (2016)
Ai Tour Wa to Yo (2017)
It's All Me Tour (2020)
Dream Tour (2021)
Respect Tour (2023–2024)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official website
Ai on Twitter
Ai on Instagram
Ai on YouTube
Category:1981 births
Category:Living people
Category:21st-century American women singers
Category:21st-century American singers
Category:21st-century Japanese women singers
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:21st-century women rappers
Category:21st-century Japanese singers
Category:21st-century American rappers
Category:21st-century Japanese actresses
Category:People from Los Angeles
Category:Singers from Los Angeles
Category:Songwriters from California
Category:People from Kagoshima
Category:Musicians from Kagoshima Prefecture
Category:Los Angeles County High School for the Arts alumni
Category:Actresses from Los Angeles
Category:American people of Italian descent
Category:Japanese people of American descent
Category:Japanese people of Italian descent
Category:American musicians of Japanese descent
Category:American women songwriters
Category:American women pop singers
Category:Japanese women pop singers
Category:American hip hop singers
Category:Japanese hip hop singers
Category:American contemporary R&B singers
Category:Record producers from Los Angeles
Category:Japanese rhythm and blues singers
Category:English-language singers from Japan
Category:Bertelsmann Music Group artists
Category:RCA Records artists
Category:Universal Music Group artists
Category:Universal Music Japan artists
Category:Def Jam Recordings artists
Category:Island Records artists
Category:EMI Music Japan artists
Category:EMI Records artists
Category:American expatriates in Japan
Category:Citizens of Japan through descent
Category:Japanese women singer-songwriters
Category:Japanese singer-songwriters
Category:American women singer-songwriters
Category:American rappers of Asian descent
Category:American women rappers
Category:Japanese rappers
Category:Pop rappers
Category:Women hip hop record producers
Category:American hip hop record producers
Category:American women record producers
Category:Japanese women record producers
Category:Spokespersons
Category:Fantasy on Ice guest artists | [] | [
"Ai was born in Los Angeles in 1981.",
"Ai was motivated to become a singer in her early teens, after singing at a cousin's wedding and hearing a gospel performance at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles in 1993.",
"As a teenager, Ai performed gospel music. She sang in her school's gospel choir and performed in a gospel choir at a Mary J. Blige concert.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Ai was raised in a religious environment.",
"The text does not provide specific information on when Ai transitioned from gospel music to other kinds of music.",
"In 1999, Ai joined an Asian girl group called SX4, who were produced by George Brown of Kool & the Gang. Later in the same year, the group was offered a record label deal. During her summer holiday in Kagoshima, she performed Monica's \"For You I Will\" on a local radio station, which led her to being scouted by BMG Japan."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"no",
"Yes"
] |
C_db3f378e43934068bdb85f103281e8bc_1 | Jane Jacobs | Jane Jacobs (born Jane Butzner; May 4, 1916 - April 25, 2006) was an American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. Her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) argued that urban renewal did not respect the needs of city-dwellers. It also introduced the sociological concepts "eyes on the street" and "social capital". Jacobs organized grassroots efforts to protect neighborhoods from "slum clearance", in particular Robert Moses' plans to overhaul her own Greenwich Village neighborhood. | New York City | In 1935, during the Great Depression, she moved to New York City with her sister Betty. Jane Butzner took an immediate liking to Manhattan's Greenwich Village, which did not conform to the city's grid structure. The sisters soon moved there from Brooklyn. During her early years in the city, Jacobs held a variety of jobs working as a stenographer and freelance writer, writing about working districts in the city. These experiences, she later said, "... gave me more of a notion of what was going on in the city and what business was like, what work was like." Her first job was for a trade magazine as a secretary, then an editor. She sold articles to the Sunday Herald Tribune, Cue magazine, and Vogue. She studied at Columbia University's School of General Studies for two years, taking courses in geology, zoology, law, political science, and economics. About the freedom to pursue study across her wide-ranging interests, she said: For the first time I liked school and for the first time I made good marks. This was almost my undoing because after I had garnered, statistically, a certain number of credits I became the property of Barnard College at Columbia, and once I was the property of Barnard I had to take, it seemed, what Barnard wanted me to take, not what I wanted to learn. Fortunately my high-school marks had been so bad that Barnard decided I could not belong to it and I was therefore allowed to continue getting an education. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_db3f378e43934068bdb85f103281e8bc_1_q#0",
"C_db3f378e43934068bdb85f103281e8bc_1_q#1",
"C_db3f378e43934068bdb85f103281e8bc_1_q#2",
"C_db3f378e43934068bdb85f103281e8bc_1_q#3",
"C_db3f378e43934068bdb85f103281e8bc_1_q#4",
"C_db3f378e43934068bdb85f103281e8bc_1_q#5",
"C_db3f378e43934068bdb85f103281e8bc_1_q#6",
"C_db3f378e43934068bdb85f103281e8bc_1_q#7"
] | [
"What did Jacobs do in NYC?",
"Did she go to school?",
"Did she graduate?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Why did she move to New York City?",
"Did she not like the city's grid structure?",
"Did she do anything else significant in NYC?",
"Was that her first job in NYC?"
] | [
0,
0,
1,
2,
1,
1,
2,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
257
],
[
708
],
[
1453
],
[
0
],
[
88
],
[
212
],
[
634
],
[
563
]
],
"texts": [
[
"During her early years in the city, Jacobs held a variety of jobs working as a stenographer and freelance writer, writing about working districts in the city."
],
[
"She studied at Columbia University's School of General Studies for two years,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"In 1935, during the Great Depression, she moved to New York City with her sister Betty."
],
[
"Jane Butzner took an immediate liking to Manhattan's Greenwich Village, which did not conform to the city's grid structure."
],
[
"The sisters soon moved there from Brooklyn."
],
[
"She sold articles to the Sunday Herald Tribune, Cue magazine, and Vogue."
],
[
"Her first job was for a trade magazine as a secretary, then an editor."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
257,
708,
1453,
0,
88,
212,
634,
563
],
"texts": [
"During her early years in the city, Jacobs held a variety of jobs working as a stenographer and freelance writer, writing about working districts in the city.",
"She studied at Columbia University's School of General Studies for two years,",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"In 1935, during the Great Depression, she moved to New York City with her sister Betty.",
"Jane Butzner took an immediate liking to Manhattan's Greenwich Village, which did not conform to the city's grid structure.",
"The sisters soon moved there from Brooklyn.",
"She sold articles to the Sunday Herald Tribune, Cue magazine, and Vogue.",
"Her first job was for a trade magazine as a secretary, then an editor."
]
} | Jane Jacobs (née Butzner; 4 May 1916 – 25 April 2006) was a US-Canadian journalist, author, theorist, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. Her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) argued that "urban renewal" and "slum clearance" did not respect the needs of city-dwellers.
Jacobs organized grassroots efforts to protect neighborhoods from urban renewal and slum clearance – in particular plans by Robert Moses to overhaul her own Greenwich Village neighborhood. She was instrumental in the eventual cancellation of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, which would have passed directly through the area of Manhattan that would later become known as SoHo, as well as part of Little Italy and Chinatown. She was arrested in 1968 for inciting a crowd at a public hearing on that project. After moving to Toronto in 1968, she joined the opposition to the Spadina Expressway and the associated network of expressways in Toronto that were planned and under construction.
As a woman and a writer who criticized experts in the male-dominated field of urban planning, Jacobs endured scorn from established figures. Routinely, she was described first as a housewife, as she did not have a college degree or any formal training in urban planning; as a result, her lack of credentials was seized upon as grounds for criticism. However, the influence of her concepts eventually was acknowledged by highly respected professionals such as Richard Florida and Robert Lucas.
Early years
Jacobs was born Jane Isabel Butzner in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Bess Robison Butzner, a former teacher and nurse, and John Decker Butzner, a physician. They were a Protestant family in a heavily Roman Catholic town. Her brother, John Decker Butzner, Jr., served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. After graduation from Scranton High School, she worked for a year as the unpaid assistant to the women's page editor at the Scranton Tribune.
New York City
In 1935, during the Great Depression, she moved to New York City with her sister Betty. Jane Butzner took an immediate liking to Manhattan's Greenwich Village, which deviated some from the city's grid structure. The sisters soon moved there from Brooklyn.
During her early years in Manhattan, Jacobs held a variety of jobs working as a stenographer and freelance writer, writing about working districts in the city. These experiences, she later said, "gave me more of a notion of what was going on in the city and what business was like, what work was like." Her first job was for a trade magazine, as a secretary, then an editor. She sold articles to the Sunday Herald Tribune, Cue magazine, and Vogue.
She studied at Columbia University's School of General Studies for two years, taking courses in geology, zoology, law, political science, and economics. About the freedom to pursue study across her wide-ranging interests, she said:
For the first time I liked school and for the first time I made good marks. This was almost my undoing because after I had garnered, statistically, a certain number of credits I became the property of Barnard College at Columbia, and once I was the property of Barnard I had to take, it seemed, what Barnard wanted me to take, not what I wanted to learn. Fortunately my high-school marks had been so bad that Barnard decided I could not belong to it and I was therefore allowed to continue getting an education.
Career
After attending Columbia University's School of General Studies for two years, Butzner found a job at Iron Age magazine. Her 1943 article on economic decline in Scranton was well publicized and led the Murray Corporation of America to locate a warplane factory there. Encouraged by this success, Butzner petitioned the War Production Board to support more operations in Scranton. Experiencing job discrimination at Iron Age, she also advocated for equal pay for women and for the right of workers to unionize.
Amerika
She became a feature writer for the Office of War Information and then a reporter for Amerika, a publication of the U.S. State Department in the Russian language. While working there she met Robert Hyde Jacobs Jr., a Columbia-educated architect who was designing warplanes for Grumman. They married in 1944. Together they had a daughter, Burgin, and two sons, James and Ned. They bought a three-story building at 555 Hudson Street. Jane continued to write for Amerika after the war, while Robert left Grumman and resumed work as an architect.
The Jacobses rejected the rapidly growing suburbs as "parasitic", choosing to remain in Greenwich Village. They renovated their house, in the middle of a mixed residential and commercial area, and created a garden in the backyard.
Working for the State Department during the McCarthy era, Jacobs received a questionnaire about her political beliefs and loyalties. Jacobs was anti-communist and had left the Federal Workers Union because of its apparent communist sympathies. Nevertheless, she was pro-union and purportedly appreciated the writing of Saul Alinsky; therefore she was under suspicion. On 25 March 1952, Jacobs delivered her response to Conrad E. Snow, chairman of the Loyalty Security Board at the United States Department of State. In her foreword to her answer, she said:
The other threat to the security of our tradition, I believe, lies at home. It is the current fear of radical ideas and of people who propound them. I do not agree with the extremists of either the left or the right, but I think they should be allowed to speak and to publish, both because they themselves have, and ought to have, rights, and once their rights are gone, the rights of the rest of us are hardly safe...
Architectural Forum
Jacobs left Amerika in 1952 when it announced its relocation to Washington, D.C. She then found a well-paying job at Architectural Forum, published by Henry Luce of Time Inc. She was hired as an associate editor. After early success in that position, Jacobs began to take assignments on urban planning and "urban blight". In 1954, she was assigned to cover a development in Philadelphia designed by Edmund Bacon. Although her editors expected a positive story, Jacobs criticized Bacon's project, reacting against its lack of concern for the poor African Americans who were directly affected. When Bacon showed Jacobs examples of undeveloped and developed blocks, she determined that "development" seemed to end community life on the street. When Jacobs returned to the offices of Architectural Forum, she began to question the 1950s consensus on urban planning.
In 1955, Jacobs met William Kirk, an Episcopal minister who worked in East Harlem. Kirk came to the Architectural Forum offices to describe the impact that "revitalization" had on East Harlem, and he introduced Jacobs to the neighborhood.
In 1956, while standing in for Douglas Haskell of Architectural Forum, Jacobs delivered a lecture at Harvard University. She addressed leading architects, urban planners, and intellectuals (including Lewis Mumford), speaking on the topic of East Harlem. She urged this audience to "respect – in the deepest sense – strips of chaos that have a weird wisdom of their own not yet encompassed in our concept of urban order." Contrary to her expectations, the talk was received with enthusiasm, but it also marked her as a threat to established urban planners, real estate owners, and developers. Architectural Forum printed the speech that year, along with photographs of East Harlem.
Rockefeller Foundation and Death and Life of Great American Cities
After reading her Harvard speech, William H. Whyte invited Jacobs to write an article for Fortune magazine. The resulting piece, "Downtown Is for People", appeared in a 1958 issue of Fortune, and marked her first public criticism of Robert Moses. Her criticism of the Lincoln Center was not popular with supporters of urban renewal at Architectural Forum and Fortune. C.D. Jackson, the publisher of Fortune, was outraged and over the telephone, demanded of Whyte: "Who is this crazy dame?"
The Fortune article brought Jacobs to the attention of Chadbourne Gilpatric, then associate director of the Humanities Division at the Rockefeller Foundation. The foundation had moved aggressively into urban topics, with a recent award to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for studies of urban aesthetics that would culminate in the publication of Kevin A. Lynch's Image of the City. In May 1958, Gilpatric invited Jacobs to begin serving as a reviewer for grant proposals. Later that year, the Rockefeller Foundation awarded a grant to Jacobs to produce a critical study of city planning and urban life in the U.S. (From the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, the foundation's Humanities Division sponsored an "Urban Design Studies" research program, of which Jacobs was the best known grantee.) Gilpatric encouraged Jacobs to "explor[e] the field of urban design to look for ideas and actions which may improve thinking on how the design of cities might better serve urban life, including cultural and humane value." Affiliating with The New School (then called The New School for Social Research), she spent three years conducting research and writing drafts. In 1961, Random House published the result: The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities remains one of the most influential books in the history of American city planning. She coined the terms "social capital", "mixed primary uses", and "eyes on the street", which were adopted professionally in urban design, sociology, and many other fields. Jacobs painted a devastating picture of the profession of city planning, labeling it a pseudoscience. This angered the male-dominated urban planning profession. Jacobs was criticized with ad hominem attacks, being called a "militant dame" and a "housewife": an amateur who had no right to interfere with an established discipline. One planner dismissed Jacobs's book as "bitter coffee-house rambling". Robert Moses, sent a copy, called it "intemperate and also libelous... Sell this junk to someone else."
Later, her book was criticized from the left for leaving out race and openly endorsing gentrification, which Jacobs referred to as "unslumming".
In 1962, she resigned her position at Architectural Forum to become a full-time author and concentrate on raising her children. In other political activities she became an opponent of the Vietnam War, marched on the Pentagon in October 1967, and criticized the construction of the World Trade Center as a disaster for Manhattan's waterfront.
Struggle for Greenwich Village
During the 1950s and 1960s, her home neighborhood of Greenwich Village was being transformed by city and state efforts to build housing (see, for example, Jacobs's 1961 fight to build the West Village Houses in lieu of large apartment houses), private developers, the expansion of New York University, and by the urban renewal plans of Robert Moses. Moses' plan, funded as "slum clearance" by Title I of the Housing Act of 1949, also called for several blocks to be razed and replaced with upscale high-rises. The plan forced 132 families out of their homes and displaced 1,000 small businessesthe result was Washington Square Village.
As part of his efforts to revitalize the area, Moses had proposed the extension of Fifth Avenue through Washington Square Park in 1935. In the face of community opposition, Moses had shelved the project, but revived the idea in the 1950s. Moses argued that the Fifth Avenue extension would improve the flow of traffic through the neighborhood and provide access to the planned Lower Manhattan Expressway (LOMEX), which would connect the Manhattan Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge with the Holland Tunnel.
In response, local activist Shirley Hayes created the "Committee to Save Washington Square Park", a coalition of dozens of local neighborhood groups that opposed the roadway extension. Raymond S. Rubinow eventually took over the organization, changing its name to the "Joint Emergency Committee to Close Washington Square to Traffic". Jacobs had joined the committee under Hayes, but she took a more prominent role under Rubinow, reaching out to media outlets such as The Village Voice, which provided more sympathetic coverage than The New York Times. The committee gained the support of Margaret Mead, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lewis Mumford, Charles Abrams, and William H. Whyte, as well as Carmine De Sapio, a Greenwich Village resident and influential Democratic leader. De Sapio's involvement proved decisive. On 25 June 1958, the city closed Washington Square Park to traffic, and the joint committee held a ribbon tying (not cutting) ceremony.
Plans for LOMEX expressway continued despite growing community opposition in areas such as Little Italy. In the 1960s, Jacobs chaired the Joint Committee to Stop the Lower Manhattan Expressway. The New York Times was sympathetic to Moses, while The Village Voice covered community rallies and advocated against the expressway. Jacobs continued to fight the expressway when plans resurfaced in 1962, 1965, and 1968, and she became a local hero for her opposition to the project. She was arrested by a plainclothes police officer on April 10, 1968, at a public hearing during which the crowd had charged the stage and destroyed the stenographer's notes. She was accused of inciting a riot, criminal mischief, and obstructing public administration. After months of trials conducted in New York City (to which Jacobs commuted from Toronto), her charge was reduced to disorderly conduct.
New York: A Documentary Film devoted an hour of the eight-part, seventeen-and-a-half-hour series to the battle between Moses and Jacobs. Robert Caro's biography of Moses, The Power Broker, gives only passing mention to this event, however, despite Jacobs's strong influence on Caro. In 2017, Caro told an interviewer about the difficulty in cutting more than 300,000 words from his initial manuscript: "The section that I wrote on Jane Jacobs disappeared. To this day, when someone says: 'There's hardly a mention of Jane Jacobs,' I think, 'But I wrote a lot about her.' Every time I'm asked about that, I have this sick feeling."
Life in Toronto
Soon after her arrest in 1968, Jacobs moved to Toronto, eventually settling at 69 Albany Avenue in The Annex from 1971 until her death in 2006. She decided to leave the U.S. in part because she opposed the Vietnam War, she worried about the fate of her two draft-age sons, and she did not want to continue fighting the New York City government. She and her husband chose Toronto because it was pleasant and offered employment opportunities, and they moved to an area of Toronto that included so many Americans avoiding the draft that it was called the "American ghetto".
She quickly became a leading figure in her new city and helped stop the proposed Spadina Expressway. A frequent theme of her work was to ask whether cities were being built for people or for cars. She was arrested twice during demonstrations. She also had considerable influence on the regeneration of the St. Lawrence neighbourhood, a housing project regarded as a major success. She became a Canadian citizen in 1974 and later, she told writer James Howard Kunstler that dual citizenship was not possible at the time, implying that her U.S. citizenship was lost.
In 1980, she offered a more urban perspective on Quebec's sovereignty in her book, The Question of Separatism: Quebec and the Struggle over Separation. Jacobs was an advocate of a Province of Toronto to separate the city proper from Ontario. Jacobs said, "Cities, to thrive in the twenty-first century, must separate themselves politically from their surrounding areas."
She was selected to be an officer of the Order of Canada in 1996 for her seminal writings and thought-provoking commentaries on urban development. The community and urban sociology section of the American Sociological Association awarded her its Outstanding Lifetime Contribution award in 2002. In 1997, the city government of Toronto sponsored a conference entitled, "Jane Jacobs: Ideas That Matter", which led to a book by the same name. At the end of the conference, the Jane Jacobs Prize was created. It includes an annual stipend of $5,000 for three years to be given to "celebrate Toronto's original, unsung heroes – by seeking out citizens who are engaged in activities that contribute to the city's vitality".
Jacobs never shied away from expressing her political support for specific candidates. She opposed the 1997 amalgamation of the cities of Metro Toronto, fearing that individual neighbourhoods would have less power with the new structure. She backed an ecologist, Tooker Gomberg, who lost Toronto's 2000 mayoralty race, and she was an adviser to David Miller's successful mayoral campaign in 2003, at a time when he was seen as a longshot. During the mayoral campaign, Jacobs helped lobby against the construction of a bridge to join the city waterfront to Toronto City Centre Airport (TCCA). Following the election, the Toronto city council's earlier decision to approve the bridge was reversed and the bridge construction project was stopped. TCCA did upgrade the ferry service and the airport was still in operation as of 2019. In lieu of the bridge, a pedestrian tunnel broke ground in March 2012. The tunnel opened on 30 July 2015.
Jacobs also was active in a campaign against a plan of Royal St. George's College (an established school very close to the Jacobs residence in Toronto's Annex district) to reconfigure its facilities. Jacobs suggested not only that the redesign be stopped but that the school be forced from the neighbourhood entirely. Although Toronto council initially rejected the school's plans, the decision later was reversed – and the project was given the go-ahead by the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) when opponents failed to produce credible witnesses and tried to withdraw from the case during the hearing.
She also had an influence on Vancouver's urban planning. Jacobs has been called "the mother of Vancouverism", referring to that city's use of her "density done well" philosophy.
Jacobs died in Toronto Western Hospital aged 89, on 25 April 2006, apparently of a stroke. She was survived by a brother, James Butzner (d. 2009); a daughter, Burgin Jacobs, her sons, James and Ned of Vancouver, and by two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Upon her death her family's statement noted: "What's important is not that she died but that she lived, and that her life's work has greatly influenced the way we think. Please remember her by reading her books and implementing her ideas".
Legacy
Jacobs is credited, along with Lewis Mumford, with inspiring the New Urbanist movement. She has been characterized as a major influence on decentralist and radical centrist thought. She discussed her legacy in an interview with Reason magazine.
While Jacobs saw her greatest legacy to be her contributions to economic theory, it is in the realm of urban planning that she has had her most extensive effect. Her observations about the ways in which cities function revolutionized the urban planning profession and discredited many accepted planning models that had dominated mid-century planning. The influential Harvard Economist Edward Glaeser, known for his work on urban studies, acknowledged that Jane Jacobs (1960s) had been prescient in attacking Moses for "replacing well-functioning neighborhoods with Le Corbusier-inspired towers". Glaeser agreed that these housing projects proved to be Moses' greatest failures, "Moses spent millions and evicted tens of thousands to create buildings that became centers of crime, poverty, and despair."
She also was famous for introducing concepts such as the "Ballet of the Sidewalk" and "Eyes on the Street", a reference to what would later be known as natural surveillance. The concept had a huge influence on planners and architects such as Oscar Newman, who prepared the idea through a series of studies that would culminate in his defensible space theory. The work of Jacobs and Newman would go on to affect American housing policy through the HOPE VI Program, an effort by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to demolish the high-rise public housing projects so reviled by Jacobs and to replace them with low-rise, mixed-income housing.
Throughout her life, Jacobs fought to alter the way in which city development was approached. By arguing that cities were living beings and ecosystems, she advocated ideas such as "mixed use" development and bottom-up planning. Furthermore, her harsh criticisms of "slum clearing" and "high-rise housing" projects were instrumental in discrediting these once universally supported planning practices.
Jacobs is remembered as being an advocate for the mindful development of cities, and for leaving "a legacy of empowerment for citizens to trust their common sense and become advocates for their place".
Despite the fact that Jacobs mainly focused on New York City, her arguments have been identified as universal. For instance, her opposition against the demolition of urban neighborhoods for projects of urban renewal had "special resonance" in Melbourne, Australia. In Melbourne in the 1960s, resident associations fought against large-scale high-rise housing projects of the Housing Commission of Victoria, which they argued had little regard for the impact on local communities.
Jacobs fought an uphill battle against dominant trends of planning. Despite the United States remaining very much a suburban nation, the work of Jacobs has contributed to city living being rehabilitated and revitalized. Because of her ideas, today, many distressed urban neighborhoods are more likely to be gentrified than cleared for redevelopment.
Samuel R. Delany's book Times Square Red, Times Square Blue relies heavily on The Death and Life of Great American Cities in its analysis of the nature of social relations within the realm of urban studies.
Jane Jacobs Days
After the death of Jacobs in April 2006, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a Jane Jacobs Day, held on June 28, 2006. The City of Toronto proclaimed her birthday the following year, May 4, 2007, as Jane Jacobs Day.
Jane's Walks
In connection with Jane Jacobs Day in Toronto, two dozen free neighborhood walks in the city were offered that weekend (5 May 2007) as an active memorial to Jacobs, and they were dubbed Jane's Walks. Later, a Jane's Walk event was held in New York on September 29–30, 2007. In 2008, the event spread to eight cities and towns throughout Canada, and by 2016, Jane's Walks were taking place in 212 cities in 36 countries, on six continents. The interpretive walks typically apply ideas Jacobs identified or espoused to local areas, which are explored on foot and sometimes by bicycle. The walks normally take place in early May, on or close to her May 4 birth anniversary. Walks are organized and led by local volunteers, coordinated by a headquarters office in Toronto. There are more than 200 walks offered in Toronto, alone, in 2016, taking place on May 6, 7, and 8.
Exhibitions
In 2016, to mark the hundredth birth anniversary of Jane Jacobs, a Toronto gallery staged "Jane at Home", an exhibition running from April 29-May 8. Curated by Jane's son, Jim Jacobs, it offered glimpses of her home life, where she also worked. Her Toronto living room was represented, based on the one at her Albany Avenue house in The Annex, where she often spoke with noted thinkers and political leaders including Marshall McLuhan, Paul Martin, and the Queen of the Netherlands. On display were her typewriter, original manuscripts, rediscovered photographs demonstrating her distinctive styles, and personal mementos. The exhibit included furniture from previous homes in New York (her dining room is set up) and from Scranton, Pennsylvania.
In 2007, the Municipal Art Society of New York partnered with the Rockefeller Foundation to host an exhibit focusing on "Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York," which opened at the society in September that year. The exhibit aimed to educate the public on her writings and activism and used tools to encourage new generations to become active in issues involving their own neighborhoods. An accompanying exhibit publication included essays and articles by such architecture critics, artists, activists, and journalists as Malcolm Gladwell, Reverend Billy, Robert Neuwirth, Tom Wolfe, Thomas de Monchaux, and William McDonough. Many of these contributors participated in a series of panel discussions on "Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York".
Jane Jacobs Medal
As a tribute to Jacobs, the Rockefeller Foundation, which had awarded grants to Jacobs in the 1950s and 1960s, announced on February 9, 2007, the creation of the Jane Jacobs Medal, "to recognize individuals who have made a significant contribution to thinking about urban design, specifically in New York City". Recipients include:
Barry Benepe, co-founder of the New York City Green Market program and a founding member of Transportation Alternatives, was awarded with the inaugural Jane Jacobs Medal for Lifetime Leadership and a $100,000 cash prize in September 2007. The inaugural Jane Jacobs Medal for New Ideas and Activism was awarded to Omar Freilla, the founder of Green Worker Cooperatives in the South Bronx; Mr. Freilla donated his $100,000 to his organization.
Peggy Shepard, executive director of West Harlem Environmental Action, received the 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal for Lifetime Leadership and Alexie Torres-Fleming, founder of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, received the award for New Ideas and Activism. Both women received their medals and $100,000 awards at a dinner ceremony in September 2008 in New York City.
Damaris Reyes, executive director of Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), received the 2009 Jane Jacobs Medal for New Ideas and Activism. Richard Kahan, as founder and CEO of the Urban Assembly, which created and manages 22 secondary public schools located in many of the lowest income neighborhoods in New York City, received the 2009 Jane Jacobs Medal for Lifetime Leadership. Both received $100,000, in addition to the medal.
The 2010 recipients were Joshua David and Robert Hammond, whose work in establishing the High Line Park atop an unused elevated railroad line, led the foundation to award the 2010 Jane Jacobs Medal for New Ideas and Activism, along with $60,000 to each man. The 2010 Jane Jacobs Medal for Lifetime Leadership was given to Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, for her longtime work as writer, park administrator, and co-founder of Central Park Conservancy. She received $80,000 as well.
The Canadian Urban Institute offers an award to honor her, the Jane Jacobs Lifetime Achievement Award, to recognize a person "who has had significant impact on the health of their region consistent with Jane Jacob's belief that successful cities foster a place-based, community-centered approach." The 2011 winner was Eberhard Zeidler, while his daughter, Margie Zeidler, won the 2015 award. In 2012, Anne Golden took the prize "for her long-standing leadership in public policy, her academic work and her varied leadership experience in business, not-for-profit and government sectors." William (Bill) Teron accepted the 2013 award "for his influential career in public policy and passionate advocacy for quality design and commitment to development in the Ottawa area." In 2014, Jack Diamond was recognized for his "contribution to improving the built form and advocacy for cities and the future of the Greater Toronto Area."
In April 2014, Spacing was appointed the stewards of the Jane Jacobs Prize. Spacing, winners of the prize in 2010, has continued to provide the award with a new life and new ways of promoting (and finding) the winners.
Other honors
Jane Jacobs Way, West Village, New York City (Hudson Street and Eleventh Street, New York, New York)
Jane Jacobs Park, 11 Wellesley Street West, Toronto (construction began in 2016)
Jane Jacobs sculptural chairs, Victoria Memorial Square (St. John's Square), Toronto
Jane Jacobs Toronto Legacy Plaque, 69 Albany Avenue, Toronto
Jacobs' Ladder, rose bushes dedicated by Grassroots Albany (neighbors) in 1997, Toronto
Jane Jacobs Street, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Jane Jacobs Street (Village of Cheshire) Black Mountain, North Carolina
a Google Doodle marked the 100th anniversary of Jacobs's birth, on May 4, 2016, and was featured on Google's homepage in 15 countries on four continents
a conference room at the offices of the New Economics Foundation in London is named in honor of Jacobs
Jacobs received the second Vincent Scully Prize from the National Building Museum in 2000.
Jacobs is the subject of the 2017 documentary film Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, which depicts her victories over Robert Moses and her philosophy of urban design.
In popular culture
A fictionalized version of her is played by Alison Smith in 2 episodes (Season 1 and Season 5) of the Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
The community organizer played by Cherry Jones in Motherless Brooklyn has drawn comparisons to Jane Jacobs. The director, Edward Norton, has clarified that the composite character was partially based on Jacobs, but more so on Hortense Gabel who was active a decade earlier.
Criticism
The planners and developers she fought against to preserve the West Village were among those who initially criticized her ideas. Robert Moses has generally been identified as her arch-rival during this period. Since then, Jacobs's ideas have been analysed many times, often in regard to the outcomes that their influences have produced.
In places such as the West Village, the factors that she argued would maintain economic and cultural diversity have led instead to gentrification and some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Her family's conversion of an old candy shop into a home is an example of the gentrifying trend that would continue under the influence of Jacobs's ideas.
Gentrification also was caused, however, by "the completely unexpected influx of affluent residents back into the inner city". The extent to which her ideas facilitated this phenomenon was at the time unimaginable. For example, she advocated the preservation of older buildings specifically because their lack of economic value made them affordable for poor people. In this respect, she saw them as "guarantors of social diversity". That many of these older structures have increased in economic value solely due to their age was implausible in 1961. Issues of gentrification have dominated criticism of Jane Jacobs's planning ideas.
Economist Tyler Cowen has criticized her ideas for not addressing problems of scale or infrastructure, and suggests that economists disagree with some of her approaches to development. For example, although her ideas of planning were praised at times as "universal", they are now thought inapplicable when a city grows from one million to ten million (as has happened many times in developing nations). Such arguments suggest that her ideas apply only to cities with similar issues to those of New York, where Jacobs developed many of them.
Works
Jane Jacobs spent her life studying cities. Her books include:
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
The Death and Life of Great American Cities is her single-most influential book and, possibly, the most influential book on urban planning and cities. Published in 1961, this book was widely read by both planning professionals and the general public. The book is a strong critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s, which, she claimed, destroyed communities and created isolated, unnatural urban spaces. In the book, she celebrates the diversity and complexity of old mixed-use neighborhoods while lamenting the monotony and sterility of modern planning. Jacobs advocated the abolition of zoning laws and restoration of free markets in land, which would result in dense, mixed-use neighborhoods and she frequently cited New York City's Greenwich Village as an example of a vibrant urban community.
Robert Caro has cited it as the strongest influence on The Power Broker, his Pulitzer-winning biography of Robert Moses, although Caro does not mention Jacobs by name in the book despite Jacobs's battles with Moses over his proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway. Caro reportedly cut a chapter about Jacobs due to his book's length.
Beyond the practical lessons in city design and planning that Death and Life offers, the theoretical underpinnings of the work challenge the modern development mindset. Jane Jacobs defends her positions with common sense and anecdotes.
The Economy of Cities
The thesis of this book is that cities are the primary drivers of economic development. Her main argument is that explosive economic growth derives from urban import replacement. Import replacement is the process of producing goods locally that formerly were imported, e.g., Tokyo bicycle factories replacing Tokyo bicycle importers in the 1800s. Jacobs claims that import replacement builds up local infrastructure, skills, and production. Jacobs also claims that the increased production is subsequently exported to other cities, giving those other cities a new opportunity to engage in import replacement, thus producing a positive cycle of growth.
In an interview with Bill Steigerwald in Reason Magazine, Jacobs said that if she is remembered for being a great intellectual she will be remembered not for her work concerning city planning, but for the discovery of import replacement. Critics erroneously claim that her ideas parrot the idea of import substitution advanced earlier by scholars such as Andre Gunder Frank. Import substitution was a national economic theory implying that if a nation substituted its imports with national production, the nation would become wealthier, whereas Jacob's idea is entirely about cities and could be called urban import substitution. However, even this would lead to confusion since in practice, import substitution in India and Latin America were government subsidized and mandated, whereas Jacobs's concept of import replacement is a free market process of discovery and division of labor within a city.
In the second part of the book, Jacobs argues that cities preceded agriculture. She argues that in cities trade in wild animals and grains allowed for the initial division of labor necessary for the discovery of husbandry and agriculture; these discoveries then moved out of the city due to land competition. It is commonly taught that agriculture preceded cities. This notion was promoted originally by archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe and in recent times, by Charles Keith Maisels The apparent opposition between the traditional history and Jacobs' rests in differing definition of 'city', 'civilization', or 'urban'. Traditional history and archeology define 'urban' or 'civilization' as Synoecismas a literate, socially stratified, monolithic political community, whereas, as one can see from The Economy of Cities or from Cities and the Wealth of Nations, Jacobs defined the city purely along the lines of geographically dense trade giving way to entrepreneurial discovery and subsequent improvements in the division of labor. Without the requirements of literacy, permanent and monumental building, or the signs of specialized civil and armed forces, 'cities' can be accurately interpreted as existing thousands of years before when Childe and Maisels place them.
The Question of Separatism: Quebec and the Struggle over Sovereignty
The Question of Separatism incorporated and expanded Jacobs's presentation of the 1979 Massey Lectures, entitled Canadian Cities and Sovereignty-Association. It was published in 1980 and reprinted in 2011 with a previously-unpublished 2005 interview with Robin Philpot on the subject in which she evokes the relative overlooking of that book among her usual readership. This was the first time Jacobs was requested to discuss it in an interview. Columnist Richard Gwyn advanced that while not openly criticizing her, English-speaking Canadians readers thought she did not understand how Canadian politics worked and that she was not being helpful in a time of distress for national unity (the 1980 referendum was just defeated by a vote of 60%). The Question of Separatism was also not mentioned in the bibliography of her 2006 obituary in The Globe and Mail.
Jacobs's book advances the view that Quebec's eventual independence is best for Montreal, Toronto, the rest of Canada, and the world; and that such independence can be achieved peacefully. As precedent, she cites Norway's secession from Sweden and how it enriched both nations. The origins of the contemporary secessionist-movement in the Quiet Revolution are examined, along with Canada's historical reliance on natural resources and foreign-owned manufacturing for its own economic development. Jacobs asserts that such an approach is colonial and hence backward, citing by example, Canada buying its skis and furniture from Norway or Norwegian-owned factories in Canada, the latter procedure being a product of Canadian tariffs designed specifically to foster such factories. The relevant public views of René Lévesque, Claude Ryan, and then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau are also critically analyzed, an example being their failure to recognize that two respective, independent currencies are essential to the success of an independent Quebec and a smaller resultant Canada, an issue that is central to her book. Jacobs stresses the need for Montreal to continue developing its leadership of Québécois culture, but that ultimately, such a need can never be fulfilled by Montreal's increasing tendencies toward regional-city status, tendencies foretelling economic, political, and cultural subservience to English-speaking Toronto. Such an outcome, Jacobs believed, would in the long run doom Quebec's independence as much as it would hinder Canada's own future. She concludes with her observation that the popular equating of political secession with political and economic failure is the result of the Enlightenment, which perceived nature as a force for "standardization, uniformity, universality, and immutability." Since then, naturalists and their readers have gradually realized that nature is a force for diversity, and that, "diversity itself is of the essence of excellence." The right kind of secession, Jacobs states, can lead to the right kind of diversity, and Quebec and Canada are capable of both, and must achieve both, to survive.
Cities and the Wealth of Nations
Cities and the Wealth of Nations attempts to do for economics what The Death and Life of Great American Cities did for modern urban planning, although it has not received the same critical attention. Beginning with a concise treatment of classical economics, this book challenges one of the fundamental assumptions of the greatest economists. Classical (and Neo-classical) economists consider the nation-state to be the main player in macroeconomics. Jacobs argues that it is not the nation-state, rather it is the city that is the true player in this worldwide game. She restates the idea of import replacement from her earlier book The Economy of Cities, while speculating on the further ramifications of considering the city first and the nation second, or not at all.
A spectrum of economic regions
Along with the previous books focused on economics, Jacobs proposes an array of types of regional economies (stylized facts) which can help to understand their different challenges, and potential for development. One can start at the bottom end of the spectrum with the 'backward' region, which are economies who have lost their competitive advantages and are losing population or becoming dependent on largesse transfers from wealthier areas. Next are the 'supply regions', which are usually known as natural resource extraction towns, and may be very wealthy during their heyday, but often suffer a decline into backwardness if the resource has run-out or has been substituted on outside markets. Similar to this is the 'transplant region', a fundamental aspect of Jacobs economic theory. Transplant economies are usually manufacturing plants who have been moved from the location where the product was invented. The reason for the transplant is to save land, labour, fiscal, and transportation costs. Transplant regions are usually found along main transportation routes, where there is a large labour pool of available labour. Backward regions, Supply regions, and Transplant regions make up the most vulnerable types of economies to outside shocks and competition from low-cost production zones.
The Jacobs spectrum of regions also includes types of cities which rely on classical principles of central-location. Jacobs discusses 'Entrepôt cities', which are economies based on the accumulation and warehousing of export goods, usually at a maritime port location. Next are 'Hub cities', or regional capitals, which are central locations for private markets and public services in a given geography.
Finally, Jacobs presents the qualities of growing metropolitan areas. Jacobs defines the metropolis as a city that grows beyond its political borders. She terms the core city as the 'Import-Replacing' city. She terms the suburban sprawl of the metropolis as the 'City-Region'. Economic literature sometimes uses the term Jacobs Agglomeration for these growing and innovative cities. CA Ramsay has proposed the term Forward Cities, as an echo to the opposing principle of 'Backward' economies.
According to Jacobs, economies are constantly evolving and may move in and out of any of these categories. However, for an export-based economy such as a supply region, or a transplant town, to develop into a Forward city, the economy must engage in what she terms new-work. This implies a diversification of the economy. Jacobs strongly encourages breakaway entrepreneurship and local investment capital to do this. The modus operandi may be in import-replacing, in world-first innovation, or the adoption of production which is new to the community.
Jacobs also insists on the benefits of having a city-currency, which acts as a positive feedback mechanism, to help drive local innovation and import-replacement. It also protects from outside demand shocks.
Systems of Survival
Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics moves outside of the city, studying the moral underpinnings of work. As with her other work, she used an observational approach. This book is written as a Platonic dialogue. It appears that she (as described by characters in her book) took newspaper clippings of moral judgments related to work, collected and sorted them to find that they fit two patterns of moral behavior that were mutually exclusive. She calls these two patterns "Moral Syndrome A", or commercial moral syndrome, and "Moral Syndrome B", or guardian moral syndrome. She claims that the commercial moral syndrome is applicable to business owners, scientists, farmers, and traders. Similarly, she claims that the guardian moral syndrome is applicable to government, charities, hunter-gatherers, and religious institutions. She also claims that these Moral Syndromes are fixed, and do not fluctuate over time.
It is important to stress that Jane Jacobs is providing a theory about the morality of work, and not all moral ideas. Moral ideas that are not included in her system are applicable to both syndromes.
Jane Jacobs goes on to describe what happens when these two moral syndromes are mixed, showing the work underpinnings of the Mafia and communism, and what happens when New York subway police are paid bonuses here – reinterpreted slightly as a part of the larger analysis.
The Nature of Economies
The Nature of Economies, a dialog between friends concerning the premise: "human beings exist wholly within nature as part of the natural order in every respect" (p. ix), argues that the same principles underlie both ecosystems and economies: "development and co-development through differentiation and their combinations; expansion through diverse, multiple uses of energy; and self-maintenance through self-refueling" (p. 82). Jacobs also comments on the nature of economic and biological diversity and its role in the development and growth of the two kinds of systems.
Jacobs's characters discuss the four methods by which "dynamically stable systems" may evade collapse: "bifurcations; positive-feedback loops; negative-feedback controls; and emergency adaptations" (p. 86). Their conversations also cover the "double nature of fitness for survival" (traits to avoid destroying one's own habitat as well as success in competition to feed and breed, p. 119), and unpredictability including the butterfly effect characterized in terms of multiplicity of variables as well as disproportional response to cause, and self-organization where "a system can be making itself up as it goes along" (p. 137).
The book is infused with many real-world economic and biological examples, which help keep the book "down to earth" and comprehensible, if dense. Concepts are furnished with both economic and biological examples, showing their coherence in both worlds.
One particularly interesting insight is the creation of "something from nothing" – an economy from nowhere. In the biological world, free energy is given through sunlight, but in the economic world human creativity and natural resources supply this free energy, or at least starter energy. Another interesting insight is the creation of economic diversity through the combination of different technologies, for example the typewriter and television as inputs and outputs of a computer system: this can lead to the creation of "new species of work".
Dark Age Ahead
Published in 2004 by Random House, Dark Age Ahead posits Jacobs's argument that "North American" civilization shows signs of a spiral decline comparable to the collapse of the Roman empire. Her discussion focuses on "five pillars of our culture that we depend on to stand firm", which can be summarized as the nuclear family and community; quality in education; free thought in science; representational government and responsible taxes; and corporate and professional accountability. As the title of this book suggests, Jacobs's outlook is far more pessimistic than that of her previous works. However, in the conclusion she admits: "At a given time it is hard to tell whether forces of cultural life or death are in the ascendancy. Is suburban sprawl, with its murders of communities and wastes of land, time, and energy, a sign of decay? Or is rising interest in means of overcoming sprawl a sign of vigor and adaptability in North American culture? Arguably, either could turn out to be true." While Jacobs idealized U.S. democracy, Dark Age Ahead echoes the skepticism and disappointment that led to her emigration to Canada in 1968. Later, she would indicate that North American cultures, among others, were grounded in a "plantation mentality" that was culturally and ecologically unsustainable.
Writings
Constitutional chaff; rejected suggestions of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, with explanatory argument Compiled by Jane Butzner, (1941) Columbia University Press; Compiled by Jane Jacobs (Née Butzner), Reprinted 1970 by Kennikat Press, Port Washington, New York.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) New York: Random House.
The Economy of Cities (1969)
The Question of Separatism: Quebec and the Struggle over Sovereignty (1980 Random House and 2011 Baraka Books)
Cities and the Wealth of Nations (1985)
The Girl on the Hat (Children's Book Illustrated by Karen Reczuch), (June 1990) Oxford University Press.
Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics (1992)
A Schoolteacher in Old Alaska – The Story of Hannah Breece (1995) Random House of Canada.
The Nature of Economies (2000) New York: Random House, The Modern Library.
Dark Age Ahead (2004)
Vital Little Plans: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs (2016) New York: Random House.
See also
David Crombie
Fred Gardiner
Highway revolts in the United States
Innovation Economics
Urban secession
Urban vitality
References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links
Jane Jacobs's Order of Canada Citation
Jane Jacobs's Papers at John J. Burns Library, Boston College
Jane Jacobs Oral History, 1997 Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
Jane Jacobs's Legacy, City Journal online, July 31, 2009
Category:1916 births
Category:2006 deaths
Category:American architecture writers
Category:Naturalized citizens of Canada
Category:Tax resisters
Category:Women urban planners
Category:Anti-road protest
Category:Canadian architecture writers
Category:Canadian women non-fiction writers
Category:Canadian social commentators
Category:Interstate 78
Category:Members of the Order of Ontario
Category:Officers of the Order of Canada
Category:People from Greenwich Village
Category:Writers from Scranton, Pennsylvania
Category:Radical centrist writers
Category:Urban theorists
Category:Environmental economists
Category:Writers from Toronto
Category:Columbia University School of General Studies alumni
Category:American emigrants to Canada
Category:Women's page journalists | [
{
"text": "Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes bibliography as a word having two senses: one, a list of books for further study or of works consulted by an author (or enumerative bibliography); the other one, applicable for collectors, is \"the study of books as physical objects\" and \"the systematic description of books as objects\" (or descriptive bibliography).\n\nEtymology \nThe word was used by Greek writers in the first three centuries CE to mean the copying of books by hand. In the 12th century, the word started being used for \"the intellectual activity of composing books.\" The 17th century then saw the emergence of the modern meaning, that of description of books. Currently, the field of bibliography has expanded to include studies that consider the book as a material object. Bibliography, in its systematic pursuit of understanding the past and the present through written and printed documents, describes a way and means of extracting information from this material. Bibliographers are interested in comparing versions of texts to each other rather than in interpreting their meaning or assessing their significance.\n\nField of study \nBibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868–1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about \"the science of bibliography.\" However, there have recently been voices claiming that \"the bibliographical paradigm\" is obsolete, and it is not today common in LIS. A defence of the bibliographical paradigm was provided by Hjørland (2007).\n\nThe quantitative study of bibliographies is known as bibliometrics, which is today an influential subfield in LIS and is used for major collection decisions such as the cancellation of big deals, through data analysis tools like Unpaywall Journals.\n\nBranches \nCarter and Barker describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). These two distinct concepts and practices have separate rationales and serve differing purposes. Innovators and originators in the field include W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, Philip Gaskell and G. Thomas Tanselle.\n\nBowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production (3). He refers to descriptive bibliography as the systematic description of a book as a material or physical artefact. Analytical bibliography, the cornerstone of descriptive bibliography, investigates the printing and all physical features of a book that yield evidence establishing a book's history and transmission (Feather 10). It is the preliminary phase of bibliographic description and provides the vocabulary, principles and techniques of analysis that descriptive bibliographers apply and on which they base their descriptive practice.\n\nDescriptive bibliographers follow specific conventions and associated classification in their description. Titles and title pages are transcribed in a quasi-facsimile style and representation. Illustration, typeface, binding, paper, and all physical elements related to identifying a book follow formulaic conventions, as Bowers established in his foundational opus, The Principles of Bibliographic Description. The thought expressed in this book expands substantively on W. W. Greg's groundbreaking theory that argued for the adoption of formal bibliographic principles (Greg 29). Fundamentally, analytical bibliography is concerned with objective, physical analysis and history of a book while descriptive bibliography employs all data that analytical bibliography furnishes and then codifies it with a view to identifying the ideal copy or form of a book that most nearly represents the printer's initial conception and intention in printing.\n\nIn addition to viewing bibliographic study as being composed of four interdependent approaches (enumerative, descriptive, analytical, and textual), Bowers notes two further subcategories of research, namely historical bibliography and aesthetic bibliography. Both historical bibliography, which involves the investigation of printing practices, tools, and related documents, and aesthetic bibliography, which examines the art of designing type and books, are often employed by analytical bibliographers.\n\nD. F. McKenzie extended previous notions of bibliography as set forth by Greg, Bowers, Gaskell and Tanselle. He describes the nature of bibliography as \"the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the processes of their transmission, including their production and reception\" (1999 12). This concept broadens the scope of bibliography to include \"non-book texts\" and an accounting for their material form and structure, as well as textual variations, technical and production processes that bring sociocultural context and effects into play. McKenzie's perspective contextualizes textual objects or artefacts with sociological and technical factors that have an effect on production, transmission and, ultimately, ideal copy (2002 14). Bibliography, generally, concerns the material conditions of books [as well as other texts] how they are designed, edited, printed, circulated, reprinted, collected.\n\nBibliographic works differ in the amount of detail depending on the purpose and can generally be divided into two categories: enumerative bibliography (also called compilative, reference or systematic), which results in an overview of publications in a particular category and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books. In earlier times, bibliography mostly focused on books. Now, both categories of bibliography cover works in other media including audio recordings, motion pictures and videos, graphic objects, databases, CD-ROMs and websites.\n\nEnumerative bibliography \n\nAn enumerative bibliography is a systematic list of books and other works such as journal articles. Bibliographies range from \"works cited\" lists at the end of books and articles, to complete and independent publications. A notable example of a complete, independent publication is Gow's A. E. Housman: A Sketch, Together with a List of His Classical Papers (1936). As separate works, they may be in bound volumes such as those shown on the right, or computerized bibliographic databases. A library catalog, while not referred to as a \"bibliography,\" is bibliographic in nature. Bibliographical works are almost always considered to be tertiary sources.\n\nEnumerative bibliographies are based on a unifying principle such as creator, subject, date, topic or other characteristic. An entry in an enumerative bibliography provides the core elements of a text resource including a title, the creator(s), publication date and place of publication. Belanger (1977) distinguishes an enumerative bibliography from other bibliographic forms such as descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography or textual bibliography in that its function is to record and list, rather than describe a source in detail or with any reference to the source's physical nature, materiality or textual transmission. The enumerative list may be comprehensive or selective. One noted example would be Tanselle's bibliography that exhaustively enumerates topics and sources related to all forms of bibliography. A more common and particular instance of an enumerative bibliography relates to specific sources used or considered in preparing a scholarly paper or academic term paper.\n\nCitation styles vary.\nAn entry for a book in a bibliography usually contains the following elements:\n creator(s)\n title\n place of publication\n publisher or printer\n date of publication\n\nAn entry for a journal or periodical article usually contains:\n creator(s)\n article title\n journal title\n volume\n pages\n date of publication\n\nA bibliography may be arranged by author, topic, or some other scheme. Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument. These descriptions, usually a few sentences long, provide a summary of the source and describe its relevance. Reference management software may be used to keep track of references and generate bibliographies as required.\n\nBibliographies differ from library catalogs by including only relevant items rather than all items present in a particular library. However, the catalogs of some national libraries effectively serve as national bibliographies, as the national libraries own almost all their countries' publications.\n\nDescriptive bibliography \nFredson Bowers described and formulated a standardized practice of descriptive bibliography in his Principles of Bibliographical Description\n(1949). Scholars to this day treat Bowers' scholarly guide as authoritative. In this classic text, Bowers describes the basic function of bibliography as, \"[providing] sufficient data so that a reader may identify the book described, understand the printing, and recognize the precise contents\" (124).\n\nDescriptive bibliographies as scholarly product \nDescriptive bibliographies as a scholarly product usually include information on the following aspect of a given book as a material object:\nFormat and Collation/Pagination Statement—a conventional, symbolic formula that describes the book block in terms of sheets, folds, quires, signatures, and pages\n\nAccording to Bowers (193), the format of a book is usually abbreviated in the collation formula:\nBroadsheet: I° or b.s. or bs.\nFolio: 2° or fol.\nQuarto: 4° or 4to or Q° or Q\nOctavo: 8° or 8vo\nDuodecimo: 12° or 12mo\nSexto-decimo: 16° or 16mo\nTricesimo-secundo: 32° or 32mo\nSexagesimo-quarto: 64° or 64mo\nThe collation, which follows the format, is the statement of the order and size of the gatherings.\nFor example, a quarto that consists of the signed gatherings:\n2 leaves signed A, 4 leaves signed B, 4 leaves signed C, and 2 leaves signed D\nwould be represented in the collation formula:\n4°: A2B-C4D2\nBinding—a description of the binding techniques (generally for books printed after 1800)\nTitle Page Transcription—a transcription of the title page, including rule lines and ornaments\nContents—a listing of the contents (by section) in the book\nPaper—a description of the physical properties of the paper, including production process, an account of chain-line measurements, and a description of watermarks (if present)\nIllustrations—a description of the illustrations found in the book, including printing process (e.g. woodblock, intaglio, etc.), measurements, and locations in the text\nPresswork—miscellaneous details gleaned from the text about its production\nCopies Examined—an enumeration of the copies examined, including those copies' location (i.e. belonging to which library or collector)\n\nAnalytical bibliography \nThis branch of the bibliographic discipline examines the material features of a textual artefact—such as type, ink, paper, imposition, format, impressions and states of a book—to essentially recreate the conditions of its production. Analytical bibliography often uses collateral evidence—such as general printing practices, trends in format, responses and non-responses to design, etc.—to scrutinize the historical conventions and influences underlying the physical appearance of a text. The bibliographer utilizes knowledge gained from the investigation of physical evidence in the form of a descriptive bibliography or textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination and cataloging of a text as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while textual bibliography (or textual criticism) identifies variations—and the aetiology of variations—in a text with a view to determining \"the establishment of the most correct form of [a] text\" (Bowers 498[1]).\n\nBibliographers \n\nA bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. A person who limits such efforts to a specific field or discipline is a subject bibliographer.\"\n\nA bibliographer, in the technical meaning of the word, is anyone who writes about books. But the accepted meaning since at least the 18th century is a person who attempts a comprehensive account—sometimes just a list, sometimes a fuller reckoning—of the books written on a particular subject. In the present, bibliography is no longer a career, generally speaking; bibliographies tend to be written on highly specific subjects and by specialists in the field.\n\nThe term bibliographer is sometimes—in particular subject bibliographer—today used about certain roles performed in libraries and bibliographic databases.\n\nOne of the first bibliographers was Conrad Gessner who sought to list all books printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in Bibliotheca Universalis (1545).\n\nNon-book material \nSystematic lists of media other than books can be referred to with terms formed analogously to bibliography:\n Discography—recorded music\n Filmography—films\n Webography (or webliography)—websites\n Arachniography, a term coined by NASA research historian Andrew J. Butrica, which means a reference list of URLs about a particular subject. It is equivalent to a bibliography in a book. The name derives from arachne in reference to a spider and its web.\n\nSee also \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (in Wikipedia)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Blum, Rudolf. (1980) Bibliographia. An Inquiry in Its Definition and Designations, Dawson, American Library Association.\n Bowers, Fredson. (1995) Principles of Bibliographical Description, Oak Knoll Press.\n Duncan, Paul Shaner. (1973) How to Catalog a Rare Book, 2nd ed., rev., American Library Association.\n \n Gaskell, Philip. (2000) A New Introduction to Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press.\n McKerrow, R. B. (1927) An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford: Clarendon Press\n Schneider, Georg. (1934) Theory and History of Bibliography, New York: Scarecrow Press.\n National Library of Canada, Committee on Bibliography and Information Services for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Guidelines for the Compilation of a Bibliography (National Library of Canada, 1987). N.B.: This is a brief guide to accurately practical bibliography, not a study concerning more precise and systematic bibliography.\n \nRobinson, A. M. Lewin (1966) Systematic Bibliography; rev. ed. London: Clive Bingley\n\nExternal links \n\n Oxford Bibliographies Online, in-depth annotated bibliographies by scholars in selected fields\n Introduction to Bibliography, a comprehensive syllabus by G. Thomas Tanselle\n The Bibliographical Society of America, a resource for information about current work in the field of bibliography\n Studies in Bibliography, the journal of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia\n A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology, (University of Zaragoza) includes thousands of listings on literary, philological and other subjects\n\n \nCategory:Book design\nCategory:Book terminology\nCategory:Textual scholarship",
"title": "Bibliography"
}
] | [
"In New York City, Jacobs worked a variety of jobs as a stenographer and freelance writer, writing about working districts in the city. Her first job was for a trade magazine as a secretary, then an editor. She also sold articles to the Sunday Herald Tribune, Cue magazine, and Vogue. Additionally, she studied at Columbia University's School of General Studies for two years, taking courses in geology, zoology, law, political science, and economics.",
"Yes, she studied at Columbia University's School of General Studies for two years.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Jane Butzner Jacobs graduated from Columbia University's School of General Studies.",
"One interesting aspect is Jane Butzner Jacobs' affinity for Manhattan's Greenwich Village due to its nonconformity to the city's grid structure, showing her preference for uniqueness. The variety of jobs she held also reveal her diverse interests and skills. Her quote about her educational experience is also intriguing, as she laments the constraints traditional education placed on her exploration of diverse interests and explains how her poor high-school grades ironically allowed her to continue broadening her education.",
"The text does not provide specific information on why Jane Butzner Jacobs moved to New York City during the Great Depression in 1935.",
"The text states that Jacobs took an immediate liking to Manhattan's Greenwich Village, which did not conform to the city's grid structure, implying that she appreciated its divergence from the traditional grid layout.",
"The text does not provide information on any other significant activities or accomplishments of Jane Butzner Jacobs in New York City beyond her various jobs and her studies at Columbia University's School of General Studies.",
"Her first job in New York City was working for a trade magazine first as a secretary and then as an editor."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Neutral",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_0 | Bob Hayes | Robert Lee "Bullet Bob" Hayes (December 20, 1942 - September 18, 2002) was an Olympic sprinter turned American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. He has one of the top 100 meter times by NFL players. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. | Olympics | At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4x100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds). His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21. In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976). Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_0_q#0",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_0_q#1",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_0_q#2",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_0_q#3",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_0_q#4",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_0_q#5",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_0_q#6",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_0_q#7",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_0_q#8",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_0_q#9",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_0_q#10"
] | [
"How did Hayes do in the olympics?",
"Did he win at any olympic games?",
"When did he win?",
"Did he set any records?",
"What was his time for this record?",
"Did he break any other records?",
"In what olympic games did he break this record?",
"Did he compete in any other olympic games besides this one?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"What did he do after the olympics?",
"Why did the timing looked manual in Tokyo?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
2,
1,
1,
1,
0,
1,
0
] | [
2,
0,
0,
0,
2,
0,
2,
2,
0,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
39
],
[
87
],
[
7
],
[
768
],
[
719
],
[
1223
],
[
1778
],
[
2615
],
[
1896
],
[
2615
],
[
2001
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter."
],
[
"he won"
],
[
"1964"
],
[
"his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn"
],
[
"moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds,"
],
[
"Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters,"
],
[
"Tokyo Olympics,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
39,
87,
7,
768,
719,
1223,
1778,
2615,
1896,
2615,
2001
],
"texts": [
"Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter.",
"he won",
"1964",
"his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn",
"moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds,",
"Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters,",
"Tokyo Olympics,",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds,"
]
} | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an American sprinter and professional football player. After winning gold medals at the 1964 Summer Olympics, he played as a split end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. He was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and field and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as a decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (his yards per catch average remains a franchise record, while his touchdown reception record stood until 2017, when it was broken by Dez Bryant.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the sixth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
Category:1942 births
Category:2002 deaths
Category:African-American players of American football
Category:American football wide receivers
Category:American male sprinters
Category:World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Category:Dallas Cowboys players
Category:San Francisco 49ers players
Category:Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Category:Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Category:Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Category:Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Category:Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Category:Deaths from prostate cancer
Category:Deaths from cancer in Florida
Category:Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Track and field athletes from Florida
Category:Track and field athletes in the National Football League
Category:USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
Category:USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
Category:20th-century African-American sportspeople
Category:21st-century African-American people | [] | null | null |
C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1 | Bob Hayes | Robert Lee "Bullet Bob" Hayes (December 20, 1942 - September 18, 2002) was an Olympic sprinter turned American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. An American track and field athlete, he was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and football at Florida A&M University. He has one of the top 100 meter times by NFL players. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. | College career | Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University a historically black college, where he excelled in track & field. He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him in order to allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy. He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the Gold medal. In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1_q#0",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1_q#1",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1_q#2",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1_q#3",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1_q#4",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1_q#5",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1_q#6",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1_q#7",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1_q#8",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1_q#9",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1_q#10",
"C_e3d66b2069554ab1b626cd2ff6deea9e_1_q#11"
] | [
"When did his college career begin?",
"In what year did his career begin?",
"Did he break any records?",
"Did he compete in the Olympics?",
"Who are some competitors be beat?",
"Did he tie any records?",
"Who was the tie against?",
"Did he break any other records?",
"Where else did he compete?",
"WHat is an interesting fact regarding his career?",
"WHat was his best time in the 100?",
"Who was his coach?"
] | [
0,
1,
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
2,
1,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
0,
0,
2,
0,
2,
0,
2,
0,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1341
],
[
1820
],
[
712
],
[
1058
],
[
1820
],
[
397
],
[
481
],
[
588
],
[
1457
],
[
167
],
[
712
],
[
1162
]
],
"texts": [
[
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1,"
],
[
"He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash,"
],
[
"Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year."
],
[
"the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds."
],
[
"200 meter dash."
],
[
"He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions,"
],
[
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years"
],
[
"Jake Gaither"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1341,
1820,
712,
1058,
1820,
397,
481,
588,
1457,
167,
712,
1162
],
"texts": [
"He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962-1964,",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1,",
"He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash,",
"Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year.",
"the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.",
"200 meter dash.",
" He never lost a race in the 100 yard or 100 meter competitions,",
"he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years",
"Jake Gaither"
]
} | Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an American sprinter and professional football player. After winning gold medals at the 1964 Summer Olympics, he played as a split end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). Hayes is the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. He was a two-sport stand-out in college in both track and field and football at Florida A&M University. Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009. Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe. He once held the world record for the 70-yard dash (with a time of 6.9 seconds). He also is tied for the world's second-fastest time in the 60-yard dash.
He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.
Early years
Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12–0, winning the Florida High School Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14–7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.
College career
Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.
He never lost a race in the 100-yard or 100-meter competitions, but mainstream schools of the area still did not invite him to their sanctioned meets. In 1962 the University of Miami invited him to a meet on their campus, where he tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year. He also was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds.
In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind). He was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His football coach Jake Gaither was not very high on giving Hayes time to train, which caused then president Lyndon B. Johnson to call him and insist he allow Hayes time off and to keep him healthy.
He was the AAU 100-yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash. He missed part of his senior year because of his Olympic bid for the gold medal.
In 1976, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Florida A&M University Sports Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was inducted into the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Olympics
At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes had his finest hour as a sprinter. First, he won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly chewed up the cinder track. He also was running in borrowed spikes because one of his shoes had been kicked under the bed when he was playing with some friends and he didn't realize until he got there. This was followed by a second gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay, which also produced a new World Record (39.06 seconds).
His come-from-behind win for the US team in the relay was one of the most memorable Olympic moments. Hand-timed between 8.5 and 8.9 seconds, his relay leg is the fastest in history. Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need." The race was also Hayes' last as a track and field athlete, as he permanently switched to football after it, aged only 21.
In some of the first meets to be timed with experimental fully automatic timing, Hayes was the first man to break ten seconds for the 100 meters, albeit with a 5.3 m/s wind assistance in the semi-finals of the 1964 Olympics. His time was recorded at 9.91 seconds. Jim Hines officially broke 10 seconds at the high altitude of Mexico City, Mexico in 1968 (and on a synthetic track) with a wind-legal 9.95 which stood as the world record for almost 15 years. The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).
Until the Tokyo Olympics, world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds, despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.
Professional football career
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys selected Hayes in the seventh round (88th overall) of the 1964 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over, taking a chance that the Olympic sprinter with unrefined football skills could excel as a wide receiver. He was also selected by the Denver Broncos in the 14th round (105th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft, with a future selection. The bet paid off, due to his amazing feats in cleats. Hayes has been credited by many with forcing the NFL to develop a zone defense and the bump and run to attempt to contain him.
Hayes' first two seasons were most successful, during which he led the NFL both times in receiving touchdowns with 12 and 13 touchdowns, respectively. In 1966 Hayes caught six passes for 195 yards against the New York Giants at the Cotton Bowl. Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs). Hayes' speed forced other teams to go to a zone since no single player could keep up with him. Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage. In the 1967 season, Hayes led the NFL in punt return yards, and went on to set an NFL playoff record with 141 punt return yards in Dallas' 52-14 win over the Cleveland Browns. Hayes also caught 5 passes for 145 yards in that game, including an 86-yard touchdown catch.
Hayes is also infamous for two events, both involving the NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967, both against the Packers. In the 1966 game, on the last meaningful play of the game, Hayes missed an assignment of blocking linebacker Dave Robinson, which resulted in Don Meredith nearly being sacked by Robinson and as a result throwing a desperation pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Tom Brown. In the 1967 NFL championship, the "Ice Bowl" played on New Year's Eve, 1967, Hayes was alleged to have inadvertently disclosed whether the upcoming play was a pass or run because on running plays he kept his hands inside his pants to keep them warm and the Green Bay defense knew they didn't need to cover him.
On July 17, 1975, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a third round draft choice (#73-Duke Fergerson).
Hayes wore No. 22 with the Cowboys, which would later be worn by running back Emmitt Smith.
San Francisco 49ers
In 1975 with the San Francisco 49ers, Hayes teamed up with Gene Washington in the starting lineup. On October 23, he was waived after not playing up to expectations, in order to make room for wide receiver Terry Beasley.
Multiple offensive threat
In addition to receiving, Hayes returned punts for the Cowboys and was the NFL's leading punt returner in 1968 with a 20.8 yards per return average and two touchdowns, including a 90 yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times and First-team All-Pro twice and Second-team All-Pro twice. He helped Dallas win five Eastern Conference titles, two NFC titles, played in two Super Bowls, and was instrumental in Dallas' first-ever Super Bowl victory after the 1971 season, making Hayes the only person to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as a decoy rather than a deep threat.
Cowboy records
Hayes was the second player (after Franklin Clarke) in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise to surpass 1,000 yards (ground or air) in a single season, and he did that in his rookie year by finishing with 1,003 yards. Also during his rookie year, he led the team with 46 receptions and set franchise records for total touchdowns (13) and total receiving touchdowns (12). He finished his 11-year career with 371 receptions for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, giving him an impressive 20 yards per catch average (his yards per catch average remains a franchise record, while his touchdown reception record stood until 2017, when it was broken by Dez Bryant.) He also rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns, gained 581 yards on 23 kickoff returns, and returned 104 punts for 1,158 yards and three touchdowns.
In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).
His 7,295 receiving yards are the sixth-most in Dallas Cowboys history. To this day, Hayes holds ten regular-season receiving records, four punt return records and 22 overall franchise marks, making him one of the greatest receivers to ever play for the Cowboys.
In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class
Death
On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.
Pro Football Hall of Fame
2004 controversy
Hayes was close to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004, but was denied the opportunity in the final round of decision making. The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams. Others believe Hayes' legal and drug use issues marred his chances. Shortly after the announcement of the new 2004 Hall of Fame members, long-time Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman resigned from the Selection Committee in protest of the decision to leave Hayes out of the Hall. Zimmerman eventually returned as a Hall of Fame voter.
2009 induction
On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election. On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.
The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister, released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction. Its full text read:
You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so you must read this for me, I am not sure, I guess I am feeling sorry for myself at this time but you must remember everything I want you to do and say. Mother said you would do what I want because you always did. So read this for me.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49rs too). Thank the fans all around the country and the world, thank the committee who voted for me and also the ones who may did not vote for me, thank Mother and my family, thank Roger Stauback and tell all my teammates I love them dearly.
Thank the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all the NFL teams and players, Florida A&M University, thank everyone who went to Mathew Gilbert High School, thank everyone in Jacksonville and Florida and everyone especially on the East Side of Jacksonville. Thank everyone in the City of Dallas and in Texas and just thank everyone in the whole world.
I love you all.
Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen." Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death. Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On August 8, 2009, Hayes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach, Hayes' Dallas Cowboy teammate, along with Hayes' son Bob Hayes Jr., unveiled the bust, which was sculpted by Scott Myers. On hand were six members of Bob's Gilbert High School championship team. He was later inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2017.
References
Further reading
Wallechinsky, David (2004). The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books.
External links
Category:1942 births
Category:2002 deaths
Category:African-American players of American football
Category:American football wide receivers
Category:American male sprinters
Category:World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Category:Dallas Cowboys players
Category:San Francisco 49ers players
Category:Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players
Category:Florida A&M Rattlers football players
Category:Florida A&M Rattlers track and field athletes
Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Category:Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Category:Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
Category:Deaths from prostate cancer
Category:Deaths from cancer in Florida
Category:Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Track and field athletes from Florida
Category:Track and field athletes in the National Football League
Category:USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
Category:USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
Category:20th-century African-American sportspeople
Category:21st-century African-American people | [] | [
"The text does not provide information on when Hayes' college career began.",
"The text does not provide information on when Hayes' career began.",
"Yes, Hayes broke several records. He tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash in 1962 and broke the 100-yard dash record in 1963 with a time of 9.1 seconds. He also set the indoor world record in the 60-yard dash with 5.9 seconds, becoming the first person to break six seconds. Additionally, he set the world best for 200 meters with a time of 20.5 seconds and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds, though the 200 meter time was never ratified.",
"Yes, he was selected to represent the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.",
"The text does not provide information on specific competitors Hayes beat.",
"Yes, in 1962, Hayes tied the world record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash, which had been set by Frank Budd of Villanova University the previous year.",
"Hayes didn't tie against anyone. Rather, he tied the world record for the 100-yard dash that was created by Frank Budd of Villanova University.",
"Yes, in addition to tying the world record, Hayes set several other records. In 1963, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1 seconds, set the indoor world record in the 60-yard dash at 5.9 seconds and set the world best for 200 meters with a time of 20.5 seconds. He also ran the 220-yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds while running into an eight mph wind.",
"The text specifies that Hayes competed at Florida A&M University, the University of Miami, and the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It doesn't provide data on other specific venues where he may have competed.",
"An interesting fact about Hayes's career is that he never used a traditional sprinter form, yet he was able to break and tie several records, including the 100-yard dash record that stood for eleven years. Additionally, he was the first person to break six seconds in the 60-yard dash with an indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. Despite such achievements, mainstream schools of the area did not invite him to their sanctioned meets.",
"Hayes' best time in the 100-yard dash was 9.1 seconds, a record he set in 1963.",
"His football coach at Florida A&M University was Jake Gaither."
] | [
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_1 | Kerli | Kerli Koiv was born in Elva on February 7, 1987. Her mother, Piret Koiv, was a social worker, and her father, Toivo Koiv, was an auto mechanic. Her parents separated when she was 16. Kerli has stated that when she wrote "Supergirl"--a song about domestic violence written for Utopia--she "put [herself] in [her] mother's body, and said things that [she] wished that [her mother] would've said to her dad when [she] was little". | 2006-09: Love Is Dead | In 2006, Kerli worked with producer, songwriter, and mixer David Maurice on an autobiographical set of songs, the first set of which were released on a self-titled EP in 2007. She finally released her debut album, titled Love Is Dead on July 8, 2008, following her debut single "Walking on Air" (which charted at number 75 on the European Hot 100.) and "Creepshow", a promotional single. "Creepshow" was featured in the TV series Fringe, The City, as well as in the video game Burnout Paradise. The music video for the song "Love Is Dead" was released on February 29, 2008 and the music video for "Walking on Air" premiered on MTV Overdrive on May 20, 2008. "Walking on Air" was downloaded 550,000 times when it was featured as iTunes' "Single of the Week", which was a record at the time. The song appeared twice on So You Think You Can Dance? as well in an advertisement for Fringe. Love Is Dead charted at number 126 on the Billboard 200 for the week of July 26. Later in 2008, she was selected to perform a song titled "When Nobody Loves You" for the video game 007: Quantum of Solace, as well as the song "Bulletproof" on the official soundtrack of Punisher: War Zone. In 2009, Kerli performed at the Estonian music festival Ollesummer in Tallinn. On September 10, 2009 Island Def Jam announced Kerli's iPhone application and the first song, Saima was released the following month. Kerli re-released her song "The Creationist"as a duet with the Italian songwriter Cesare Cremonini. Kerli received a European Border Breakers Award for the success of the album Love Is Dead in Estonia. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_1_q#0",
"C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_1_q#1",
"C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_1_q#2",
"C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_1_q#3",
"C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_1_q#4",
"C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_1_q#5"
] | [
"What music did Kerli work on?",
"What was the name of the album/EP?",
"What did Kerli release next?",
"What date did it release?",
"What singles were on the album?",
"What other singles were released?"
] | [
2,
2,
2,
1,
2,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
9
],
[
110
],
[
176
],
[
1592
],
[
354
],
[
1025
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Kerli worked with producer, songwriter, and mixer David Maurice on an autobiographical set of songs,"
],
[
"the first set of which were released on a self-titled EP in 2007."
],
[
"She finally released her debut album, titled Love Is Dead"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Creepshow"
],
[
"When Nobody Loves You"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
9,
110,
176,
1592,
354,
1025
],
"texts": [
"Kerli worked with producer, songwriter, and mixer David Maurice on an autobiographical set of songs,",
"the first set of which were released on a self-titled EP in 2007.",
"She finally released her debut album, titled Love Is Dead",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Creepshow",
"When Nobody Loves You"
]
} | Kerli Kõiv (; born 7 February 1987), better known mononymously as Kerli, is an Estonian singer and songwriter.
Born in Elva, Kerli entered multiple singing competitions before being signed to Island Records in 2006 by LA Reid. In 2007, she released her debut self-titled extended play and in 2008, released her debut studio album, Love Is Dead, which charted on the Billboard 200. The lead single from the album, "Walking on Air," charted in many countries and was also featured as the iTunes Store's Single of the Week where it was downloaded over 500,000 times, a record at that time. In the years following, Kerli was featured on Almost Alice with the song "Tea Party" and she began to abandon her alternative rock sound and started to adopt a more electronic and dance-influenced sound, as can be heard in her 2010 single "Army of Love".
Following the release of Love Is Dead, Kerli began production on a second studio album which became her second extended play Utopia, released in early 2013, where it became Kerli's second release to chart on the Billboard 200. Two promotional singles from the EP, "Army of Love" and "Zero Gravity", were released prior to the release of the album's first official single, "The Lucky Ones". All three songs entered the top ten of Billboards Hot Dance Club Songs chart; two of them peaking at number one. Two songs which were co-written by Kerli for Utopia — "Skyscraper" and "I Feel Immortal" — were later recorded by artists Demi Lovato and Tarja Turunen, respectively. Kerli's version of "I Feel Immortal" was later released on Frankenweenie Unleashed!.
In 2013, Kerli performed twice on Dancing with the Stars; Vibe called the performances a "major milestone in the EDM world." In November 2013, Kerli left Island Records and signed a record deal with Ultra Music.
In 2019, Kerli's second studio album Shadow Works was released.
Early life
Kerli Kõiv was born in Elva on 7 February 1987. Her mother, Piret Kõiv, was a social worker, and her father, Toivo Kõiv, was an auto mechanic. Her parents separated when she was 16. Kerli has stated that when she wrote "Supergirl"—a song about domestic violence written for Utopia—she "put [herself] in [her] mother's body, and said things that [she] wished that [her mother] would've said to her dad when [she] was little". Her younger sister, Eliisa, is also a musician who competed in the third season of Eesti otsib superstaari.
As a child, Kerli studied ballroom dancing for eight years, practicing five days a week. She was first introduced to music by her kindergarten teacher, who told her mother that Kerli had "nice pitch" and that she was interested in taking her to various singing competitions. At eight years old, Kerli gained an interest in classical music, and as there was an absence of music in her early life, she only possessed two cassettes, which were albums of Bonnie Tyler and Phil Collins. She began writing stories, mini books, and poems at the age of 10 to escape from her "abusive" household to an "imaginary world". Despite being discouraged from doing so, Kerli dropped out of school at the age of 16 to pursue her musical career.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings
In 2002, Kerli competed in the singing competition Laulukarussell in the age group category 13–15 and on 18 May won with the song "Bridge over Troubled Water". Also in 2002, she falsified her age to enter the Baltic song contest Fizz Superstar, as the minimum age was fifteen. She ended up winning the contest, gaining a singing contract to Universal Republic Records by Rob Stevenson. She was later dropped as Stevenson's position at the label changed. Later, Estonian media began to use the term "Kerli Syndrome" as a synonym for "failure". Kerli has stated, however, that she feels no resentment towards her home country. In a 2008 interview she said the following:
Stevenson later signed Kerli to his label Stolen Transmission but the label went bankrupt. At the age of 16, Kerli moved to Stockholm where she competed in Melodifestivalen in 2003 but was eliminated in the second semifinals. In 2004, she was the runner-up in that year's Eurolaul – a televised competition that determines the song that will represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest – with her song "Beautiful Inside". While in Stockholm for two years, she worked with numerous producers and due to lack of money as the contracts she had gained previously were unsuccessful, she ate nothing but rice for three months, lived in an abandoned house during winter and slept on a cot. At the age of 18, she moved to the United States where she continued to perform and write songs, ultimately getting an audition with L.A. Reid, who signed her to The Island Def Jam Music Group in 2006.
2006–2009: Love Is Dead
In 2006, Kerli worked with producer, songwriter, and mixer David Maurice on an autobiographical set of songs, the first set of which were released on a self-titled EP in 2007. She finally released her debut album, titled Love Is Dead on 8 July 2008, following her debut single "Walking on Air" which charted at number 75 on the European Hot 100, and a promotional single "Creepshow". "Creepshow" was featured in the TV series Fringe, The City, as well as in the video game Burnout Paradise. The music video for the song "Love Is Dead" was released on 29 February 2008 and the music video for "Walking on Air" premiered on MTV Overdrive on 20 May 2008. "Walking on Air" was downloaded 550,000 times when it was featured as iTunes' "Single of the Week", which was a record at the time. The song appeared twice on So You Think You Can Dance? as well in an advertisement for Fringe. Love Is Dead charted at number 126 on the Billboard 200 for the week of 26 July.
Later in 2008, she was selected to perform a song titled "When Nobody Loves You" for the video game 007: Quantum of Solace, as well as the song "Bulletproof" on the official soundtrack of Punisher: War Zone.
In 2009, Kerli performed at the Estonian music festival Õllesummer in Tallinn. On 10 September 2009, Island Def Jam announced Kerli's iPhone application and the first song, "Saima", was released the following month. Kerli re-released her song "The Creationist" as a duet with the Italian songwriter Cesare Cremonini.
Kerli received a European Border Breakers Award for the success of the album Love Is Dead in Estonia.
2010–2014: Utopia, and label change
On 2 March 2010, Almost Alice, a compilation album featuring music inspired by Disney's Alice in Wonderland was released. It contains two songs performed by Kerli, "Tea Party" and "Strange", the latter being a collaboration with Tokio Hotel. A remix album of "Tea Party" was released on 15 June 2010. She covered the song "Nature Boy" for a promo for the tenth season of Smallville.
On 19 December 2010, Kerli performed a song in Estonian titled "Sa kuldseks jää" ("Stay Golden") at her grandparents' art show in Estonia. Kerli stated that she wished to officially release the song in Estonia to gain local airplay.
After the release of Love Is Dead, Kerli began working on her second studio album, which later became her third major release and second EP titled Utopia. She has stated that she has developing a "new musical style called Bubble Goth" and that the Love Is Dead album was "really moody and dark and introverted, so this album is actually more fun, but it still has that twistedness" and that she has "trying to develop a whole new sound-scape that [she does not think she has] heard before". She has also said that it is "a very strong album" about "overcoming the darkness in [her]..overcoming blaming the world for what's wrong...taking responsibility, being inspired and inspiring others." "Army of Love" was released for free via download on Kerli's official website. It was then released as a single for purchase on 12 April 2011. The song was considered for promotion to become the album's lead single. The music video for "Army of Love" was filmed over several days in Estonia during early November. The video "sets the undertone of [her] entire new album". The music video officially premiered on December 22, 2010. "Army of Love" peaked at number one on Billboard'''s Hot Dance Club Songs chart for the week of 7 May 2011.
A song titled "Skyscraper" was written by Toby Gad, Lindy Robbins, and Kerli for Utopia however the song did not make it to her album and instead Kerli gave it to be recorded by American musician Demi Lovato for her album Unbroken. Kerli was very pleased by Lovato's recording and responded by saying "I really think that artists are story tellers and are here to deliver a message and there's no better person that I can think of right now than her to deliver that very story. So although I did write this song for my album, it's really her song. She nails it, she owns it. I am just the Santa's little helper here." Gad, Robbins, and Kerli also penned a song titled "I Feel Immortal" for Kerli that also did not make it to her album. The song was eventually recorded by Finnish musician Tarja for her album What Lies Beneath. A version of the track titled "Immortal" recorded by Kerli appears on Frankenweenie Unleashed!, an album consisting of tracks from and inspired by the Tim Burton film Frankenweenie.
The music video for "Zero Gravity" began production on 25 January and premiered on 21 March. It is directed by Canadian director Alon Isocianu. It was supposed to be the first single from the new album as well as "Army of Love", but later Kerli stated that neither "Zero Gravity" nor "Army of Love" were official singles and that they were only buzz singles. In May 2012, Kerli wrote on Facebook the album was finished and mastered, and in September confirmed that a single from the album titled "The Lucky Ones" would be released on 29 October 2012. It was written by Kerli, Svante Halldin, and Jakob Hazell. A press release by Warner Music Group stated the album would be released in spring 2013. The music video for the song is directed by Ethan Chancer, and was released on 5 December. In March 2013, the official tracklist as well as the artwork for Utopia EP was released. It was actually first supposed to be a full LP, but as it completely leaked in the middle of December, the label wanted to cut out some songs for March and wanted to release it as an EP; the final official track listing for the EP only includes "Can't Control the Kids", "The Lucky Ones", "Sugar", "Love Me or Leave Me", "Here and Now", "Chemical" and a "The Lucky Ones" remix by one of the Estonian rising DJs Syn Cole, leaving out six songs: "Made For Loving You", "Last Breath", "Supergirl", "Speed Limit", "Kaleidoscope" (which was later released as a Benny Benassi collaboration featuring Kerli), and also "Zero Gravity" was left out, which was first supposed to be on the album too. The EP was finally released digitally on 19 March and physically on 13 May (only in the Baltic states and Finland).
In October 2012, Kerli participated in ASCAP's week-long songwriting retreat at the Château Marouatte in Dordogne before joining Warner/Chappell Music. Kerli also collaborated with Australian trance musician tyDi on the tracks "Glow in the Dark" and "Something About You", as well as with Cash Cash on a track titled "Here and Now". Kerli is currently working on her third studio album and has stated that she would like it to be "a little more punk rock" and "a little more raw" than her previous work.
In November 2013, Kerli parted ways with Island Records and joined Ultra Music. Kerli collaborated with Seven Lions in two songs for his EP Worlds Apart, with the title song being released as a single by Ultra Records at 3 June 2014. An accompanying music video for the song was released by 16 August. Kerli teamed up with Benny Benassi on 21 July; for a re-edit of "Kaleidoscope", a song originally recorded for her shelved second album Utopia. By the end of September, Kerli worked again with Australian DJ tyDi in a song called "Perfect Crush" for tyDi's album Redefined.
In 2014, Kerli co-wrote the song "See Through" by Pentatonix with Joonas Angeria and Thomas Kirjonen for their third extended play, PTX, Vol. III.
2015–present: Eesti Laul and Shadow Works
On 5 November 2015, it was revealed that Kerli composed a song for Eesti Laul 2016, Estonia's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. In 2015, Kerli left Los Angeles and returned to Estonia, where she spent nine months with no running water and only her music-making gear to keep her company, where she produced her first independent album.
Her single "Feral Hearts" was released digitally worldwide on 19 February 2016. The music video for "Feral Hearts" was released the following week on February 25. "Blossom", the second single from her second studio album, followed with a video on 28 April and the song's release on iTunes the next day.
On 26 June, Kerli released the song "Racing Time". She explained that it was one of three songs written for the 2016 film Alice Through the Looking Glass. She had previously contributed to the Almost Alice concept album for the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland. However, the songs were not included on the latest movie's soundtrack. On 27 July, she released the third single from her upcoming sophomore studio album, "Diamond Hard", along with its music video.
On 22 April 2016, Kerli was featured as a vocalist and co-wrote a song on British artist Katy B's Honey album. She co-wrote and sang the hook on "I Wanna Be".
On 8 November 2016, it was revealed that Kerli would compete in Eesti Laul 2017, with the song "Spirit Animal". She reached the final and finished second in the competition. She was later announced to be representing Estonia in the OGAE Second Chance Contest 2017 with "Spirit Animal", held in Warsaw. On 24 April 2017, Kerli and Illenium released their collaboration song "Sound of Walking Away", included in Illenium's second studio album Awake (2017).
By late 2018, the original second studio album, including the 2016 singles, was announced to be scrapped. To replace it, on 12 November 2018, it was announced that Kerli's new album, which was a brand new project, will be released on 22 February 2019, with three singles being released prior the album. The first one, titled "Savages", on 30 November 2018. "Better" was released as the second on 18 January 2019, and "Legends" followed as the third on February 8, 2019. The album cover and the track listing were revealed on 30 November, along with the pre-order of the album on iTunes. It was also announced that only two videos from the three singles would be released, one being "Savages" and the other is yet to be announced. The music video for "Savages" was released. The album, titled Shadow Works, was released in 2019.
On 11 August 2020, Kerli was featured on the album Another Life/Eternally Yours: Motion Picture Collection by the heavy metal band Motionless in White. A re-recording of their song "Another Life" featured Kerli on guest vocals. In February of 2023, Kerli came out with her newest single titled "21st Century Kids".
Artistry
Style and influences
In an interview, Kerli recalled buying The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill (which she called "one of [her] favourite records of all time") at a metro station in Russia. She asked them to "give [her] something else really good", "something that people buy". She was given Greatest Hits by Björk, whom she was unfamiliar with at the time. She now cites Björk as a major influence and her favourite musician. Kerli cites Bonnie Tyler and Phil Collins as influences as well as they recorded the only two albums she possessed prior to this.
Among her other influences are Anouk, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Massive Attack, Kidneythieves, Pendulum, the Cocteau Twins, A Perfect Circle, Deftones, Incubus, Apparat, and Imogen Heap.
Kerli also attributes her beliefs in angels and fairies to be an influence in her music, and said the song "Xtal" by Aphex Twin was her "favourite piece of music of all time". She has also spoken of influence from Sigur Rós and has cited them as her favourite band.
After the release of Love Is Dead, Kerli was labelled as "goth" and a disagreeing critic said she was more along the lines of "bubblegum goth." Kerli stated "that's exactly what I am" and that she was "going to take this concept and roll with it" and she created the derivative "BubbleGoth". Described by Kerli, BubbleGoth is "putting together light and dark, opposites, and things that you don't really necessarily think go together." Kerli cites the Spice Girls as being a major influence on BubbleGoth, which she stated is "like a gothic spice girl".
Kerli is fond of wearing various unique and colourful hairstyles, often inspired by cyberpunk and goth fashion.
The difference in musical style and composition in Love Is Dead compared to Kerli's further releases is significant. Love Is Dead being alternative rock and her current music being along the lines of synthpop. Kerli describes herself as being very depressed during the production of Love Is Dead and that she felt "scattered" and describes the transition to the new sound as an attempt to "make it really radio friendly without losing what people already love about [her]." In response to criticism concerning her sound compared to her older sound, Kerli said she was "not the same person anymore", stating "Maybe I will be [on] my third album. Maybe I'll be totally depressed and write another really dark album. I have no idea where I'm going to go. All I know is that I'm just always going to try to grow and do my best. And whatever comes out of me is just going to be a reflection of who I am at that moment."
Public image
Kerli frequently wears three dots called "moon marks" that represent integrity, love and unity, three things that are also followed by Moon Children: an elaborated fan community/street team established by Kerli in 2006 for people who "feel too much and find it hard to exist in this world, so that they wouldn't think they're crazy." It originally began as a "gathering for Indigo kids" but developed into a "movement of Integrity, Love and Unity" which is "trying to be the best you can be, taking responsibility for your reality and living with your eyes open. It's not some religious preachy thing, rather being a passenger in this dimension, trying to make the most of your experience and striving for perfection while understanding it's okay not to be perfect."
In regards to LGBT rights, she has stated that she wishes "the world would already be in a place where everyone is equally able to marry, adopt and live their life without having to explain themselves" and that it is "not a matter of political views, it's a matter of human rights. All humans need to have equal rights, straight or gay. As long as one likes to go to church and believe in God and that makes them a better, nicer person, that's great. Once hatred and superiority comes to play, I'm against religion." In 2011, Kerli stated that in Estonia, "there really is no gay scene" but that "it's starting to emerge, and [she’s] trying to support it as much as [she] can." In June 2011 and 2012, Kerli performed at pride festivals in Boston, Detroit, Nashville, and San Francisco. She is also a participant in the NOH8 Campaign.
In 2011, Kerli was listed as one of the 100 Most Influential Estonian Women.
Personal life
At the age of 15, Kerli asked her mother for a tattoo that read "music" in Chinese (""). Dubious, her mother told her that if she read "every book in town" on China and wrote a report on it, she would be allowed to get the tattoo. Kerli did as requested, and her mother took her to get the tattoo the day before her 16th birthday. She has two tattoos on her forearm; one is of a butterfly which symbolises "living every day like it was [her] last" and that she would never "leave a person that [she] loves without them knowing how much [she] loves them". The other tattoo states in Latin "", which Kerli translates "a friend of the human race". A tattoo on her left forearm, again in Latin, reads "". On her right foot, she has the letter "E", an initial of someone who "broke [her] heart".
While not belonging to any religion, nor labelling herself as such, Kerli believes in reincarnation as well as other forms of life after death, fairies (which she has cited as being a large element of her life), angels, and demons, once defining them as "reflections" of one's "inner light" and "inner darkness", respectively. However, besides thanking her guardian angels in the liner notes for Love Is Dead, she has also stated she feel angels are beings, as well as using "angel cards".
Kerli has said that she has bipolar disorder and attempted suicide when she was 17 as a result of her troubled upbringing, stating that her background has "made [her] stronger and now [she] can be here for other kids who are like [her]" and that she is happy to be alive, describing life as a "beautiful and rare gift". During a live video chat with fans on 7 October 2011, Kerli recalled when she was 17 and would ask her local doctor to sedate her with medication because it "hurt [her] so much to be awake" due to her depression. She also recalled an instance when she was home alone at age 17, where she covered the windows with dark towels to block out the sunlight and began cutting herself and slitting her arms with rusty scissors, stating that she "wanted to die" and "couldn't feel any physical pain at all because [she] was just hurting so much inside".
Discography
Studio albums
Love Is Dead (2008)
Shadow Works (2019)
EPs
Kerli (2007)
Utopia (2013)
Deepest Roots (2016)
Music Videos
"Goodbye" (2007) Directed By Dave Schwep
"Love Is Dead" (2007) Directed By Josh Mond
"Walking On Air" (2008) Directed By Alex Topaller & Daniel Shapiro
"Creepshow" (2008) Directed By Daniel Muntinen and Jaagup Metal
"Tea Party" (2009) Directed By Justin Harder
"Army of Love" (2011) Directed By Kaiser Kukk
"Zero Gravity" (2012) Directed By Alon Isocianu
"Glow in the Dark" (2012) Directed By Darren Teale
"The Lucky Ones" (2012) Directed By Ethan Chancer
"Worlds Apart" (2014) Directed By Bobby Galvan
"Feral Hearts" (2016) Directed By CJ Kask
"Feral Hearts (Sacred Forrest Session)" (2016) Directed By CJ Kask
"Blossom" (2016) Directed By CJ Kask
"Blossom (The Halls Heaven Session)" (2016) Directed By CJ Kask
"Diamond Hard" (2016) Directed By Kerli
"Diamond Hard (360)" (2016) Directed By CJ Kask
"Savages" (2019) Directed By Kerli & Everett Lee-Sung
"21st Century Kids" (2023) Directed By Kerli
Awards and nominations
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2008
| Herself
| MTV Europe Music Award for Best Baltic Act
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | "Walking on Air"
| MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video
|
|-
| rowspan="5" | 2009
| Raadio 2 Hit of the Year
|
|-
| Estonian Music Award for Music Video of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Herself
| Estonian Music Award for Pop Artist of the Year
|
|-
| Estonian Music Award for Female Artist of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Love Is Dead
| Estonian Music Award for Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2010
| European Border Breakers Award
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | "Army of Love"
| Raadio 2 Hit of the Year
|
|-
|| 2011
| Estonian Music Award for Music Video of the Year
|
|-
| 2012
| rowspan=2|"Zero Gravity"
| MP3 Music Award for The BNA Award
|
|-
|| 2013
| Estonian Music Award for Music Video of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2014
| rowspan="2" | Utopia''
| Estonian Music Award for Best Female Album
|
|-
| Estonian Music Award for Best Pop Album
|
|-
|| 2017
| "Feral Hearts"
| Estonian Music Award for Music Video of the Year
|
|}
References
External links
Category:1987 births
Category:Dance musicians
Category:English-language singers from Estonia
Category:Estonian expatriates in the United States
Category:Estonian expatriates in Sweden
Category:21st-century Estonian women singers
Category:Estonian pianists
Category:Estonian pop singers
Category:Estonian record producers
Category:Estonian rock singers
Category:Estonian songwriters
Category:Women rock singers
Category:Island Records artists
Category:Estonian LGBT rights activists
Category:Living people
Category:People from Elva, Estonia
Category:People with bipolar disorder
Category:Synth-pop singers
Category:21st-century pianists
Category:Women record producers
Category:Eesti Laul contestants
Category:Women in electronic music
Category:21st-century women pianists | [] | [
"Kerli worked on an autobiographical set of songs with producer David Maurice. Her debut album was titled Love Is Dead and included her debut single \"Walking on Air\" as well as a promotional single \"Creepshow\". She also performed songs like \"When Nobody Loves You\" for the video game 007: Quantum of Solace and \"Bulletproof\" for the official soundtrack of Punisher: War Zone. Additionally, she re-released her song \"The Creationist\" as a duet with the Italian songwriter Cesare Cremonini.",
"The first set of autobiographical songs by Kerli were released on a self-titled EP in 2007. Later, she released her debut album, titled Love Is Dead in 2008.",
"Following her debut album Love Is Dead, Kerli performed a song titled \"When Nobody Loves You\" for the video game 007: Quantum of Solace, as well as the song \"Bulletproof\" on the official soundtrack of Punisher: War Zone. She then performed at the Estonian music festival Ollesummer in 2009 and released a song called Saima as part of her iPhone application. She also re-released her song \"The Creationist\" as a duet with Italian songwriter Cesare Cremonini.",
"The text does not provide specific release dates for Kerli's performances and releases following her debut album \"Love Is Dead\".",
"The singles from Kerli's album \"Love Is Dead\" that are mentioned in the text are \"Walking on Air\" and \"Creepshow\".",
"In addition to \"Walking on Air\" and \"Creepshow\" from her album, Kerli released the songs \"When Nobody Loves You\" for the video game 007: Quantum of Solace and \"Bulletproof\" for the soundtrack of Punisher: War Zone. She also re-released her song \"The Creationist\" as a duet with Italian songwriter Cesare Cremonini. However, it's not explicitly stated in the text whether these were released as singles."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_0 | Kerli | Kerli Koiv was born in Elva on February 7, 1987. Her mother, Piret Koiv, was a social worker, and her father, Toivo Koiv, was an auto mechanic. Her parents separated when she was 16. Kerli has stated that when she wrote "Supergirl"--a song about domestic violence written for Utopia--she "put [herself] in [her] mother's body, and said things that [she] wished that [her mother] would've said to her dad when [she] was little". | 2015-present: Second studio album | On 5 November 2015, it was revealed that Kerli composed a song for Eesti Laul 2016, Estonia's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. In 2015, Kerli left Los Angeles and returned to Estonia, where she spent nine months with no running water and only her music-making gear to keep her company, where she produced her first independent album. Her single "Feral Hearts" was released digitally worldwide on 19 February 2016. The music video for "Feral Hearts" was released the following week on February 25. "Blossom", the second single from her second studio album, followed with a video on 28 April and the song's release on iTunes the next day. On 26 June, Kerli released the song "Racing Time". She explained that it was one of three songs written for the 2016 film Alice Through the Looking Glass. She had previously contributed to the Almost Alice concept album for the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland. However, the songs were not included on the latest movie's soundtrack. On 27 July, she released the third single from her upcoming sophomore studio album, "Diamond Hard", along with its music video. On April 22, 2016, Kerli was featured as a vocalist and co-wrote a song on British artist Katy B's 'Honey' album (Rinse/Virgin EMI). She co-wrote and sang the hook on "I Wanna Be." On 8 November 2016, it was revealed that Kerli would compete in Eesti Laul 2017, with the song "Spirit Animal". She reached the final and finished second in the competition. She was later announced to be representing Estonia in the OGAE Second Chance Contest 2017 with "Spirit Animal", held in Warsaw. On 24 April 2017, Kerli and Illenium released their collaboration song "Sound of Walking Away", included in Illenium's second studio album Awake (2017). CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_0_q#0",
"C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_0_q#1",
"C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_0_q#2",
"C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_0_q#3",
"C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_0_q#4",
"C_298929ec851d4f34b612c42915031065_0_q#5"
] | [
"What is Kerli's second studio album",
"Did this song do well?",
"What else did she do?",
"Did she have any other achievements during this time?",
"did this song do well?",
"What else happened with this?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
2
] | [
2,
0,
2,
2,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
359
],
[
439
],
[
663
],
[
922
],
[
1122
],
[
1255
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Her single \"Feral Hearts\" was released digitally worldwide on 19 February 2016."
],
[
"The music video for \"Feral Hearts\" was released the following week on February 25. \"Blossom\", the second single from her second studio album,"
],
[
"On 26 June, Kerli released the song \"Racing Time\". She explained that it was one of three songs written for the 2016 film Alice Through the Looking Glass."
],
[
"However, the songs were not included on the latest movie's soundtrack. On 27 July, she released the third single from her upcoming sophomore studio album, \"Diamond Hard\","
],
[
"On April 22, 2016, Kerli was featured as a vocalist and co-wrote a song on British artist Katy B's 'Honey' album ("
],
[
"She co-wrote and sang the hook on \"I Wanna Be.\""
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
359,
439,
663,
922,
1122,
1255
],
"texts": [
"Her single \"Feral Hearts\" was released digitally worldwide on 19 February 2016.",
"The music video for \"Feral Hearts\" was released the following week on February 25. \"Blossom\", the second single from her second studio album,",
"On 26 June, Kerli released the song \"Racing Time\". She explained that it was one of three songs written for the 2016 film Alice Through the Looking Glass.",
"However, the songs were not included on the latest movie's soundtrack. On 27 July, she released the third single from her upcoming sophomore studio album, \"Diamond Hard\",",
"On April 22, 2016, Kerli was featured as a vocalist and co-wrote a song on British artist Katy B's 'Honey' album (",
"She co-wrote and sang the hook on \"I Wanna Be.\""
]
} | Kerli Kõiv (; born 7 February 1987), better known mononymously as Kerli, is an Estonian singer and songwriter.
Born in Elva, Kerli entered multiple singing competitions before being signed to Island Records in 2006 by LA Reid. In 2007, she released her debut self-titled extended play and in 2008, released her debut studio album, Love Is Dead, which charted on the Billboard 200. The lead single from the album, "Walking on Air," charted in many countries and was also featured as the iTunes Store's Single of the Week where it was downloaded over 500,000 times, a record at that time. In the years following, Kerli was featured on Almost Alice with the song "Tea Party" and she began to abandon her alternative rock sound and started to adopt a more electronic and dance-influenced sound, as can be heard in her 2010 single "Army of Love".
Following the release of Love Is Dead, Kerli began production on a second studio album which became her second extended play Utopia, released in early 2013, where it became Kerli's second release to chart on the Billboard 200. Two promotional singles from the EP, "Army of Love" and "Zero Gravity", were released prior to the release of the album's first official single, "The Lucky Ones". All three songs entered the top ten of Billboards Hot Dance Club Songs chart; two of them peaking at number one. Two songs which were co-written by Kerli for Utopia — "Skyscraper" and "I Feel Immortal" — were later recorded by artists Demi Lovato and Tarja Turunen, respectively. Kerli's version of "I Feel Immortal" was later released on Frankenweenie Unleashed!.
In 2013, Kerli performed twice on Dancing with the Stars; Vibe called the performances a "major milestone in the EDM world." In November 2013, Kerli left Island Records and signed a record deal with Ultra Music.
In 2019, Kerli's second studio album Shadow Works was released.
Early life
Kerli Kõiv was born in Elva on 7 February 1987. Her mother, Piret Kõiv, was a social worker, and her father, Toivo Kõiv, was an auto mechanic. Her parents separated when she was 16. Kerli has stated that when she wrote "Supergirl"—a song about domestic violence written for Utopia—she "put [herself] in [her] mother's body, and said things that [she] wished that [her mother] would've said to her dad when [she] was little". Her younger sister, Eliisa, is also a musician who competed in the third season of Eesti otsib superstaari.
As a child, Kerli studied ballroom dancing for eight years, practicing five days a week. She was first introduced to music by her kindergarten teacher, who told her mother that Kerli had "nice pitch" and that she was interested in taking her to various singing competitions. At eight years old, Kerli gained an interest in classical music, and as there was an absence of music in her early life, she only possessed two cassettes, which were albums of Bonnie Tyler and Phil Collins. She began writing stories, mini books, and poems at the age of 10 to escape from her "abusive" household to an "imaginary world". Despite being discouraged from doing so, Kerli dropped out of school at the age of 16 to pursue her musical career.
Career
2002–2005: Career beginnings
In 2002, Kerli competed in the singing competition Laulukarussell in the age group category 13–15 and on 18 May won with the song "Bridge over Troubled Water". Also in 2002, she falsified her age to enter the Baltic song contest Fizz Superstar, as the minimum age was fifteen. She ended up winning the contest, gaining a singing contract to Universal Republic Records by Rob Stevenson. She was later dropped as Stevenson's position at the label changed. Later, Estonian media began to use the term "Kerli Syndrome" as a synonym for "failure". Kerli has stated, however, that she feels no resentment towards her home country. In a 2008 interview she said the following:
Stevenson later signed Kerli to his label Stolen Transmission but the label went bankrupt. At the age of 16, Kerli moved to Stockholm where she competed in Melodifestivalen in 2003 but was eliminated in the second semifinals. In 2004, she was the runner-up in that year's Eurolaul – a televised competition that determines the song that will represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest – with her song "Beautiful Inside". While in Stockholm for two years, she worked with numerous producers and due to lack of money as the contracts she had gained previously were unsuccessful, she ate nothing but rice for three months, lived in an abandoned house during winter and slept on a cot. At the age of 18, she moved to the United States where she continued to perform and write songs, ultimately getting an audition with L.A. Reid, who signed her to The Island Def Jam Music Group in 2006.
2006–2009: Love Is Dead
In 2006, Kerli worked with producer, songwriter, and mixer David Maurice on an autobiographical set of songs, the first set of which were released on a self-titled EP in 2007. She finally released her debut album, titled Love Is Dead on 8 July 2008, following her debut single "Walking on Air" which charted at number 75 on the European Hot 100, and a promotional single "Creepshow". "Creepshow" was featured in the TV series Fringe, The City, as well as in the video game Burnout Paradise. The music video for the song "Love Is Dead" was released on 29 February 2008 and the music video for "Walking on Air" premiered on MTV Overdrive on 20 May 2008. "Walking on Air" was downloaded 550,000 times when it was featured as iTunes' "Single of the Week", which was a record at the time. The song appeared twice on So You Think You Can Dance? as well in an advertisement for Fringe. Love Is Dead charted at number 126 on the Billboard 200 for the week of 26 July.
Later in 2008, she was selected to perform a song titled "When Nobody Loves You" for the video game 007: Quantum of Solace, as well as the song "Bulletproof" on the official soundtrack of Punisher: War Zone.
In 2009, Kerli performed at the Estonian music festival Õllesummer in Tallinn. On 10 September 2009, Island Def Jam announced Kerli's iPhone application and the first song, "Saima", was released the following month. Kerli re-released her song "The Creationist" as a duet with the Italian songwriter Cesare Cremonini.
Kerli received a European Border Breakers Award for the success of the album Love Is Dead in Estonia.
2010–2014: Utopia, and label change
On 2 March 2010, Almost Alice, a compilation album featuring music inspired by Disney's Alice in Wonderland was released. It contains two songs performed by Kerli, "Tea Party" and "Strange", the latter being a collaboration with Tokio Hotel. A remix album of "Tea Party" was released on 15 June 2010. She covered the song "Nature Boy" for a promo for the tenth season of Smallville.
On 19 December 2010, Kerli performed a song in Estonian titled "Sa kuldseks jää" ("Stay Golden") at her grandparents' art show in Estonia. Kerli stated that she wished to officially release the song in Estonia to gain local airplay.
After the release of Love Is Dead, Kerli began working on her second studio album, which later became her third major release and second EP titled Utopia. She has stated that she has developing a "new musical style called Bubble Goth" and that the Love Is Dead album was "really moody and dark and introverted, so this album is actually more fun, but it still has that twistedness" and that she has "trying to develop a whole new sound-scape that [she does not think she has] heard before". She has also said that it is "a very strong album" about "overcoming the darkness in [her]..overcoming blaming the world for what's wrong...taking responsibility, being inspired and inspiring others." "Army of Love" was released for free via download on Kerli's official website. It was then released as a single for purchase on 12 April 2011. The song was considered for promotion to become the album's lead single. The music video for "Army of Love" was filmed over several days in Estonia during early November. The video "sets the undertone of [her] entire new album". The music video officially premiered on December 22, 2010. "Army of Love" peaked at number one on Billboard'''s Hot Dance Club Songs chart for the week of 7 May 2011.
A song titled "Skyscraper" was written by Toby Gad, Lindy Robbins, and Kerli for Utopia however the song did not make it to her album and instead Kerli gave it to be recorded by American musician Demi Lovato for her album Unbroken. Kerli was very pleased by Lovato's recording and responded by saying "I really think that artists are story tellers and are here to deliver a message and there's no better person that I can think of right now than her to deliver that very story. So although I did write this song for my album, it's really her song. She nails it, she owns it. I am just the Santa's little helper here." Gad, Robbins, and Kerli also penned a song titled "I Feel Immortal" for Kerli that also did not make it to her album. The song was eventually recorded by Finnish musician Tarja for her album What Lies Beneath. A version of the track titled "Immortal" recorded by Kerli appears on Frankenweenie Unleashed!, an album consisting of tracks from and inspired by the Tim Burton film Frankenweenie.
The music video for "Zero Gravity" began production on 25 January and premiered on 21 March. It is directed by Canadian director Alon Isocianu. It was supposed to be the first single from the new album as well as "Army of Love", but later Kerli stated that neither "Zero Gravity" nor "Army of Love" were official singles and that they were only buzz singles. In May 2012, Kerli wrote on Facebook the album was finished and mastered, and in September confirmed that a single from the album titled "The Lucky Ones" would be released on 29 October 2012. It was written by Kerli, Svante Halldin, and Jakob Hazell. A press release by Warner Music Group stated the album would be released in spring 2013. The music video for the song is directed by Ethan Chancer, and was released on 5 December. In March 2013, the official tracklist as well as the artwork for Utopia EP was released. It was actually first supposed to be a full LP, but as it completely leaked in the middle of December, the label wanted to cut out some songs for March and wanted to release it as an EP; the final official track listing for the EP only includes "Can't Control the Kids", "The Lucky Ones", "Sugar", "Love Me or Leave Me", "Here and Now", "Chemical" and a "The Lucky Ones" remix by one of the Estonian rising DJs Syn Cole, leaving out six songs: "Made For Loving You", "Last Breath", "Supergirl", "Speed Limit", "Kaleidoscope" (which was later released as a Benny Benassi collaboration featuring Kerli), and also "Zero Gravity" was left out, which was first supposed to be on the album too. The EP was finally released digitally on 19 March and physically on 13 May (only in the Baltic states and Finland).
In October 2012, Kerli participated in ASCAP's week-long songwriting retreat at the Château Marouatte in Dordogne before joining Warner/Chappell Music. Kerli also collaborated with Australian trance musician tyDi on the tracks "Glow in the Dark" and "Something About You", as well as with Cash Cash on a track titled "Here and Now". Kerli is currently working on her third studio album and has stated that she would like it to be "a little more punk rock" and "a little more raw" than her previous work.
In November 2013, Kerli parted ways with Island Records and joined Ultra Music. Kerli collaborated with Seven Lions in two songs for his EP Worlds Apart, with the title song being released as a single by Ultra Records at 3 June 2014. An accompanying music video for the song was released by 16 August. Kerli teamed up with Benny Benassi on 21 July; for a re-edit of "Kaleidoscope", a song originally recorded for her shelved second album Utopia. By the end of September, Kerli worked again with Australian DJ tyDi in a song called "Perfect Crush" for tyDi's album Redefined.
In 2014, Kerli co-wrote the song "See Through" by Pentatonix with Joonas Angeria and Thomas Kirjonen for their third extended play, PTX, Vol. III.
2015–present: Eesti Laul and Shadow Works
On 5 November 2015, it was revealed that Kerli composed a song for Eesti Laul 2016, Estonia's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. In 2015, Kerli left Los Angeles and returned to Estonia, where she spent nine months with no running water and only her music-making gear to keep her company, where she produced her first independent album.
Her single "Feral Hearts" was released digitally worldwide on 19 February 2016. The music video for "Feral Hearts" was released the following week on February 25. "Blossom", the second single from her second studio album, followed with a video on 28 April and the song's release on iTunes the next day.
On 26 June, Kerli released the song "Racing Time". She explained that it was one of three songs written for the 2016 film Alice Through the Looking Glass. She had previously contributed to the Almost Alice concept album for the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland. However, the songs were not included on the latest movie's soundtrack. On 27 July, she released the third single from her upcoming sophomore studio album, "Diamond Hard", along with its music video.
On 22 April 2016, Kerli was featured as a vocalist and co-wrote a song on British artist Katy B's Honey album. She co-wrote and sang the hook on "I Wanna Be".
On 8 November 2016, it was revealed that Kerli would compete in Eesti Laul 2017, with the song "Spirit Animal". She reached the final and finished second in the competition. She was later announced to be representing Estonia in the OGAE Second Chance Contest 2017 with "Spirit Animal", held in Warsaw. On 24 April 2017, Kerli and Illenium released their collaboration song "Sound of Walking Away", included in Illenium's second studio album Awake (2017).
By late 2018, the original second studio album, including the 2016 singles, was announced to be scrapped. To replace it, on 12 November 2018, it was announced that Kerli's new album, which was a brand new project, will be released on 22 February 2019, with three singles being released prior the album. The first one, titled "Savages", on 30 November 2018. "Better" was released as the second on 18 January 2019, and "Legends" followed as the third on February 8, 2019. The album cover and the track listing were revealed on 30 November, along with the pre-order of the album on iTunes. It was also announced that only two videos from the three singles would be released, one being "Savages" and the other is yet to be announced. The music video for "Savages" was released. The album, titled Shadow Works, was released in 2019.
On 11 August 2020, Kerli was featured on the album Another Life/Eternally Yours: Motion Picture Collection by the heavy metal band Motionless in White. A re-recording of their song "Another Life" featured Kerli on guest vocals. In February of 2023, Kerli came out with her newest single titled "21st Century Kids".
Artistry
Style and influences
In an interview, Kerli recalled buying The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill (which she called "one of [her] favourite records of all time") at a metro station in Russia. She asked them to "give [her] something else really good", "something that people buy". She was given Greatest Hits by Björk, whom she was unfamiliar with at the time. She now cites Björk as a major influence and her favourite musician. Kerli cites Bonnie Tyler and Phil Collins as influences as well as they recorded the only two albums she possessed prior to this.
Among her other influences are Anouk, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Massive Attack, Kidneythieves, Pendulum, the Cocteau Twins, A Perfect Circle, Deftones, Incubus, Apparat, and Imogen Heap.
Kerli also attributes her beliefs in angels and fairies to be an influence in her music, and said the song "Xtal" by Aphex Twin was her "favourite piece of music of all time". She has also spoken of influence from Sigur Rós and has cited them as her favourite band.
After the release of Love Is Dead, Kerli was labelled as "goth" and a disagreeing critic said she was more along the lines of "bubblegum goth." Kerli stated "that's exactly what I am" and that she was "going to take this concept and roll with it" and she created the derivative "BubbleGoth". Described by Kerli, BubbleGoth is "putting together light and dark, opposites, and things that you don't really necessarily think go together." Kerli cites the Spice Girls as being a major influence on BubbleGoth, which she stated is "like a gothic spice girl".
Kerli is fond of wearing various unique and colourful hairstyles, often inspired by cyberpunk and goth fashion.
The difference in musical style and composition in Love Is Dead compared to Kerli's further releases is significant. Love Is Dead being alternative rock and her current music being along the lines of synthpop. Kerli describes herself as being very depressed during the production of Love Is Dead and that she felt "scattered" and describes the transition to the new sound as an attempt to "make it really radio friendly without losing what people already love about [her]." In response to criticism concerning her sound compared to her older sound, Kerli said she was "not the same person anymore", stating "Maybe I will be [on] my third album. Maybe I'll be totally depressed and write another really dark album. I have no idea where I'm going to go. All I know is that I'm just always going to try to grow and do my best. And whatever comes out of me is just going to be a reflection of who I am at that moment."
Public image
Kerli frequently wears three dots called "moon marks" that represent integrity, love and unity, three things that are also followed by Moon Children: an elaborated fan community/street team established by Kerli in 2006 for people who "feel too much and find it hard to exist in this world, so that they wouldn't think they're crazy." It originally began as a "gathering for Indigo kids" but developed into a "movement of Integrity, Love and Unity" which is "trying to be the best you can be, taking responsibility for your reality and living with your eyes open. It's not some religious preachy thing, rather being a passenger in this dimension, trying to make the most of your experience and striving for perfection while understanding it's okay not to be perfect."
In regards to LGBT rights, she has stated that she wishes "the world would already be in a place where everyone is equally able to marry, adopt and live their life without having to explain themselves" and that it is "not a matter of political views, it's a matter of human rights. All humans need to have equal rights, straight or gay. As long as one likes to go to church and believe in God and that makes them a better, nicer person, that's great. Once hatred and superiority comes to play, I'm against religion." In 2011, Kerli stated that in Estonia, "there really is no gay scene" but that "it's starting to emerge, and [she’s] trying to support it as much as [she] can." In June 2011 and 2012, Kerli performed at pride festivals in Boston, Detroit, Nashville, and San Francisco. She is also a participant in the NOH8 Campaign.
In 2011, Kerli was listed as one of the 100 Most Influential Estonian Women.
Personal life
At the age of 15, Kerli asked her mother for a tattoo that read "music" in Chinese (""). Dubious, her mother told her that if she read "every book in town" on China and wrote a report on it, she would be allowed to get the tattoo. Kerli did as requested, and her mother took her to get the tattoo the day before her 16th birthday. She has two tattoos on her forearm; one is of a butterfly which symbolises "living every day like it was [her] last" and that she would never "leave a person that [she] loves without them knowing how much [she] loves them". The other tattoo states in Latin "", which Kerli translates "a friend of the human race". A tattoo on her left forearm, again in Latin, reads "". On her right foot, she has the letter "E", an initial of someone who "broke [her] heart".
While not belonging to any religion, nor labelling herself as such, Kerli believes in reincarnation as well as other forms of life after death, fairies (which she has cited as being a large element of her life), angels, and demons, once defining them as "reflections" of one's "inner light" and "inner darkness", respectively. However, besides thanking her guardian angels in the liner notes for Love Is Dead, she has also stated she feel angels are beings, as well as using "angel cards".
Kerli has said that she has bipolar disorder and attempted suicide when she was 17 as a result of her troubled upbringing, stating that her background has "made [her] stronger and now [she] can be here for other kids who are like [her]" and that she is happy to be alive, describing life as a "beautiful and rare gift". During a live video chat with fans on 7 October 2011, Kerli recalled when she was 17 and would ask her local doctor to sedate her with medication because it "hurt [her] so much to be awake" due to her depression. She also recalled an instance when she was home alone at age 17, where she covered the windows with dark towels to block out the sunlight and began cutting herself and slitting her arms with rusty scissors, stating that she "wanted to die" and "couldn't feel any physical pain at all because [she] was just hurting so much inside".
Discography
Studio albums
Love Is Dead (2008)
Shadow Works (2019)
EPs
Kerli (2007)
Utopia (2013)
Deepest Roots (2016)
Music Videos
"Goodbye" (2007) Directed By Dave Schwep
"Love Is Dead" (2007) Directed By Josh Mond
"Walking On Air" (2008) Directed By Alex Topaller & Daniel Shapiro
"Creepshow" (2008) Directed By Daniel Muntinen and Jaagup Metal
"Tea Party" (2009) Directed By Justin Harder
"Army of Love" (2011) Directed By Kaiser Kukk
"Zero Gravity" (2012) Directed By Alon Isocianu
"Glow in the Dark" (2012) Directed By Darren Teale
"The Lucky Ones" (2012) Directed By Ethan Chancer
"Worlds Apart" (2014) Directed By Bobby Galvan
"Feral Hearts" (2016) Directed By CJ Kask
"Feral Hearts (Sacred Forrest Session)" (2016) Directed By CJ Kask
"Blossom" (2016) Directed By CJ Kask
"Blossom (The Halls Heaven Session)" (2016) Directed By CJ Kask
"Diamond Hard" (2016) Directed By Kerli
"Diamond Hard (360)" (2016) Directed By CJ Kask
"Savages" (2019) Directed By Kerli & Everett Lee-Sung
"21st Century Kids" (2023) Directed By Kerli
Awards and nominations
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2008
| Herself
| MTV Europe Music Award for Best Baltic Act
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | "Walking on Air"
| MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video
|
|-
| rowspan="5" | 2009
| Raadio 2 Hit of the Year
|
|-
| Estonian Music Award for Music Video of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Herself
| Estonian Music Award for Pop Artist of the Year
|
|-
| Estonian Music Award for Female Artist of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Love Is Dead
| Estonian Music Award for Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2010
| European Border Breakers Award
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | "Army of Love"
| Raadio 2 Hit of the Year
|
|-
|| 2011
| Estonian Music Award for Music Video of the Year
|
|-
| 2012
| rowspan=2|"Zero Gravity"
| MP3 Music Award for The BNA Award
|
|-
|| 2013
| Estonian Music Award for Music Video of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2014
| rowspan="2" | Utopia''
| Estonian Music Award for Best Female Album
|
|-
| Estonian Music Award for Best Pop Album
|
|-
|| 2017
| "Feral Hearts"
| Estonian Music Award for Music Video of the Year
|
|}
References
External links
Category:1987 births
Category:Dance musicians
Category:English-language singers from Estonia
Category:Estonian expatriates in the United States
Category:Estonian expatriates in Sweden
Category:21st-century Estonian women singers
Category:Estonian pianists
Category:Estonian pop singers
Category:Estonian record producers
Category:Estonian rock singers
Category:Estonian songwriters
Category:Women rock singers
Category:Island Records artists
Category:Estonian LGBT rights activists
Category:Living people
Category:People from Elva, Estonia
Category:People with bipolar disorder
Category:Synth-pop singers
Category:21st-century pianists
Category:Women record producers
Category:Eesti Laul contestants
Category:Women in electronic music
Category:21st-century women pianists | [] | [
"The context does not provide information on what Kerli's second studio album is called.",
"The context does not provide information on how well any of Kerli's songs performed.",
"In addition to composing a song for Eesti Laul 2016 and releasing several of her own singles, Kerli also left Los Angeles to return to Estonia where she produced her first independent album. She also co-wrote and sang the hook on the song \"I Wanna Be\" for British artist Katy B's 'Honey' album. Additionally, she competed in and finished second in Eesti Laul 2017 and later was announced to be representing Estonia in the OGAE Second Chance Contest 2017 with her song \"Spirit Animal\". She also released a collaborative song \"Sound of Walking Away\" with Illenium, and the song was included in Illenium's second studio album Awake (2017). Furthermore, Kerli wrote three songs for the 2016 film Alice Through the Looking Glass, and previously contributed to the Almost Alice concept album for the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland.",
"The context does not provide additional information about Kerli's achievements beyond what has already been described.",
"The context does not provide information on how well any of Kerli's songs performed.",
"The context does not provide information on what else happened with any specific event or song related to Kerli."
] | [
"No",
"No",
"Neutral",
"No",
"no",
"No"
] |
C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_0 | Ai Otsuka | Ai Otsuka (Da Zhong Ai , Otsuka Ai, born September 9, 1982) is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan. She is a popular artist on the Avex Trax label and is best known for her 2003 hit "Sakuranbo," which stayed in the Top 200 Oricon Weekly Singles Chart for 103 weeks. A piano player since age four, Otsuka composes and co-produces her own songs, as well as writes her own lyrics. Her music ranges from upbeat pop/rock music to ballads. | 2007-2008: Love debut and Love Piece | On April 11, 2007 Otsuka released a new single, "Love no Theme," as the self-created bunny rabbit character "Love-chan". "Love no Theme" was sung on her Jam Punch Tour 2005. Before its release, it was titled I canChu before it was changed to "Love no Theme". The "Love no Theme" single included a preview of a new single featuring Love, titled "White Choco." This song could only be found previously on the promotional CD released before "Momo no Hanabira". "Love no Theme" unfortunately did not sell as well as Otsuka's normal singles. Otsuka released her first single after Ai am Best, "Peach/Heart" on July 25, 2007. The first A-side "Peach" is an up-beat summer song and was used as the end theme for the summer drama Hanazakari no Kimitachi E (starring Maki Horikita and Shun Oguri), while the second "Heart" is a mid-tempo track. The single also includes a rearranged version of "Renai Shashin", titled "Renai Shashin -Haru-" (Lian Ai Xie Zhen -Chun -, Love Photograph -Spring-). On September 26, 2007, Otsuka released two CDs and a DVD. The first CD was Otsuka's fourth original album, titled Love Piece. This included all of her singles from "Frienger" to "Peach/Heart", with five new songs on an 11-track album. The album was released in CD+DVD and CD-only formats, with the DVD including a music video of "Heart" and "Kumuriuta" (kumuriuta), a song from the album. The first-press of the DVD also includes the PV of "U-Boat," while the first-press of the CD-only version comes with a 40-page color photobook. The second CD was a limited pressing re-release of the best album "Ai am Best" in CD-only format. Also on September 26, Otsuka released a DVD of her Ai am Best Tour 2007, recorded at the Tokyo International Forum Hall A on July 9, 2007. The DVD is available in a single-disc edition, as well as a special two-disc edition with outtakes of the tour. The first-press of the special edition comes with a 40-page photobook. Otsuka performed at Makuhari Messe on July 7, 2007, for one of Japan's two Live Earth concerts, alongside contemporaries Kumi Koda and Ayaka. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_0_q#0",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_0_q#1",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_0_q#2",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_0_q#3",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_0_q#4",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_0_q#5",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_0_q#6",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_0_q#7",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_0_q#8",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_0_q#9",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_0_q#10"
] | [
"what is love piece debut?",
"did it do well?",
"did he have any other releases?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"What dvd was released?",
"How well did it do?",
"What cds were released?",
"How many copies were sold?",
"Anything else instresting about the debut?",
"Did she tour any where else?",
"How did her tour do?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
2,
0,
2,
0,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
1,
1,
1,
1,
1,
1,
1,
2,
1
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
638
],
[
455
],
[
1621
],
[
989
],
[
1659
],
[
1760
],
[
1378
],
[
1522
],
[
118
],
[
2086
],
[
1944
]
],
"texts": [
[
"\"Peach\" is an up-beat summer song and was used as the end theme for the summer drama Hanazakari"
],
[
"\". \"Love no Theme\" unfortunately did not sell as well as Otsuka's normal singles."
],
[
"Also on September 26, Otsuka released a DVD of her Ai am Best Tour 2007,"
],
[
"On September 26, 2007, Otsuka released two CDs and a DVD."
],
[
"a DVD of her Ai am Best Tour 2007, recorded at the Tokyo International Forum Hall"
],
[
"The DVD is available in a single-disc edition, as well as a special two-disc edition with outtakes of the tour."
],
[
"The first-press of the DVD also includes the PV of \"U-Boat,\" while the first-press of the CD-only version comes with a 40-page color photobook."
],
[
"The second CD was a limited pressing re-release of the best album \"Ai am Best\" in CD-only format."
],
[
"\". \"Love no Theme\" was sung on her Jam Punch Tour 2005."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Otsuka performed at Makuhari Messe on July 7, 2007, for one of Japan's two Live Earth concerts, alongside contemporaries Kumi Koda and Ayaka."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
638,
455,
1621,
989,
1659,
1760,
1378,
1522,
118,
2086,
1944
],
"texts": [
"\"Peach\" is an up-beat summer song and was used as the end theme for the summer drama Hanazakari",
"\". \"Love no Theme\" unfortunately did not sell as well as Otsuka's normal singles.",
"Also on September 26, Otsuka released a DVD of her Ai am Best Tour 2007,",
"On September 26, 2007, Otsuka released two CDs and a DVD.",
"a DVD of her Ai am Best Tour 2007, recorded at the Tokyo International Forum Hall",
"The DVD is available in a single-disc edition, as well as a special two-disc edition with outtakes of the tour.",
"The first-press of the DVD also includes the PV of \"U-Boat,\" while the first-press of the CD-only version comes with a 40-page color photobook.",
"The second CD was a limited pressing re-release of the best album \"Ai am Best\" in CD-only format.",
"\". \"Love no Theme\" was sung on her Jam Punch Tour 2005.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Otsuka performed at Makuhari Messe on July 7, 2007, for one of Japan's two Live Earth concerts, alongside contemporaries Kumi Koda and Ayaka."
]
} | is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan. She is a popular artist on the Avex Trax label and is best known for her 2003 hit "Sakuranbo", which stayed in the Top 200 Oricon Weekly Singles Chart for 103 weeks.
A piano player since age four, Otsuka composes and co-produces her own songs, as well as writes her own lyrics. Her music ranges from upbeat pop/rock music to ballads.
Every year, Otsuka also has her own Love is Born tour to mark the anniversary of being in the music industry and her birthday in September. All of the Love is Born concerts take place in Japan, ending in her hometown of Osaka. On Love is Born 5th Anniversary in 2008, Otsuka held a leg of the concert in Taiwan, where she performed a Chinese version of her song "Planetarium". In 2009, Otsuka held 3 Love is Born 6th Anniversary concerts in Japan, as well as two concerts in Taiwan.
In 2012, Otsuka debuted as the vocalist of the band Rabbit. She sold 7 million copies in Japan.
Biography
Early life and career beginnings
Otsuka started to play piano at the age of four. She composed her first track at 15, as a homework given by her piano teacher. After graduating from high school she entered to the Osaka University of Arts Nursery College, where she got her degree as a nursery teacher. For a short period of time -around late 2001- she was part of a duo called HimawaRi, along with classmate Mami Nishida. They released only the song "Sakuranbo" on the Internet, and were active for a little time. She sent demo tapes to record labels with no positive results, until she got a call back from Avex just before her graduation from university.
2003: Debut and Love Punch
Her debut single, entitled "Momo no Hanabira", was released on September 10, 2003. The single was a minor hit, peaking at number 24 on the Oricon weekly singles top 100, but stayed on the charts for 21 weeks. Her second single, "Sakuranbo", was released on December 17, 2003. The song debuted at number 20 on the Oricon charts, but managed to get into the Top 10 in February 2004 and went to peak at number five. Eventually, the single stayed on the chart for 101 weeks (almost two years), and a special "encore press" version was commissioned, which peaked at number 4, and it became the twelfth best selling single of 2004. Gradually climbing the charts to top 5, the single. In early March 2004, Otsuka released her third single, "Amaenbo". The song peaked at the sixth position on the Japanese charts, while at the same time "Sakuranbo" was fifth. This was the first time in Japanese music history a female artist was able to have two singles in the top ten in the same week. By end of March 2004, her first album, Love Punch, was released, and peaked third on the Oricon charts selling 190,265 copies in its first week.
Love Jam
In November 2004, the follow-up to Love Punch, Love Jam, was released, which met even greater popular success. Along with three single released before her second studio album was released. First, "Happy Days" sold 163,433 units and reached third on the Oricon weekly chart. Love Jam Tour 2005, her first tour, began on April 24, 2005. It was completed in June 2005 and a live DVD with footage was released on July 27, 2005. Love Cook, her third album was released on December 14, 2005.
"Kingyo Hanabi" was the second single to be released after her first album. "Kingyo Hanabi" also landed in third on the Oricon weekly chart but was able to sell 148,121 units, about 20,000 copies less than her "Happy Days" single. Two months later, Otsuka released another single, "Daisuki da Yo". Like the previous two singles, it reached number 3 on the Oricon weekly chart and sold 156,844 units.
Otsuka released her second studio album a month later in November 2004. Love Jam debuted at the number one position and sold 224,381 units in its first week. In total, 656,700 units were sold. Love Jam became her first album to top the chart, but at the same time it was her lowest selling studio album. Love Jam was released in two different versions including a CD and a CD+DVD version. Following the release of Love Jam, Ai Otsuka released the recut single "Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 680 Yen" in February 2005. It was a different version of the "Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 735 Yen" track on Love Jam. "Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 680 Yen" is arranged differently in terms of music and vocals. This single sold 149,134 units and debuted third on the Oricon weekly chart and was the sixty-eighth single of 2005. It was the first ending theme song for the anime Black Jack.
Love Cook
"Smily/Biidama" was her first single to be released after Love Jam. Both songs from the single were used for commercials. "Smily/Biidama" sold 110,512 copies during its debut week and charted at first place. "Smily/Biidama" sold a total of 308,338 copies in 2005, placing it as the twenty-sixth single of that year.
It was during this time, in June 2005, that Otsuka made her acting debut with the drama Tokyo Friends. Unlike most dramas, the series was directly released on DVD and never aired on TV. The drama used three songs as its theme song, Boo Bee Benz's "To Me" and "Kimi to Iu Hana," as well the coupling song to her sixth single, "Friends: Sabakan Ver." All three tracks would eventually be included in the soundtrack for the drama's movie sequel.
Otsuka released her tenth single in 2005, "Neko ni Fūsen" in middle of the year in July. "Neko ni Fūsen" was her lowest single that year, only reaching third on the chart and selling 111,324 copies. It placed ninety-second on the 2005 yearly charts.
Otsuka's single "Planetarium", was released on September 20, 2005. This was her last single of that year. "Planetarium" sales of 315,669 was her second highest single second only to "Sakuranbo," before her third studio album was released. "Planetarium" was used as the insert song for the live action version of the drama Hana yori Dango.
Love Cook, her third studio album, came out on December 14, 2005. In its first week, it sold 335,000 copies. The promotional videos for this album were filmed as mini-dramas. She also hosts a radio show on JOQR Recomen!! AM1134hHz called Otsuka Ai no ai-r jack.
Love Piece
In April 2006, Otsuka released "Frienger" (a portmanteau of the words Friend and Ranger). The promotional video was shot in Taiwan and was used as the commercial song for the Toshiba W41T 4 GB MP3 mobile phone. Soon after the release of "Frienger," Otsuka reprised her role as an actress for Tokyo Friends: The Movie, which hit theaters in Japan on August 12, 2006. The movie is a direct sequel to the DVD drama released the previous year. Otsuka also sang the opening theme for Tokyo Friends, "Yumekui", which was released as a new single on August 2, 2006. It debuted fifth on the weekly chart, selling 63,428 copies in the first week and a total of 145,281 copies.
Two months after "Yumekui", Otsuka released another single titled "Renai Shashin" on October 25, 2006, which was used as the opening theme song for the movie Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru. The song was based on events from the film and its original novel, also called Renai Shashin. "Renai Shashin" debuted at number 2 and sold 129,855 copies, making it the 75th best-selling single of the year. At the end of 2006, Otsuka had released a total of three singles and charted on Oricon's 2006 yearly chart with "Frienger" at number 60, "Yumekui" at number 66, and "Renai Shashin" at number 75.
Otsuka released her fourteenth single, "Chu-Lip," on February 21, 2007. The single was used as the theme song for the TBS drama Kirakira Kenshui, starring Manami Konishi and Wentz Eiji of WaT and managed to claim the third position on the Oricon charts.
Ai Am Best
Otsuka released her first best hits compilation album, titled Ai am Best, on March 28, 2007, which features 13 pre-2006 songs and their respective promotional videos. There are 11 songs that span her singles in chronological order, one song from Love Cook and one song from a Nana sound track: "Love for Nana: Only 1 Tribute".
Ai am Best sold 64,396 copies on the first day and topped the Oricon charts, making it Otsuka's best selling album. It sold over 350,000 copies in its first week. "Ai am Best" also features two bonus tracks—one for the DVD, "Best of Babashi", and one for the CD, "Babashi". First Press "Ai am Best" includes an Ai stamp and Ai wallet calendar. Some also include an Ai pin in yellow or white.
Otsuka went on a tour titled Ai am Best Tour that featured songs from Ai am Best and more. The tour started on May 18 and ended on July 7, 2007.
2007–2008: Love debut and Love Piece
On April 11, 2007 Otsuka released a new single, "Love no Theme," as the self-created bunny rabbit character "Love-chan". "Love no Theme" was sung on her Jam Punch Tour 2005. Before its release, it was titled I canChu before it was changed to "Love no Theme". The "Love no Theme" single included a preview of a new single featuring Love, titled "White Choco." This song could only be found previously on the promotional CD released before "Momo no Hanabira". "Love no Theme" unfortunately did not sell as well as Otsuka's normal singles.
Otsuka released her first single after Ai am Best, "Peach/Heart" on July 25, 2007. The first A-side "Peach" is an up-beat summer song and was used as the end theme for the summer drama Hanazakari no Kimitachi E (starring Maki Horikita and Shun Oguri), while the second "Heart" is a mid-tempo track. The single also includes a rearranged version of "Renai Shashin", titled .
On September 26, 2007, Otsuka released two CDs and a DVD. The first CD was Otsuka's fourth original album, titled Love Piece. This included all of her singles from "Frienger" to "Peach/Heart", with five new songs on an 11-track album. The album was released in CD+DVD and CD-only formats, with the DVD including a music video of "Heart" and , a song from the album. The first-press of the DVD also includes the PV of "U-Boat," while the first-press of the CD-only version comes with a 40-page color photobook. The second CD was a limited pressing re-release of the best album "Ai am Best" in CD-only format.
Also on September 26, Otsuka released a DVD of her Ai am Best Tour 2007, recorded at the Tokyo International Forum Hall A on July 9, 2007. The DVD is available in a single-disc edition, as well as a special two-disc edition with outtakes of the tour. The first-press of the special edition comes with a 40-page photobook.
Otsuka performed at Makuhari Messe on July 7, 2007, for one of Japan's two Live Earth concerts, alongside contemporaries Kumi Koda and Ayaka.
2009–2010: Love Letter and Love is Best
Otsuka released her 16th single "Pocket" on November 7, 2007. And two weeks later, Love-chan's second single, "White Choco", was released on November 21, 2007. During 2008, Otsuka embarked on her Love Piece Tour 2008, her fourth solo tour, from February to May. Her 17th single, "Rocket Sneaker/One x Time", was released on May 21. Otsuka's 18th single, "Kurage, Nagareboshi", was released on September 10, 2008. The single was released in four different formats, as a commemoration of her fifth anniversary in the music industry since the release of her debut single "Momo no Hanabira". On December 17, 2008, she released her fifth studio album, Love Letter, which peaked third on the weekly Oricon charts. It contains all of her singles since Love Piece including "Pocket", the third track on the album. Love Letter was her lowest-selling album. On February 25, 2009, "Bye Bye" was released as her second re-cut single. "Bye Bye" was used in a commercial for the Asahi Breweries beverage, Asahi Slat. Otsuka's second compilation album, Love Is Best, was released on November 11, 2009. The album features a collection of "love songs," ranging from singles to album tracks and b-sides, and will feature re-recorded versions of some tracks including a duet with Su from hip-hop band Rip Slyme on the song "Aisu x Time." On its first day of release the album charted at number one with a sales total of 22,895. As her character Love, she also released her first mini album entitled Love It (pronounced Rabitto, as rabbit), on November 18, 2009 (a week after Love Is Best). The album's track "Magic" was used in TV commercials for Music.jp.
In January 2010, Otsuka performed a song for Fuji Television titled "Lucky Star" which the network used as the theme song for its coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics. In February it was announced that "Lucky Star" would be released as a cellphone-only digital single, but later was announced to have a physical release as a double A-side single, "Zokkondition/Lucky Star", which released on April 7, 2010. "Zokkondition" was used in advertisements for Asahi Beer, similar to her previous single "Bye Bye". On September 8, 2010, she released another single "'I Love..." (I ♥ xxx), which was her 21st and last single before taking a hiatus from music.
2011–present: Hiatus, Rabbit and Love Fantastic
During Otsuka's hiatus from music due to her pregnancy, a new song titled "Hikari" was made available for download on October 9, 2011, through her official mobile website Love 9 Cube. On March 30, 2012, she released Neko ga Suki ni natta Kirai na Neko, a series of two picture books about cats. Purchasers of the books had the chance to download another new song, called "Gomen ne". On September 9, 2012, she celebrated her 30th birthday and ninth anniversary in the music industry with Love Is Born: 9th Anniversary 2012, her first series of concerts in two years, in which she held performances in Tokyo, Hyogo and Aichi.
In October 2012, Otsuka announced that she would be debuting as the vocalist of a new band called Rabbit. The band released their debut album Rabito on December 12, 2012 through the Cutting Edge label. The album peaked at number 61 on the Oricon charts. Rabbit went on their first domestic tour in Japan starting in February 2013. This month it was also announced that Otsuka, as a solo, would begin a tour in September to celebrate her tenth anniversary in the music industry,. In July 2013, it was announced that Otsuka would be releasing her first solo single in three years, entitled "Re:Name", to celebrate her tenth anniversary. The single was released on October 9, 2013, and debuted at number eight on the Japanese charts. On December 13, 2013, a song entitled "Sakuranbo (Cocktail)", which was a self-cover version of her second single, was released digitally through the iTunes Music Store. On March 26, 2014, Otsuka released an EP entitled AIO Punch, which included other self-covers from previously released songs. And she also recorded a cover of Dreams Come True's "Romance" for their tribute album Watashi to Dori Kamu: Dreams Come True 25th Anniversary Best Covers, which was released on the same day. Her 23rd single, "More More" was released on May 21, 2014. Otsuka's sixth studio album, entitled Love Fantastic, was released on July 16, 2014. She released her seventh album, Love Tricky, on April 22, 2015. Otsuka's eighth studio album, Love Honey, came out on April 12, 2017.
Personal life
In February 2010, it was reported by Josei Seven magazine that Otsuka was dating rapper Kazuto Otsuki (publicly known as Su, member of hip hop group Rip Slyme), with whom she collaborated in October 2009 for her song "Aisu x Time". Neither of the artists' agencies would comment on the matter. On June 26, 2010, Otsuka announced via a message on her official Web site that she and Su had gotten married on the previous day. Su also posted an announcement on Rip Slyme's website, confirming what Otsuka wrote on her website.
During her Love is Born concert held on September 11, 2010, Otsuka revealed to the audience that she was expecting her first child, and on March 24, 2011, she gave birth to a daughter.
On November 22, 2018, Otsuka announced that she had filed for divorce.
Discography
Studio albums
2004: Love Punch
2004: Love Jam
2005: Love Cook
2007: Love Piece
2008: Love Letter
2014: Love Fantastic
2015: Love Tricky
2017: Love Honey
2021: Love Pop
Compilation albums
2007: Ai Am Best
2009: Love Is Best
2019: Ai Am Best, too
Radio shows
Otsuka Ai ai-r Jack (Nippon Cultural Broadcasting)
Corolla presents Life-Love Circle (Tokyo FM)
Books
(February 25, 2005)
Love World (September 25, 2007)
(January 31, 2008)
(March 31, 2010)
(March 30, 2012)
Awards
Japan Cable Radio Awards
2004: Best New Artist
Best Hits Kayōsai
2004: Best New Artist
2005: Gold Artist Prize – "Planetarium"
2006: Gold Artist Prize – "Ren'ai Shashin"
2007: Gold Artist Prize – "Pocket"
Japan Gold Disc Award
2005: Rock & Pop Album of the Year – Love Punch
2005: Rock & Pop Album of the Year – Love Jam
2006: Rock & Pop Album of the Year – Love Cook
2007: The Best 10 Albums - Ai Am Best
MTV Video Music Awards Japan
2007: Best Pop Video - "Ren'ai Shashin"
2007: Best Video from a Film - "Ren'ai Shashin" (from Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru)
References
External links
Love website
Category:1982 births
Category:Living people
Category:Japanese women pop singers
Category:Japanese actresses
Category:Japanese women singer-songwriters
Category:Japanese singer-songwriters
Category:Musicians from Osaka
Category:Osaka University of Arts alumni
Category:Avex Trax artists
Category:21st-century Japanese women singers
Category:21st-century Japanese singers | [] | [
"Love Piece, Otsuka's fourth original album, was released on September 26, 2007.",
"The context does not provide information on how well Otsuka's album \"Love Piece\" performed commercially or critically.",
"Yes, the context mentions multiple releases by Otsuka. Before releasing Love Piece, Otsuka released a single as the character \"Love-chan\" titled \"Love no Theme,\" and another single \"Peach/Heart.\" Along with the album Love Piece, Otsuka released a limited pressing re-release of the best album \"Ai am Best\". A DVD of her Ai am Best Tour 2007, recorded at the Tokyo International Forum Hall A on July 9, 2007, was also released on September 26, 2007.",
"The context highlights several additional interesting aspects. Notably, one of Otsuka's songs, \"Peach,\" was used as the end theme for the summer drama Hanazakari no Kimitachi E which starred Maki Horikita and Shun Oguri. Furthermore, a song called \"White Choco\", a new single featuring Love, could only be found on the promotional CD released before \"Momo no Hanabira\". On July 7, 2007, Otsuka performed at Makuhari Messe for one of Japan's two Live Earth concerts, alongside contemporaries Kumi Koda and Ayaka.",
"Otsuka released a DVD of her Ai am Best Tour 2007, recorded at the Tokyo International Forum Hall A on July 9, 2007.",
"The context does not provide information on how well Otsuka's DVD of her Ai am Best Tour 2007 performed commercially or critically.",
"Otsuka released a number of CDs. She released a single as the character \"Love-chan\" titled \"Love no Theme\" and another single \"Peach/Heart.\" Her fourth original album, titled Love Piece was also released which included all of her singles from \"Frienger\" to \"Peach/Heart\", among other tracks. She also released a limited pressing re-release of the best album \"Ai am Best\".",
"The context does not provide information on how many copies of Otsuka's CDs were sold.",
"The context does not provide any further interesting details about the debut of Love Piece, besides stating that it included all of Otsuka's singles from \"Frienger\" to \"Peach/Heart\", with five new songs on an 11-track album, and it was released in CD+DVD and CD-only formats, with the DVD including a music video of \"Heart\" and \"Kumuriuta\". The first-press of the DVD also includes the PV of \"U-Boat,\" while the first-press of the CD-only version comes with a 40-page color photobook.",
"The context does not provide information on whether Otsuka toured anywhere else.",
"The context does not provide information on how Otsuka's tour performed."
] | [
"No",
"no",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"no",
"No",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1 | Ai Otsuka | Ai Otsuka (Da Zhong Ai , Otsuka Ai, born September 9, 1982) is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan. She is a popular artist on the Avex Trax label and is best known for her 2003 hit "Sakuranbo," which stayed in the Top 200 Oricon Weekly Singles Chart for 103 weeks. A piano player since age four, Otsuka composes and co-produces her own songs, as well as writes her own lyrics. Her music ranges from upbeat pop/rock music to ballads. | Love Piece | In April 2006, Otsuka released "Frienger" (a portmanteau of the words Friend and Ranger). The promotional video was shot in Taiwan and was used as the commercial song for the Toshiba W41T 4 GB MP3 mobile phone. Soon after the release of "Frienger," Otsuka reprised her role as an actress for Tokyo Friends: The Movie, which hit theaters in Japan on August 12, 2006. The movie is a direct sequel to the DVD drama released the previous year. Otsuka also sang the opening theme for Tokyo Friends, "Yumekui", which was released as a new single on August 2, 2006. It debuted fifth on the weekly chart, selling 63,428 copies in the first week and a total of 145,281 copies. Two months after "Yumekui", Otsuka released another single titled "Renai Shashin" on October 25, 2006, which was used as the opening theme song for the movie Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru. The song was based on events from the film and its original novel, also called Renai Shashin. "Renai Shashin" debuted at number 2 and sold 129,855 copies, making it the 75th best-selling single of the year. At the end of 2006, Otsuka had released a total of three singles and charted on Oricon's 2006 yearly chart with "Frienger" at number 60, "Yumekui" at number 66, and "Renai Shashin" at number 75. Otsuka released her fourteenth single, "Chu-Lip," on February 21, 2007. The single was used as the theme song for the TBS drama Kirakira Kenshui, starring Manami Konishi and Wentz Eiji of WaT and managed to claim the third position on the Oricon charts. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1_q#0",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1_q#1",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1_q#2",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1_q#3",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1_q#4",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1_q#5",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1_q#6",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1_q#7",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1_q#8",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1_q#9",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1_q#10",
"C_e05f7b613fd147bf8ae8890dfba019ee_1_q#11"
] | [
"What did Ai do in 2006?",
"Where was the video shot?",
"Was Otsuka an actress also?",
"What singles did she release?",
"Did she have any bestsellers musically?",
"Did any other songs make it on the charts?",
"Is there any more interesting information?",
"Is there any more information about the movie Tokyo Friends?",
"Did any other albums do well?",
"How many copies total did Yumekui sell?",
"What was the last song she released?",
"What happened after the release of that single?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
0,
2,
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
2,
2,
2,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
124
],
[
247
],
[
495
],
[
946
],
[
1254
],
[
292
],
[
366
],
[
494
],
[
652
],
[
1254
],
[
1326
]
],
"texts": [
[
"In April 2006, Otsuka released \"Frienger\" ("
],
[
"Taiwan"
],
[
"\" Otsuka reprised her role as an actress for Tokyo Friends: The Movie,"
],
[
"Yumekui\", which was released as a new single on August 2, 2006."
],
[
"Renai Shashin\" debuted at number 2 and sold 129,855 copies, making it the 75th best-selling single of the year."
],
[
"Otsuka released her fourteenth single, \"Chu-Lip,\" on February 21, 2007."
],
[
"Tokyo Friends: The Movie, which hit theaters in Japan on August 12, 2006."
],
[
"The movie is a direct sequel to the DVD drama released the previous year. Otsuka also sang the opening theme for Tokyo Friends,"
],
[
"\"Yumekui\", which was released as a new single on August 2, 2006. It debuted fifth on the weekly chart, selling 63,428 copies in the first week"
],
[
"145,281 copies."
],
[
"Otsuka released her fourteenth single, \"Chu-Lip,\" on February 21, 2007."
],
[
"The single was used as the theme song for the TBS drama Kirakira Kenshui,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
124,
247,
495,
946,
1254,
292,
366,
494,
652,
1254,
1326
],
"texts": [
"In April 2006, Otsuka released \"Frienger\" (",
"Taiwan",
"\" Otsuka reprised her role as an actress for Tokyo Friends: The Movie,",
"Yumekui\", which was released as a new single on August 2, 2006.",
"Renai Shashin\" debuted at number 2 and sold 129,855 copies, making it the 75th best-selling single of the year.",
"Otsuka released her fourteenth single, \"Chu-Lip,\" on February 21, 2007.",
"Tokyo Friends: The Movie, which hit theaters in Japan on August 12, 2006.",
"The movie is a direct sequel to the DVD drama released the previous year. Otsuka also sang the opening theme for Tokyo Friends,",
"\"Yumekui\", which was released as a new single on August 2, 2006. It debuted fifth on the weekly chart, selling 63,428 copies in the first week",
"145,281 copies.",
"Otsuka released her fourteenth single, \"Chu-Lip,\" on February 21, 2007.",
"The single was used as the theme song for the TBS drama Kirakira Kenshui,"
]
} | is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan. She is a popular artist on the Avex Trax label and is best known for her 2003 hit "Sakuranbo", which stayed in the Top 200 Oricon Weekly Singles Chart for 103 weeks.
A piano player since age four, Otsuka composes and co-produces her own songs, as well as writes her own lyrics. Her music ranges from upbeat pop/rock music to ballads.
Every year, Otsuka also has her own Love is Born tour to mark the anniversary of being in the music industry and her birthday in September. All of the Love is Born concerts take place in Japan, ending in her hometown of Osaka. On Love is Born 5th Anniversary in 2008, Otsuka held a leg of the concert in Taiwan, where she performed a Chinese version of her song "Planetarium". In 2009, Otsuka held 3 Love is Born 6th Anniversary concerts in Japan, as well as two concerts in Taiwan.
In 2012, Otsuka debuted as the vocalist of the band Rabbit. She sold 7 million copies in Japan.
Biography
Early life and career beginnings
Otsuka started to play piano at the age of four. She composed her first track at 15, as a homework given by her piano teacher. After graduating from high school she entered to the Osaka University of Arts Nursery College, where she got her degree as a nursery teacher. For a short period of time -around late 2001- she was part of a duo called HimawaRi, along with classmate Mami Nishida. They released only the song "Sakuranbo" on the Internet, and were active for a little time. She sent demo tapes to record labels with no positive results, until she got a call back from Avex just before her graduation from university.
2003: Debut and Love Punch
Her debut single, entitled "Momo no Hanabira", was released on September 10, 2003. The single was a minor hit, peaking at number 24 on the Oricon weekly singles top 100, but stayed on the charts for 21 weeks. Her second single, "Sakuranbo", was released on December 17, 2003. The song debuted at number 20 on the Oricon charts, but managed to get into the Top 10 in February 2004 and went to peak at number five. Eventually, the single stayed on the chart for 101 weeks (almost two years), and a special "encore press" version was commissioned, which peaked at number 4, and it became the twelfth best selling single of 2004. Gradually climbing the charts to top 5, the single. In early March 2004, Otsuka released her third single, "Amaenbo". The song peaked at the sixth position on the Japanese charts, while at the same time "Sakuranbo" was fifth. This was the first time in Japanese music history a female artist was able to have two singles in the top ten in the same week. By end of March 2004, her first album, Love Punch, was released, and peaked third on the Oricon charts selling 190,265 copies in its first week.
Love Jam
In November 2004, the follow-up to Love Punch, Love Jam, was released, which met even greater popular success. Along with three single released before her second studio album was released. First, "Happy Days" sold 163,433 units and reached third on the Oricon weekly chart. Love Jam Tour 2005, her first tour, began on April 24, 2005. It was completed in June 2005 and a live DVD with footage was released on July 27, 2005. Love Cook, her third album was released on December 14, 2005.
"Kingyo Hanabi" was the second single to be released after her first album. "Kingyo Hanabi" also landed in third on the Oricon weekly chart but was able to sell 148,121 units, about 20,000 copies less than her "Happy Days" single. Two months later, Otsuka released another single, "Daisuki da Yo". Like the previous two singles, it reached number 3 on the Oricon weekly chart and sold 156,844 units.
Otsuka released her second studio album a month later in November 2004. Love Jam debuted at the number one position and sold 224,381 units in its first week. In total, 656,700 units were sold. Love Jam became her first album to top the chart, but at the same time it was her lowest selling studio album. Love Jam was released in two different versions including a CD and a CD+DVD version. Following the release of Love Jam, Ai Otsuka released the recut single "Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 680 Yen" in February 2005. It was a different version of the "Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 735 Yen" track on Love Jam. "Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 680 Yen" is arranged differently in terms of music and vocals. This single sold 149,134 units and debuted third on the Oricon weekly chart and was the sixty-eighth single of 2005. It was the first ending theme song for the anime Black Jack.
Love Cook
"Smily/Biidama" was her first single to be released after Love Jam. Both songs from the single were used for commercials. "Smily/Biidama" sold 110,512 copies during its debut week and charted at first place. "Smily/Biidama" sold a total of 308,338 copies in 2005, placing it as the twenty-sixth single of that year.
It was during this time, in June 2005, that Otsuka made her acting debut with the drama Tokyo Friends. Unlike most dramas, the series was directly released on DVD and never aired on TV. The drama used three songs as its theme song, Boo Bee Benz's "To Me" and "Kimi to Iu Hana," as well the coupling song to her sixth single, "Friends: Sabakan Ver." All three tracks would eventually be included in the soundtrack for the drama's movie sequel.
Otsuka released her tenth single in 2005, "Neko ni Fūsen" in middle of the year in July. "Neko ni Fūsen" was her lowest single that year, only reaching third on the chart and selling 111,324 copies. It placed ninety-second on the 2005 yearly charts.
Otsuka's single "Planetarium", was released on September 20, 2005. This was her last single of that year. "Planetarium" sales of 315,669 was her second highest single second only to "Sakuranbo," before her third studio album was released. "Planetarium" was used as the insert song for the live action version of the drama Hana yori Dango.
Love Cook, her third studio album, came out on December 14, 2005. In its first week, it sold 335,000 copies. The promotional videos for this album were filmed as mini-dramas. She also hosts a radio show on JOQR Recomen!! AM1134hHz called Otsuka Ai no ai-r jack.
Love Piece
In April 2006, Otsuka released "Frienger" (a portmanteau of the words Friend and Ranger). The promotional video was shot in Taiwan and was used as the commercial song for the Toshiba W41T 4 GB MP3 mobile phone. Soon after the release of "Frienger," Otsuka reprised her role as an actress for Tokyo Friends: The Movie, which hit theaters in Japan on August 12, 2006. The movie is a direct sequel to the DVD drama released the previous year. Otsuka also sang the opening theme for Tokyo Friends, "Yumekui", which was released as a new single on August 2, 2006. It debuted fifth on the weekly chart, selling 63,428 copies in the first week and a total of 145,281 copies.
Two months after "Yumekui", Otsuka released another single titled "Renai Shashin" on October 25, 2006, which was used as the opening theme song for the movie Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru. The song was based on events from the film and its original novel, also called Renai Shashin. "Renai Shashin" debuted at number 2 and sold 129,855 copies, making it the 75th best-selling single of the year. At the end of 2006, Otsuka had released a total of three singles and charted on Oricon's 2006 yearly chart with "Frienger" at number 60, "Yumekui" at number 66, and "Renai Shashin" at number 75.
Otsuka released her fourteenth single, "Chu-Lip," on February 21, 2007. The single was used as the theme song for the TBS drama Kirakira Kenshui, starring Manami Konishi and Wentz Eiji of WaT and managed to claim the third position on the Oricon charts.
Ai Am Best
Otsuka released her first best hits compilation album, titled Ai am Best, on March 28, 2007, which features 13 pre-2006 songs and their respective promotional videos. There are 11 songs that span her singles in chronological order, one song from Love Cook and one song from a Nana sound track: "Love for Nana: Only 1 Tribute".
Ai am Best sold 64,396 copies on the first day and topped the Oricon charts, making it Otsuka's best selling album. It sold over 350,000 copies in its first week. "Ai am Best" also features two bonus tracks—one for the DVD, "Best of Babashi", and one for the CD, "Babashi". First Press "Ai am Best" includes an Ai stamp and Ai wallet calendar. Some also include an Ai pin in yellow or white.
Otsuka went on a tour titled Ai am Best Tour that featured songs from Ai am Best and more. The tour started on May 18 and ended on July 7, 2007.
2007–2008: Love debut and Love Piece
On April 11, 2007 Otsuka released a new single, "Love no Theme," as the self-created bunny rabbit character "Love-chan". "Love no Theme" was sung on her Jam Punch Tour 2005. Before its release, it was titled I canChu before it was changed to "Love no Theme". The "Love no Theme" single included a preview of a new single featuring Love, titled "White Choco." This song could only be found previously on the promotional CD released before "Momo no Hanabira". "Love no Theme" unfortunately did not sell as well as Otsuka's normal singles.
Otsuka released her first single after Ai am Best, "Peach/Heart" on July 25, 2007. The first A-side "Peach" is an up-beat summer song and was used as the end theme for the summer drama Hanazakari no Kimitachi E (starring Maki Horikita and Shun Oguri), while the second "Heart" is a mid-tempo track. The single also includes a rearranged version of "Renai Shashin", titled .
On September 26, 2007, Otsuka released two CDs and a DVD. The first CD was Otsuka's fourth original album, titled Love Piece. This included all of her singles from "Frienger" to "Peach/Heart", with five new songs on an 11-track album. The album was released in CD+DVD and CD-only formats, with the DVD including a music video of "Heart" and , a song from the album. The first-press of the DVD also includes the PV of "U-Boat," while the first-press of the CD-only version comes with a 40-page color photobook. The second CD was a limited pressing re-release of the best album "Ai am Best" in CD-only format.
Also on September 26, Otsuka released a DVD of her Ai am Best Tour 2007, recorded at the Tokyo International Forum Hall A on July 9, 2007. The DVD is available in a single-disc edition, as well as a special two-disc edition with outtakes of the tour. The first-press of the special edition comes with a 40-page photobook.
Otsuka performed at Makuhari Messe on July 7, 2007, for one of Japan's two Live Earth concerts, alongside contemporaries Kumi Koda and Ayaka.
2009–2010: Love Letter and Love is Best
Otsuka released her 16th single "Pocket" on November 7, 2007. And two weeks later, Love-chan's second single, "White Choco", was released on November 21, 2007. During 2008, Otsuka embarked on her Love Piece Tour 2008, her fourth solo tour, from February to May. Her 17th single, "Rocket Sneaker/One x Time", was released on May 21. Otsuka's 18th single, "Kurage, Nagareboshi", was released on September 10, 2008. The single was released in four different formats, as a commemoration of her fifth anniversary in the music industry since the release of her debut single "Momo no Hanabira". On December 17, 2008, she released her fifth studio album, Love Letter, which peaked third on the weekly Oricon charts. It contains all of her singles since Love Piece including "Pocket", the third track on the album. Love Letter was her lowest-selling album. On February 25, 2009, "Bye Bye" was released as her second re-cut single. "Bye Bye" was used in a commercial for the Asahi Breweries beverage, Asahi Slat. Otsuka's second compilation album, Love Is Best, was released on November 11, 2009. The album features a collection of "love songs," ranging from singles to album tracks and b-sides, and will feature re-recorded versions of some tracks including a duet with Su from hip-hop band Rip Slyme on the song "Aisu x Time." On its first day of release the album charted at number one with a sales total of 22,895. As her character Love, she also released her first mini album entitled Love It (pronounced Rabitto, as rabbit), on November 18, 2009 (a week after Love Is Best). The album's track "Magic" was used in TV commercials for Music.jp.
In January 2010, Otsuka performed a song for Fuji Television titled "Lucky Star" which the network used as the theme song for its coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics. In February it was announced that "Lucky Star" would be released as a cellphone-only digital single, but later was announced to have a physical release as a double A-side single, "Zokkondition/Lucky Star", which released on April 7, 2010. "Zokkondition" was used in advertisements for Asahi Beer, similar to her previous single "Bye Bye". On September 8, 2010, she released another single "'I Love..." (I ♥ xxx), which was her 21st and last single before taking a hiatus from music.
2011–present: Hiatus, Rabbit and Love Fantastic
During Otsuka's hiatus from music due to her pregnancy, a new song titled "Hikari" was made available for download on October 9, 2011, through her official mobile website Love 9 Cube. On March 30, 2012, she released Neko ga Suki ni natta Kirai na Neko, a series of two picture books about cats. Purchasers of the books had the chance to download another new song, called "Gomen ne". On September 9, 2012, she celebrated her 30th birthday and ninth anniversary in the music industry with Love Is Born: 9th Anniversary 2012, her first series of concerts in two years, in which she held performances in Tokyo, Hyogo and Aichi.
In October 2012, Otsuka announced that she would be debuting as the vocalist of a new band called Rabbit. The band released their debut album Rabito on December 12, 2012 through the Cutting Edge label. The album peaked at number 61 on the Oricon charts. Rabbit went on their first domestic tour in Japan starting in February 2013. This month it was also announced that Otsuka, as a solo, would begin a tour in September to celebrate her tenth anniversary in the music industry,. In July 2013, it was announced that Otsuka would be releasing her first solo single in three years, entitled "Re:Name", to celebrate her tenth anniversary. The single was released on October 9, 2013, and debuted at number eight on the Japanese charts. On December 13, 2013, a song entitled "Sakuranbo (Cocktail)", which was a self-cover version of her second single, was released digitally through the iTunes Music Store. On March 26, 2014, Otsuka released an EP entitled AIO Punch, which included other self-covers from previously released songs. And she also recorded a cover of Dreams Come True's "Romance" for their tribute album Watashi to Dori Kamu: Dreams Come True 25th Anniversary Best Covers, which was released on the same day. Her 23rd single, "More More" was released on May 21, 2014. Otsuka's sixth studio album, entitled Love Fantastic, was released on July 16, 2014. She released her seventh album, Love Tricky, on April 22, 2015. Otsuka's eighth studio album, Love Honey, came out on April 12, 2017.
Personal life
In February 2010, it was reported by Josei Seven magazine that Otsuka was dating rapper Kazuto Otsuki (publicly known as Su, member of hip hop group Rip Slyme), with whom she collaborated in October 2009 for her song "Aisu x Time". Neither of the artists' agencies would comment on the matter. On June 26, 2010, Otsuka announced via a message on her official Web site that she and Su had gotten married on the previous day. Su also posted an announcement on Rip Slyme's website, confirming what Otsuka wrote on her website.
During her Love is Born concert held on September 11, 2010, Otsuka revealed to the audience that she was expecting her first child, and on March 24, 2011, she gave birth to a daughter.
On November 22, 2018, Otsuka announced that she had filed for divorce.
Discography
Studio albums
2004: Love Punch
2004: Love Jam
2005: Love Cook
2007: Love Piece
2008: Love Letter
2014: Love Fantastic
2015: Love Tricky
2017: Love Honey
2021: Love Pop
Compilation albums
2007: Ai Am Best
2009: Love Is Best
2019: Ai Am Best, too
Radio shows
Otsuka Ai ai-r Jack (Nippon Cultural Broadcasting)
Corolla presents Life-Love Circle (Tokyo FM)
Books
(February 25, 2005)
Love World (September 25, 2007)
(January 31, 2008)
(March 31, 2010)
(March 30, 2012)
Awards
Japan Cable Radio Awards
2004: Best New Artist
Best Hits Kayōsai
2004: Best New Artist
2005: Gold Artist Prize – "Planetarium"
2006: Gold Artist Prize – "Ren'ai Shashin"
2007: Gold Artist Prize – "Pocket"
Japan Gold Disc Award
2005: Rock & Pop Album of the Year – Love Punch
2005: Rock & Pop Album of the Year – Love Jam
2006: Rock & Pop Album of the Year – Love Cook
2007: The Best 10 Albums - Ai Am Best
MTV Video Music Awards Japan
2007: Best Pop Video - "Ren'ai Shashin"
2007: Best Video from a Film - "Ren'ai Shashin" (from Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru)
References
External links
Love website
Category:1982 births
Category:Living people
Category:Japanese women pop singers
Category:Japanese actresses
Category:Japanese women singer-songwriters
Category:Japanese singer-songwriters
Category:Musicians from Osaka
Category:Osaka University of Arts alumni
Category:Avex Trax artists
Category:21st-century Japanese women singers
Category:21st-century Japanese singers | [] | [
"In 2006, Ai Otsuka released several singles including \"Frienger,\" \"Yumekui,\" and \"Renai Shashin.\" She also reprised her role as an actress in Tokyo Friends: The Movie, and her song \"Yumekui\" was used as the opening theme. \"Frienger\" was used as the commercial song for the Toshiba W41T 4GB MP3 mobile phone. \"Renai Shashin\" was used as the opening theme for the movie Tada, Kimi o Aishiteru. All her singles released that year charted on Oricon's 2006 yearly chart.",
"The promotional video for \"Frienger\" was shot in Taiwan.",
"Yes, Otsuka reprised her role as an actress for Tokyo Friends: The Movie in 2006.",
"In 2006 and 2007, Ai Otsuka released the singles \"Frienger,\" \"Yumekui,\" \"Renai Shashin,\" and \"Chu-Lip.\"",
"Yes, all three singles Otsuka released in 2006 charted on Oricon's 2006 yearly chart. The single \"Renai Shashin\" was the 75th best-selling single of the year, while \"Frienger\" charted at number 60 and \"Yumekui\" at number 66.",
"Yes, in addition to \"Renai Shashin\" which was the 75th best-selling single of the year, \"Frienger\" also made it onto Oricon's 2006 yearly chart at number 60 and \"Yumekui\" followed at number 66.",
"The context provided does not offer any additional interesting information about Ai Otsuka.",
"The context only provides information that Ai Otsuka reprised her role in Tokyo Friends: The Movie, which is a direct sequel to the DVD drama released the previous year. She also sang the opening theme song, \"Yumekui,\" for the movie. The movie was released in Japan on August 12, 2006.",
"The context does not provide information about any other albums by Ai Otsuka.",
"The single \"Yumekui\" sold a total of 145,281 copies.",
"The last song Ai Otsuka released, as mentioned in the context, is \"Chu-Lip\" in February 2007.",
"The context does not provide any information about what happened after the release of Ai Otsuka's \"Chu-Lip\" single."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_6e7b6b8a788d4862a61f5b8a74236d02_1 | Bill Robinson | Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (May 25, 1878 - November 25, 1949) was an American tap dancer and actor, the best known and most highly paid African-American entertainer in the first half of the twentieth century. His long career mirrored changes in American entertainment tastes and technology. He started in the age of minstrel shows and moved to vaudeville, Broadway, the recording industry, Hollywood, radio, and television. | Shirley Temple | The idea for bringing a black dancer to Fox to star with Temple in The Little Colonel was actually first proposed by Fox head Winfield Sheehan after a discussion with D. W. Griffith. Sheehan set his sights on Robinson but, unsure of his ability as an actor, arranged for a contract that was void if Robinson failed the dramatic test. Robinson passed the test and was brought in to both star with Temple and to teach her tap dancing. They quickly hit it off, as Temple recounted years later: Robinson walked a step ahead of us, but when he noticed me hurrying to catch up, he shortened his stride to accommodate mine. I kept reaching up for his hand, but he hadn't looked down and seemed unaware. Fannie called his attention to what I was doing, so he stopped short, bent low over me, his eyes wide and rows of brilliant teeth showing in a wide smile. When he took my hand in his, it felt large and cool. For a few moments, we continued walking in silence. "Can I call you Uncle Billy?" I asked. "Why sure you can", he replied... "But then I get to call you darlin.'" It was a deal. From then on, whenever we walked together it was hand in hand, and I was always his "darlin.'" Temple had already appeared in five films released in 1934, and had performed a tap routine with James Dunn in Stand Up and Cheer! After Robinson was signed by 20th Century Fox, it was decided that he would perform his famous stair dance with Temple. While Robinson liked the idea, he quickly realized that he could not teach his complex stair dance to a seven-year-old in the few days permitted by the shooting schedule. Instead, he taught Temple to kick the riser (face) of each stairstep with her toe. After watching her practice his choreography, Robinson modified his routine to mimic her movements, so that it appeared on film that she was imitating his steps. The sequence was the highlight of the film. Robinson and Temple became the first interracial dance partners in Hollywood history. The scene was controversial for its time, and was cut out in the south along with all other scenes showing the two making physical contact. Temple and Robinson appeared in four films together: The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Just Around the Corner. Robinson and Temple became close friends as a result of his dance coaching and acting with her. Robinson carried pictures of Temple with him wherever he traveled, and Temple considered him a lifelong friend, saying in an interview "Bill Robinson treated me as an equal, which was very important to me. He didn't talk down to me, like to a little girl. And I liked people like that. And Bill Robinson was the best of all." CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_6e7b6b8a788d4862a61f5b8a74236d02_1_q#0",
"C_6e7b6b8a788d4862a61f5b8a74236d02_1_q#1",
"C_6e7b6b8a788d4862a61f5b8a74236d02_1_q#2",
"C_6e7b6b8a788d4862a61f5b8a74236d02_1_q#3"
] | [
"How does Bill Robinson relate to Shirley Temple?",
"What did they perform in?",
"Was this the only interactions they had?",
"How old was Robinson when he and Temple worked together?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1357
],
[
1430
],
[
1891
],
[
2688
]
],
"texts": [
[
"it was decided that he would perform his famous stair dance with Temple."
],
[
"While Robinson liked the idea, he quickly realized that he could not teach his complex stair dance to a seven-year-old in the few days permitted by the shooting schedule."
],
[
"Robinson and Temple became the first interracial dance partners in Hollywood history."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1357,
1430,
1891,
2688
],
"texts": [
"it was decided that he would perform his famous stair dance with Temple.",
"While Robinson liked the idea, he quickly realized that he could not teach his complex stair dance to a seven-year-old in the few days permitted by the shooting schedule.",
"Robinson and Temple became the first interracial dance partners in Hollywood history.",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Bill Robinson, nicknamed Bojangles (born Luther Robinson; May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949), was an American tap dancer, actor, and singer, the best known and the most highly paid African-American entertainer in the United States during the first half of the 20th century. His long career mirrored changes in American entertainment tastes and technology. His career began in the age of minstrel shows and moved to vaudeville, Broadway theatre, the recording industry, Hollywood films, radio, and television.
According to dance critic Marshall Stearns, "Robinson's contribution to tap dance is exact and specific. He brought it on its toes, dancing upright and swinging," adding a "hitherto-unknown lightness and presence." His signature routine was the stair dance, in which he would tap up and down a set of stairs in a rhythmically complex sequence of steps, a routine that he unsuccessfully attempted to patent. He is also credited with having popularized the word copacetic through his repeated use of it in vaudeville and radio appearances.
He is famous for his dancing with Shirley Temple in a series of films during the 1930s, and for starring in the musical Stormy Weather (1943), loosely based on his own life and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. He used his popularity to challenge and overcome numerous racial barriers. Robinson was one of the first minstrel and vaudeville performers to appear as Black without the use of blackface makeup, as well as one of the earliest black performers to perform solo, overcoming vaudeville's two-colored rule. Additionally, he was an early black headliner in Broadway shows. Robinson was the first black performer to appear in a Hollywood film in an interracial dance team (with Shirley Temple in The Little Colonel, 1935), and the first black performer to headline a mixed-race Broadway production.
Robinson came under heavy criticism for his apparent tacit acceptance of racial stereotypes of the era, with some critics calling him an Uncle Tom. He strongly resented this, and his biographers suggested that critics were underestimating the difficulties faced by black performers engaging with mainstream white culture at the time, and ignoring his many efforts to overcome racial prejudice. In his public life, Robinson led efforts to persuade the Dallas Police Department to hire its first black policeman; lobby President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II for equal treatment of black soldiers; and stage the first integrated public event in Miami, a fundraiser which was attended by both black and white city residents.
Robinson was a popular figure in both black and white entertainment worlds of his era, and is remembered for the support that he gave to fellow performers, including Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Lena Horne, Jesse Owens and the Nicholas Brothers. Sammy Davis Jr. and Ann Miller credited him as a teacher and mentor, Miller saying that he "changed the course of my life." Gregory Hines produced and starred in a biographical movie about Robinson for which he won the NAACP Best Actor Award.
Despite being the highest-paid black performer of the time, Robinson died penniless in 1949, his funeral paid for by longtime friend Ed Sullivan. In 1989, Congress designated Robinson's birthday of May 25 as National Tap Dance Day.
Early life
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was born Luther Robinson in Richmond, Virginia on May 25, 1878 to Maxwell, a machinist, and Maria Robinson, a church choir director. He and his younger brother William were raised in Richmond's Jackson Ward neighborhood. His grandmother Bedelia Robinson, a former slave, raised him after both of his parents died tragically in 1884: his father died from chronic heart disease and his mother from unknown causes. Details of his early life are known only through legend, much of it perpetuated by Robinson himself. He claimed that he was christened Luther, a name that he did not like. He suggested to his younger brother William that they should exchange names, and they eventually did.
His brother subsequently adopted the name of Percy and achieved recognition as a musician under that name.
Career
Early days
At the age of five, Robinson began dancing for small change, appearing as a "hoofer" or busker in local beer gardens and in front of theaters for tossed pennies. A promoter saw him performing outside the Globe Theater in Richmond and offered him a job as a "pick" in a local minstrel show. At that time, minstrel shows were staged by white performers in blackface. Pickaninnies were cute black children at the edge of the stage singing, dancing, or telling jokes.
In 1890, at the age of 12, Robinson ran away to Washington, D.C., where he did odd jobs at Benning Race Track and worked briefly as a jockey. He teamed up with a young Al Jolson, with Jolson singing while Robinson danced for pennies or to sell newspapers. In 1891, he was hired by Whallen and Martel, touring with Mayme Remington's troupe in a show titled The South Before the War, performing again as a pickaninny, despite his age. He travelled with the show for over a year before growing too mature to play the role credibly.
In 1898, he returned to Richmond where he joined the United States Army as a rifleman when the Spanish–American War started. He received an accidental gunshot wound from a second lieutenant who was cleaning his gun.
Vaudeville
On March 30, 1900, Robinson entered a buck-and-wing dance contest at the Bijou Theatre in Brooklyn, New York, winning a gold medal and defeating Harry Swinton, star of the show In Old Kentucky and considered the best dancer of his day. The resulting publicity helped Robinson to get work in numerous travelling shows, sometimes in a troupe, more frequently with a partner, though not always as a dancer (Robinson also sang and performed two-man comedy routines).
By 1912, Robinson was a full partner in the duo, which had become primarily a tap-dancing act, booked on both the Keith and Orpheum Circuits. The team broke up in 1914, and vaudeville performer Rae Samuels, who had performed in shows with Robinson, convinced him to meet with her manager (and husband), Marty Forkins. Under Forkins' tutelage, Robinson matured and began working as a solo act, increasing his earnings to an estimated $3,500 per week. Forkins accomplished this by inventing an alternate history for Robinson, promoting him as already being a solo act. This technique succeeded, making Robinson one of the first performers to break vaudeville's two-coloured rule, which forbade solo black acts.
When the U.S. entered World War I, the War Department set up a series of Liberty Theatres in the training camps. The Keith Circuit and Orpheum Circuit underwrote vaudeville acts at reduced fees, but Robinson volunteered to perform gratis for thousands of troops, in both black and white units of the expeditionary forces, receiving a commendation from the War Department in 1918.
Throughout the early 1920s, Robinson continued his career on the road as a solo vaudeville act, touring throughout the U.S. and most frequently visiting Chicago, where Marty Forkins, his manager, lived. From 1919 to 1923, he was fully booked on the Orpheum Circuit and was signed full-time by the Keith Circuit in 1924 and 1925. In addition to being booked for 50 to 52 weeks (an avid baseball fan, he took a week off for the World Series), Robinson did multiple shows per night, frequently on two different stages.
Tap Dance Style
As mentioned, the chapter of Stearns' Bill Robinson: Up on the Toes titled Jazz Dance (1966) describes how Robinson introduced dancing "up on the toes" to tap dance. This was a new addition to King Rastus Brown's popular "flat-footed wizardry." Moving primarily from the waist down, Robinson maintained impressive control of his body. Pete Nugent is said to have remarked "Robinson was the absolute tops in control." That Robinson infrequently dropped his heels marked a significant change in popular tap technique. Due to his adroit ability to be both light on his feet and distinct in his percussive taps, Robinson was called the "Father of Tapology."
In 1918 at the Palace Theatre in New York, Robinson performed the stair dance. Claims regarding the origin of the stair dance were highly disputed; however, Robinson was widely credited with the dance because he made it popular. The dance involved "a different rhythm for each step each one reverberating with a different pitch and the fact that he had a special set of portable steps enhanced his claim to originating the dance." The popularity of the stair dance led Robinson to file for a patent through the U.S. Patent Office in Washington D.C., ultimately to no avail; however the lack of a patent did not diminish Robinson's professional command of the stair dance. The entertainment community began to associate the stair dance exclusively with Robinson as the routine became a standard part of his performances in 1921. Haskins reports that dancer Fred Stone sent Robinson a check for having performed the routine.
Robinson's talents transcended his famous stair dance. The steps were not essential to Robinson's performances; rather, Robinson would naturally shift into "a little skating step to stop-time; or a scoot step, a cross-over tap" or many other tap steps involved in his particular movement. Robinson changed rhythmic meter and tap steps and syncopated breaks seamlessly. Often Robinson would talk to his audience, share anecdotes, and act as if he were surprised by the action of his feet. His amusing personality was essential to his performances and popularity. Robinson is said to have consistently performed in split-soled wooden shoes, handcrafted by a Chicago craftsman.
Broadway
In 1928, a White impresario, Lew Leslie, produced Blackbirds of 1928 on Broadway, a black revue for white audiences starring Adelaide Hall and Bill Robinson along with Aida Ward, Tim Moore and other black stars. The show originally did not include Robinson; only after three weeks of lukewarm reception did Leslie add Robinson as an "extra attraction." The show then became a huge success on Broadway, where it ran for over a year to sell-out performances. On stage, Adelaide Hall and Robinson danced and sang a duet together, captivating their audiences. From then on, Robinson's public role was that of a dapper, smiling, plaid-suited ambassador to the white world, maintaining a connection with the black show-business circles through his continuing patronage of the Hoofers Club, an entertainer's haven in Harlem. So successful was Adelaide Hall's collaboration with Bojangles, that they appeared together on stage at the prestigious Palace Theatre (Broadway) before they were teamed up together again by Marty Forkins (Robinson's manager) to star in another Broadway musical titled, "Brown Buddies," that opened in 1930 at the Liberty Theatre, where it ran for four months before commencing a road tour of the States.
In 1939, Robinson returned to the stage in The Hot Mikado, a jazz version of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. The show opened at the Broadhurst Theatre, with Robinson cast in the role of the Emperor. His rendition of My Object All Sublime stopped the show and produced eight encores. After Broadway, the show moved to the 1939 New York World's Fair, and was one of the great hits of the fair. August 25, 1939, was named Bill Robinson Day at the fair.
Robinson's next Broadway show, All in Fun (1940), was with an all-white cast. Despite having Imogene Coca, Pert Kelton, and other stars, the show received poor reviews at out-of-town tryouts in New Haven and Boston. When the white stars and co-producers Phil Baker and Leonard Sillman withdrew, Robinson became the star, the first time an African-American headlined an otherwise all-white production. Although the reviewers were enthusiastic about Robinson, they panned the show, and it failed to attract audiences. All in Fun closed after four performances.
Robinson's next foray on Broadway was the musical comedy Memphis Bound, which opened in May 1945. This production used an all-black cast, including Robinson (who had top billing), Avon Long, Billy Daniels, Ada Brown, and Sheila Guyse. Robinson played the boat pilot and then Sir Joseph Porter in the play-within-a-play of H.M.S. Pinafore. Critics widely praised Robinson's performance and especially his dancing, with his stair dance cited as a high point of the show.
Film career
After 1932, Black stage revues waned in popularity, but Robinson remained in vogue with White audiences for more than a decade in some fourteen motion pictures produced by such companies as RKO, 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. Most of them had musical settings, in which he played old-fashioned roles in nostalgic romances.
Early films
Robinson's film debut was in the 1930 musical Dixiana. RKO was formed in part by a merger of the Keith and Orpheum theater circuits, with whom Robinson had performed as a headliner for many years. He was cast as a specialty performer in a standalone scene. This practice, customary at the time, permitted Southern theaters to remove scenes containing black performers from their showings of the film. Dixiana was followed by Robinson's first starring role, in Harlem Is Heaven (1932), which sometimes is cited as the first film with an all-Black cast, even though all-Black silent films preceded it and the cast of Harlem Is Heaven includes a white actor with a speaking part, as well as a few White extras. The movie was produced in New York and did not perform well financially, leading Robinson to focus on Hollywood-produced movies after that.
Shirley Temple
The idea for bringing a black dancer to Fox to star with Temple in The Little Colonel was first proposed by Fox head Winfield Sheehan after a discussion with D. W. Griffith. Sheehan set his sights on Robinson but, unsure of his ability as an actor, arranged for a contract that was void if Robinson failed the dramatic test. Robinson passed the test and was brought in to star with Temple and to teach her tap dancing. They quickly hit it off, as Temple recounted years later:
Robinson walked a step ahead of us, but when he noticed me hurrying to catch up, he shortened his stride to accommodate mine. I kept reaching up for his hand, but he hadn't looked down and seemed unaware. Fannie called his attention to what I was doing, so he stopped short, bent low over me, his eyes wide and rows of brilliant teeth showing in a wide smile. When he took my hand in his, it felt large and cool. For a few moments, we continued walking in silence. "Can I call you Uncle Billy?" I asked. "Why sure you can," he replied..."But then I get to call you darlin.'" It was a deal. From then on, whenever we walked together it was hand in hand, and I was always his "darlin.'"
Temple had appeared in five films released in 1934 and had performed a tap routine with James Dunn in Stand Up and Cheer! After Robinson was signed by 20th Century Fox, it was decided that he would perform his famous stair dance with Temple. While Robinson liked the idea, he quickly realized that he could not teach his complex stair dance to a seven-year-old in the few days permitted by the shooting schedule. Instead, he taught Temple to kick the riser (face) of each stairstep with her toe. After watching her practice his choreography, Robinson modified his routine to mimic her movements, so that it appeared on film that she was imitating his steps. The sequence was the highlight of the film.
Robinson and Temple became the first interracial dance partners in Hollywood history. The scene was controversial for its time, and was cut out in the south along with all other scenes showing the two making physical contact. Temple and Robinson appeared in four films together: The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Just Around the Corner.
Robinson and Temple became close friends as a result of his dance coaching and acting with her. Robinson carried pictures of Temple with him wherever he traveled, and Temple considered him a lifelong friend, saying in an interview "Bill Robinson treated me as an equal, which was very important to me. He didn't talk down to me, like to a little girl. And I liked people like that. And Bill Robinson was the best of all."
Other films
Robinson refused to play stereotypical roles imposed by Hollywood studios. In a small vignette in Hooray for Love (1935), he played a mayor of Harlem modeled after his own ceremonial honor; in One Mile from Heaven (1937), he played a romantic lead with African-American actress Fredi Washington after Hollywood had relaxed its taboo against such roles for Blacks.
Robinson appeared opposite Will Rogers in In Old Kentucky (1935), the last movie Rogers made before his death in an airplane crash. Robinson and Rogers were good friends, and after Rogers' death, Robinson refused to fly, instead travelling by train to Hollywood for his film work.
Stormy Weather
Robinson's final film appearance was a starring role in the 1943 Fox musical Stormy Weather. Lena Horne co-starred as Robinson's love interest, and the movie also featured Fats Waller in his final movie appearance before his death, playing with Cab Calloway and his orchestra. The Nicholas Brothers are featured in the film's final dance sequence, performing to Calloway's "Jumpin' Jive", in what Fred Astaire called "the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen."
In 2001, Stormy Weather was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Radio and sound recordings
From 1936 until his death in 1949, Robinson made numerous radio and occasional television appearances. The distinctive sound of Robinson's tap dancing was frequently featured, but Robinson also sang, made sound effects, and told jokes and stories from his vaudeville acts. He also addressed the audience directly, something very rare for a black radio performer in that era.
Robinson also made several recordings, including one in which he demonstrated each of his tap steps and their corresponding sounds. It was also on the radio and in his recordings that Robinson introduced and popularized a word of his own invention, copasetic, which he had used for years in his vaudeville shows, and which was added to Webster's Dictionary in 1934.
Final appearances
The last theatrical project for Robinson was to have been Two Gentlemen from the South, with James Barton as the master and Robinson as his servant, in which the black and white roles reverse and eventually the two come together as equals, but the show did not open.
Robinson's final public appearance in 1949, a few weeks before his death, was as a surprise guest on Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour, in which he emotionally embraced a competitor on the show who had tap-danced for the audience. A friend remarked "he was handing over his crown, like him saying 'this is my good-bye.'"
Personal life and death
Little is known of Robinson's first marriage to Lena Chase in 1907. They separated in 1916, and the marriage ended in 1922. His second wife was Fannie S. Clay whom he married shortly after his divorce from Chase. They divorced in 1943. His third marriage was in 1944 to Elaine Plaines in Columbus, Ohio, and they remained together until Robinson's death in 1949. There were no children from any of the marriages.
Political figures and celebrities appointed Robinson an honorary mayor of Harlem, a lifetime member of policemen's associations and fraternal orders, and a mascot of the New York Giants. Robinson reciprocated with open-handed generosity and frequently credited the White dancer James Barton for his contribution to his dancing style.
Despite being the highest-paid Black performer of the first half of the 20th century, earning more than US$2 million during his lifetime, Robinson died penniless on November 25, 1949, from heart failure. His funeral was arranged and paid for by longtime friend and television host Ed Sullivan. Robinson lay in repose at the 369th Infantry Regiment Armory in Harlem, where an estimated 32,000 people filed past his open casket to pay their last respects. The schools in Harlem were closed for a half-day so that children could attend or listen to the funeral, which was broadcast over the radio. Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Sr. conducted the service at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, and New York Mayor William O'Dwyer gave the eulogy. Robinson is buried in the Cemetery of the Evergreens, Brooklyn, New York.
Legacy
Robinson was successful despite the obstacle of racism. A favorite Robinson anecdote is that he seated himself in a restaurant and a customer objected to his presence. When the manager suggested that it might be better if Robinson leave, he smiled and asked, "Have you got a ten-dollar bill?" Politely asking to borrow the manager's note for a moment, Robinson added six $10 bills from his own wallet and mixed them up, then extended the seven bills together, adding, "Here, let's see you pick out the colored one". The restaurant manager served Robinson without further delay.
Robinson co-founded the New York Black Yankees baseball team in Harlem in 1936 with financier James "Soldier Boy" Semler. The team was a successful member of the Negro National League until it disbanded in 1948 after Major League Baseball was desegregated.
In 1989, a joint U.S. Senate/House resolution declared National Tap Dance Day to be May 25, the anniversary of Bill Robinson's birth.
Robinson was inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame in 1987.
Popular myths, legends, and misconceptions
There are several commonly cited anecdotes about Robinson that are likely the result of conflicting stories put out by Robinson's second wife Fanny, or his manager, Marty Forkins, or by various show business associates of Robinson. There are also numerous documented instances in which Robinson gave conflicting stories to news reporters at different times.
According to his biographer, Robinson had previously served in the Spanish–American War, where he sustained an accidental gunshot wound. He was 36 when the U.S entered World War I, and received a letter of commendation from the War Department for his work during the war in boosting morale at training camps in the United States, not overseas.
It has further been claimed that, along with serving in the trenches in World War I, Robinson was also the drum major for the 369th Hellfighters Band and led the regimental band up Fifth Avenue on the 369th's return from overseas.
While numerous sources repeat the claim of Bill Robinson's appointment as drum major in the 369th Regiment Band, this is not mentioned in either Mr. Bojangles, the Bill Robinson biography by Jim Haskins and N.R. Mitgang, or A Life in Ragtime, the biography of James Reese Europe, the leader of the 369th regimental band.
The origin of the nickname "Mr. Bojangles"
Tales about the origin of Robinson's nickname varied across the color line, a consequence of differing opinions of him by Black and White people. To Whites, for example, his nickname "Bojangles" meant happy-go-lucky, while the Black variety artist Tom Fletcher claimed it was slang for "squabbler." Robinson himself said he got the nickname as a child in Richmond, which is the most commonly-accepted version.
Marriage to Fanny Clay
The date and location of Robinson's second marriage to Fanny Clay, or even the year they met, is uncertain because the couple gave different dates and locations in interviews, possibly because they were worried about unfavorable publicity about the marriage occurring so soon after Robinson's divorce. Robinson's biographer estimates that they met in late 1920 and were married in early 1922.
First Meeting with Marty Forkins
Robinson's meeting with Marty Forkins, the man who became his manager, is said to have occurred when Robinson, working as a waiter, spilled soup on Forkins. After Robinson's death, Forkins and his wife Rae Samuel admitted that Samuels made the introduction after having seen Robinson perform with his partner George Cooper. Their explanation was that the story was made up in order to obscure Robinson's and Cooper's partnership, and to more effectively promote Robinson as a solo act. The ruse was successful, making Robinson one of the early solo acts to break vaudeville's two-colored rule, which required African-American performers to work in pairs.
Legendary dance contest
A dance contest among Robinson and three other dance legends (typically Ray Bolger, Fred Astaire, and James Barton) in which Robinson emerges the victor is recounted in many places, but no verifiable source can be found describing where and when the contest might have taken place.
Copacetic
Robinson is given credit for having popularized the word copacetic and claimed to have invented it while still living in Richmond. The Oxford English Dictionary lists the origins of the word as "unknown" and documents the earliest written use of the word in 1919 by the newspaperman and author Irving Bacheller in his serialized book A Man for the Ages; this was followed by uses in 1926 by Carl Van Vechten in his novel Nigger Heaven,in 1934 in Webster's New International Dictionary and by John O'Hara in his novel Appointment in Samarra. Haskins' biography of Robinson states "Bill was shelling peas at the Jefferson Market, a New York Daily Mirror reporter asked him how he was, and the reply just popped into his head: 'I'm copasetic. The word was not popularized until Robinson used the term as an opening for his vaudeville and radio performances. The word was used in films Robinson made with Shirley Temple in the 1930s.
World record for running backward
One of Robinson's methods for generating publicity in cities where he was not the headliner was to engage in "freak sprinting" races, such as running backward. In 1922, Robinson set the world record for running backward (100 yards in 13.5 seconds). The record stood until 1977, when Paul Wilson ran the distance in 13.3 seconds. Although Robinson's speed running backwards is undisputed, the circumstances in which this feat was accepted as a world record are unclear, and were likely the result of a staged publicity event rather than a sanctioned athletic contest.
The song "Mr. Bojangles"
Jerry Jeff Walker's 1968 folk song "Mr. Bojangles" has been misinterpreted as a song about Robinson; it indirectly refers to Robinson through the lead character's use of his nickname "Bojangles," a reference to both being adept at tap dance. According to Walker, a street performer in the New Orleans first precinct jail who called himself Bo Jangles was the subject of the song. In the song, the street performer is a heavy drinker and has a dog that died; Walker also noted that the street-performer Bo Jangles was white. By Robinson's own account and those of his friends, he neither smoked nor drank (although he was a frequent and avid gambler), and he never had a dog.
Controversies
Uncle Tom roles
Robinson came under heavy criticism for playing stereotyped roles, and took offense at such claims. Once, after being called an "Uncle Tom" in the newspaper 'The New York Age', Robinson went to its office in Harlem, pistol in hand, demanding to see the editor. In his eulogy at Robinson's funeral, Rev. Adam Clayton Powell argued against the claim that Robinson was an "Uncle Tom" figure, focusing on Robinson's ability as an entertainer and a man who transcended color lines.
In 1973, the film historian Donald Bogle refers to Robinson's role in The Littlest Rebel and other Shirley Temple movies as the "quintessential Uncle Tom." Other critics noted that such criticism fails to account for the genuine affection and chemistry between Robinson and Temple that came through on the screen and that the role represented a breakthrough for Hollywood stereotypes in that it was the first time a Black man was made the guardian of a white life. Bogle later moderated his criticism by noting that the reliable, articulate Uncle Billy character in The Littlest Rebel was a cut above the characters portrayed by Lincoln "Stepin Fetchit" Perry.
Haskins explains that critics calling Robinson an "Uncle Tom" often disregarded the discriminatory limitations Robinson endured and combated throughout his career. In addition to the impact of Jim Crow policies and the Depression, Haskins writes, "That Bill traveled, at least professionally, in increasingly white circles was not so much a matter of choice as one of reality." Having overcome numerous policies inhibiting his success to reach an unmatched level of stardom, Robinson had limited venue opportunities for a performer of his caliber.
In 1933, Robinson was named an honorary Mayor of Harlem for his philanthropic contributions to his community and for his renowned success. He took this role seriously, performing over 3,000 benefits in the course of his career, aiding hundreds of unorganized charities and individuals.
Trial and imprisonment
On March 21, 1908, as a result of a dispute with a tailor over a suit, Robinson was arrested in New York City for armed robbery. On September 30, he was convicted and sentenced to 11 to 15 years hard labor at Sing Sing prison. Robinson had failed to take the charges and trial seriously and paid little attention to mounting a defense. After his conviction, Robinson's partner George Cooper organized his more influential friends to vouch for him and hired a new attorney who produced evidence that Robinson had been falsely accused. Although he was exonerated at his second trial and his accusers were indicted for perjury, the trial and time spent in the Tombs (Manhattan's prison complex) affected Robinson deeply. After he was released, he made a point of registering his pistol at the local police station of each town where he performed. Robinson's second wife, Fanny, also sent a letter of introduction with complimentary tickets and other gifts to the local police chief's wife in each town ahead of Robinson's engagements.
Jesse Owens
After Jesse Owens returned from the 1936 Olympics, Robinson befriended him. Despite his fame from his four Olympic track wins, undermining Adolf Hitler's claims of Aryan supremacy, Owens found most of the offers that had been made to employ him had been nothing more than publicity stunts that had no substance. Robinson was the one exception, finding work for Owens within a few months of his return to the U.S. Robinson also introduced Owens to his manager, Marty Forkins, who secured a series of demonstration races for Owens which were viewed by many as degrading to the dignity of an Olympic athlete, most notably an event in Cuba in which Owens raced against a horse. As a result, Forkins and Robinson were viewed as having taken advantage of Owens. According to Forkins’ son, Robinson had told Owens that he should start running demonstration races that would both earn money for him and keep him in the public eye. Robinson had done many such races (including a race in which he set the world record for running backwards) and did not view them as undignified. Moreover, the events paid Owens well and provided him with a source of funds when no one else was offering him employment or helping him financially. Owens made a gift to Robinson of one of his four Olympic gold medals, as a gesture of gratitude for the help Robinson had given him.
Café Metropole and Jeni Le Gon
In 1937, Robinson caused a stir in the Harlem community by choosing Geneva Sawyer, a white dancer, as his dance partner over Jeni Le Gon in the Twentieth Century Fox film Café Metropole (1937). Le Gon had danced with him in Hooray for Love (1935) and had received favorable reviews. Sawyer had been Shirley Temple's dance coach during the time Temple and Robinson made movies together, and Sawyer had taken tap lessons from Robinson while he was teaching Temple and choreographing her routines. Robinson suggested to the producers that Sawyer could be cast as his partner if she wore blackface. Le Gon's career suffered as a result, and she never worked with Robinson again. Although the scene was shot with Sawyer in blackface, the studio became convinced that a mixed-race adult couple dancing together would be too controversial. Both scenes with Robinson were cut from the final version of the movie, and the deleted scenes were only released in 2008 as part of a Fox DVD boxed set of Tyrone Power movies.
In popular culture
Fred Astaire paid tribute to Bill Robinson in the tap routine Bojangles of Harlem from the 1936 film Swing Time. In it, Astaire famously dances to three of his shadows.
Eleanor Powell paid tribute to Bill Robinson in the 1939 film Honolulu in blackface, performing Robinson's signature routine, Stair Dance.
Duke Ellington composed "Bojangles (A Portrait of Bill Robinson)", a set of rhythmic variations as a salute to the great dancer.
A biography of Bill Robinson by Jim Haskins and N. R. Mitgang, Mr. Bojangles: The Biography of Bill Robinson (Morrow), was published in 1988.
"Bojangles" the musical, premiered as the centerpiece of Barksdale Theatre's (at Hanover Tavern) 40th anniversary season in 1993. Playwright Doug Jones collaborated with composer Charles Strouse (Annie, Bye Bye Birdie, Applause) and Academy Award-winning lyricist Sammy Cahn.
A television film titled Bojangles was released in 2001. The film earned the NAACP Best actor Award for Gregory Hines' performance as Robinson.
Arthur Duncan, an exceptional tap dancer, frequently paid homage to Bill Robinson with the stair routine on The Lawrence Welk Show.
A 2002 children's book titled Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles - Think of That! by Leo and Diane Dillon pays homage to Robinson.
A character loosely modeled upon Bojangles and Sammy Davis Jr., called "Bonejangles" appears in Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005).
Blues for Bojangles is a song composed by Chuck Darwin and performed by Anita O'Day with the Paul Jordan Orchestra.
Filmography
Selected discography
1929 Ain’t misbehavin’/Doing the new low down with Irving Mills & His Hotsy Totsy Gang (released September 4, 1929) Brunswick Records Br4535 Re-issued on Cotton Club stars (released 1990) Milan Records OCLC 858508492
1931
Keep a song in your soul / Bill Robinson blues (released April 3, 1931) Brunswick Records E36441-A-B; also issued on Columbia Records 30183
Keep a song in your soul / Just a crazy song (Hi-hi-hi) Brunswick Records Br 6134, 1168b, A9091
1935 Living in a great big way with Jeni Legon (recorded 1934, re-released in 2000 on Hollywood swing & jazz : hot numbers from classic M-G-M, Warner Bros., and RKO films) Rino Records
1943 Stormy Weather Motion picture soundtrack (recorded January–May 1943, re-released 1993) Fox Records: Distributed by Arista Records, 1993.
See also
List of dancers
Racism in the United States
References
Notes
Bibliography
Some biographical material is from the International Tap Association Newsletter, May/June 1993. The biographical material was extrapolated from The American Dictionary of Biography and Webster's American Biographies.
Haskins, James; Mitgang, N.R., Mr. Bojangles: The Biography of Bill Robinson (New York: William Morrow, 1988).
Williams, Iain Cameron (2002). Underneath A Harlem Moon
External links
Bojangles at the Evergreens Cemetery
Category:1878 births
Category:1949 deaths
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:369th Infantry Regiment personnel
Category:African-American male actors
Category:African-American male dancers
Category:African-American male singers
Category:American male dancers
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male musical theatre actors
Category:American male singers
Category:American male stage actors
Category:American military personnel of World War I
Category:American tap dancers
Category:Burials at the Cemetery of the Evergreens
Category:Harlem Renaissance
Category:Male actors from Richmond, Virginia
Category:Military personnel from Richmond, Virginia
Category:Musicians from Richmond, Virginia
Category:Singers from Virginia
Category:United States Army soldiers
Category:Vaudeville performers | [
{
"text": "Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes bibliography as a word having two senses: one, a list of books for further study or of works consulted by an author (or enumerative bibliography); the other one, applicable for collectors, is \"the study of books as physical objects\" and \"the systematic description of books as objects\" (or descriptive bibliography).\n\nEtymology \nThe word was used by Greek writers in the first three centuries CE to mean the copying of books by hand. In the 12th century, the word started being used for \"the intellectual activity of composing books.\" The 17th century then saw the emergence of the modern meaning, that of description of books. Currently, the field of bibliography has expanded to include studies that consider the book as a material object. Bibliography, in its systematic pursuit of understanding the past and the present through written and printed documents, describes a way and means of extracting information from this material. Bibliographers are interested in comparing versions of texts to each other rather than in interpreting their meaning or assessing their significance.\n\nField of study \nBibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868–1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about \"the science of bibliography.\" However, there have recently been voices claiming that \"the bibliographical paradigm\" is obsolete, and it is not today common in LIS. A defence of the bibliographical paradigm was provided by Hjørland (2007).\n\nThe quantitative study of bibliographies is known as bibliometrics, which is today an influential subfield in LIS and is used for major collection decisions such as the cancellation of big deals, through data analysis tools like Unpaywall Journals.\n\nBranches \nCarter and Barker describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). These two distinct concepts and practices have separate rationales and serve differing purposes. Innovators and originators in the field include W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, Philip Gaskell and G. Thomas Tanselle.\n\nBowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production (3). He refers to descriptive bibliography as the systematic description of a book as a material or physical artefact. Analytical bibliography, the cornerstone of descriptive bibliography, investigates the printing and all physical features of a book that yield evidence establishing a book's history and transmission (Feather 10). It is the preliminary phase of bibliographic description and provides the vocabulary, principles and techniques of analysis that descriptive bibliographers apply and on which they base their descriptive practice.\n\nDescriptive bibliographers follow specific conventions and associated classification in their description. Titles and title pages are transcribed in a quasi-facsimile style and representation. Illustration, typeface, binding, paper, and all physical elements related to identifying a book follow formulaic conventions, as Bowers established in his foundational opus, The Principles of Bibliographic Description. The thought expressed in this book expands substantively on W. W. Greg's groundbreaking theory that argued for the adoption of formal bibliographic principles (Greg 29). Fundamentally, analytical bibliography is concerned with objective, physical analysis and history of a book while descriptive bibliography employs all data that analytical bibliography furnishes and then codifies it with a view to identifying the ideal copy or form of a book that most nearly represents the printer's initial conception and intention in printing.\n\nIn addition to viewing bibliographic study as being composed of four interdependent approaches (enumerative, descriptive, analytical, and textual), Bowers notes two further subcategories of research, namely historical bibliography and aesthetic bibliography. Both historical bibliography, which involves the investigation of printing practices, tools, and related documents, and aesthetic bibliography, which examines the art of designing type and books, are often employed by analytical bibliographers.\n\nD. F. McKenzie extended previous notions of bibliography as set forth by Greg, Bowers, Gaskell and Tanselle. He describes the nature of bibliography as \"the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the processes of their transmission, including their production and reception\" (1999 12). This concept broadens the scope of bibliography to include \"non-book texts\" and an accounting for their material form and structure, as well as textual variations, technical and production processes that bring sociocultural context and effects into play. McKenzie's perspective contextualizes textual objects or artefacts with sociological and technical factors that have an effect on production, transmission and, ultimately, ideal copy (2002 14). Bibliography, generally, concerns the material conditions of books [as well as other texts] how they are designed, edited, printed, circulated, reprinted, collected.\n\nBibliographic works differ in the amount of detail depending on the purpose and can generally be divided into two categories: enumerative bibliography (also called compilative, reference or systematic), which results in an overview of publications in a particular category and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books. In earlier times, bibliography mostly focused on books. Now, both categories of bibliography cover works in other media including audio recordings, motion pictures and videos, graphic objects, databases, CD-ROMs and websites.\n\nEnumerative bibliography \n\nAn enumerative bibliography is a systematic list of books and other works such as journal articles. Bibliographies range from \"works cited\" lists at the end of books and articles, to complete and independent publications. A notable example of a complete, independent publication is Gow's A. E. Housman: A Sketch, Together with a List of His Classical Papers (1936). As separate works, they may be in bound volumes such as those shown on the right, or computerized bibliographic databases. A library catalog, while not referred to as a \"bibliography,\" is bibliographic in nature. Bibliographical works are almost always considered to be tertiary sources.\n\nEnumerative bibliographies are based on a unifying principle such as creator, subject, date, topic or other characteristic. An entry in an enumerative bibliography provides the core elements of a text resource including a title, the creator(s), publication date and place of publication. Belanger (1977) distinguishes an enumerative bibliography from other bibliographic forms such as descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography or textual bibliography in that its function is to record and list, rather than describe a source in detail or with any reference to the source's physical nature, materiality or textual transmission. The enumerative list may be comprehensive or selective. One noted example would be Tanselle's bibliography that exhaustively enumerates topics and sources related to all forms of bibliography. A more common and particular instance of an enumerative bibliography relates to specific sources used or considered in preparing a scholarly paper or academic term paper.\n\nCitation styles vary.\nAn entry for a book in a bibliography usually contains the following elements:\n creator(s)\n title\n place of publication\n publisher or printer\n date of publication\n\nAn entry for a journal or periodical article usually contains:\n creator(s)\n article title\n journal title\n volume\n pages\n date of publication\n\nA bibliography may be arranged by author, topic, or some other scheme. Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument. These descriptions, usually a few sentences long, provide a summary of the source and describe its relevance. Reference management software may be used to keep track of references and generate bibliographies as required.\n\nBibliographies differ from library catalogs by including only relevant items rather than all items present in a particular library. However, the catalogs of some national libraries effectively serve as national bibliographies, as the national libraries own almost all their countries' publications.\n\nDescriptive bibliography \nFredson Bowers described and formulated a standardized practice of descriptive bibliography in his Principles of Bibliographical Description\n(1949). Scholars to this day treat Bowers' scholarly guide as authoritative. In this classic text, Bowers describes the basic function of bibliography as, \"[providing] sufficient data so that a reader may identify the book described, understand the printing, and recognize the precise contents\" (124).\n\nDescriptive bibliographies as scholarly product \nDescriptive bibliographies as a scholarly product usually include information on the following aspect of a given book as a material object:\nFormat and Collation/Pagination Statement—a conventional, symbolic formula that describes the book block in terms of sheets, folds, quires, signatures, and pages\n\nAccording to Bowers (193), the format of a book is usually abbreviated in the collation formula:\nBroadsheet: I° or b.s. or bs.\nFolio: 2° or fol.\nQuarto: 4° or 4to or Q° or Q\nOctavo: 8° or 8vo\nDuodecimo: 12° or 12mo\nSexto-decimo: 16° or 16mo\nTricesimo-secundo: 32° or 32mo\nSexagesimo-quarto: 64° or 64mo\nThe collation, which follows the format, is the statement of the order and size of the gatherings.\nFor example, a quarto that consists of the signed gatherings:\n2 leaves signed A, 4 leaves signed B, 4 leaves signed C, and 2 leaves signed D\nwould be represented in the collation formula:\n4°: A2B-C4D2\nBinding—a description of the binding techniques (generally for books printed after 1800)\nTitle Page Transcription—a transcription of the title page, including rule lines and ornaments\nContents—a listing of the contents (by section) in the book\nPaper—a description of the physical properties of the paper, including production process, an account of chain-line measurements, and a description of watermarks (if present)\nIllustrations—a description of the illustrations found in the book, including printing process (e.g. woodblock, intaglio, etc.), measurements, and locations in the text\nPresswork—miscellaneous details gleaned from the text about its production\nCopies Examined—an enumeration of the copies examined, including those copies' location (i.e. belonging to which library or collector)\n\nAnalytical bibliography \nThis branch of the bibliographic discipline examines the material features of a textual artefact—such as type, ink, paper, imposition, format, impressions and states of a book—to essentially recreate the conditions of its production. Analytical bibliography often uses collateral evidence—such as general printing practices, trends in format, responses and non-responses to design, etc.—to scrutinize the historical conventions and influences underlying the physical appearance of a text. The bibliographer utilizes knowledge gained from the investigation of physical evidence in the form of a descriptive bibliography or textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination and cataloging of a text as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while textual bibliography (or textual criticism) identifies variations—and the aetiology of variations—in a text with a view to determining \"the establishment of the most correct form of [a] text\" (Bowers 498[1]).\n\nBibliographers \n\nA bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. A person who limits such efforts to a specific field or discipline is a subject bibliographer.\"\n\nA bibliographer, in the technical meaning of the word, is anyone who writes about books. But the accepted meaning since at least the 18th century is a person who attempts a comprehensive account—sometimes just a list, sometimes a fuller reckoning—of the books written on a particular subject. In the present, bibliography is no longer a career, generally speaking; bibliographies tend to be written on highly specific subjects and by specialists in the field.\n\nThe term bibliographer is sometimes—in particular subject bibliographer—today used about certain roles performed in libraries and bibliographic databases.\n\nOne of the first bibliographers was Conrad Gessner who sought to list all books printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in Bibliotheca Universalis (1545).\n\nNon-book material \nSystematic lists of media other than books can be referred to with terms formed analogously to bibliography:\n Discography—recorded music\n Filmography—films\n Webography (or webliography)—websites\n Arachniography, a term coined by NASA research historian Andrew J. Butrica, which means a reference list of URLs about a particular subject. It is equivalent to a bibliography in a book. The name derives from arachne in reference to a spider and its web.\n\nSee also \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (in Wikipedia)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Blum, Rudolf. (1980) Bibliographia. An Inquiry in Its Definition and Designations, Dawson, American Library Association.\n Bowers, Fredson. (1995) Principles of Bibliographical Description, Oak Knoll Press.\n Duncan, Paul Shaner. (1973) How to Catalog a Rare Book, 2nd ed., rev., American Library Association.\n \n Gaskell, Philip. (2000) A New Introduction to Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press.\n McKerrow, R. B. (1927) An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford: Clarendon Press\n Schneider, Georg. (1934) Theory and History of Bibliography, New York: Scarecrow Press.\n National Library of Canada, Committee on Bibliography and Information Services for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Guidelines for the Compilation of a Bibliography (National Library of Canada, 1987). N.B.: This is a brief guide to accurately practical bibliography, not a study concerning more precise and systematic bibliography.\n \nRobinson, A. M. Lewin (1966) Systematic Bibliography; rev. ed. London: Clive Bingley\n\nExternal links \n\n Oxford Bibliographies Online, in-depth annotated bibliographies by scholars in selected fields\n Introduction to Bibliography, a comprehensive syllabus by G. Thomas Tanselle\n The Bibliographical Society of America, a resource for information about current work in the field of bibliography\n Studies in Bibliography, the journal of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia\n A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology, (University of Zaragoza) includes thousands of listings on literary, philological and other subjects\n\n \nCategory:Book design\nCategory:Book terminology\nCategory:Textual scholarship",
"title": "Bibliography"
}
] | [
"Bill Robinson was brought in by Fox to star with Shirley Temple in the movie The Little Colonel and to teach her tap dancing. They quickly developed a close friendship, appearing in four films together, and becoming the first interracial dance partners in Hollywood history. Robinson carried pictures of Temple with him wherever he traveled, and Temple considered him a lifelong friend.",
"They performed together in four films: The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Just Around the Corner.",
"According to the text, in addition to performing together, Robinson also taught Shirley Temple to tap dance. They also developed a close personal friendship, with Robinson carrying pictures of Temple with him wherever he traveled, and Temple considering him a lifelong friend.",
"The text does not provide information on Bill Robinson's age when he worked with Shirley Temple."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_52af268bf5df41a7a9293e2ca9345335_1 | John J. Pershing | Pershing was born on a farm near Laclede, Missouri, to businessman John Fletcher Pershing and homemaker Ann Elizabeth Thompson. Pershing's great-great-grandfather, Frederick Pershing, whose name originally was Pfersching, emigrated from Alsace, leaving Amsterdam on the ship Jacob, and arriving in Philadelphia on October 2, 1749. Pershing's mother was of English descent. He also had five siblings: brothers James F. (1862-1933) and Ward (1874-1909), and sisters Mary Elizabeth (1864-1928), Anna May (1867-1955) and Grace (1867-1903); three other children died in infancy. | Early career | Pershing reported for active duty on September 30, 1886, and was assigned to Troop L of the 6th U.S. Cavalry stationed at Fort Bayard, in the New Mexico Territory. While serving in the 6th Cavalry, Pershing participated in several Indian campaigns and was cited for bravery for actions against the Apache. During his time at Fort Stanton, Pershing and close friends Lt. Julius Penn and Lt. Richard B. Paddock were nicknamed "The Three Green P's," spending their leisure time hunting and attending Hispanic dances. Pershing's sister Grace married Paddock in 1890. Between 1887 and 1890, Pershing served with the 6th Cavalry at various postings in California, Arizona, and North Dakota. He also became an expert marksman and, in 1891, was rated second in pistol and fifth in rifle out of all soldiers in the U.S. Army. On December 9, 1890, Pershing and the 6th Cavalry arrived at Sioux City, Iowa, where Pershing played a role in suppressing the last uprisings of the Lakota (Sioux) Indians. Though he and his unit did not participate in the Wounded Knee Massacre, they did fight three days after it on January 1, 1891 when Sioux warriors attacked the 6th Cavalry's supply wagons. When the Sioux began firing at the wagons, Pershing and his troops heard the shots, and rode more than six miles to the location of the attack. The cavalry fired at the forces of Chief War Eagle, causing them to retreat. This would be the only occasion where Pershing would see action in the Ghost Dance campaign. In September 1891 he was assigned as the Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a position he held until 1895. While carrying out this assignment, Pershing attended the university's College of Law, from which he received his LL.B. degree in 1893. He formed a drill company of chosen university cadets, Company A. In March 1892, it won the Maiden Prize competition of the National Competitive Drills in Omaha, Nebraska. The Citizens of Omaha presented the company with a large silver cup, the "Omaha Cup." On October 2, 1894, former members of Company A established a fraternal military drill organization named the Varsity Rifles. The group renamed itself the Pershing Rifles in 1895 in honor of its mentor and patron. Pershing maintained a close relationship with Pershing Rifles for the remainder of his life. On October 20, 1892, Pershing was promoted to first lieutenant and in 1895 took command of a troop of the 10th Cavalry Regiment, one of the original Buffalo Soldier regiments composed of African-American soldiers under white officers. From Fort Assinniboine in north central Montana, he commanded an expedition to the south and southwest that rounded up and deported a large number of Cree Indians to Canada. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_52af268bf5df41a7a9293e2ca9345335_1_q#0",
"C_52af268bf5df41a7a9293e2ca9345335_1_q#1",
"C_52af268bf5df41a7a9293e2ca9345335_1_q#2",
"C_52af268bf5df41a7a9293e2ca9345335_1_q#3"
] | [
"What was Pershings first job",
"How did he get into this job",
"How long was he with the U.S Cavalry",
"what did he do after that"
] | [
2,
0,
2,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
77
],
[
689
],
[
1496
],
[
1785
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Troop L of the 6th U.S. Cavalry stationed at Fort Bayard, in the New Mexico Territory."
],
[
"also became an expert marksman and, in 1891, was rated second in pistol and fifth in rifle out of all soldiers in the U.S. Army."
],
[
"In September 1891 he was assigned as the Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a position he held until 1895."
],
[
"He formed a drill company of chosen university cadets,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
77,
689,
1496,
1785
],
"texts": [
"Troop L of the 6th U.S. Cavalry stationed at Fort Bayard, in the New Mexico Territory.",
"also became an expert marksman and, in 1891, was rated second in pistol and fifth in rifle out of all soldiers in the U.S. Army.",
"In September 1891 he was assigned as the Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a position he held until 1895.",
"He formed a drill company of chosen university cadets,"
]
} | General of the Armies John Joseph Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948), nicknamed "Black Jack", was a senior United States Army officer. He served most famously as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Western Front during World War I, from 1917 to 1918. In addition to leading the AEF to victory in World War I, Pershing notably served as a mentor to many in the generation of generals who led the United States Army during World War II, including George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, Lesley J. McNair, George S. Patton and Douglas MacArthur.
During his command in World War I, Pershing rejected British and French demands that American forces be integrated with their armies, essentially as replacement units, and insisted that the AEF would operate as a single unit under his command, although some American divisions fought under British command, notably in the Battle of Hamel and the breaching of the Hindenburg Line at St Quentin Canal, precipitating the final German collapse. Pershing also allowed (at that time segregated) American all-Black units to be integrated with the French Army.
Pershing's soldiers first saw serious battle at Cantigny, Chateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood June 1–26, 1918, and Soissons on July 18–22, 1918. To speed up the arrival of American troops, they embarked for France leaving heavy equipment behind, and used British and French tanks, artillery, airplanes and other munitions. In September 1918 at St. Mihiel, the First Army was directly under Pershing's command; it overwhelmed the salient – the encroachment into Allied territory – that the German Army had held for three years. For the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Pershing shifted roughly 600,000 American soldiers to the heavily defended forests of the Argonne, keeping his divisions engaged in hard fighting for 47 days, alongside the French. The Allied Hundred Days Offensive, of which the Argonne fighting was part, contributed to Germany calling for an armistice. Pershing was of the opinion that the war should continue and that all of Germany should be occupied in an effort to permanently destroy German militarism.
Pershing is the only American to be promoted in his own lifetime to General of the Armies, the highest possible rank in the United States Army. Allowed to select his own insignia, Pershing chose to continue using four stars. After the creation of the five-star General of the Army rank during World War II, his rank of General of the Armies could unofficially be considered that of a six-star general, but he died before the proposed insignia could be considered and acted upon by Congress.
Some of his tactics have been criticized both by other commanders at the time and by modern historians. His reliance on costly frontal assaults, long after other Allied armies had abandoned such tactics, has been blamed for causing unnecessarily high American casualties. Pershing was also criticized by some historians for his actions on the day of armistice as the commander of the American Expeditionary Force. Pershing did not approve of the armistice, and despite knowing of the imminent ceasefire, he did not tell his commanders to suspend any new offensive actions or assaults in the final few hours of the war. In total, there were nearly 11,000 casualties (3,500 American), dead, missing, or injured during November 11, the final day of the war, which exceeded even the D-Day casualty counts of June 1944. Pershing and several subordinates were later questioned by Congress; Pershing maintained that he had followed the orders of his superior, Ferdinand Foch; Congress found that no one was culpable.
Early life
Pershing was born on a farm near Laclede, Missouri on September 13, 1860, the son of farmer and store owner John Fletcher Pershing and homemaker Ann Elizabeth Thompson. Pershing's great-great-grandfather, Frederick Pershing, whose name originally was Pfersching, emigrated from Alsace, leaving Amsterdam on the ship Jacob, and arriving in Philadelphia on October 2, 1749. He had five siblings who lived to adulthood: brothers James F. (1862–1933) and Ward (1874–1909), and sisters Mary Elizabeth (1864–1928), Anna May (1867–1955) and Grace (1867–1903); three other children died in infancy. When the Civil War began, his father supported the Union and was a sutler for the 18th Missouri Volunteer Infantry; he died on March 16, 1906. Pershing's mother died during his initial assignment in the American West.
Pershing attended a school in Laclede that was reserved for precocious students who were also the children of prominent citizens, and he later attended Laclede's one-room schoolhouse. After completing high school in 1878, he became a teacher of local African American children. While pursuing his teaching career, Pershing also studied at the State Normal School (now Truman State University) in Kirksville, Missouri, from which he graduated in 1880 with a Bachelor of Science degree in scientific didactics. Two years later, he competed for appointment to the United States Military Academy. He performed well on the examination, and received the appointment from Congressman Joseph Henry Burrows. He later admitted that he had applied not because he was interested in a military career, but because the education was free and better than what he could obtain in rural Missouri.
West Point years
Pershing was sworn in as a West Point cadet in the fall of 1882. He was selected early for leadership positions and became successively First Corporal, First Sergeant, First Lieutenant, and First Captain, the highest possible cadet rank. Pershing also commanded, ex officio, the honor guard that saluted the funeral train of President Ulysses S. Grant as it passed West Point in August 1885.
Pershing graduated in the summer of 1886 ranked 30th in his class of 77, and was commissioned a second lieutenant; he was commended by the West Point Superintendent, General Wesley Merritt, who said Pershing gave early promise of becoming an outstanding officer. Pershing briefly considered petitioning the Army to let him study law and delay the start of his mandatory military service. He also considered joining several classmates in a partnership that would pursue development of an irrigation project in Oregon. He ultimately decided against both courses of action in favor of active Army duty.
Early career
Pershing reported for active duty on September 30, 1886, and was assigned to Troop L of the 6th U.S. Cavalry stationed at Fort Bayard, in the New Mexico Territory. While serving in the 6th Cavalry, Pershing participated in several Indian campaigns and was cited for bravery for actions against the Apache. During his time at Fort Stanton, Pershing and close friends Lt. Julius A. Penn and Lt. Richard B. Paddock were nicknamed "The Three Green P's," spending their leisure time hunting and attending Hispanic dances. Pershing's sister Grace married Paddock in 1890.
Between 1887 and 1890, Pershing served with the 6th Cavalry at various postings in New Mexico, Arizona, and South Dakota. He also became an expert marksman and won several prizes for rifle and pistol at army shooting competitions.
On December 9, 1890, Pershing and the 6th Cavalry arrived at Fort Meade, South Dakota where Pershing played a role in suppressing the last uprisings of the Lakota (Sioux) Indians. Though he and his unit did not participate in the Wounded Knee Massacre, they did fight three days after it on January 1, 1891, when Sioux warriors attacked the 6th Cavalry's supply wagons. When the Sioux began firing at the wagons, Pershing and his troops heard the shots, and rode more than six miles to the location of the attack. The cavalry fired at the forces of Chief War Eagle, causing them to retreat. This was the only occasion on which Pershing saw action during the Ghost Dance campaign.
In September 1891, he was assigned as the professor of military science and tactics at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, a position he held until 1895. While carrying out this assignment, Pershing attended the university's College of Law, from which he received his LL.B. degree in 1893. He formed a drill company of chosen university cadets, Company A. In March 1892, it won the Maiden Prize competition of the National Competitive Drills in Omaha, Nebraska. The Citizens of Omaha presented the company with a large silver cup, the "Omaha Cup". On October 2, 1894, former members of Company A established a fraternal military drill organization named the Varsity Rifles. The group renamed itself the Pershing Rifles in 1895 in honor of its mentor and patron. Pershing maintained a close relationship with Pershing Rifles for the remainder of his life.
On October 20, 1892, Pershing was promoted to first lieutenant and in 1895 took command of a troop of the 10th Cavalry Regiment, one of the original Buffalo Soldier regiments composed of African-American soldiers under white officers. From Fort Assinniboine in north central Montana, he commanded an expedition to the south and southwest that rounded up and deported a large number of Cree Indians to Canada.
West Point instructor
In 1897, Pershing was appointed to the West Point tactical staff as an instructor, where he was assigned to Cadet Company A. Because of his strictness and rigidity, Pershing was unpopular with the cadets, who took to calling him "Nigger Jack" because of his service with the 10th Cavalry.
During the course of his tour at the Academy, this epithet softened to "Black Jack," although, according to Vandiver, "the intent remained hostile." Still, this nickname stuck with Pershing for the rest of his life, and was known to the public as early as 1917.
Spanish– and Philippine–American wars
At the start of the Spanish–American War, First Lieutenant Pershing was the regimental quartermaster for the 10th Cavalry; he fought on Kettle and San Juan Hills in Cuba, and was cited for gallantry. Theodore Roosevelt, who also participated in those battles, said that "Captain Pershing is the coolest man under fire I ever saw in my life.” In 1919, Pershing was awarded the Silver Citation Star for these actions, and in 1932 the award was upgraded to the Silver Star decoration. A commanding officer here commented on Pershing's calm demeanor under fire, saying he was "cool as a bowl of cracked ice." Pershing also served with the 10th Cavalry during the siege and surrender of Santiago de Cuba.
Pershing was commissioned as a major of United States Volunteers on August 26, 1898, and assigned as an ordnance officer. In March 1899, after suffering from malaria, Pershing was put in charge of the Office of Customs and Insular Affairs which oversaw occupation forces in territories gained in the Spanish–American War, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. He was honorably discharged from the volunteers and reverted to his permanent rank of first lieutenant on May 12, 1899. He was again commissioned as a major of Volunteers on June 6, 1899, this time as an assistant adjutant general.
When the Philippine–American War began, Pershing reported to Manila on August 17, 1899, was assigned to the Department of Mindanao and Jolo, and commanded efforts to suppress the Filipino Insurrection. On November 27, 1900, Pershing was appointed adjutant general of his department and served in this posting until March 1, 1901. He was cited for bravery for actions on the Cagayan River while attempting to destroy a Philippine stronghold at Macajambo.
Pershing wrote in his autobiography that "The bodies [of some Moro outlaws] were publicly buried in the same grave with a dead pig." This treatment was used against captured juramentado so that the superstitious Moro would believe they would be going to hell. Pershing added that "it was not pleasant [for the Army] to have to take such measures". Historians do not believe that Pershing was directly involved with such incidents, or that he personally gave such orders to his subordinates. Letters and memoirs from soldiers describing events similar to this do not have credible evidence of Pershing having been personally involved. Military historian B.H. Liddell Hart wrote that, on the contrary, Pershing's conduct toward the Moros was notable for its "unexpected sympathy," and for the fact that, because of Pershing's conscious effort to interact with and understand them, "he could negotiate with the Moros without the intervention of an interpreter."
On June 30, 1901, Pershing was honorably discharged from the Volunteers and he reverted to the rank of captain in the Regular Army to which he had been promoted on February 2, 1901. He served with the 1st Cavalry Regiment in the Philippines. He later was assigned to the 15th Cavalry Regiment, serving as an intelligence officer and participating in actions against the Moros. He was cited for bravery at Lake Lanao. In June 1901, he served as Commander of Camp Vicars in Lanao, Philippines, after the previous camp commander had been promoted to brigadier general.
Rise to general
In June 1903, Pershing was ordered to return to the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt, taken by Pershing's ability, petitioned the Army General Staff to promote Pershing to colonel. At the time, Army officer promotions were based primarily on seniority rather than merit, and although there was widespread acknowledgment that Pershing should serve as a colonel, the Army General Staff declined to change their seniority-based promotion tradition just to accommodate Pershing. They would not consider a promotion to lieutenant colonel or even major. This angered Roosevelt, but since the President could only name and promote army officers in the general's ranks, his options for recognizing Pershing through promotion were limited.
In 1904, Pershing was assigned as the Assistant Chief of Staff of the Southwest Army Division stationed at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In October 1904, he began attendance at the Army War College, and then was ordered to Washington, D.C. for "general duties unassigned."
Since Roosevelt could not yet promote Pershing, he petitioned the United States Congress to authorize a diplomatic posting, and Pershing was stationed as military attaché in Tokyo after his January 1905 War College graduation. Also in 1905, Pershing married Helen Frances Warren, the daughter of powerful U.S. Senator Francis E. Warren, a Wyoming Republican who served at different times as chairman of the Military Affairs and Appropriations Committees. This union with the daughter of a powerful politician who had also received the Medal of Honor during the American Civil War continued to aid Pershing's career even after his wife died in 1915.
After serving as an observer in the Russo-Japanese War attached to General Kuroki Tamemoto's Japanese First Army in Manchuria from March to September, Pershing returned to the United States in the fall of 1905. President Roosevelt employed his presidential prerogative and nominated Pershing as a brigadier general, a move of which Congress approved. In skipping three ranks and more than 835 officers senior to him, the promotion gave rise to accusations that Pershing's appointment was the result of political connections and not military abilities. However, several other junior officers were similarly advanced to brigadier general ahead of their peers and seniors, including Albert L. Mills (captain), Tasker H. Bliss (major), and Leonard Wood (captain). Pershing's promotion, while unusual, was not unprecedented, and had the support of many soldiers who admired his abilities.
In 1908, Pershing briefly served as a U.S. military observer in the Balkans, an assignment which was based in Paris. Upon returning to the United States at the end of 1909, Pershing was assigned once again to the Philippines, an assignment in which he served until 1913. While in the Philippines, he served as Commander of Fort McKinley, near Manila, and also was the governor of the Moro Province. The last of Pershing's four children was born in the Philippines, and during this time he became an Episcopalian.
In 1913, Pershing was recommended for the Medal of Honor following his actions at the Battle of Bud Bagsak. He wrote to the Adjutant General to request that the recommendation not be acted on, though the board which considered the recommendation had already voted no before receiving Pershing's letter. In 1922 a further review of this event resulted in Pershing being recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross, but as the Army Chief of Staff Pershing disapproved the action. In 1940 Pershing received the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism at Bud Bagsak, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt presenting it in a ceremony timed to coincide with Pershing's 80th birthday.
During this period Pershing's reputation for both stern discipline and effective leadership continued to grow, with one experienced old soldier under his command later saying Pershing was an "S.O.B." and that he hated Pershing's guts, but that "as a soldier, the ones then and the ones now couldn't polish his (Pershing's) boots."
Pancho Villa and Mexico
On December 20, 1913, Pershing received orders to take command of the 8th Brigade at the Presidio in San Francisco. With tensions running high on the border between the United States and Mexico because of the Mexican Revolution, the brigade was deployed to Fort Bliss, Texas, on April 24, 1914, arriving there on the 27th.
Death of wife Frances and daughters
After a year at Fort Bliss, Pershing decided to take his family there. The arrangements were almost complete, when on the morning of August 27, 1915, he received a telegram informing him of a house fire at the Presidio in San Francisco, where a lacquered floor ignited; the flames rapidly spread, resulting in the smoke inhalation deaths of his wife, Frances Warren Pershing and three young daughters: Mary Margaret, age 3; Anne Orr, age 7; and Helen, age 8. Only his 5-year-old son, Warren, survived. After the funerals at Lakeview Cemetery in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Pershing returned to Fort Bliss with his son, Warren, and his sister, May, and resumed his duties as commanding officer.
Commander of Villa expedition
On March 15, 1916, Pershing led an expedition into Mexico to capture Pancho Villa. This expedition was ill-equipped and hampered by a lack of supplies due to the breakdown of the Quartermaster Corps. Although there had been talk of war on the border for years, no steps had been taken to provide for the handling of supplies for an expedition. Despite this and other hindrances, such as the lack of aid from the former Mexican government, and their refusal to allow American troops to transport troops and supplies over their railroads, Pershing organized and commanded the Mexican Punitive Expedition, a combined armed force of 10,000 men that penetrated into chaotic Mexico. They routed Villa's revolutionaries, but failed to capture him.
World War I
At the start of the United States' involvement in World War I President Woodrow Wilson considered mobilizing an army to join the fight. Frederick Funston, Pershing's superior in Mexico, was being considered for the top billet as the Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) when he died suddenly from a heart attack on February 19, 1917. Pershing was the most likely candidate other than Funston, and following America's entrance into the war in May, Wilson briefly interviewed Pershing, and then selected him for the command. He was officially installed in the position on May 10, 1917, and held the post until 1918. On October 6, 1917, Pershing, then a major general, was promoted to full general in the National Army. He bypassed the three star rank of lieutenant general, and was the first full general since Philip Sheridan in 1888.
As AEF commander, Pershing was responsible for the organization, training, and supply of a combined professional and draft Army and National Guard force that eventually grew from 27,000 inexperienced men to two field armies, with a third forming as the war ended, totaling over two million soldiers. Pershing was keenly aware of logistics, and worked closely with AEF's Services of Supply (SOS). The new agency performed poorly under generals Richard M. Blatchford and Francis Joseph Kernan; finally in 1918 James Harbord took control and got the job done. Pershing also worked with Colonel Charles G. Dawes—whom he had befriended in Nebraska and who had convinced him not to give up the army for a legal career—to establish an Interallied coordination Board, the Military Board of Allied Supply.
Pershing exercised significant control over his command, with a full delegation of authority from Wilson and Secretary of War Newton D. Baker. Baker, cognizant of the endless problems of domestic and allied political involvement in military decision making in wartime, gave Pershing unmatched authority to run his command as he saw fit. In turn, Pershing exercised his prerogative carefully, not engaging in politics or disputes over government policy that might distract him from his military mission. While earlier a champion of the African-American soldier, he did not advocate their full participation on the battlefield, understanding the general racial attitudes of white Americans.
George C. Marshall served as one of Pershing's top assistants during and after the war. Pershing's initial chief of staff was James Harbord, who later took a combat command but worked as Pershing's closest assistant for many years and remained extremely loyal to him.
After departing from Fort Jay at Governors Island in New York Harbor under top secrecy on May 28, 1917, aboard the , Pershing arrived in France in June 1917. In a show of American presence, part of the 16th Infantry Regiment marched through Paris shortly after his arrival. Pausing at the tomb of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, he was reputed to have uttered the famous line "Lafayette, we are here," a line spoken, in fact, by his aide, Colonel Charles E. Stanton. American forces were deployed in France in the autumn of 1917.
In September 1917, the French government commissioned a portrait of Pershing by 23-year-old Romanian artist Micheline Resco. Pershing removed the stars and flag from his car and sat up front with his chauffeur while traveling from his AEF headquarters to visit her by night in her apartment on the rue Descombes. Their friendship continued for the rest of his life. In 1946, at 85, Pershing secretly wed Resco in his Walter Reed Hospital apartment. Resco was 35 years his junior
Battle of Hamel
For the first time in American history, Pershing allowed American soldiers to be under the command of a foreign power. In late June, General Sir Henry Rawlinson, commanding the British Fourth Army, suggested to Australian Lieutenant General John Monash that American involvement in a set-piece attack alongside the experienced Australians in the upcoming Battle of Hamel would both give the American troops experience and also strengthen the Australian battalions by an additional company each. On June 29, Major General George Bell Jr., commanding the American 33rd Division, selected two companies each from the 131st and 132nd Infantry Regiments of the 66th Brigade. Monash had been promised ten companies of American troops and on June 30 the remaining companies of the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 131st regiment were sent. Each American platoon was attached to a First Australian Imperial Force company, but there was difficulty in integrating the American platoons (which numbered 60 men) among the Australian companies of 100 men. This difficulty was overcome by reducing the size of each American platoon by one-fifth and sending the troops thus removed, which numbered 50 officers and men, back to battalion reinforcement camps.
The day before the attack was scheduled to commence, Pershing learned of the plan and ordered the withdrawal of six American companies. While a few Americans, such as those attached to the 42nd Battalion, disobeyed the order, the majority, although disappointed, moved back to the rear. This meant that battalions had to rearrange their attack formations and caused a serious reduction in the size of the Allied force. For example, the 11th Brigade was now attacking with 2,200 men instead of 3,000. There was a further last-minute call for the removal of all American troops from the attack, but Monash, who had chosen July 4 as the date of the attack out of "deference" to the US troops, protested to Rawlinson and received support from Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The four American companies that had joined the Australians during the assault were withdrawn from the line after the battle and returned to their regiments, having gained valuable experience. Monash sent the 33rd Division's commander, Bell, his personal thanks, praising the Americans' gallantry, while Pershing set out explicit instructions to ensure that US troops would not be employed in a similar manner again (except as described below).
African-American units
Under civilian control of the military, Pershing adhered to the racial policies of President Woodrow Wilson, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, and southern Democrats who promoted the "separate but equal" doctrine. African-American "Buffalo Soldiers" units were not allowed to participate with the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) during the war, but experienced non-commissioned officers were provided to other segregated black units for combat servicesuch as the 317th Engineer Battalion. The American Buffalo Soldiers of the 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions were the first American soldiers to fight in France in 1918, but they did so under French command as Pershing had detached them from the AEF to get them into action. Most regiments of the 92nd and all of the 93rd would continue to fight under French command for the duration of the war.
Full American participation
Organization
When General Pershing met General Pétain at Compiègne at 10:45pm on the evening of March 25, 1918, Pétain told him he had few reserves left to stop the German Spring Offensive on the Western Front. In response, Pershing said he would waive the idea of forming a separate American I Corps, and put all available American divisions at Pétain's disposal. The message was repeated to General Foch on March 28, after Foch assumed command of all allied armies. Most of these divisions were sent south to relieve French divisions, which were transported to the fight in Flanders.
By early 1918, entire divisions were beginning to serve on the front lines alongside French troops. Although Pershing desired that the AEF fight as units under American command rather than being split up by battalions to augment British and French regiments and brigades, the 27th and 30th Divisions, grouped under II Corps command, were loaned during the desperate days of spring 1918, and fought with the British Fourth Army under General Rawlinson until the end of the war, taking part in the breach of the Hindenburg Line in October.
By May 1918, Pershing had become discontented with Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force, believing staff planning had been inefficient with considerable internal dissension, as well as conflict between its members and those of Pershing's General Staff. Further, aircraft and unit totals lagged far behind those expected. Pershing appointed his former West Point classmate and non-aviator, Major General Mason Patrick as the new Chief of Air Service. Considerable house-cleaning of the existing staff resulted from Patrick's appointment, bringing in experienced staff officers to administrate, and tightening up lines of communication.
In October 1918, Pershing saw the need for a dedicated Military Police Corps and the first U.S. Army MP School was established at Autun, France. For this, he is considered the founding father of the United States MPs.
Because of the effects of trench warfare on soldiers' feet, in January 1918, Pershing oversaw the creation of an improved combat boot, the "1918 Trench Boot," which became known as the "Pershing Boot" upon its introduction.
Combat
American forces first saw serious action during the summer of 1918, contributing eight large divisions, alongside 24 French ones, at the Second Battle of the Marne. Along with the British Fourth Army's victory at Amiens on August 8, the Allied victory at the Second Battle of the Marne marked the turning point of World War I on the Western Front.
In August 1918 the U.S. First Army had been formed, first under Pershing's direct command (while still in command of the AEF) and then by Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett, when the U.S. Second Army under Lieutenant General Robert Bullard was created in mid-October. After a relatively quick victory at Saint-Mihiel, east of Verdun, some of the more bullish AEF commanders had hoped to push on eastwards to Metz, but this did not fit in with the plans of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, for three simultaneous offensives into the "bulge" of the Western Front (the other two being the French Fourth Army's breach of the Hindenburg Line and an Anglo-Belgian offensive, led by General Sir Herbert Plumer's British Second Army, in Flanders). Instead, the AEF was required to redeploy and, aided by French tanks, launched a major offensive northwards in very difficult terrain at Meuse-Argonne. Initially enjoying numerical odds of eight to one, this offensive eventually engaged 35 or 40 of the 190 or so German divisions on the Western Front, although to put this in perspective, around half the German divisions were engaged on the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sector at the time.
The offensive was marked by a Pershing failure, specifically his reliance on massed infantry attacks with little artillery support led to high casualty rates in the capturing of three key points. This was despite the AEF facing only second-line German troops after the decision by Erich Ludendorff, the German Chief of Staff, to withdraw to the Hindenburg Line on October 3 – and in notable contrast to the simultaneous British breakthrough of the Hindenburg Line in the north. Pershing was subsequently forced to reorganize the AEF with the creation of the Second Army, and to step down as the commander of the First Army.
When he arrived in Europe, Pershing had openly scorned the slow trench warfare of the previous three years on the Western Front, believing that American soldiers' skill with the rifle would enable them to avoid costly and senseless fighting over a small area of no-man's land. This was regarded as unrealistic by British and French commanders, and (privately) by a number of Americans such as the former Army Chief of Staff General Tasker Bliss and even Liggett. Even German generals were negative, with Erich Ludendorff dismissing Pershing's strategic efforts in the Meuse-Argonne offensive by recalling how "the attacks of the youthful American troops broke down with the heaviest losses". The AEF had performed well in the relatively open warfare of the Second Battle of the Marne, but the eventual American casualties against German defensive positions in the Argonne (roughly 120,000 American casualties in six weeks, against 35 or 40 German divisions) were not noticeably better than those of the Franco-British offensive on the Somme two years earlier (600,000 casualties in four and a half months, versus 50 or so German divisions). More ground was gained, but by this stage of the war the German Army was in worse shape than in previous years.
Some writers have speculated that Pershing's frustration at the slow progress through the Argonne was the cause of two incidents which then ensued. First, he ordered the U.S. First Army to take "the honor" of recapturing Sedan, site of the French defeat in 1870; the ensuing confusion (an order was issued that "boundaries were not to be considered binding") exposed American troops to danger not only from the French on their left, but even from one another, as the 1st Division tacked westward by night across the path of the 42nd Division (accounts differ as to whether Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur, then commanding the 84th Brigade of the 42nd Division, was really mistaken for a German officer and arrested). Liggett, who had been away from headquarters the previous day, had to sort out the mess and implement the instructions from the Allied Supreme Command, Marshal Foch, allowing the French to recapture the city; he later recorded that this was the only time during the war in which he lost his temper, describing the event as "an atrocity".
Second, Pershing sent an unsolicited letter to the Allied Supreme War Council, demanding that the Germans not be given an armistice and that instead, the Allies should push on and obtain an unconditional surrender. Although in later years, many, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt, felt that Pershing had been correct, at the time, this was a breach of political authority. Pershing narrowly escaped a serious reprimand from Wilson's aide, "Colonel" Edward M. House, and later apologized.
At the time of the Armistice with Germany, another Franco-American offensive was due to start on November 14, thrusting towards Metz and into Lorraine, to take place simultaneously with further BEF advances through Belgium. In his memoirs, Pershing claimed that the American breakout from the Argonne at the start of November was the decisive event leading to the German acceptance of an armistice, because it made untenable the Antwerp–Meuse line. This is probably an exaggeration; the outbreak of civil unrest and naval mutiny in Germany, the collapse of Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, and particularly Austria-Hungary following Allied victories in Salonika, Syria, and Italy, and the Allied victories on the Western Front were among a series of events in the autumn of 1918 which made it clear that Allied victory was inevitable, and diplomatic inquiries about an armistice had been going on throughout October.
President Wilson was keen to tie matters up before the mid-term elections, and as the other Allies were running low on supplies and manpower, they followed Wilson's lead.
American successes were largely credited to Pershing, and he became the most celebrated American leader of the war. MacArthur, however, saw Pershing as a desk soldier, and the relationship between the two men deteriorated by the end of the war. Similar criticism of senior commanders by the younger generation of officers (the future generals of World War II) was made in the British and other armies, but, in Pershing's defense, although it was not uncommon for brigade commanders to serve near the front and even be killed, the state of communications in World War I made it more practical for senior generals to command from the rear.
He controversially ordered the First and Second Armies to continue fighting before the signed Armistice took effect. This resulted in 3,500 American casualties on the last day of the war, an act which was regarded as murder by a few officers under his command. Pershing doubted the Germans' good faith, and most of his contemporaries took the view he expressed to the House Committee on Military Affairs in his testimony on November 5, 1919:
The year of 1918 also saw a personal health struggle for Pershing as he was sickened during the 1918 flu pandemic, but unlike many who were not so fortunate, Pershing survived. He rode his horse, Kidron, in the Paris victory parade in 1919.
Later career
In September 1919, in recognition of his distinguished service during World War I, the U.S. Congress authorized the President to promote Pershing to General of the Armies of the United States, the highest rank possible for any member of the United States armed forces, which was created especially for him.
In 1976, Congress authorized President Gerald Ford to posthumously promote George Washington to this rank as part of the United States Bicentennial; Washington previously held the rank of General in the Continental Army, and wore a three-star insignia; his posthumous appointment to General of the Armies rank and the specific wording of the authorizing statute, Public Law 94-479, of October 1976, ensured that Washington would always be considered the U.S. Army's highest-ranking officer. Pershing was authorized to create his insignia for the new rank and chose to continue wearing four stars for the rest of his career.
In 1919, Pershing created the Military Order of the World War as an officer's fraternity for veterans of the First World War, modeled after the Military Order of Foreign Wars. Both organizations still exist today and welcome new officer members to their ranks. Pershing himself would join the MOFW in 1924.
There was a movement to draft Pershing as a candidate for president in 1920; he refused to campaign, but indicated that he "wouldn't decline to serve" if the people wanted him. Though Pershing was a Republican, many of his party's leaders considered him too closely tied to the policies of the Democratic Party's President Woodrow Wilson. Another general, Leonard Wood, was the early Republican front runner, but the nomination went to Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio, who went on to win the general election.
In 1921, Pershing became Chief of Staff of the United States Army, serving for three years. He created the Pershing Map, a proposed national network of military and civilian highways. The Interstate Highway System instituted in 1956 bears considerable resemblance to the Pershing map. On his 64th birthday, September 13, 1924, Pershing retired from active military service. (Army regulations from the late 1860s to the early 1940s required officers to retire on their 64th birthday.)
On November 1, 1921, Pershing was in Kansas City to take part in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Liberty Memorial that was being constructed there, (now known as the National World War I Museum and Memorial). Also present that day were Lieutenant General Baron Jacques of the Belgian Army, Admiral of the Fleet David Beatty of the British Royal Navy, Marshal Ferdinand Foch of the French Army, and General Armando Diaz of the Royal Italian Army. One of the main speakers was Vice President Calvin Coolidge. In 1935, bas-reliefs of Pershing, Jacques, Foch and Diaz by sculptor Walker Hancock were added to the memorial. Pershing also laid the cornerstone of the World War Memorial in Indianapolis on July 4, 1927.
On October 2, 1922, amid several hundred officers, many of them combat veterans of World War I, Pershing formally established the Reserve Officers Association (ROA) as an organization at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. ROA is a 75,000-member, professional association of officers, former officers, and spouses of all the uniformed services of the United States, primarily the Reserve and United States National Guard. It is a congressionally chartered Association that advises the Congress and the President on issues of national security on behalf of all members of the Reserve Component.
In 1924, Pershing became a member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. He was also an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati and a Veteran Companion of the Military Order of Foreign Wars. On January 5, 1935 Pershing was designated a Military Order of the World Wars Honorary Commander-in-Chief for Life.
Pershing served on a committee of the Sons of the American Revolution to establish and recognize Constitution Day in the United States.
During the 1930s, Pershing largely retreated to private life, but returned to the public eye with publication of his memoirs, My Experiences in the World War, which were awarded the 1932 Pulitzer Prize for history. He was also an active Civitan during this time.
In 1940, before and after the Fall of France, Pershing was an outspoken advocate of aid for the United Kingdom during World War II.
In August 1940, he publicly supported the "Destroyers for Bases Agreement", whereby the United States sold fifty warships from World War I to the UK in exchange for lengthy leases of land on British possessions for the establishment for military bases.
In 1944, with Congress' creation of the five star rank of General of the Army, Pershing was still considered to be the highest-ranking officer of the United States military as his rank was General of the Armies. "In [1799] Congress created for George Washington the rank of General of the Armies ... General [Ulysses S.] Grant received the title of General of the Army in 1866 . ... Carefully Congress wrote a bill (HR 7594) to revive the rank of General of the Armies for General Pershing alone to hold during his lifetime. The rank would cease to exist upon Pershing's death." Later, when asked if this made Pershing a five-star general, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson commented that it did not, since Pershing never wore more than four stars, but that Pershing was still to be considered senior to the present five-star generals of World War II.
In July 1944, Pershing was visited by Free French leader General Charles de Gaulle. When Pershing asked after the health of his old friend, Marshal Philippe Pétain – who had headed the pro-German Vichy regime until it was dissolved in late 1942 – de Gaulle replied tactfully that, when he last saw him, the Marshal was well.
Death
On July 15, 1948, Pershing died of coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure at age 87 at Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C., which was his home after 1944. He lay in state at the United States Capitol rotunda and following a state funeral, he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. near the grave sites of the soldiers he commanded in Europe. The site is now known as Pershing Hill. George C. Marshall, then serving as U.S. Secretary of State, was in charge of funeral plans.
Summary of service
Dates of rank
Proposed six-star insignia
Assignment history
1882: Cadet, United States Military Academy
1886: Troop L, Sixth Cavalry
1891: Professor of Tactics, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
1895: 1st Lieutenant, 10th Cavalry Regiment
1897: Instructor, United States Military Academy, West Point
1898: Major of Volunteer Forces, Cuban Campaign, Spanish–American War
1899: Officer-in-Charge, Office of Customs and Insular Affairs
1900: Adjutant General, Department of Mindanao and Jolo, Philippines
1901: Battalion Officer, 1st Cavalry and Intelligence Officer, 15th Cavalry (Philippines)
1902: Officer-in-Charge, Camp Vicars, Philippines
1904: Assistant Chief of Staff, Southwest Army Division, Oklahoma
1905: Military attaché, U.S. Embassy, Tokyo, Japan
1908: Military Advisor to American Embassy, France
1909: Commander of Fort McKinley, Manila, and governor of Moro Province
1914: Brigade Commander, 8th Army Brigade
1916: Commanding General, Mexican Punitive Expedition
1917: Commanding General for the formation of the National Army
1917: Commanding General, American Expeditionary Forces, Europe
1921: Chief of Staff of the United States Army
1924: Retired from active military service
1925: Chief Commissioner assigned by the United States in the arbitration case for the province of Tacna between Peru and Chile.
Honors and awards
Distinguished Service Cross Citation
In 1940 General Pershing was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action leading an assault against hostile Moros at Mount Bagsak, on the island of Jolo in the Philippines on June 15, 1913.
Citation
For extraordinary heroism against hostile fanatical Moros at Mount Bagsak, Jolo, Philippine Islands on June 15, 1913. He personally assumed command of the assaulting line at the most critical period when only about 15 yards from the last Moro position. His encouragement and splendid example of personal heroism resulted in a general advance and the prompt capture of the hostile stronghold.
United States decorations and medals
Note: The dates indicated are the date the award was issued, not the date of action the award is based on.
In 1932, eight years after Pershing's retirement from active service, his silver citation star was upgraded to the Silver Star decoration. In 1941, he was retroactively awarded the Army of Occupation of Germany Medal for service in Germany following the close of World War I. As the medal had a profile of Pershing on its obverse, Pershing became the only soldier in the history of the U.S. Army, and only one of four in the entire U.S. Armed Forces, eligible to wear a medal with his own likeness on it. Navy admirals George Dewey, William T. Sampson and Richard E. Byrd were also entitled to wear medals with their own image on them.
International awards
Civilian awards
Congressional Gold Medal
Thanks of Congress
Distinguished Service Medal, American Legion
Special Medal of the Committee of the city of Buenos Aires
Induction into the Nebraska Hall of Fame (1963)
Honored with a U.S. postage stamp in 1961
Personal life and family
Pershing was a Freemason, a member of Lincoln Lodge No. 19, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Francis Pershing (son)
Colonel Francis Warren Pershing (1909–1980), Pershing's son, served in the Second World War as an advisor to the Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall. After the war he continued with his financial career and founded a stock brokerage firm, Pershing & Company. In 1938, he married Muriel Bache Richards, granddaughter of financier Jules Bache. He was father to two sons who both served in Vietnam War, Colonel John Warren Pershing III (1941–1999) and Second Lieutenant Richard W. Pershing (1942–1968). John Pershing III served in the Army from 1964 to 1967 and Army Reserve from 1967 to 1999. He attained the rank of colonel, and his assignments included special assistant to Army Chief of Staff General Gordon R. Sullivan. Richard Pershing served as a second lieutenant in the 502nd Infantry and was killed in action on February 17, 1968, in Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War.
Nita Patton (fiancée)
In 1917, two years after the deaths of his wife Helen and three daughters, Pershing courted Anne Wilson "Nita" Patton, the younger sister of his protégé, George S. Patton.
Pershing met her when she traveled to Fort Bliss to visit her brother, and he introduced them. Pershing and Nita Patton soon began a relationship; they became engaged in 1917, but their separation because of Pershing's time in France during World War I ended it. Nita Patton never married, while Pershing remained unmarried until he secretly wed Micheline Resco in 1946.
Micheline Resco (second wife)
Pershing had wartime affairs, including one with French-Romanian artist Micheline Resco (1894–1968), and he later expressed regret that he had let Nita Patton "get away". Resco was 34 years his junior and they had known each other and exchanged encoded love letters since meeting in Paris in 1917, where Resco painted Pershing's portrait. In 1946, Pershing secretly wed Resco in his Walter Reed Hospital apartment.
Legacy
Since 1930, the Pershing Park Memorial Association (PPMA), headquartered in Pershing's hometown of Laclede, Missouri, has been dedicated to preserving the memory of General Pershing's military history.
On November 17, 1961, the United States Postal Service released an 8¢ Liberty Issue postage stamp honoring Pershing, shown at right.
The 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas, is named in honor of Pershing. Carrying the nickname: "Black Jack Brigade"
In popular culture
Film:
Pershing is played by Joseph W. Girard in the 1941 film Sergeant York
Pershing is played by Milburn Stone in the 1955 film The Long Gray Line, which was based on Martin 'Marty' Maher's autobiography, Bringing Up the Brass: My 55 Years at West Point which depicts Pershing swearing Maher into the army.
Pershing is played by Herbert Heyes in the 1955 film The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell.
Pershing is played by Ron Perlman in the 2019 film The Great War.
Television:
The actor Jody McCrea was cast as Lieutenant Pershing in the 1962 episode, "To Walk with Greatness", on the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the story line, three outlaws endanger an Indian treaty, as Pershing sets forth to find the men. Frank Ferguson was cast as Colonel Carr.
Pershing is played by Marshall Teague in the 1997 Theodore Roosevelt biographical miniseries Rough Riders, as the commander of the Buffalo Soldiers during the Battle of San Juan Hill.
Literature:
Pershing appears as a character in The Friends of Pancho Villa (1996), a historical novel by James Carlos Blake.
Pershing also appears in Hard Magic: The Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia (2011).
He is mentioned frequently as one of the commanders in Harry Turtledove's Southern Victory series in the volumes set during and shortly after the alternate history version of World War I, but his actual appearance is very brief.
He also has a short appearance in the Anton Myrer novel, Once An Eagle.
See also
General Pershing WWI casualty list
M26 Pershing Tank
MGM-31 Pershing Missile
Pershing (doughnut)
References
Informational notes
Citations
Bibliography
Adas, Michael. "Ambivalent Ally: American Military Intervention and the Endgame and Legacy of World War I" Diplomatic History (2014) 38#4: 700–12.
Boot, Max. The Savage Wars of Peace New York, Basic Books, 2002.
Edmonds, James. Military Operations: France and Belgium: 1914-18, London: MacMillan, 1935
Faulkner, Richard S. Pershing's Crusaders: The American Soldier in World War I (University Press of Kansas, 2017). xiv, 758 pp
Goldhurst, Richard. Pipe Clay and Drill: John J. Pershing, the classic American soldier (Reader's Digest Press, 1977)
Lacey, Jim. Pershing. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Mordacq, Henri. Unity of Command: How it was Achieved, Paris: Tallandier, 1929 (translated by Major J.C. Bardin, National War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania)
O'Connor, Richard. Black Jack Pershing. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1961.
Pershing, John J., and John T. Greenwood. My Life Before the World War, 1860–1917: A Memoir. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2013.
Pershing, John J. My Experiences in the World War, Volume I New York: Frederick Stokes, 1931
Perry, John. Pershing: Commander of the Great War. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2011.
Smith, Gene. Until the Last Trumpet Sounds: The Life of General of the Armies John J. Pershing (Wiley, New York, 1998)
Smythe, Donald. Guerrilla Warrior: The Early Life of John J. Pershing (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1973)
Smythe, Donald. Pershing: General of the Armies (Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1986)
Vandiver, Frank E. Black Jack: The Life and Times of John J. Pershing – Volume I (Texas A&M University Press, Third printing, 1977)
Vandiver, Frank E. Black Jack: The Life and Times of John J. Pershing – Volume II (Texas A&M University Press, Third printing, 1977)
Weigley, Russell Frank. History of the United States Army (1967)
Welsome, Eileen. The General and the Jaguar: Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa: a True Story of Revolution and Revenge. New York: Little, Brown and Co, 2006.
Woodward, David R. The American Army and the First World War (Cambridge University Press, 2014). 484 pages online review
Yockelson, Mitchell (Foreword by John S. D. Eisenhower). Borrowed Soldiers: Americans under British Command, 1918 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2008)
Yockelson, Mitchell. Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing's Warriors Came of Age to Defeat at the German Army in World War I'' (New York: NAL, Caliber, 2016)
External links
Pershing Museum
New York Times obituary
Black Jack Pershing in Cuba
Chapter IV, General of the Armies John J. Pershing, State Funeral, 15–19 July 1948 in The Last Salute: Civil and Military Funeral, 1921–1969 by B. C. Mossman and M. W. Stark, United States Army Center of Military History
at Nebraska State Historical Society
Americans Under British Command, 1918 at Borrowed Soldiers
John J. Pershing Papers at Library of Congress
John J. Pershing at the World Digital Archive
The National Society of Pershing Rifles
The Pershing Foundation
Category:1860 births
Category:1948 deaths
Category:American Episcopalians
Category:American Expeditionary Forces
Category:American Freemasons
Category:American memoirists
Category:American military personnel of the Philippine–American War
Category:American military personnel of the Spanish–American War
Category:American people of English descent
Category:American people of German descent
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Buffalo Soldiers
Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the White Lion
Category:Commanders of the Virtuti Militari
Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients
Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Sun of Peru
Category:Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Military Order of Savoy
Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
Category:Military personnel from Missouri
Category:Nebraska lawyers
Category:People from Lincoln, Nebraska
Category:People from Linn County, Missouri
Category:People of the Mexican Revolution
Category:People of the Russo-Japanese War
Category:Pulitzer Prize for History winners
Category:Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium)
Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France)
Category:Recipients of the Czechoslovak War Cross
Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)
Category:Recipients of the Order of Michael the Brave, 1st class
Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun
Category:Recipients of the Silver Star
Category:Members of the Sons of the American Revolution
Category:Truman State University alumni
Category:United States Distinguished Marksman
Category:United States Army Chiefs of Staff
Category:United States Army generals of World War I
Category:United States Army generals
Category:United States Army War College alumni
Category:United States Military Academy alumni
Category:Candidates in the 1920 United States presidential election
Category:20th-century American politicians
Category:University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni
Category:Writers from Missouri
Category:19th-century American people
Category:20th-century American people
Category:United States military attachés
Category:Nebraska Republicans
Category:University of Nebraska College of Law alumni
Category:American people of World War I
Category:University of Nebraska–Lincoln faculty
Category:American military personnel of the Indian Wars
Category:United States Military Academy faculty
Category:Military leaders of World War I
Category:United States Army Cavalry Branch personnel
Category:Deaths from coronary artery disease | [
{
"text": "The General Pershing WWI casualty list was a list of casualties released to the media by the American military during World War I. Newspapers like the Evening Public Ledger (EPL) would title the list's summary, General Pershing Reports or Pershing Reports. The name General Pershing refers to General John Pershing, who was in command of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), the expeditionary force of the United States during World War I. While fighting the Germans on the Western Front the AEF would take daily casualties in the form of those killed in action (KIA), those who died from their wounds, those who died from disease, accidental deaths, soldiers missing in action (MIA) and soldiers wounded in action (WIA). These numbers would be tabulated by the American military and then released to the American news media.\n\nAfter the war, the real numbers were mined from the military bureaucracy as opposed to the fog of war. During World War I, 4,734,991 served in the American military. There were a total of 116,516 deaths, with 53,402 of those occurring in battle. Another 63,114 died of noncombat reasons, including about 45,000 due to the 1918 outbreak of Spanish flu; 30,000 soldiers died before they even reached France. Of those that survived the war, 204,002 were wounded in some way.\n\nThe list\nOne of the publications that printed this data along with the names who were reported dead and wounded was the Evening Public Ledger, a Philadelphia newspaper published from March 25, 1836, to January 1942. On November 5, 1917, the EPL published a story with the headline \"Casualty List In First Action Thrills Nation\". In the article it listed the first three American deaths in the war: McLean County, Kentucky's Corporal James Bethel Gresham, Private Merle Hay from Glidden, Iowa, and Private Thomas Enright of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They had been killed in a skirmish on November 3, 1917. In addition to the three Americans KIA the casualty list printed that five were WIA and twelve soldiers were MIA. Initially, the casualty lists were published with casualty's name and their address. From March 9, 1918, the list was \"denatured\" or stripped of home addresses. On April 2, 1918, the American military prevented the publication of all casualty lists from the American War Department decreeing that the only source for casualty lists would be the American command headquarters in France.\n\nApril 1919\n\nMarch 1919\n{| role=\"presentation\" class=\"wikitable mw-collapsible\"\n|-\n!Date\n!Total dead\n!Total KIA\n!Total dead from wounds\n!Total dead from disease\n!Total dead from accidents\n!Total MIA\n!Total WIA\n!Total casualties \n!References\n|-\n|-\n|March 31, 1919|| || || || || || || || || \n|-\n|March 30, 1919|| || || || || || || || ||Sunday \n|-\n|March 29, 1919||71145||31977||13386||22038||3744||5421||194184||270750|| \n|-\n|March 28, 1919||71105||31968||13375||22018||3744||5417||194155||270677|| \n|-\n|March 27, 1919||71018||31960||13368||21962||3728||5416||194052||270486|| \n|-\n|March 26, 1919||70928||31952||13363||21920||3693||5412||193905||270245|| \n|-\n|March 25, 1919||70865||31948||13356||21882||3679||5407||193887||270159|| \n|-\n|March 24, 1919||70812||31945||13353||31840||3674||5407||198708||269927|| \n|-\n|March 23, 1919|| || || || || || || || ||Sunday \n|-\n|March 22, 1919||70422||31867||13339||21733||3483||5728||193450||269600|| \n|-\n|March 21, 1919|| || || || || || || || || \n|-\n|March 20, 1919||70051||31856||13332||21454||3409||5714||192640||268405|| \n|-\n|March 19, 1919||69876||31849||13325||21350||3352||5712||192373||267961|| \n|-\n|March 18, 1919||69705||31843||13322||21240||3300||5712||191969||267386|| \n|-\n|March 17, 1919||69587||31837||13315||21168||3267||5708||191811||267106|| \n|-\n|March 16, 1919|| || || || || || || || ||Sunday \n|-\n|March 15, 1919||69543||31828||13327||21164||3224||6096||191611||267250|| \n|-\n|March 14, 1919||69434||31821||13320||21079||3214||6094||191422||266950|| \n|-\n|March 13, 1919||69259||31807||13299||20966||3187||6093||191411||266763|| \n|-\n|March 12, 1919||69057||31795||13286||20822||3154||6091||191211||266359|| \n|-\n|March 11, 1919||68953||31776||13286||20751||3140||6088||191072||266117|| \n|-\n|March 10, 1919</td>|| \n|-\n|March 9, 1919|| || || || || || || || ||Sunday \n|-\n|March 8, 1919||68608||31745||13241||20535||3087||6348||191126||266082|| \n|-\n|March 7, 1919||68533||31733||13231||20482||3087||6348||190868||265749|| \n|-\n|March 6, 1919||68404||31729||13222||20387||3066||6343||190756||265503|| \n|-\n|March 5, 1919||68268||31721||13212||20275||3060||6341||190308||264917|| \n|-\n|March 4, 1919||68209||31707||13212||20242||3048||6341||190027||264577|| \n|-\n|March 3, 1919||68104||31707||13198||20181||3018||6937||189702||264173|| \n|-\n|March 2, 1919|| || || || || || || || ||Sunday \n|-\n|March 1, 1919||68049||31653||13214||20173||3009||6933||199231||274213||\n|}\n\nFebruary 1919\n\nJanuary 1919\n\nDecember 1918\n\nNovember 1918\n\nOctober 1918\n\nSeptember 1918\n\nAugust 1918\n\nJuly 1918\n\nJune 1918\n\nMay 1918\n\nApril 1918\n\nMarch 1918\n\nFebruary 1918\n\nJanuary 1918\n\nDecember 1917\n\nNovember 1917\n\nSee also\n\n Deadliest single days of World War I\n List of maritime disasters in World War I\n List of battles with most United States military fatalities\n World War I casualties\n\nBibliography \nNotes\n\nReferences \n\n - Total pages: 38\n - Total pages: 288 \n\n \n\nCategory:Lists of battles\nBattles\nCategory:War casualties",
"title": "General Pershing WWI casualty list"
},
{
"text": "Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes bibliography as a word having two senses: one, a list of books for further study or of works consulted by an author (or enumerative bibliography); the other one, applicable for collectors, is \"the study of books as physical objects\" and \"the systematic description of books as objects\" (or descriptive bibliography).\n\nEtymology \nThe word was used by Greek writers in the first three centuries CE to mean the copying of books by hand. In the 12th century, the word started being used for \"the intellectual activity of composing books.\" The 17th century then saw the emergence of the modern meaning, that of description of books. Currently, the field of bibliography has expanded to include studies that consider the book as a material object. Bibliography, in its systematic pursuit of understanding the past and the present through written and printed documents, describes a way and means of extracting information from this material. Bibliographers are interested in comparing versions of texts to each other rather than in interpreting their meaning or assessing their significance.\n\nField of study \nBibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868–1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about \"the science of bibliography.\" However, there have recently been voices claiming that \"the bibliographical paradigm\" is obsolete, and it is not today common in LIS. A defence of the bibliographical paradigm was provided by Hjørland (2007).\n\nThe quantitative study of bibliographies is known as bibliometrics, which is today an influential subfield in LIS and is used for major collection decisions such as the cancellation of big deals, through data analysis tools like Unpaywall Journals.\n\nBranches \nCarter and Barker describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). These two distinct concepts and practices have separate rationales and serve differing purposes. Innovators and originators in the field include W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, Philip Gaskell and G. Thomas Tanselle.\n\nBowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production (3). He refers to descriptive bibliography as the systematic description of a book as a material or physical artefact. Analytical bibliography, the cornerstone of descriptive bibliography, investigates the printing and all physical features of a book that yield evidence establishing a book's history and transmission (Feather 10). It is the preliminary phase of bibliographic description and provides the vocabulary, principles and techniques of analysis that descriptive bibliographers apply and on which they base their descriptive practice.\n\nDescriptive bibliographers follow specific conventions and associated classification in their description. Titles and title pages are transcribed in a quasi-facsimile style and representation. Illustration, typeface, binding, paper, and all physical elements related to identifying a book follow formulaic conventions, as Bowers established in his foundational opus, The Principles of Bibliographic Description. The thought expressed in this book expands substantively on W. W. Greg's groundbreaking theory that argued for the adoption of formal bibliographic principles (Greg 29). Fundamentally, analytical bibliography is concerned with objective, physical analysis and history of a book while descriptive bibliography employs all data that analytical bibliography furnishes and then codifies it with a view to identifying the ideal copy or form of a book that most nearly represents the printer's initial conception and intention in printing.\n\nIn addition to viewing bibliographic study as being composed of four interdependent approaches (enumerative, descriptive, analytical, and textual), Bowers notes two further subcategories of research, namely historical bibliography and aesthetic bibliography. Both historical bibliography, which involves the investigation of printing practices, tools, and related documents, and aesthetic bibliography, which examines the art of designing type and books, are often employed by analytical bibliographers.\n\nD. F. McKenzie extended previous notions of bibliography as set forth by Greg, Bowers, Gaskell and Tanselle. He describes the nature of bibliography as \"the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the processes of their transmission, including their production and reception\" (1999 12). This concept broadens the scope of bibliography to include \"non-book texts\" and an accounting for their material form and structure, as well as textual variations, technical and production processes that bring sociocultural context and effects into play. McKenzie's perspective contextualizes textual objects or artefacts with sociological and technical factors that have an effect on production, transmission and, ultimately, ideal copy (2002 14). Bibliography, generally, concerns the material conditions of books [as well as other texts] how they are designed, edited, printed, circulated, reprinted, collected.\n\nBibliographic works differ in the amount of detail depending on the purpose and can generally be divided into two categories: enumerative bibliography (also called compilative, reference or systematic), which results in an overview of publications in a particular category and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books. In earlier times, bibliography mostly focused on books. Now, both categories of bibliography cover works in other media including audio recordings, motion pictures and videos, graphic objects, databases, CD-ROMs and websites.\n\nEnumerative bibliography \n\nAn enumerative bibliography is a systematic list of books and other works such as journal articles. Bibliographies range from \"works cited\" lists at the end of books and articles, to complete and independent publications. A notable example of a complete, independent publication is Gow's A. E. Housman: A Sketch, Together with a List of His Classical Papers (1936). As separate works, they may be in bound volumes such as those shown on the right, or computerized bibliographic databases. A library catalog, while not referred to as a \"bibliography,\" is bibliographic in nature. Bibliographical works are almost always considered to be tertiary sources.\n\nEnumerative bibliographies are based on a unifying principle such as creator, subject, date, topic or other characteristic. An entry in an enumerative bibliography provides the core elements of a text resource including a title, the creator(s), publication date and place of publication. Belanger (1977) distinguishes an enumerative bibliography from other bibliographic forms such as descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography or textual bibliography in that its function is to record and list, rather than describe a source in detail or with any reference to the source's physical nature, materiality or textual transmission. The enumerative list may be comprehensive or selective. One noted example would be Tanselle's bibliography that exhaustively enumerates topics and sources related to all forms of bibliography. A more common and particular instance of an enumerative bibliography relates to specific sources used or considered in preparing a scholarly paper or academic term paper.\n\nCitation styles vary.\nAn entry for a book in a bibliography usually contains the following elements:\n creator(s)\n title\n place of publication\n publisher or printer\n date of publication\n\nAn entry for a journal or periodical article usually contains:\n creator(s)\n article title\n journal title\n volume\n pages\n date of publication\n\nA bibliography may be arranged by author, topic, or some other scheme. Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument. These descriptions, usually a few sentences long, provide a summary of the source and describe its relevance. Reference management software may be used to keep track of references and generate bibliographies as required.\n\nBibliographies differ from library catalogs by including only relevant items rather than all items present in a particular library. However, the catalogs of some national libraries effectively serve as national bibliographies, as the national libraries own almost all their countries' publications.\n\nDescriptive bibliography \nFredson Bowers described and formulated a standardized practice of descriptive bibliography in his Principles of Bibliographical Description\n(1949). Scholars to this day treat Bowers' scholarly guide as authoritative. In this classic text, Bowers describes the basic function of bibliography as, \"[providing] sufficient data so that a reader may identify the book described, understand the printing, and recognize the precise contents\" (124).\n\nDescriptive bibliographies as scholarly product \nDescriptive bibliographies as a scholarly product usually include information on the following aspect of a given book as a material object:\nFormat and Collation/Pagination Statement—a conventional, symbolic formula that describes the book block in terms of sheets, folds, quires, signatures, and pages\n\nAccording to Bowers (193), the format of a book is usually abbreviated in the collation formula:\nBroadsheet: I° or b.s. or bs.\nFolio: 2° or fol.\nQuarto: 4° or 4to or Q° or Q\nOctavo: 8° or 8vo\nDuodecimo: 12° or 12mo\nSexto-decimo: 16° or 16mo\nTricesimo-secundo: 32° or 32mo\nSexagesimo-quarto: 64° or 64mo\nThe collation, which follows the format, is the statement of the order and size of the gatherings.\nFor example, a quarto that consists of the signed gatherings:\n2 leaves signed A, 4 leaves signed B, 4 leaves signed C, and 2 leaves signed D\nwould be represented in the collation formula:\n4°: A2B-C4D2\nBinding—a description of the binding techniques (generally for books printed after 1800)\nTitle Page Transcription—a transcription of the title page, including rule lines and ornaments\nContents—a listing of the contents (by section) in the book\nPaper—a description of the physical properties of the paper, including production process, an account of chain-line measurements, and a description of watermarks (if present)\nIllustrations—a description of the illustrations found in the book, including printing process (e.g. woodblock, intaglio, etc.), measurements, and locations in the text\nPresswork—miscellaneous details gleaned from the text about its production\nCopies Examined—an enumeration of the copies examined, including those copies' location (i.e. belonging to which library or collector)\n\nAnalytical bibliography \nThis branch of the bibliographic discipline examines the material features of a textual artefact—such as type, ink, paper, imposition, format, impressions and states of a book—to essentially recreate the conditions of its production. Analytical bibliography often uses collateral evidence—such as general printing practices, trends in format, responses and non-responses to design, etc.—to scrutinize the historical conventions and influences underlying the physical appearance of a text. The bibliographer utilizes knowledge gained from the investigation of physical evidence in the form of a descriptive bibliography or textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination and cataloging of a text as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while textual bibliography (or textual criticism) identifies variations—and the aetiology of variations—in a text with a view to determining \"the establishment of the most correct form of [a] text\" (Bowers 498[1]).\n\nBibliographers \n\nA bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. A person who limits such efforts to a specific field or discipline is a subject bibliographer.\"\n\nA bibliographer, in the technical meaning of the word, is anyone who writes about books. But the accepted meaning since at least the 18th century is a person who attempts a comprehensive account—sometimes just a list, sometimes a fuller reckoning—of the books written on a particular subject. In the present, bibliography is no longer a career, generally speaking; bibliographies tend to be written on highly specific subjects and by specialists in the field.\n\nThe term bibliographer is sometimes—in particular subject bibliographer—today used about certain roles performed in libraries and bibliographic databases.\n\nOne of the first bibliographers was Conrad Gessner who sought to list all books printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in Bibliotheca Universalis (1545).\n\nNon-book material \nSystematic lists of media other than books can be referred to with terms formed analogously to bibliography:\n Discography—recorded music\n Filmography—films\n Webography (or webliography)—websites\n Arachniography, a term coined by NASA research historian Andrew J. Butrica, which means a reference list of URLs about a particular subject. It is equivalent to a bibliography in a book. The name derives from arachne in reference to a spider and its web.\n\nSee also \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (in Wikipedia)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Blum, Rudolf. (1980) Bibliographia. An Inquiry in Its Definition and Designations, Dawson, American Library Association.\n Bowers, Fredson. (1995) Principles of Bibliographical Description, Oak Knoll Press.\n Duncan, Paul Shaner. (1973) How to Catalog a Rare Book, 2nd ed., rev., American Library Association.\n \n Gaskell, Philip. (2000) A New Introduction to Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press.\n McKerrow, R. B. (1927) An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford: Clarendon Press\n Schneider, Georg. (1934) Theory and History of Bibliography, New York: Scarecrow Press.\n National Library of Canada, Committee on Bibliography and Information Services for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Guidelines for the Compilation of a Bibliography (National Library of Canada, 1987). N.B.: This is a brief guide to accurately practical bibliography, not a study concerning more precise and systematic bibliography.\n \nRobinson, A. M. Lewin (1966) Systematic Bibliography; rev. ed. London: Clive Bingley\n\nExternal links \n\n Oxford Bibliographies Online, in-depth annotated bibliographies by scholars in selected fields\n Introduction to Bibliography, a comprehensive syllabus by G. Thomas Tanselle\n The Bibliographical Society of America, a resource for information about current work in the field of bibliography\n Studies in Bibliography, the journal of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia\n A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology, (University of Zaragoza) includes thousands of listings on literary, philological and other subjects\n\n \nCategory:Book design\nCategory:Book terminology\nCategory:Textual scholarship",
"title": "Bibliography"
}
] | [
"Pershing's first job was serving in Troop L of the 6th U.S. Cavalry stationed at Fort Bayard, in the New Mexico Territory.",
"The text does not provide information on how Pershing got into his first job serving in Troop L of the 6th U.S. Cavalry stationed at Fort Bayard, in the New Mexico Territory.",
"The text does not specify the exact length of time Pershing served with the U.S. Cavalry. However, it is stated that he reported for active duty on September 30, 1886, and was still serving in the U.S. Cavalry by January 1, 1891. His assignment as the Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln began in September 1891. This suggests a minimum of five years of service with the U.S. Cavalry.",
"After serving with the U.S. Cavalry, Pershing was assigned as the Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in September 1891, a position he held until 1895. While at the university, he also attended the College of Law, from which he received his LL.B. degree in 1893. During this time, he formed a drill company of chosen university cadets, Company A, which later renamed itself the Pershing Rifles in honor of Pershing. After that, he took command of a troop of the 10th Cavalry Regiment, one of the original Buffalo Soldier regiments composed of African-American soldiers under white officers. From Fort Assinniboine in north central Montana, Pershing commanded an expedition that rounded up and deported a large number of Cree Indians to Canada."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"No"
] |
C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_0 | Gary Ablett Sr. | Born in Drouin to Alfred and Colleen Ablett, Gary Ablett grew up in the Latrobe Valley in Victoria's Gippsland region alongside his four elder brothers and three sisters. Ablett displayed a love for sport at an early age, winning the state school high jump at 10 years of age. He was also awarded both club and competition best and fairest awards for Drouin at the under-11s, under-12s and under-14s levels. After citing waning interest in school, Ablett dropped out of high school at the age of 15 years to become a bricklayer's labourer. | A footballing family | Two of Ablett's brothers played in the Victorian Football League - Kevin Ablett, who played for Hawthorn, Richmond and Geelong, and Geoff Ablett, who played for Hawthorn, Richmond and St Kilda. Ablett's eldest son, Gary Ablett Jr., has followed in his footsteps to play for Geelong. In 2007 and 2009, Ablett Jr. won the Cats' best and fairest award, emulating a feat established by his father in his first season with the Cats back in 1984; he also won the Brownlow Medal in 2009 and 2013. Another son, Nathan, was drafted in 2004 (48th pick) by Geelong under the father-son rule. Nathan initially refused to play AFL Football because of his father's experience with the media, but, with encouragement from the club, was signed ahead of the 2005 AFL Season and has since established himself in the full forward role Gary Snr made his own. On 29 September 2007, both Gary Jr. and Nathan contributed to Geelong winning its first flag in 44 years, capturing the premiership that proved elusive to Gary Snr in his 12 years at the club. Nathan retired suddenly before the 2008 season, but he and his brother Gary Jr. were members of the Gold Coast Football Club's inaugural team for the 2011 season. In addition to his sons, Ablett has a nephew, Luke Ablett, who played for the Sydney Swans and won a premiership with them in 2005. Two other nephews, from his sister's marriage to Hawthorn legend Michael Tuck, also played in the AFL - Richmond's Shane Tuck and Travis Tuck, who played for Hawthorn. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_0_q#0",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_0_q#1",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_0_q#2",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_0_q#3",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_0_q#4",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_0_q#5",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_0_q#6",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_0_q#7",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_0_q#8"
] | [
"What is the relation between Gary and the footballing family?",
"What are the names of the brothers?",
"Which teams did they play for?",
"What year did they play?",
"Did he win any award or recognition?",
"Which other medal did he win?",
"Which of his other family member were mentioned in his career?",
"What happen afterwards?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?"
] | [
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
2,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
67
],
[
85
],
[
195
],
[
302
],
[
442
],
[
491
],
[
1197
],
[
1329
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Two of Ablett's brothers played in the Victorian Football League"
],
[
"Kevin Ablett, who played for Hawthorn, Richmond and Geelong, and Geoff Ablett, who played for Hawthorn, Richmond and St Kilda."
],
[
"played for Hawthorn, Richmond and Geelong,"
],
[
"Ablett's eldest son, Gary Ablett Jr., has followed in his footsteps to play for Geelong. In 2007 and 2009,"
],
[
"Ablett Jr. won the Cats' best and fairest award, emulating a feat established by his father in his first season with the Cats back in 1984;"
],
[
"he also won the Brownlow Medal in 2009 and 2013."
],
[
"Another son, Nathan, was drafted in 2004 (48th pick) by Geelong under the father-son rule."
],
[
"In addition to his sons, Ablett has a nephew, Luke Ablett, who played for the Sydney Swans and won a premiership with them in 2005."
],
[
"Two other nephews, from his sister's marriage to Hawthorn legend Michael Tuck, also played in the AFL -"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
67,
85,
195,
302,
442,
491,
1197,
1329
],
"texts": [
"Two of Ablett's brothers played in the Victorian Football League",
"Kevin Ablett, who played for Hawthorn, Richmond and Geelong, and Geoff Ablett, who played for Hawthorn, Richmond and St Kilda.",
"played for Hawthorn, Richmond and Geelong,",
"Ablett's eldest son, Gary Ablett Jr., has followed in his footsteps to play for Geelong. In 2007 and 2009,",
"Ablett Jr. won the Cats' best and fairest award, emulating a feat established by his father in his first season with the Cats back in 1984;",
"he also won the Brownlow Medal in 2009 and 2013.",
"Another son, Nathan, was drafted in 2004 (48th pick) by Geelong under the father-son rule.",
"In addition to his sons, Ablett has a nephew, Luke Ablett, who played for the Sydney Swans and won a premiership with them in 2005.",
"Two other nephews, from his sister's marriage to Hawthorn legend Michael Tuck, also played in the AFL -"
]
} | Gary Ablett Sr. (born 1 October 1961), is a former professional Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Australian Football League (AFL). Nicknamed "God", Ablett is widely regarded as one of Australian football's greatest players, and was especially renowned for his high-flying spectacular marks and his prolific goalkicking.
After playing for several country teams in and around his hometown of Drouin, Victoria, Ablett was recruited by Hawthorn and made his Victorian Football League (VFL) debut in 1982. However, he struggled to adjust to city life and retreated to Myrtleford the following year. The Geelong Football Club managed to lure him back to professional football in 1984, and by the late '80s, he had become one of the VFL's biggest stars. His 1989 VFL Grand Final appearance, during which he kicked a grand final record nine goals for a losing side (and tying the outright grand final record with Gordon Coventry), is regarded as one of football's greatest individual performances, earning him the Norm Smith Medal. At the beginning of the 1991 season, Ablett shocked the football world by abruptly announcing his retirement from the game, but he made a comeback midway through the year. He went on to appear in the 1992, 1994, and 1995 grand finals, before officially retiring after the 1996 season.
Ablett's individual accolades and achievements include an induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, an AFL Team of the Century selection, the 1993 AFL Players Association MVP award (now known as the Leigh Matthews Trophy), and three Coleman Medals. He remains Geelong's all-time leading goalkicker, with 1021 goals; and, in 2006, was voted by past and present Geelong Football Club players as the greatest Geelong footballer of all time.
Early life
Born in Drouin to Alfred and Colleen Ablett, Gary Ablett grew up in Gippsland, Victoria, alongside his four elder brothers and three sisters. Ablett displayed a love for sport at an early age, winning the state school high jump at 10 years of age. He was also awarded both club and competition best-and-fairest awards for Drouin at the under-11s, under-12s and under-14s levels.
After his interest waned in attending school, Ablett dropped out of high school at 15 to become a bricklayer's labourer. He also began to concentrate on his football and joined his brothers in the Drouin senior team at just 16 years of age. After appearing in several country league representative games, the Hawthorn Football Club, which had already signed Gary's elder brothers Geoff and Kevin onto their lists, invited him to play reserves football.
Career
AFL
The Hawthorn experience (1981–1983)
After signing a reserves contract and featuring in six reserves games for Hawthorn, Ablett retreated back to his home in Drouin. He returned to Hawthorn in 1982 and made his senior VFL debut versus Geelong in Round 2, kicking 1 goal and helping the Hawks defeat the Cats by 19 points. He played a further five games for Hawthorn that year for a total of six games and ten goals. Ablett claimed difficulty coping with city life in Melbourne and his continual absenteeism from training sessions forced Hawthorn coach, Allan Jeans into parting ways with the talented, but wayward young half forward.
In 1983, he moved with his young family to the country town of Myrtleford. Ablett spent the year playing under the tutelage of his cousin Len Ablett for Myrtleford in the Ovens and Murray Football League. Ablett's footballing ability soon came on notice again, this time to the Geelong Football Club and their long-time recruiting officer Bill McMaster. McMaster convinced Ablett to give the game another shot, this time in the confines of the rural city of Geelong. After protracted negotiations with Hawthorn, Geelong finally paid a $60,000 transfer for Ablett in 1984.
The early years at Geelong (1984–1988)
Ablett signed a one-year contract for the 1984 season with Geelong, and he began his first season under the guidance of Tom Hafey. He debuted for the Cats in Round 7 and after just nine games on the wing, Ablett was selected to his first State of Origin game for Victoria. Ablett earned best-on-ground honours after kicking 8 goals from the half-forward flank. He played 15 games and kicked 33 goals in the 1984 season, and was awarded the Carji Greeves Medal as the Geelong Football Club's "best and fairest" player of the year. Following his first season with Geelong, Ablett signed a new three-year contract with the club.
Playing mostly on the half forward flank, Ablett won the club's goalkicking award for the following two seasons with 82 and 65 goals respectively. Although Ablett had developed a reputation for his laconic, lazy attitude to training under coach John Devine, this did not prevent him from earning top three placings in the best and fairest awards from 1985 to 1987.
With his contract expiring at the conclusion of the 1987 season, Ablett shocked the VFL by signing a new five-year contract with his former club, Hawthorn. After a "cooling-off" period, however, Ablett opted to remain with Geelong by agreeing to a lucrative five-year contract that tied him to the club for the long-term.
Ablett began the 1988 season with 59 goals after just 11 games, placing him second on the goalkicking list behind Hawthorn's Jason Dunstall. In these games, he kicked 10 goals against Richmond in the Anzac Day game, and 11 against Brisbane—one shy of breaking the ground record of 12 goals at Carrara. Although he missed out on State honours and failed to place within the top three in the club best and fairest award, Ablett finished with 82 goals during the season for the second time in his career.
A September to remember (1989–1990)
The 1989 season was marked by the arrival of Ablett's third coach, former North Melbourne Brownlow Medallist Malcolm Blight. Ablett helped the Cats reach the finals on the back of a ten match winning streak to end the regular season. In a 134-point victory against Richmond, Ablett scored 14 goals, breaking a 22-year club record, and moving club legend and former club premiership coach Bobby Davis to laud Ablett as the equal of the legendary Graham 'Polly' Farmer, the finest footballers he had seen at Geelong. His season lowlight occurred in Round 12 when he was suspended for 3 matches after he controversially felled the Melbourne captain, Gary Lyon behind the play.
In his first ever final, the Qualifying Final at the MCG versus Essendon, Gary Ablett kicked three goals, but this was not enough. The Bombers humbled Geelong by 76 points to force the Cats into a sudden-death Semi Final showdown with Melbourne. The Cats posted a 63-point win against the Demons. Ablett kicked seven goals, and helped set up another meeting with Essendon in the Preliminary Final. Ablett kicked 8 goals this time, as the Cats crushed Essendon by 94 points to advance to their first grand final since 1967.
Against the reigning premiers Hawthorn in the 1989 VFL Grand Final, Ablett asserted himself from the opening bounce, leading out from full forward, marking the first centre clearance kick and slotting through the game's first goal. By half-time, Ablett had kicked four goals, but the Cats trailed at the main break by 37 points. Ablett kicked a further five goals in the second half, which saw an injury-depleted Hawthorn's lead reduced to just 6 points with less than a minute to go. However, the Cats fell short, and Hawthorn held on to defeat Geelong in one of the toughest grand finals of the modern era, winning by 6 points. Ablett's performance in kicking 9 goals earned him the Norm Smith Medal, and in doing so became only the second member of the losing team in VFL/AFL history to be awarded the honour – a performance regarded by many as unrivalled on football's biggest stage. Ablett's 9 goals also saw him equal Gordon Coventry's goals record set in the 1928 Grand Final.
Shock retirement and return (1991–1992)
On 1 February 1991, Ablett, aged 29, stunned most football fans when he announced his retirement, citing personal reasons and a loss of enjoyment for the game. His previous season in 1990 was marred by injury, dipping motivation, and personal issues, including a separation from his wife. He was eventually encouraged to reverse his decision and he made his return in Round 12 for the Geelong reserves team. This generated enormous media interest and drew an abnormally large crowd for the curtain-raiser game at Princes Park.
Ablett was named in the senior side for the following game against , which drew a crowd of over 40,000 to the MCG. He had ten possessions and kicked two goals, one of them an important steadier for the Cats in the last quarter after the Demons had closed to within 24 points. Due to his late season start and lack of conditioning, it was probably no surprise that Ablett failed to recapture his best form, ending his season on a sour note when he was suspended for striking St Kilda rover Nathan Burke in the first week of the finals, and he subsequently missed Geelong's finals defeats to Hawthorn and West Coast.
Ablett put the disappointment of 1991 behind him, and he dedicated himself to improving his fitness base ahead of the 1992 season. A consistent first half of the year helped the Cats achieve an 11–3 record, eventually earning them a spot in the grand final—this time against the West Coast Eagles. After establishing a two-goal lead at half-time, the Cats failed to sustain their momentum during the second half, eventually going down by 28 points to the fast-finishing Eagles. Ablett, who finished with 3 goals, had again failed to finish the year with the same good form in which he had begun it.
One special season (1993)
Before the 1993 season, Ablett was encouraged by his coach, Malcolm Blight, to move from his customary roaming half-forward position to full-forward, in an effort to prolong his career. The move up forward proved to be a master-stroke, with Ablett thriving in his goal-kicking role, reaching the 50-goal mark in just six games, equalling the sixty-year record of South Melbourne legend Bob Pratt. He brought up his maiden century of goals in the season just eight games later, one game slower than record-holder Pratt, and became the first Geelong player to kick 100 goals in a season since Larry Donohue in 1976. Although the Cats did not make the Finals, Ablett's new-found dominance up forward was highlighted during the season with his bags of ten or more goals on five occasions, including a 14-goal performance against Essendon in Round 6. His end-of-season total of 124 goals, achieved in just 17 appearances, earned him his first Coleman Medal as the League's leading goal-scorer, the Leigh Matthews Trophy, the AFMA Player of the Year Award, and a top-ten placing in the Brownlow Medal.
1993 to 1996
Ablett continued his dominance as a full-forward in 1994 and 1995 by winning the Coleman Medal in each year. Ablett is the only player in VFL/AFL history to kick 100 goals and win the Coleman Medal in three successive seasons. In addition to his explosive pace and skills, Ablett was also an accomplished aerialist with strong hands. A highlight was the 1994 Mark of the Year over Collingwood's Gary Pert on Mother's Day at the MCG, a mark which is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting the Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport. There is still debate over whether he had enough control of the ball to be paid a mark.
In early 1996, Ablett was suspended for five games for striking St Kilda's 172 cm Kristian Bardsley with a raised forearm. He later remarked that his lengthy suspension was the "beginning of the end", and he finished out the season with 69 goals in 17 games. His last AFL appearance was against North Melbourne in a Qualifying Final in 1996. Ablett managed to kick only one goal in a disappointing 60-point loss. In October 1996, he missed Geelong's first training session and was fined $10,000.
On 22 November 1996, Ablett was admitted to hospital with a severe bout of gastro. On 28 November, Ablett faced traffic charges.
1997, end of career
Ablett was ready to start the serious training with the club by the first week of January. By February, it was reported that he was still under pressure to improve his fitness. In March, Geelong confirmed that Ablett would play in 1997. On Sunday, 31 March 1997, Ablett played in the reserves against Richmond. Gary booted 7 goals but injured his knee. Three days later, on 3 April, he underwent arthroscopic surgery. In early June, Ablett had still not recovered; he faced knee surgery. During the preliminary finals in September, he announced his retirement from football.
State of Origin
Ablett had a prolific State of Origin career, kicking 43 goals in 11 games. He was first selected to play for Victoria in 1984, against Western Australia, only nine games into his career at Geelong, kicking 8 goals in a best-on-ground performance.
He performed well again the following year, kicking 4 goals against South Australia. In the following few years Ablett was largely out of the side, apart from 1987, when he kicked 2 goals against South Australia. Ablett again performed at the highest level in 1990, kicking 6 goals, against Western Australia in Perth. After returning from retirement midway through 1991, and after only several games, Ablett was controversially selected for Victoria, kicking 2 goals. In 1992 Ablett performed well, kicking 3 goals and being named among the best players, against Western Australia.
In 1993, he kicked 4 goals, against a combined New South Wales–Australian Capital Territory side, and in the same year Ablett again performed on the big stage, kicking 5 goals in the State of Origin Carnival Grand Final. In 1994, he kicked 4 goals, against South Australia, in what has been regarded as "one of the greatest Australian football games of all time" and followed up that performance with 4 goals against South Australia in 1995. On representing Victoria, Ablett has said "I've always found it a tremendous honour to represent your state, in a State of Origin game".
Legacy
Ablett combined strength, speed, and skill to produce many spectacular highlights and goal-kicking feats. A noted big game player, Ablett kicked 43 goals in 11 State appearances. Also significantly, he booted 64 goals over the course of his 16 finals – an average of four goals a game. His individual haul of 27 goals in the 1989 finals series from four games is a VFL/AFL record that still stands. He was awarded the Norm Smith Medal for his performance in the 1989 Grand Final, where he was adjudged best player afield. In doing so, he became one of only four players to win the medal playing for the losing side (the others being Maurice Rioli in 1982, Nathan Buckley in 2002, and Chris Judd in 2005). In 1996, Ablett joined Gordon Coventry, Doug Wade, Jason Dunstall, and Tony Lockett as the only players in league history to kick 1000 VFL/AFL goals. Lance Franklin would join this exclusive club in 2022.
Martin Flanagan's representation of Australian football pioneer Tom Wills in his 1996 novel The Call is modeled on Ablett. According to Flanagan, Wills and Ablett polarised opinion in similar ways, and displayed a lack of insight into their actions—they simply did what came naturally to them, "like a lot of artists". Ablett is the subject of the song "Kicking the Footy with God", released by The Bedroom Philosopher on his 2005 debut album In Bed with My Doona.
In 1996, Ablett was named in the AFL Team of the Century on the interchange bench, alongside Jack Dyer and Greg Williams. In 2001, Ablett was named in the Geelong Team of the Century, on a half-forward flank. In 2005, after many years of controversy and debate (see below), he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. The following year, he was honoured yet again when he was voted as the Greatest Geelong player of all-time ahead of Graham Farmer.
In 2006, Ablett was honoured with the naming of a terrace in his name within the newly renovated Skilled Stadium. Ablett once had a set of gates named in his honour, but he was upgraded to a terrace at the beginning of the 2006 AFL season.
Induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame
Despite his footballing achievements on the field, Ablett's induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame was initially delayed. Despite Ablett's undoubted footballing credentials, his well-publicised contribution to the death of Alisha Horan was responsible for the Australian Football Hall of Fame committee's reluctance to induct him. In 2004, after several years of speculation over his induction, Ablett personally requested that the Geelong Football Club stop nominating him for selection, which the club agreed to. However, the following year it was announced that Ablett would be inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the 2005 intake.
Ablett did not attend the induction ceremony and instead released a statement through his then-manager, Michael Baker:
"Due to my current battle with depression I am not in a position to be able to accept this award in person. I did not make this decision lightly but due to medical advice it was deemed best for my health that I do not attend tonight. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to play this great game and also to have played at the elite level alongside many celebrated champions. Being chosen to be inducted into the Hall of Fame is one of the highest honours a player could dream of. I thank those who deem me worthy enough to be placed alongside such respected company."
Personal life
The youngest of eight children, Ablett grew up alongside four elder brothers and three elder sisters. In 1985, Ablett wed his long-time girlfriend Sue, and the couple had four children – Natasha, Gary Jr., Nathan, and Alisha.
In 1986, Ablett became a born-again Christian and has been said to be slightly aggrieved at constantly being referred to as "God" by fans, a nickname based on his supreme football abilities. Ablett's faith was often highlighted in several tribunal appearances, in one case confessing and pleading guilty to striking Garry Lyon in a 1989 incident, declaring he "wasn't prepared to lie about it or compromise the truth in [his] relationship with God". Ablett's public acknowledgement of his faith, in particular the influence of God in his life, during his acceptance speech for the Norm Smith Medal in the 1989 Grand Final, was also much publicised.
On 26 June 2006, Ablett was allegedly assaulted at 11:15pm while browsing through a car yard in Fyans Street, South Geelong. A 31-year-old Geelong man was charged with the assault. However, he was reported to have committed suicide on 10 July 2006 by jumping from a Melbourne high-rise apartment block the day before he was due to appear before the Geelong Magistrates court to defend the assault charges.
In December 2007, Ablett hit back at media claims that his son Nathan had walked away from his football career because of the publicity surrounding the release of a new book about his father. Although normally reluctant to make public comments, Ablett felt that the media intrusion into his family life had gone too far. As part of a series of books, Legends of Australian Sport, Ablett contributed to a book regarding himself. It was the first time he revealed intimate details regarding his life publicly.
In September 2020, Ablett released a 27-minute YouTube video discussing his belief in the rapture as being forthcoming. In this video, he declared that the COVID-19 pandemic had been manufactured and released by the Illuminati and Freemasons in order to depopulate Earth, create a cashless society and "put Lucifer on the throne of the world".
A footballing family
Two of Ablett's brothers played in the Victorian Football League – Kevin Ablett, who played for Hawthorn, Richmond and Geelong, and Geoff Ablett, who played for Hawthorn, Richmond and St Kilda.
Ablett's eldest son, Gary Jr., has followed in his footsteps to play for Geelong. In 2007 and 2009, Ablett Jr. won the Cats' best and fairest award, emulating a feat established by his father in his first season with the Cats back in 1984; he also won the Brownlow Medal in 2009 and 2013. Another son, Nathan, was drafted in 2004 (48th pick) by Geelong under the father-son rule. Nathan initially refused to play AFL Football because of his father's experience with the media, but, with encouragement from the club, was signed ahead of the 2005 AFL Season and established himself in the full forward role Gary Sr. made his own.
On 29 September 2007, both Gary Jr. and Nathan contributed to Geelong winning its first flag in 44 years, capturing the premiership that proved elusive to Gary Snr in his 12 years at the club. Nathan retired suddenly before the 2008 season, but he and his brother Gary Jr. were members of the Gold Coast Football Club's inaugural team for the 2011 season.
In addition to his sons, Ablett has a nephew, Luke Ablett, who played for the Sydney Swans and won a premiership with them in 2005. Two other nephews, from his sister's marriage to Hawthorn legend Michael Tuck, also played in the AFL – Richmond's Shane Tuck and Travis Tuck, who played for Hawthorn.
Criminal offences
Ablett had well-documented off-field problems, particularly with illegal drug use, and depression in the wake of the Alisha Horan death. In 1990, Ablett was placed on a $10,000 good behaviour bond after he pleaded guilty to repeatedly hitting a man he found sitting in a car with his estranged wife.
In 2000, Ablett was investigated, charged and convicted of four drug offences as a result of nineteen-year-old Geelong woman Alisha Horan dying of a drug overdose (involving heroin, ecstasy and amphetamines) while in Ablett's hotel room. After a prolonged period of refusing to answer police questions and refusing to answer questions at an April 2001 inquest (on the grounds that he may incriminate himself), Ablett later admitted to providing Horan with heroin and ecstasy. Horan had found a small quantity of heroin in Ablett's coat pocket and asked him what it was. Rather than admit that it was heroin, Ablett told her it was cocaine, which they both then ingested, leading to Horan's overdose. Ablett wasn't charged with manslaughter, but he pleaded guilty to four lesser charges, was convicted, and fined $1500.
Concussion lawsuit
In April 2023, Ablett commenced legal proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria against the AFL and the Geelong and Hawthorn football clubs claiming breach of duty and negligence over AFL-related brain injuries that he suffered during his playing career.
Statistics
In 2019, a sharp-eyed "footy history enthusiast" by the name of Stephen Wade noticed a statistical discrepancy while watching a YouTube video of a 1982 game that had been uploaded in 2017. He found a discrepancy with the goal total, as he saw Ablett kick two but was only credited for one. Wade brought his discovery to the attention of Col Hutchinson, the AFL's statistics and history consultant, who updated the official records. The goal, which had been erroneously attributed to Hawthorn teammate Richard Loveridge for 37 years, increased Ablett's total goal tally from 1,030 to 1,031.
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1982
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 35 || 6 || 11 || 13 || 47 || 21 || 68 || 26 || || 1.5 || 2.2 || 7.8 || 3.5 || 11.3 || 4.3 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1984
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 15 || 33 || 28 || 238 || 61 || 299 || 86 || || 2.2 || 1.9 || 15.9 || 4.1 || 19.9 || 5.7 ||
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1985
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 20 || 82 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 67 || 274 || 62 || 336 || 135 || || 4.1 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 3.4 || 13.7 || 3.1 || 16.8 || 6.8 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1986
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 15 || 65 || 49 || 185 || 39 || 224 || 101 || || 4.3 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 3.3 || 12.3 || 2.6 || 14.9 || 6.7 ||
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1987
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 17 || 53 || 38 || 200 || 46 || 246 || 86 || 19 || 3.1 || 2.2 || 11.8 || 2.7 || 14.5 || 5.1 || 1.1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1988
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 21 || 82 || bgcolor="CFECEC"| 62 || 253 || 42 || 295 || 117 || 19 || 3.9 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 3.0 || 12.0 || 2.0 || 14.0 || 5.6 || 0.9
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1989
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 23 || 87 || 54 || 378 || 68 || 446 || 151 || 29 || 3.8 || 2.3 || 16.4 || 3.0 || 19.4 || 6.6 || 1.3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1990
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 17 || 75 || 43 || 224 || 47 || 271 || 100 || 21 || 4.4 || 2.5 || 13.2 || 2.8 || 15.9 || 5.9 || 1.2
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1991
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 12 || 28 || 27 || 144 || 21 || 165 || 55 || 20 || 2.3 || 2.3 || 12.0 || 1.8 || 13.8 || 4.6 || 1.7
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1992
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 21 || 72 || 54 || 324 || 61 || 385 || 118 || 33 || 3.4 || 2.6 || 15.4 || 2.9 || 18.3 || 5.6 || 1.6
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1993
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 17 || bgcolor="CFECEC"| 124 || bgcolor="CFECEC"| 60 || 233 || 13 || 246 || 111 || 10 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 7.3 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 3.5 || 13.7 || 0.8 || 14.5 || 6.5 || 0.6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1994
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 25 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 129 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 79 || 263 || 30 || 293 || 130 || 15 || 5.2 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 3.2 || 10.5 || 1.2 || 11.7 || 5.2 || 0.6
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1995
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 22 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 122 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 85 || 264 || 19 || 283 || 148 || 18 || bgcolor="CFECEC"| 5.5 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 3.9 || 12.0 || 0.9 || 12.9 || 6.7 || 0.8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1996
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 17 || 69 || 31 || 159 || 31 || 190 || 71 || 13 || 4.1 || 1.8 || 9.4 || 1.8 || 11.2 || 4.2 || 0.8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1997
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || -
|- class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3| Career
! 248
! 1031
! 690
! 3186
! 561
! 3747
! 1435
! 197
! 4.2
! 2.8
! 12.8
! 2.3
! 15.1
! 5.8
! 1.0
|- class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3| Career
! 248
! 1031
! 690
! 3186
! 561
! 3747
! 1435
! 197
! 4.2
! 2.8
! 12.8
! 2.3
! 15.1
! 5.8
! 1.0
|}
Honours and achievements
Team
McClelland Trophy (): 1992
Individual
Norm Smith Medal: 1989
3× Coleman Medal: 1993, 1994, 1995
4× All-Australian team: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
Carji Greeves Medal: 1984
Leigh Matthews Trophy (AFL MVP Award): 1993
9× Geelong leading goalkicker: 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
Geelong Team of the Century
Geelong captain: 1995–1996
2× Alex Jesaulenko Medal: 1985, 1994
Geelong F.C. Hall of Fame
Australian Sports Medal: 2000
Centenary Medal: 2001
Australian Football League Team of the Century 1897-1996
VFL/AFL players with 1,000 goals
8× State of Origin (Victoria): 1984, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 (c)
Australian Football Media Association Player of the Year: 1993Australian Football Hall of Fame: 2005 Inductee5th on all-time leading goal-kickersAll-time leading goal kicker for Geelong F.C. (1021 goals)Only player to have won Coleman Medal and kicked 100 goals in three consecutive seasons (1993–1995)Oldest player to kick 100 goals in a season (33 years old in 1995)Most goals in an AFL/VFL Grand Final (9 goals in 1989 Grand Final)Most goals in an AFL/VFL finals series (27 goals in 1989)Highest goals-per-game ratio in Geelong F.C. history (4.22 goals per game)4-time runner-up in Carji Greeves Medal (1985, 1993, 1994, 1995)3-time third-place getter in Carji Greeves Medal (1986, 1989, 1990)'''
See also
After the siren kicks in Australian rules football
Alf Williamson
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
Gary Ablett's profile at AustralianFootball.com
Category:1961 births
Gary
Category:All-Australians (AFL)
Category:Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Carji Greeves Medal winners
Category:Coleman Medal winners
Category:Geelong Football Club players
Category:Hawthorn Football Club players
Category:Leigh Matthews Trophy winners
Category:Living people
Category:Norm Smith Medal winners
Category:Australian rules footballers from Geelong
Category:Victorian State of Origin players
Category:Myrtleford Football Club players
Category:Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal
Category:Recipients of the Centenary Medal
Category:Australian Christians | [
{
"text": "Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes bibliography as a word having two senses: one, a list of books for further study or of works consulted by an author (or enumerative bibliography); the other one, applicable for collectors, is \"the study of books as physical objects\" and \"the systematic description of books as objects\" (or descriptive bibliography).\n\nEtymology \nThe word was used by Greek writers in the first three centuries CE to mean the copying of books by hand. In the 12th century, the word started being used for \"the intellectual activity of composing books.\" The 17th century then saw the emergence of the modern meaning, that of description of books. Currently, the field of bibliography has expanded to include studies that consider the book as a material object. Bibliography, in its systematic pursuit of understanding the past and the present through written and printed documents, describes a way and means of extracting information from this material. Bibliographers are interested in comparing versions of texts to each other rather than in interpreting their meaning or assessing their significance.\n\nField of study \nBibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868–1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about \"the science of bibliography.\" However, there have recently been voices claiming that \"the bibliographical paradigm\" is obsolete, and it is not today common in LIS. A defence of the bibliographical paradigm was provided by Hjørland (2007).\n\nThe quantitative study of bibliographies is known as bibliometrics, which is today an influential subfield in LIS and is used for major collection decisions such as the cancellation of big deals, through data analysis tools like Unpaywall Journals.\n\nBranches \nCarter and Barker describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). These two distinct concepts and practices have separate rationales and serve differing purposes. Innovators and originators in the field include W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, Philip Gaskell and G. Thomas Tanselle.\n\nBowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production (3). He refers to descriptive bibliography as the systematic description of a book as a material or physical artefact. Analytical bibliography, the cornerstone of descriptive bibliography, investigates the printing and all physical features of a book that yield evidence establishing a book's history and transmission (Feather 10). It is the preliminary phase of bibliographic description and provides the vocabulary, principles and techniques of analysis that descriptive bibliographers apply and on which they base their descriptive practice.\n\nDescriptive bibliographers follow specific conventions and associated classification in their description. Titles and title pages are transcribed in a quasi-facsimile style and representation. Illustration, typeface, binding, paper, and all physical elements related to identifying a book follow formulaic conventions, as Bowers established in his foundational opus, The Principles of Bibliographic Description. The thought expressed in this book expands substantively on W. W. Greg's groundbreaking theory that argued for the adoption of formal bibliographic principles (Greg 29). Fundamentally, analytical bibliography is concerned with objective, physical analysis and history of a book while descriptive bibliography employs all data that analytical bibliography furnishes and then codifies it with a view to identifying the ideal copy or form of a book that most nearly represents the printer's initial conception and intention in printing.\n\nIn addition to viewing bibliographic study as being composed of four interdependent approaches (enumerative, descriptive, analytical, and textual), Bowers notes two further subcategories of research, namely historical bibliography and aesthetic bibliography. Both historical bibliography, which involves the investigation of printing practices, tools, and related documents, and aesthetic bibliography, which examines the art of designing type and books, are often employed by analytical bibliographers.\n\nD. F. McKenzie extended previous notions of bibliography as set forth by Greg, Bowers, Gaskell and Tanselle. He describes the nature of bibliography as \"the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the processes of their transmission, including their production and reception\" (1999 12). This concept broadens the scope of bibliography to include \"non-book texts\" and an accounting for their material form and structure, as well as textual variations, technical and production processes that bring sociocultural context and effects into play. McKenzie's perspective contextualizes textual objects or artefacts with sociological and technical factors that have an effect on production, transmission and, ultimately, ideal copy (2002 14). Bibliography, generally, concerns the material conditions of books [as well as other texts] how they are designed, edited, printed, circulated, reprinted, collected.\n\nBibliographic works differ in the amount of detail depending on the purpose and can generally be divided into two categories: enumerative bibliography (also called compilative, reference or systematic), which results in an overview of publications in a particular category and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books. In earlier times, bibliography mostly focused on books. Now, both categories of bibliography cover works in other media including audio recordings, motion pictures and videos, graphic objects, databases, CD-ROMs and websites.\n\nEnumerative bibliography \n\nAn enumerative bibliography is a systematic list of books and other works such as journal articles. Bibliographies range from \"works cited\" lists at the end of books and articles, to complete and independent publications. A notable example of a complete, independent publication is Gow's A. E. Housman: A Sketch, Together with a List of His Classical Papers (1936). As separate works, they may be in bound volumes such as those shown on the right, or computerized bibliographic databases. A library catalog, while not referred to as a \"bibliography,\" is bibliographic in nature. Bibliographical works are almost always considered to be tertiary sources.\n\nEnumerative bibliographies are based on a unifying principle such as creator, subject, date, topic or other characteristic. An entry in an enumerative bibliography provides the core elements of a text resource including a title, the creator(s), publication date and place of publication. Belanger (1977) distinguishes an enumerative bibliography from other bibliographic forms such as descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography or textual bibliography in that its function is to record and list, rather than describe a source in detail or with any reference to the source's physical nature, materiality or textual transmission. The enumerative list may be comprehensive or selective. One noted example would be Tanselle's bibliography that exhaustively enumerates topics and sources related to all forms of bibliography. A more common and particular instance of an enumerative bibliography relates to specific sources used or considered in preparing a scholarly paper or academic term paper.\n\nCitation styles vary.\nAn entry for a book in a bibliography usually contains the following elements:\n creator(s)\n title\n place of publication\n publisher or printer\n date of publication\n\nAn entry for a journal or periodical article usually contains:\n creator(s)\n article title\n journal title\n volume\n pages\n date of publication\n\nA bibliography may be arranged by author, topic, or some other scheme. Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument. These descriptions, usually a few sentences long, provide a summary of the source and describe its relevance. Reference management software may be used to keep track of references and generate bibliographies as required.\n\nBibliographies differ from library catalogs by including only relevant items rather than all items present in a particular library. However, the catalogs of some national libraries effectively serve as national bibliographies, as the national libraries own almost all their countries' publications.\n\nDescriptive bibliography \nFredson Bowers described and formulated a standardized practice of descriptive bibliography in his Principles of Bibliographical Description\n(1949). Scholars to this day treat Bowers' scholarly guide as authoritative. In this classic text, Bowers describes the basic function of bibliography as, \"[providing] sufficient data so that a reader may identify the book described, understand the printing, and recognize the precise contents\" (124).\n\nDescriptive bibliographies as scholarly product \nDescriptive bibliographies as a scholarly product usually include information on the following aspect of a given book as a material object:\nFormat and Collation/Pagination Statement—a conventional, symbolic formula that describes the book block in terms of sheets, folds, quires, signatures, and pages\n\nAccording to Bowers (193), the format of a book is usually abbreviated in the collation formula:\nBroadsheet: I° or b.s. or bs.\nFolio: 2° or fol.\nQuarto: 4° or 4to or Q° or Q\nOctavo: 8° or 8vo\nDuodecimo: 12° or 12mo\nSexto-decimo: 16° or 16mo\nTricesimo-secundo: 32° or 32mo\nSexagesimo-quarto: 64° or 64mo\nThe collation, which follows the format, is the statement of the order and size of the gatherings.\nFor example, a quarto that consists of the signed gatherings:\n2 leaves signed A, 4 leaves signed B, 4 leaves signed C, and 2 leaves signed D\nwould be represented in the collation formula:\n4°: A2B-C4D2\nBinding—a description of the binding techniques (generally for books printed after 1800)\nTitle Page Transcription—a transcription of the title page, including rule lines and ornaments\nContents—a listing of the contents (by section) in the book\nPaper—a description of the physical properties of the paper, including production process, an account of chain-line measurements, and a description of watermarks (if present)\nIllustrations—a description of the illustrations found in the book, including printing process (e.g. woodblock, intaglio, etc.), measurements, and locations in the text\nPresswork—miscellaneous details gleaned from the text about its production\nCopies Examined—an enumeration of the copies examined, including those copies' location (i.e. belonging to which library or collector)\n\nAnalytical bibliography \nThis branch of the bibliographic discipline examines the material features of a textual artefact—such as type, ink, paper, imposition, format, impressions and states of a book—to essentially recreate the conditions of its production. Analytical bibliography often uses collateral evidence—such as general printing practices, trends in format, responses and non-responses to design, etc.—to scrutinize the historical conventions and influences underlying the physical appearance of a text. The bibliographer utilizes knowledge gained from the investigation of physical evidence in the form of a descriptive bibliography or textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination and cataloging of a text as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while textual bibliography (or textual criticism) identifies variations—and the aetiology of variations—in a text with a view to determining \"the establishment of the most correct form of [a] text\" (Bowers 498[1]).\n\nBibliographers \n\nA bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. A person who limits such efforts to a specific field or discipline is a subject bibliographer.\"\n\nA bibliographer, in the technical meaning of the word, is anyone who writes about books. But the accepted meaning since at least the 18th century is a person who attempts a comprehensive account—sometimes just a list, sometimes a fuller reckoning—of the books written on a particular subject. In the present, bibliography is no longer a career, generally speaking; bibliographies tend to be written on highly specific subjects and by specialists in the field.\n\nThe term bibliographer is sometimes—in particular subject bibliographer—today used about certain roles performed in libraries and bibliographic databases.\n\nOne of the first bibliographers was Conrad Gessner who sought to list all books printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in Bibliotheca Universalis (1545).\n\nNon-book material \nSystematic lists of media other than books can be referred to with terms formed analogously to bibliography:\n Discography—recorded music\n Filmography—films\n Webography (or webliography)—websites\n Arachniography, a term coined by NASA research historian Andrew J. Butrica, which means a reference list of URLs about a particular subject. It is equivalent to a bibliography in a book. The name derives from arachne in reference to a spider and its web.\n\nSee also \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (in Wikipedia)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Blum, Rudolf. (1980) Bibliographia. An Inquiry in Its Definition and Designations, Dawson, American Library Association.\n Bowers, Fredson. (1995) Principles of Bibliographical Description, Oak Knoll Press.\n Duncan, Paul Shaner. (1973) How to Catalog a Rare Book, 2nd ed., rev., American Library Association.\n \n Gaskell, Philip. (2000) A New Introduction to Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press.\n McKerrow, R. B. (1927) An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford: Clarendon Press\n Schneider, Georg. (1934) Theory and History of Bibliography, New York: Scarecrow Press.\n National Library of Canada, Committee on Bibliography and Information Services for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Guidelines for the Compilation of a Bibliography (National Library of Canada, 1987). N.B.: This is a brief guide to accurately practical bibliography, not a study concerning more precise and systematic bibliography.\n \nRobinson, A. M. Lewin (1966) Systematic Bibliography; rev. ed. London: Clive Bingley\n\nExternal links \n\n Oxford Bibliographies Online, in-depth annotated bibliographies by scholars in selected fields\n Introduction to Bibliography, a comprehensive syllabus by G. Thomas Tanselle\n The Bibliographical Society of America, a resource for information about current work in the field of bibliography\n Studies in Bibliography, the journal of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia\n A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology, (University of Zaragoza) includes thousands of listings on literary, philological and other subjects\n\n \nCategory:Book design\nCategory:Book terminology\nCategory:Textual scholarship",
"title": "Bibliography"
},
{
"text": "Gary may refer to: \nGary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name\nGary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary\n\nPlaces \nIran\nGary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province\nUnited States\nGary (Tampa), Florida\nGary, Maryland\nGary, Minnesota\nGary, South Dakota\nGary, West Virginia\nGary – New Duluth, a neighborhood in Duluth, Minnesota\nGary Air Force Base, San Marcos, Texas\nGary City, Texas\n\nShips\nUSS Gary (DE-61), a destroyer escort launched in 1943\nUSS Gary (CL-147), scheduled to be a light cruiser, but canceled prior to construction in 1945\nUSS Gary (FFG-51), a frigate, commissioned in 1984\nUSS Thomas J. Gary (DE-326), a destroyer escort commissioned in 1943\n\nPeople and fictional characters\nGary (surname), including a list of people with the name\nGary (rapper), South Korean rapper and entertainer\nGary (Argentine singer), Argentine singer of cuarteto songs\n\nOther uses\nGary: Tank Commander, a British television sitcom\nGary (mango), a mango cultivar\n4735 Gary, an asteroid\nGary Elks, an American football team from 1920 to 1923\n\nSee also\n Garry (disambiguation)\n Gareth (given name)\n Garath (disambiguation)\n Garaidh, a given name",
"title": "Gary"
}
] | [
"Gary is a member of the Ablett family who is known for their contributions to Australian Rules Football. Gary Sr. had two brothers, Kevin and Geoff, who played in the Victorian Football League. Gary Sr. also had two sons, Gary Jr. and Nathan, who both played AFL, with Gary Jr. being particularly successful. Additionally, Gary Sr.'s nephew, Luke Ablett, played for the Sydney Swans, and two other nephews from his sister's marriage, Shane Tuck and Travis Tuck, also played in the AFL.",
"The names of Ablett's brothers are Kevin Ablett and Geoff Ablett.",
"Kevin Ablett played for Hawthorn, Richmond and Geelong. Geoff Ablett played for Hawthorn, Richmond and St Kilda.",
"The text does not provide specific years for when Kevin Ablett and Geoff Ablett played for their respective teams.",
"Gary Ablett Sr.'s son, Gary Ablett Jr., won the Cats' best and fairest award in 2007 and 2009, as well as the Brownlow Medal in 2009 and 2013. The text does not provide information on whether Kevin Ablett, Geoff Ablett, or Gary Ablett Sr. won any awards or recognitions.",
"The text only mentions that Gary Ablett Jr. won the Brownlow Medal in 2009 and 2013. No other medals are mentioned in the context provided.",
"Apart from his brothers Kevin and Geoff and his sons Gary Jr. and Nathan, Ablett's nephew, Luke Ablett, who played for the Sydney Swans was mentioned. Also mentioned were two other nephews, Shane Tuck and Travis Tuck, from his sister's marriage to Hawthorn legend Michael Tuck, who both played in the AFL.",
"After contributing to Geelong winning its first flag in 44 years in 2007, Nathan retired suddenly before the 2008 season. However, both he and his brother Gary Jr. were members of the Gold Coast Football Club's inaugural team for the 2011 season.",
"One interesting aspect in the article is that despite the successful football careers in the Ablett family, Nathan initially refused to play AFL Football because of his father Gary Sr.'s negative experiences with the media. Eventually though, with encouragement from his club, he did sign on to play. Another interesting aspect is that despite Gary Sr.'s success, he was not able to capture a premiership in his 12 years at Geelong, an achievement his sons managed to secure in 2007."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"No"
] |
C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_1 | Gary Ablett Sr. | Born in Drouin to Alfred and Colleen Ablett, Gary Ablett grew up in the Latrobe Valley in Victoria's Gippsland region alongside his four elder brothers and three sisters. Ablett displayed a love for sport at an early age, winning the state school high jump at 10 years of age. He was also awarded both club and competition best and fairest awards for Drouin at the under-11s, under-12s and under-14s levels. After citing waning interest in school, Ablett dropped out of high school at the age of 15 years to become a bricklayer's labourer. | Legacy | Ablett combined strength, speed, and skill to produce many spectacular highlights and goal-kicking feats. A noted big game player, Ablett kicked 43 goals in 11 State appearances. More significantly, he booted 64 goals over the course of his 16 finals - an average of four goals a game. His haul of 27 goals in the 1989 finals series is a record that still stands. He was awarded the Norm Smith Medal for his performance in the 1989 Grand Final, where he was adjudged best player afield. In doing so, he became one of only four players (the others being Maurice Rioli -1982, Nathan Buckley -2002, and Chris Judd -2005) to win the medal playing for the losing side. In 1996, Ablett joined Gordon Coventry, Doug Wade, Jason Dunstall and Tony Lockett as the only players in league history to kick 1000 VFL/AFL goals. Martin Flanagan's representation of Australian football pioneer Tom Wills in his 1996 novel The Call is modeled on Ablett. According to Flanagan, Wills and Ablett polarised opinion in similar ways, and displayed a lack of insight into their actions--they simply did what came naturally to them, "like a lot of artists". Ablett is the subject of the song "Kicking the Footy with God", released by The Bedroom Philosopher on his 2005 debut album In Bed with My Doona. In 1996, Ablett was named in the AFL Team of the Century on the interchange bench, alongside Jack Dyer and Greg Williams. In 2001, Ablett was named in the Geelong Team of the Century, on a half forward flank. In 2005, after many years of controversy and debate (see below), he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. The following year, he was honoured yet again when he was voted as the Greatest Geelong player of all-time ahead of Graham Farmer. In 2006, Ablett was honoured with the naming of a terrace in his name within the newly renovated Skilled Stadium. Ablett once had a set of gates named in his honour, but he was upgraded to a terrace at the beginning of the 2006 AFL season. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_1_q#0",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_1_q#1",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_1_q#2",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_1_q#3",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_1_q#4",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_1_q#5",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_1_q#6",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_1_q#7",
"C_8dfcade58ecd4c41a7647a9b25d0929e_1_q#8"
] | [
"What is his legacy?",
"Any notable awards?",
"Any other recognition or awards?",
"What else pertains to his legacy?",
"Any other pertinant info about his legacy?",
"Most interesting info the reader should know about his legacy?",
"Most notable achievements?",
"Any other honors?",
"Any scandals or criticism in his legacy?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
2,
1,
2,
1,
1
] | [
2,
0,
0,
2,
0,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
364
],
[
1281
],
[
1131
],
[
1403
],
[
1986
],
[
1860
],
[
1746
],
[
1986
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Ablett combined strength, speed, and skill to produce many spectacular highlights and goal-kicking feats."
],
[
"He was awarded the Norm Smith Medal for his performance in the 1989 Grand Final,"
],
[
"In 1996, Ablett was named in the AFL Team of the Century on the interchange bench, alongside Jack Dyer and Greg Williams."
],
[
"\". Ablett is the subject of the song \"Kicking the Footy with God\", released by The Bedroom Philosopher on his 2005 debut album In Bed with My Doona."
],
[
"In 2001, Ablett was named in the Geelong Team of the Century, on a half forward flank."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Ablett once had a set of gates named in his honour, but he was upgraded to a terrace at the beginning of the 2006 AFL season."
],
[
"In 2006, Ablett was honoured with the naming of a terrace in his name within the newly renovated Skilled Stadium."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
364,
1281,
1131,
1403,
1986,
1860,
1746,
1986
],
"texts": [
"Ablett combined strength, speed, and skill to produce many spectacular highlights and goal-kicking feats.",
"He was awarded the Norm Smith Medal for his performance in the 1989 Grand Final,",
"In 1996, Ablett was named in the AFL Team of the Century on the interchange bench, alongside Jack Dyer and Greg Williams.",
"\". Ablett is the subject of the song \"Kicking the Footy with God\", released by The Bedroom Philosopher on his 2005 debut album In Bed with My Doona.",
"In 2001, Ablett was named in the Geelong Team of the Century, on a half forward flank.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Ablett once had a set of gates named in his honour, but he was upgraded to a terrace at the beginning of the 2006 AFL season.",
"In 2006, Ablett was honoured with the naming of a terrace in his name within the newly renovated Skilled Stadium.",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Gary Ablett Sr. (born 1 October 1961), is a former professional Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Australian Football League (AFL). Nicknamed "God", Ablett is widely regarded as one of Australian football's greatest players, and was especially renowned for his high-flying spectacular marks and his prolific goalkicking.
After playing for several country teams in and around his hometown of Drouin, Victoria, Ablett was recruited by Hawthorn and made his Victorian Football League (VFL) debut in 1982. However, he struggled to adjust to city life and retreated to Myrtleford the following year. The Geelong Football Club managed to lure him back to professional football in 1984, and by the late '80s, he had become one of the VFL's biggest stars. His 1989 VFL Grand Final appearance, during which he kicked a grand final record nine goals for a losing side (and tying the outright grand final record with Gordon Coventry), is regarded as one of football's greatest individual performances, earning him the Norm Smith Medal. At the beginning of the 1991 season, Ablett shocked the football world by abruptly announcing his retirement from the game, but he made a comeback midway through the year. He went on to appear in the 1992, 1994, and 1995 grand finals, before officially retiring after the 1996 season.
Ablett's individual accolades and achievements include an induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, an AFL Team of the Century selection, the 1993 AFL Players Association MVP award (now known as the Leigh Matthews Trophy), and three Coleman Medals. He remains Geelong's all-time leading goalkicker, with 1021 goals; and, in 2006, was voted by past and present Geelong Football Club players as the greatest Geelong footballer of all time.
Early life
Born in Drouin to Alfred and Colleen Ablett, Gary Ablett grew up in Gippsland, Victoria, alongside his four elder brothers and three sisters. Ablett displayed a love for sport at an early age, winning the state school high jump at 10 years of age. He was also awarded both club and competition best-and-fairest awards for Drouin at the under-11s, under-12s and under-14s levels.
After his interest waned in attending school, Ablett dropped out of high school at 15 to become a bricklayer's labourer. He also began to concentrate on his football and joined his brothers in the Drouin senior team at just 16 years of age. After appearing in several country league representative games, the Hawthorn Football Club, which had already signed Gary's elder brothers Geoff and Kevin onto their lists, invited him to play reserves football.
Career
AFL
The Hawthorn experience (1981–1983)
After signing a reserves contract and featuring in six reserves games for Hawthorn, Ablett retreated back to his home in Drouin. He returned to Hawthorn in 1982 and made his senior VFL debut versus Geelong in Round 2, kicking 1 goal and helping the Hawks defeat the Cats by 19 points. He played a further five games for Hawthorn that year for a total of six games and ten goals. Ablett claimed difficulty coping with city life in Melbourne and his continual absenteeism from training sessions forced Hawthorn coach, Allan Jeans into parting ways with the talented, but wayward young half forward.
In 1983, he moved with his young family to the country town of Myrtleford. Ablett spent the year playing under the tutelage of his cousin Len Ablett for Myrtleford in the Ovens and Murray Football League. Ablett's footballing ability soon came on notice again, this time to the Geelong Football Club and their long-time recruiting officer Bill McMaster. McMaster convinced Ablett to give the game another shot, this time in the confines of the rural city of Geelong. After protracted negotiations with Hawthorn, Geelong finally paid a $60,000 transfer for Ablett in 1984.
The early years at Geelong (1984–1988)
Ablett signed a one-year contract for the 1984 season with Geelong, and he began his first season under the guidance of Tom Hafey. He debuted for the Cats in Round 7 and after just nine games on the wing, Ablett was selected to his first State of Origin game for Victoria. Ablett earned best-on-ground honours after kicking 8 goals from the half-forward flank. He played 15 games and kicked 33 goals in the 1984 season, and was awarded the Carji Greeves Medal as the Geelong Football Club's "best and fairest" player of the year. Following his first season with Geelong, Ablett signed a new three-year contract with the club.
Playing mostly on the half forward flank, Ablett won the club's goalkicking award for the following two seasons with 82 and 65 goals respectively. Although Ablett had developed a reputation for his laconic, lazy attitude to training under coach John Devine, this did not prevent him from earning top three placings in the best and fairest awards from 1985 to 1987.
With his contract expiring at the conclusion of the 1987 season, Ablett shocked the VFL by signing a new five-year contract with his former club, Hawthorn. After a "cooling-off" period, however, Ablett opted to remain with Geelong by agreeing to a lucrative five-year contract that tied him to the club for the long-term.
Ablett began the 1988 season with 59 goals after just 11 games, placing him second on the goalkicking list behind Hawthorn's Jason Dunstall. In these games, he kicked 10 goals against Richmond in the Anzac Day game, and 11 against Brisbane—one shy of breaking the ground record of 12 goals at Carrara. Although he missed out on State honours and failed to place within the top three in the club best and fairest award, Ablett finished with 82 goals during the season for the second time in his career.
A September to remember (1989–1990)
The 1989 season was marked by the arrival of Ablett's third coach, former North Melbourne Brownlow Medallist Malcolm Blight. Ablett helped the Cats reach the finals on the back of a ten match winning streak to end the regular season. In a 134-point victory against Richmond, Ablett scored 14 goals, breaking a 22-year club record, and moving club legend and former club premiership coach Bobby Davis to laud Ablett as the equal of the legendary Graham 'Polly' Farmer, the finest footballers he had seen at Geelong. His season lowlight occurred in Round 12 when he was suspended for 3 matches after he controversially felled the Melbourne captain, Gary Lyon behind the play.
In his first ever final, the Qualifying Final at the MCG versus Essendon, Gary Ablett kicked three goals, but this was not enough. The Bombers humbled Geelong by 76 points to force the Cats into a sudden-death Semi Final showdown with Melbourne. The Cats posted a 63-point win against the Demons. Ablett kicked seven goals, and helped set up another meeting with Essendon in the Preliminary Final. Ablett kicked 8 goals this time, as the Cats crushed Essendon by 94 points to advance to their first grand final since 1967.
Against the reigning premiers Hawthorn in the 1989 VFL Grand Final, Ablett asserted himself from the opening bounce, leading out from full forward, marking the first centre clearance kick and slotting through the game's first goal. By half-time, Ablett had kicked four goals, but the Cats trailed at the main break by 37 points. Ablett kicked a further five goals in the second half, which saw an injury-depleted Hawthorn's lead reduced to just 6 points with less than a minute to go. However, the Cats fell short, and Hawthorn held on to defeat Geelong in one of the toughest grand finals of the modern era, winning by 6 points. Ablett's performance in kicking 9 goals earned him the Norm Smith Medal, and in doing so became only the second member of the losing team in VFL/AFL history to be awarded the honour – a performance regarded by many as unrivalled on football's biggest stage. Ablett's 9 goals also saw him equal Gordon Coventry's goals record set in the 1928 Grand Final.
Shock retirement and return (1991–1992)
On 1 February 1991, Ablett, aged 29, stunned most football fans when he announced his retirement, citing personal reasons and a loss of enjoyment for the game. His previous season in 1990 was marred by injury, dipping motivation, and personal issues, including a separation from his wife. He was eventually encouraged to reverse his decision and he made his return in Round 12 for the Geelong reserves team. This generated enormous media interest and drew an abnormally large crowd for the curtain-raiser game at Princes Park.
Ablett was named in the senior side for the following game against , which drew a crowd of over 40,000 to the MCG. He had ten possessions and kicked two goals, one of them an important steadier for the Cats in the last quarter after the Demons had closed to within 24 points. Due to his late season start and lack of conditioning, it was probably no surprise that Ablett failed to recapture his best form, ending his season on a sour note when he was suspended for striking St Kilda rover Nathan Burke in the first week of the finals, and he subsequently missed Geelong's finals defeats to Hawthorn and West Coast.
Ablett put the disappointment of 1991 behind him, and he dedicated himself to improving his fitness base ahead of the 1992 season. A consistent first half of the year helped the Cats achieve an 11–3 record, eventually earning them a spot in the grand final—this time against the West Coast Eagles. After establishing a two-goal lead at half-time, the Cats failed to sustain their momentum during the second half, eventually going down by 28 points to the fast-finishing Eagles. Ablett, who finished with 3 goals, had again failed to finish the year with the same good form in which he had begun it.
One special season (1993)
Before the 1993 season, Ablett was encouraged by his coach, Malcolm Blight, to move from his customary roaming half-forward position to full-forward, in an effort to prolong his career. The move up forward proved to be a master-stroke, with Ablett thriving in his goal-kicking role, reaching the 50-goal mark in just six games, equalling the sixty-year record of South Melbourne legend Bob Pratt. He brought up his maiden century of goals in the season just eight games later, one game slower than record-holder Pratt, and became the first Geelong player to kick 100 goals in a season since Larry Donohue in 1976. Although the Cats did not make the Finals, Ablett's new-found dominance up forward was highlighted during the season with his bags of ten or more goals on five occasions, including a 14-goal performance against Essendon in Round 6. His end-of-season total of 124 goals, achieved in just 17 appearances, earned him his first Coleman Medal as the League's leading goal-scorer, the Leigh Matthews Trophy, the AFMA Player of the Year Award, and a top-ten placing in the Brownlow Medal.
1993 to 1996
Ablett continued his dominance as a full-forward in 1994 and 1995 by winning the Coleman Medal in each year. Ablett is the only player in VFL/AFL history to kick 100 goals and win the Coleman Medal in three successive seasons. In addition to his explosive pace and skills, Ablett was also an accomplished aerialist with strong hands. A highlight was the 1994 Mark of the Year over Collingwood's Gary Pert on Mother's Day at the MCG, a mark which is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting the Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport. There is still debate over whether he had enough control of the ball to be paid a mark.
In early 1996, Ablett was suspended for five games for striking St Kilda's 172 cm Kristian Bardsley with a raised forearm. He later remarked that his lengthy suspension was the "beginning of the end", and he finished out the season with 69 goals in 17 games. His last AFL appearance was against North Melbourne in a Qualifying Final in 1996. Ablett managed to kick only one goal in a disappointing 60-point loss. In October 1996, he missed Geelong's first training session and was fined $10,000.
On 22 November 1996, Ablett was admitted to hospital with a severe bout of gastro. On 28 November, Ablett faced traffic charges.
1997, end of career
Ablett was ready to start the serious training with the club by the first week of January. By February, it was reported that he was still under pressure to improve his fitness. In March, Geelong confirmed that Ablett would play in 1997. On Sunday, 31 March 1997, Ablett played in the reserves against Richmond. Gary booted 7 goals but injured his knee. Three days later, on 3 April, he underwent arthroscopic surgery. In early June, Ablett had still not recovered; he faced knee surgery. During the preliminary finals in September, he announced his retirement from football.
State of Origin
Ablett had a prolific State of Origin career, kicking 43 goals in 11 games. He was first selected to play for Victoria in 1984, against Western Australia, only nine games into his career at Geelong, kicking 8 goals in a best-on-ground performance.
He performed well again the following year, kicking 4 goals against South Australia. In the following few years Ablett was largely out of the side, apart from 1987, when he kicked 2 goals against South Australia. Ablett again performed at the highest level in 1990, kicking 6 goals, against Western Australia in Perth. After returning from retirement midway through 1991, and after only several games, Ablett was controversially selected for Victoria, kicking 2 goals. In 1992 Ablett performed well, kicking 3 goals and being named among the best players, against Western Australia.
In 1993, he kicked 4 goals, against a combined New South Wales–Australian Capital Territory side, and in the same year Ablett again performed on the big stage, kicking 5 goals in the State of Origin Carnival Grand Final. In 1994, he kicked 4 goals, against South Australia, in what has been regarded as "one of the greatest Australian football games of all time" and followed up that performance with 4 goals against South Australia in 1995. On representing Victoria, Ablett has said "I've always found it a tremendous honour to represent your state, in a State of Origin game".
Legacy
Ablett combined strength, speed, and skill to produce many spectacular highlights and goal-kicking feats. A noted big game player, Ablett kicked 43 goals in 11 State appearances. Also significantly, he booted 64 goals over the course of his 16 finals – an average of four goals a game. His individual haul of 27 goals in the 1989 finals series from four games is a VFL/AFL record that still stands. He was awarded the Norm Smith Medal for his performance in the 1989 Grand Final, where he was adjudged best player afield. In doing so, he became one of only four players to win the medal playing for the losing side (the others being Maurice Rioli in 1982, Nathan Buckley in 2002, and Chris Judd in 2005). In 1996, Ablett joined Gordon Coventry, Doug Wade, Jason Dunstall, and Tony Lockett as the only players in league history to kick 1000 VFL/AFL goals. Lance Franklin would join this exclusive club in 2022.
Martin Flanagan's representation of Australian football pioneer Tom Wills in his 1996 novel The Call is modeled on Ablett. According to Flanagan, Wills and Ablett polarised opinion in similar ways, and displayed a lack of insight into their actions—they simply did what came naturally to them, "like a lot of artists". Ablett is the subject of the song "Kicking the Footy with God", released by The Bedroom Philosopher on his 2005 debut album In Bed with My Doona.
In 1996, Ablett was named in the AFL Team of the Century on the interchange bench, alongside Jack Dyer and Greg Williams. In 2001, Ablett was named in the Geelong Team of the Century, on a half-forward flank. In 2005, after many years of controversy and debate (see below), he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. The following year, he was honoured yet again when he was voted as the Greatest Geelong player of all-time ahead of Graham Farmer.
In 2006, Ablett was honoured with the naming of a terrace in his name within the newly renovated Skilled Stadium. Ablett once had a set of gates named in his honour, but he was upgraded to a terrace at the beginning of the 2006 AFL season.
Induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame
Despite his footballing achievements on the field, Ablett's induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame was initially delayed. Despite Ablett's undoubted footballing credentials, his well-publicised contribution to the death of Alisha Horan was responsible for the Australian Football Hall of Fame committee's reluctance to induct him. In 2004, after several years of speculation over his induction, Ablett personally requested that the Geelong Football Club stop nominating him for selection, which the club agreed to. However, the following year it was announced that Ablett would be inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the 2005 intake.
Ablett did not attend the induction ceremony and instead released a statement through his then-manager, Michael Baker:
"Due to my current battle with depression I am not in a position to be able to accept this award in person. I did not make this decision lightly but due to medical advice it was deemed best for my health that I do not attend tonight. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to play this great game and also to have played at the elite level alongside many celebrated champions. Being chosen to be inducted into the Hall of Fame is one of the highest honours a player could dream of. I thank those who deem me worthy enough to be placed alongside such respected company."
Personal life
The youngest of eight children, Ablett grew up alongside four elder brothers and three elder sisters. In 1985, Ablett wed his long-time girlfriend Sue, and the couple had four children – Natasha, Gary Jr., Nathan, and Alisha.
In 1986, Ablett became a born-again Christian and has been said to be slightly aggrieved at constantly being referred to as "God" by fans, a nickname based on his supreme football abilities. Ablett's faith was often highlighted in several tribunal appearances, in one case confessing and pleading guilty to striking Garry Lyon in a 1989 incident, declaring he "wasn't prepared to lie about it or compromise the truth in [his] relationship with God". Ablett's public acknowledgement of his faith, in particular the influence of God in his life, during his acceptance speech for the Norm Smith Medal in the 1989 Grand Final, was also much publicised.
On 26 June 2006, Ablett was allegedly assaulted at 11:15pm while browsing through a car yard in Fyans Street, South Geelong. A 31-year-old Geelong man was charged with the assault. However, he was reported to have committed suicide on 10 July 2006 by jumping from a Melbourne high-rise apartment block the day before he was due to appear before the Geelong Magistrates court to defend the assault charges.
In December 2007, Ablett hit back at media claims that his son Nathan had walked away from his football career because of the publicity surrounding the release of a new book about his father. Although normally reluctant to make public comments, Ablett felt that the media intrusion into his family life had gone too far. As part of a series of books, Legends of Australian Sport, Ablett contributed to a book regarding himself. It was the first time he revealed intimate details regarding his life publicly.
In September 2020, Ablett released a 27-minute YouTube video discussing his belief in the rapture as being forthcoming. In this video, he declared that the COVID-19 pandemic had been manufactured and released by the Illuminati and Freemasons in order to depopulate Earth, create a cashless society and "put Lucifer on the throne of the world".
A footballing family
Two of Ablett's brothers played in the Victorian Football League – Kevin Ablett, who played for Hawthorn, Richmond and Geelong, and Geoff Ablett, who played for Hawthorn, Richmond and St Kilda.
Ablett's eldest son, Gary Jr., has followed in his footsteps to play for Geelong. In 2007 and 2009, Ablett Jr. won the Cats' best and fairest award, emulating a feat established by his father in his first season with the Cats back in 1984; he also won the Brownlow Medal in 2009 and 2013. Another son, Nathan, was drafted in 2004 (48th pick) by Geelong under the father-son rule. Nathan initially refused to play AFL Football because of his father's experience with the media, but, with encouragement from the club, was signed ahead of the 2005 AFL Season and established himself in the full forward role Gary Sr. made his own.
On 29 September 2007, both Gary Jr. and Nathan contributed to Geelong winning its first flag in 44 years, capturing the premiership that proved elusive to Gary Snr in his 12 years at the club. Nathan retired suddenly before the 2008 season, but he and his brother Gary Jr. were members of the Gold Coast Football Club's inaugural team for the 2011 season.
In addition to his sons, Ablett has a nephew, Luke Ablett, who played for the Sydney Swans and won a premiership with them in 2005. Two other nephews, from his sister's marriage to Hawthorn legend Michael Tuck, also played in the AFL – Richmond's Shane Tuck and Travis Tuck, who played for Hawthorn.
Criminal offences
Ablett had well-documented off-field problems, particularly with illegal drug use, and depression in the wake of the Alisha Horan death. In 1990, Ablett was placed on a $10,000 good behaviour bond after he pleaded guilty to repeatedly hitting a man he found sitting in a car with his estranged wife.
In 2000, Ablett was investigated, charged and convicted of four drug offences as a result of nineteen-year-old Geelong woman Alisha Horan dying of a drug overdose (involving heroin, ecstasy and amphetamines) while in Ablett's hotel room. After a prolonged period of refusing to answer police questions and refusing to answer questions at an April 2001 inquest (on the grounds that he may incriminate himself), Ablett later admitted to providing Horan with heroin and ecstasy. Horan had found a small quantity of heroin in Ablett's coat pocket and asked him what it was. Rather than admit that it was heroin, Ablett told her it was cocaine, which they both then ingested, leading to Horan's overdose. Ablett wasn't charged with manslaughter, but he pleaded guilty to four lesser charges, was convicted, and fined $1500.
Concussion lawsuit
In April 2023, Ablett commenced legal proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria against the AFL and the Geelong and Hawthorn football clubs claiming breach of duty and negligence over AFL-related brain injuries that he suffered during his playing career.
Statistics
In 2019, a sharp-eyed "footy history enthusiast" by the name of Stephen Wade noticed a statistical discrepancy while watching a YouTube video of a 1982 game that had been uploaded in 2017. He found a discrepancy with the goal total, as he saw Ablett kick two but was only credited for one. Wade brought his discovery to the attention of Col Hutchinson, the AFL's statistics and history consultant, who updated the official records. The goal, which had been erroneously attributed to Hawthorn teammate Richard Loveridge for 37 years, increased Ablett's total goal tally from 1,030 to 1,031.
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1982
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 35 || 6 || 11 || 13 || 47 || 21 || 68 || 26 || || 1.5 || 2.2 || 7.8 || 3.5 || 11.3 || 4.3 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1984
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 15 || 33 || 28 || 238 || 61 || 299 || 86 || || 2.2 || 1.9 || 15.9 || 4.1 || 19.9 || 5.7 ||
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1985
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 20 || 82 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 67 || 274 || 62 || 336 || 135 || || 4.1 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 3.4 || 13.7 || 3.1 || 16.8 || 6.8 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1986
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 15 || 65 || 49 || 185 || 39 || 224 || 101 || || 4.3 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 3.3 || 12.3 || 2.6 || 14.9 || 6.7 ||
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1987
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 17 || 53 || 38 || 200 || 46 || 246 || 86 || 19 || 3.1 || 2.2 || 11.8 || 2.7 || 14.5 || 5.1 || 1.1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1988
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 21 || 82 || bgcolor="CFECEC"| 62 || 253 || 42 || 295 || 117 || 19 || 3.9 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 3.0 || 12.0 || 2.0 || 14.0 || 5.6 || 0.9
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1989
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 23 || 87 || 54 || 378 || 68 || 446 || 151 || 29 || 3.8 || 2.3 || 16.4 || 3.0 || 19.4 || 6.6 || 1.3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1990
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 17 || 75 || 43 || 224 || 47 || 271 || 100 || 21 || 4.4 || 2.5 || 13.2 || 2.8 || 15.9 || 5.9 || 1.2
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1991
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 12 || 28 || 27 || 144 || 21 || 165 || 55 || 20 || 2.3 || 2.3 || 12.0 || 1.8 || 13.8 || 4.6 || 1.7
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1992
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 21 || 72 || 54 || 324 || 61 || 385 || 118 || 33 || 3.4 || 2.6 || 15.4 || 2.9 || 18.3 || 5.6 || 1.6
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1993
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 17 || bgcolor="CFECEC"| 124 || bgcolor="CFECEC"| 60 || 233 || 13 || 246 || 111 || 10 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 7.3 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 3.5 || 13.7 || 0.8 || 14.5 || 6.5 || 0.6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1994
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 25 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 129 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 79 || 263 || 30 || 293 || 130 || 15 || 5.2 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 3.2 || 10.5 || 1.2 || 11.7 || 5.2 || 0.6
|- style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1995
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 22 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 122 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 85 || 264 || 19 || 283 || 148 || 18 || bgcolor="CFECEC"| 5.5 || bgcolor="DD6E81"| 3.9 || 12.0 || 0.9 || 12.9 || 6.7 || 0.8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1996
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || 17 || 69 || 31 || 159 || 31 || 190 || 71 || 13 || 4.1 || 1.8 || 9.4 || 1.8 || 11.2 || 4.2 || 0.8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1997
|style="text-align:center;"|
| 5 || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || -
|- class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3| Career
! 248
! 1031
! 690
! 3186
! 561
! 3747
! 1435
! 197
! 4.2
! 2.8
! 12.8
! 2.3
! 15.1
! 5.8
! 1.0
|- class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3| Career
! 248
! 1031
! 690
! 3186
! 561
! 3747
! 1435
! 197
! 4.2
! 2.8
! 12.8
! 2.3
! 15.1
! 5.8
! 1.0
|}
Honours and achievements
Team
McClelland Trophy (): 1992
Individual
Norm Smith Medal: 1989
3× Coleman Medal: 1993, 1994, 1995
4× All-Australian team: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
Carji Greeves Medal: 1984
Leigh Matthews Trophy (AFL MVP Award): 1993
9× Geelong leading goalkicker: 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
Geelong Team of the Century
Geelong captain: 1995–1996
2× Alex Jesaulenko Medal: 1985, 1994
Geelong F.C. Hall of Fame
Australian Sports Medal: 2000
Centenary Medal: 2001
Australian Football League Team of the Century 1897-1996
VFL/AFL players with 1,000 goals
8× State of Origin (Victoria): 1984, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 (c)
Australian Football Media Association Player of the Year: 1993Australian Football Hall of Fame: 2005 Inductee5th on all-time leading goal-kickersAll-time leading goal kicker for Geelong F.C. (1021 goals)Only player to have won Coleman Medal and kicked 100 goals in three consecutive seasons (1993–1995)Oldest player to kick 100 goals in a season (33 years old in 1995)Most goals in an AFL/VFL Grand Final (9 goals in 1989 Grand Final)Most goals in an AFL/VFL finals series (27 goals in 1989)Highest goals-per-game ratio in Geelong F.C. history (4.22 goals per game)4-time runner-up in Carji Greeves Medal (1985, 1993, 1994, 1995)3-time third-place getter in Carji Greeves Medal (1986, 1989, 1990)'''
See also
After the siren kicks in Australian rules football
Alf Williamson
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
Gary Ablett's profile at AustralianFootball.com
Category:1961 births
Gary
Category:All-Australians (AFL)
Category:Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Carji Greeves Medal winners
Category:Coleman Medal winners
Category:Geelong Football Club players
Category:Hawthorn Football Club players
Category:Leigh Matthews Trophy winners
Category:Living people
Category:Norm Smith Medal winners
Category:Australian rules footballers from Geelong
Category:Victorian State of Origin players
Category:Myrtleford Football Club players
Category:Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal
Category:Recipients of the Centenary Medal
Category:Australian Christians | [
{
"text": "Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes bibliography as a word having two senses: one, a list of books for further study or of works consulted by an author (or enumerative bibliography); the other one, applicable for collectors, is \"the study of books as physical objects\" and \"the systematic description of books as objects\" (or descriptive bibliography).\n\nEtymology \nThe word was used by Greek writers in the first three centuries CE to mean the copying of books by hand. In the 12th century, the word started being used for \"the intellectual activity of composing books.\" The 17th century then saw the emergence of the modern meaning, that of description of books. Currently, the field of bibliography has expanded to include studies that consider the book as a material object. Bibliography, in its systematic pursuit of understanding the past and the present through written and printed documents, describes a way and means of extracting information from this material. Bibliographers are interested in comparing versions of texts to each other rather than in interpreting their meaning or assessing their significance.\n\nField of study \nBibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868–1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about \"the science of bibliography.\" However, there have recently been voices claiming that \"the bibliographical paradigm\" is obsolete, and it is not today common in LIS. A defence of the bibliographical paradigm was provided by Hjørland (2007).\n\nThe quantitative study of bibliographies is known as bibliometrics, which is today an influential subfield in LIS and is used for major collection decisions such as the cancellation of big deals, through data analysis tools like Unpaywall Journals.\n\nBranches \nCarter and Barker describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). These two distinct concepts and practices have separate rationales and serve differing purposes. Innovators and originators in the field include W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, Philip Gaskell and G. Thomas Tanselle.\n\nBowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production (3). He refers to descriptive bibliography as the systematic description of a book as a material or physical artefact. Analytical bibliography, the cornerstone of descriptive bibliography, investigates the printing and all physical features of a book that yield evidence establishing a book's history and transmission (Feather 10). It is the preliminary phase of bibliographic description and provides the vocabulary, principles and techniques of analysis that descriptive bibliographers apply and on which they base their descriptive practice.\n\nDescriptive bibliographers follow specific conventions and associated classification in their description. Titles and title pages are transcribed in a quasi-facsimile style and representation. Illustration, typeface, binding, paper, and all physical elements related to identifying a book follow formulaic conventions, as Bowers established in his foundational opus, The Principles of Bibliographic Description. The thought expressed in this book expands substantively on W. W. Greg's groundbreaking theory that argued for the adoption of formal bibliographic principles (Greg 29). Fundamentally, analytical bibliography is concerned with objective, physical analysis and history of a book while descriptive bibliography employs all data that analytical bibliography furnishes and then codifies it with a view to identifying the ideal copy or form of a book that most nearly represents the printer's initial conception and intention in printing.\n\nIn addition to viewing bibliographic study as being composed of four interdependent approaches (enumerative, descriptive, analytical, and textual), Bowers notes two further subcategories of research, namely historical bibliography and aesthetic bibliography. Both historical bibliography, which involves the investigation of printing practices, tools, and related documents, and aesthetic bibliography, which examines the art of designing type and books, are often employed by analytical bibliographers.\n\nD. F. McKenzie extended previous notions of bibliography as set forth by Greg, Bowers, Gaskell and Tanselle. He describes the nature of bibliography as \"the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the processes of their transmission, including their production and reception\" (1999 12). This concept broadens the scope of bibliography to include \"non-book texts\" and an accounting for their material form and structure, as well as textual variations, technical and production processes that bring sociocultural context and effects into play. McKenzie's perspective contextualizes textual objects or artefacts with sociological and technical factors that have an effect on production, transmission and, ultimately, ideal copy (2002 14). Bibliography, generally, concerns the material conditions of books [as well as other texts] how they are designed, edited, printed, circulated, reprinted, collected.\n\nBibliographic works differ in the amount of detail depending on the purpose and can generally be divided into two categories: enumerative bibliography (also called compilative, reference or systematic), which results in an overview of publications in a particular category and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books. In earlier times, bibliography mostly focused on books. Now, both categories of bibliography cover works in other media including audio recordings, motion pictures and videos, graphic objects, databases, CD-ROMs and websites.\n\nEnumerative bibliography \n\nAn enumerative bibliography is a systematic list of books and other works such as journal articles. Bibliographies range from \"works cited\" lists at the end of books and articles, to complete and independent publications. A notable example of a complete, independent publication is Gow's A. E. Housman: A Sketch, Together with a List of His Classical Papers (1936). As separate works, they may be in bound volumes such as those shown on the right, or computerized bibliographic databases. A library catalog, while not referred to as a \"bibliography,\" is bibliographic in nature. Bibliographical works are almost always considered to be tertiary sources.\n\nEnumerative bibliographies are based on a unifying principle such as creator, subject, date, topic or other characteristic. An entry in an enumerative bibliography provides the core elements of a text resource including a title, the creator(s), publication date and place of publication. Belanger (1977) distinguishes an enumerative bibliography from other bibliographic forms such as descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography or textual bibliography in that its function is to record and list, rather than describe a source in detail or with any reference to the source's physical nature, materiality or textual transmission. The enumerative list may be comprehensive or selective. One noted example would be Tanselle's bibliography that exhaustively enumerates topics and sources related to all forms of bibliography. A more common and particular instance of an enumerative bibliography relates to specific sources used or considered in preparing a scholarly paper or academic term paper.\n\nCitation styles vary.\nAn entry for a book in a bibliography usually contains the following elements:\n creator(s)\n title\n place of publication\n publisher or printer\n date of publication\n\nAn entry for a journal or periodical article usually contains:\n creator(s)\n article title\n journal title\n volume\n pages\n date of publication\n\nA bibliography may be arranged by author, topic, or some other scheme. Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument. These descriptions, usually a few sentences long, provide a summary of the source and describe its relevance. Reference management software may be used to keep track of references and generate bibliographies as required.\n\nBibliographies differ from library catalogs by including only relevant items rather than all items present in a particular library. However, the catalogs of some national libraries effectively serve as national bibliographies, as the national libraries own almost all their countries' publications.\n\nDescriptive bibliography \nFredson Bowers described and formulated a standardized practice of descriptive bibliography in his Principles of Bibliographical Description\n(1949). Scholars to this day treat Bowers' scholarly guide as authoritative. In this classic text, Bowers describes the basic function of bibliography as, \"[providing] sufficient data so that a reader may identify the book described, understand the printing, and recognize the precise contents\" (124).\n\nDescriptive bibliographies as scholarly product \nDescriptive bibliographies as a scholarly product usually include information on the following aspect of a given book as a material object:\nFormat and Collation/Pagination Statement—a conventional, symbolic formula that describes the book block in terms of sheets, folds, quires, signatures, and pages\n\nAccording to Bowers (193), the format of a book is usually abbreviated in the collation formula:\nBroadsheet: I° or b.s. or bs.\nFolio: 2° or fol.\nQuarto: 4° or 4to or Q° or Q\nOctavo: 8° or 8vo\nDuodecimo: 12° or 12mo\nSexto-decimo: 16° or 16mo\nTricesimo-secundo: 32° or 32mo\nSexagesimo-quarto: 64° or 64mo\nThe collation, which follows the format, is the statement of the order and size of the gatherings.\nFor example, a quarto that consists of the signed gatherings:\n2 leaves signed A, 4 leaves signed B, 4 leaves signed C, and 2 leaves signed D\nwould be represented in the collation formula:\n4°: A2B-C4D2\nBinding—a description of the binding techniques (generally for books printed after 1800)\nTitle Page Transcription—a transcription of the title page, including rule lines and ornaments\nContents—a listing of the contents (by section) in the book\nPaper—a description of the physical properties of the paper, including production process, an account of chain-line measurements, and a description of watermarks (if present)\nIllustrations—a description of the illustrations found in the book, including printing process (e.g. woodblock, intaglio, etc.), measurements, and locations in the text\nPresswork—miscellaneous details gleaned from the text about its production\nCopies Examined—an enumeration of the copies examined, including those copies' location (i.e. belonging to which library or collector)\n\nAnalytical bibliography \nThis branch of the bibliographic discipline examines the material features of a textual artefact—such as type, ink, paper, imposition, format, impressions and states of a book—to essentially recreate the conditions of its production. Analytical bibliography often uses collateral evidence—such as general printing practices, trends in format, responses and non-responses to design, etc.—to scrutinize the historical conventions and influences underlying the physical appearance of a text. The bibliographer utilizes knowledge gained from the investigation of physical evidence in the form of a descriptive bibliography or textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination and cataloging of a text as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while textual bibliography (or textual criticism) identifies variations—and the aetiology of variations—in a text with a view to determining \"the establishment of the most correct form of [a] text\" (Bowers 498[1]).\n\nBibliographers \n\nA bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. A person who limits such efforts to a specific field or discipline is a subject bibliographer.\"\n\nA bibliographer, in the technical meaning of the word, is anyone who writes about books. But the accepted meaning since at least the 18th century is a person who attempts a comprehensive account—sometimes just a list, sometimes a fuller reckoning—of the books written on a particular subject. In the present, bibliography is no longer a career, generally speaking; bibliographies tend to be written on highly specific subjects and by specialists in the field.\n\nThe term bibliographer is sometimes—in particular subject bibliographer—today used about certain roles performed in libraries and bibliographic databases.\n\nOne of the first bibliographers was Conrad Gessner who sought to list all books printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in Bibliotheca Universalis (1545).\n\nNon-book material \nSystematic lists of media other than books can be referred to with terms formed analogously to bibliography:\n Discography—recorded music\n Filmography—films\n Webography (or webliography)—websites\n Arachniography, a term coined by NASA research historian Andrew J. Butrica, which means a reference list of URLs about a particular subject. It is equivalent to a bibliography in a book. The name derives from arachne in reference to a spider and its web.\n\nSee also \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (in Wikipedia)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Blum, Rudolf. (1980) Bibliographia. An Inquiry in Its Definition and Designations, Dawson, American Library Association.\n Bowers, Fredson. (1995) Principles of Bibliographical Description, Oak Knoll Press.\n Duncan, Paul Shaner. (1973) How to Catalog a Rare Book, 2nd ed., rev., American Library Association.\n \n Gaskell, Philip. (2000) A New Introduction to Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press.\n McKerrow, R. B. (1927) An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford: Clarendon Press\n Schneider, Georg. (1934) Theory and History of Bibliography, New York: Scarecrow Press.\n National Library of Canada, Committee on Bibliography and Information Services for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Guidelines for the Compilation of a Bibliography (National Library of Canada, 1987). N.B.: This is a brief guide to accurately practical bibliography, not a study concerning more precise and systematic bibliography.\n \nRobinson, A. M. Lewin (1966) Systematic Bibliography; rev. ed. London: Clive Bingley\n\nExternal links \n\n Oxford Bibliographies Online, in-depth annotated bibliographies by scholars in selected fields\n Introduction to Bibliography, a comprehensive syllabus by G. Thomas Tanselle\n The Bibliographical Society of America, a resource for information about current work in the field of bibliography\n Studies in Bibliography, the journal of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia\n A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology, (University of Zaragoza) includes thousands of listings on literary, philological and other subjects\n\n \nCategory:Book design\nCategory:Book terminology\nCategory:Textual scholarship",
"title": "Bibliography"
},
{
"text": "Gary may refer to: \nGary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name\nGary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary\n\nPlaces \nIran\nGary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province\nUnited States\nGary (Tampa), Florida\nGary, Maryland\nGary, Minnesota\nGary, South Dakota\nGary, West Virginia\nGary – New Duluth, a neighborhood in Duluth, Minnesota\nGary Air Force Base, San Marcos, Texas\nGary City, Texas\n\nShips\nUSS Gary (DE-61), a destroyer escort launched in 1943\nUSS Gary (CL-147), scheduled to be a light cruiser, but canceled prior to construction in 1945\nUSS Gary (FFG-51), a frigate, commissioned in 1984\nUSS Thomas J. Gary (DE-326), a destroyer escort commissioned in 1943\n\nPeople and fictional characters\nGary (surname), including a list of people with the name\nGary (rapper), South Korean rapper and entertainer\nGary (Argentine singer), Argentine singer of cuarteto songs\n\nOther uses\nGary: Tank Commander, a British television sitcom\nGary (mango), a mango cultivar\n4735 Gary, an asteroid\nGary Elks, an American football team from 1920 to 1923\n\nSee also\n Garry (disambiguation)\n Gareth (given name)\n Garath (disambiguation)\n Garaidh, a given name",
"title": "Gary"
}
] | [
"Ablett's legacy includes being one of the only five players in the league history to kick 1000 VFL/AFL goals, and being named in the AFL Team of the Century on the interchange bench, alongside Jack Dyer and Greg Williams. He was named in the Geelong Team of the Century, and in 2005, he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. The following year, he was voted as the Greatest Geelong player of all-time ahead of Graham Farmer. Ablett has also been honored with a terrace in his name within the newly renovated Skilled Stadium after previously having a set of gates named in his honor.",
"Ablett was awarded the Norm Smith Medal for his performance in the 1989 Grand Final, where he was considered the best player on the field. He is one of only four players to win the medal playing for the losing team. He was also inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2005. In addition, he was named in the AFL Team of the Century and the Geelong Team of the Century.",
"In 2006, Ablett was honoured with the naming of a terrace within the newly renovated Skilled Stadium. He once had a set of gates named in his honour, but this was upgraded to a terrace at the beginning of the 2006 AFL season. He was also voted as the Greatest Geelong player of all-time in 2006.",
"The representation of Australian football pioneer Tom Wills in Martin Flanagan's 1996 novel The Call is modeled on Ablett. In addition, Ablett is the subject of the song \"Kicking the Footy with God\", which was released by The Bedroom Philosopher on his 2005 debut album In Bed with My Doona. His record of scoring 27 goals in the 1989 finals series still stands. Ablett also cemented his legacy as a big game player, with a record of kicking an average of four goals a game over the course of his 16 finals.",
"In addition to his on-field accomplishments and awards, Ablett has been equally remarkable in the way he has influenced perceptions and set precedents. For instance, he was one of the only four players in history to win the Norm Smith Medal even when playing for the losing side, thereby redefining what individual success could like within a team sport context. His narrative has also been used by authors and musicians, such as in Martin Flanagan's novel and The Bedroom Philosopher's song, pointing towards his cultural significance. Lastly, through his polarizing actions, he showcased that there could be different ways to approach the same game, thereby contributing to the diversity of styles within Australian football.",
"Ablett's legacy is multi-faceted, touching not just sports, but also culture and history. His records such as kicking 1000 VFL/AFL goals and 27 goals in the 1989 finals series - a feat that still stands, mark him as one of the greats in Australian football. He won the Norm Smith medal for his 1989 Grand Final performance, uniquely doing so while on the losing team. Beyond the field, he influenced cultural representations with his narrative inspiring a character in Martin Flanagan's novel and a song by The Bedroom Philosopher. His prowess earned him a spot in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, and recognitions like the Greatest Geelong player of all time, while his impact is commemorated with a terrace named after him at Skilled Stadium.",
"Ablett's most notable achievements include being one of only five players in league history to kick 1000 VFL/AFL goals and setting a record by scoring 27 goals in the 1989 finals series - a record that still stands. He won the Norm Smith Medal for his performance in the 1989 Grand Final and is one of only four players to win the medal while playing for the losing side. He was named in both the AFL Team of the Century and the Geelong Team of the Century, and he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2006, he was voted the Greatest Geelong player of all time.",
"In addition to the various awards and recognitions, Ablett was honoured with the naming of a terrace within the newly renovated Skilled Stadium in 2006. Previously, a set of gates had been named in his honour at the same stadium, which was then upgraded to a terrace.",
"The text does not provide information on any scandals or criticism in Ablett's legacy."
] | [
"No",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_0 | Take That | Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester, in 1989. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the group's lead singer and primary songwriter, with Owen and Williams initially providing backing vocals and Donald and Orange serving primarily as dancers. | 2014-2015: Robbie Williams's second departure, Jason Orange's departure and III | In May 2013, Owen announced that Take That were to begin recording their seventh studio album in 2014 and On 14 January 2014, Donald and Barlow both tweeted that Take That had entered the studio to begin recording the album, although it was not initially clear if Williams was present at these recording sessions. On 28 April 2014, Williams announced on Twitter he was to become a dad for a second time, and consequently suggested he would be unable to join Take That on their album and tour. Barlow later confirmed that Williams had left the band for a second time, although the departure was amicable and that Williams was welcome to rejoin the band in the future. Williams has since collaborated with Barlow on several projects and duet performances and indicated his interest in reuniting with the band for potential 25th anniversary commemorative events. On 24 September 2014, it was announced that Jason Orange had left the band. He said: 'At a band meeting last week I confirmed to Mark, Gary and Howard that I do not wish to commit to recording and promoting a new album. 'At the end of The Progress Tour I began to question whether it might be the right time for me to not continue on with Take That,' he continued. 'There have been no fallings out, only a decision on my part that I no longer wish to do this,' he added. Barlow, Donald and Owen issued a joint statement about Orange's decision which said: "This is a sad day for us. Jason leaving is a huge loss both professionally and even more so personally ... Jason's energy and belief in what this band could achieve has made it what it is today, and we'll forever be grateful for his enthusiasm, dedication and inspiration over the years." On 10 October 2014, Take That unveiled the lead single from the album. Titled "These Days", it was released on 23 November 2014 and went to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart, knocking Band Aid 30 off the top spot and becoming their 12th number one single. The album itself, called III, was released on 28 November 2014 and became the band's seventh No. 1 album. It was then followed by a sell-out arena tour entitled Take That Live. On 14 October 2015, the band announced their new single "Hey Boy", released on 16 October, which is the first single from the 2015 re-release of III. The 2015 edition of the album was released on 20 November. In December 2015, British media buzzed about the group embarking on a stint in Las Vegas, starting 2017. Reports indicated the group impressed U.S. promoters and would headline their own residency show. Many venues circulated, including The AXIS at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, The Foundry at SLS Las Vegas and the Linq Theater at The LINQ Hotel & Casino. Local newspaper, the Las Vegas Sun writes that everything is still unconfirmed, despite Barlow confirming the rumour on Twitter. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_0_q#0",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_0_q#1",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_0_q#2",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_0_q#3",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_0_q#4",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_0_q#5",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_0_q#6",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_0_q#7"
] | [
"Why did Robbie Williams depart?",
"Why did Jason Orange leave the band?",
"Was is III?",
"Did they tour to promote the album?",
"Were there any singles from the album?",
"How did that single perform?",
"What was the critics response to III?",
"Did the album win any awards?"
] | [
2,
0,
0,
1,
0,
1,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
0,
0,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
332
],
[
947
],
[
1960
],
[
2066
],
[
2138
],
[
2842
],
[
2842
],
[
2842
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Williams announced on Twitter he was to become a dad for a second time, and consequently suggested he would be unable to join Take That on their album and tour."
],
[
"At a band meeting last week I confirmed to Mark, Gary and Howard that I do not wish to commit to recording and promoting a new album."
],
[
"The album itself, called III, was released on 28 November 2014 and became the band's seventh No. 1 album."
],
[
"It was then followed by a sell-out arena tour entitled Take That Live."
],
[
"On 14 October 2015, the band announced their new single \"Hey Boy\", released on 16 October, which is the first single from the 2015 re-release of III."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
332,
947,
1960,
2066,
2138,
2842,
2842,
2842
],
"texts": [
"Williams announced on Twitter he was to become a dad for a second time, and consequently suggested he would be unable to join Take That on their album and tour.",
"At a band meeting last week I confirmed to Mark, Gary and Howard that I do not wish to commit to recording and promoting a new album.",
"The album itself, called III, was released on 28 November 2014 and became the band's seventh No. 1 album.",
"It was then followed by a sell-out arena tour entitled Take That Live.",
"On 14 October 2015, the band announced their new single \"Hey Boy\", released on 16 October, which is the first single from the 2015 re-release of III.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer and primary songwriter, with Owen and Williams initially providing backing vocals and Donald and Orange serving primarily as dancers.
The group have had 28 top-40 singles and 17 top-5 singles on the UK Singles Chart, 12 of which have reached number one, including "Back for Good", "Never Forget", "Patience" and "Greatest Day". They have also had eight number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart. Internationally, the band have had 56 number one singles and 39 number-one albums. They have received eight Brit Awards—winning for Best British Group and Best British Live Act. In 2012 they received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), Take That has been certified for 14 million albums and 11.4 million singles in the UK.
Williams left the band in 1995 while the four remaining members completed their world tour and released a final single before splitting up in 1996. After filming a 2005 Take That: For the Record about the group and releasing a new greatest hits album, a four-piece Take That without Williams officially announced a 2006 reunion tour around the UK, entitled The Ultimate Tour. On 9 May 2006, it was announced that the group were set to record new material together once again; their fourth studio album, Beautiful World, was released in 2006 and was followed up with The Circus, in 2008. The group achieved new success as a four-piece, scoring a string of chart hits across the UK and Europe while selling over 45 million records worldwide. Williams rejoined Take That in 2010 for the band's sixth studio album, Progress. Released on 15 November of that year, it was the first album of new material to feature Take That's original line-up since their 1995 album, Nobody Else. It became the fastest-selling album of the 21st century and the second fastest-selling album in British history.
In 2014, the band recorded a seventh studio album, this time as a trio without Williams and Orange. The album, titled III, was released in November 2014 and became the band's seventh number one. It was preceded by the single "These Days", which became the band's 12th number one single in the UK.
In 2011, Take That set the new record for the fastest-selling tour of all time in the UK with Progress Live, beating the previous record set by their Circus Live Tour in 2009. At the 2011 Brit Awards they won Best British Group. In 2012, Forbes named them the fifth highest-earning music stars in the world. The group performed at the London 2012 Olympic Games closing ceremony, playing "Rule the World" while the Olympic Flame was extinguished. In the same year, the Official Charts Company revealed the biggest-selling singles artists in British music chart history with Take That currently placed at 15th overall, making them the most successful boy band in UK chart history. Four of their albums are listed in the best-selling albums of the millennium, with three of them among the 60 best-selling albums in UK chart history.
History
1989–1990: Formation
In 1989, Manchester-based Nigel Martin-Smith sought to create a British male vocal singing group modelled on New Kids on the Block. Martin-Smith's vision, however, was to create a teen-oriented group that could appeal to multiple demographic segments within the music industry. Martin-Smith was then introduced to young singer-songwriter Gary Barlow, who had been performing in clubs since the age of 15. Impressed with Barlow's catalogue of self-written material, Martin-Smith decided to build his new-look boy band around Barlow's musical abilities. A campaign to audition young men with abilities in dancing and singing followed and took place in Manchester and other surrounding cities in 1990. At 22, Howard Donald was one of the oldest to audition, but was chosen after he got time off work as a vehicle painter to continue the process. A budding DJ, he and Barlow had a shared interest in electronic acts such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) and Gary Numan. Prior to auditioning, Jason Orange had appeared as a breakdancer on the popular television programme The Hit Man and Her. Martin-Smith also selected 18-year-old bank employee Mark Owen and finally 16-year-old Robbie Williams to round out the group, which initially went by the name Kick It.
1990–1992: Take That & Party
Take That's first TV appearance was on The Hit Man and Her in 1990, where they performed Barlow's self-written, unreleased song, "My Kind of Girl". They later appeared a second time to perform "Waiting Around", which would become the B-side for the first single, "Do What U Like". "Promises" and "Once You've Tasted Love" were also released as singles but were minor hits in the UK. Take That initially worked the same territory as their American counterparts, singing new jack R&B, urban soul, and mainstream pop. However, they worked their way toward Hi-NRG dance music, while also pursuing an adult contemporary ballad direction. As they aimed to break into the mainstream music industry, they worked a number of small clubs, schools, and events across the country building up a fanbase as they travelled to gigs constantly for months.
Take That's breakthrough single was a cover of the 1975 Tavares hit "It Only Takes a Minute", which peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart in June 1992. This success was followed by "I Found Heaven", then by the first Barlow ballad "A Million Love Songs", which also reached number seven in October. Their cover of the Barry Manilow hit "Could It Be Magic" gave them their first big success, peaking at number three in the UK in the first chart of 1993. Their first album, Take That & Party, was released in 1992, and included all the hit singles to date.
1993–1995: Everything Changes, Nobody Else and superstardom
1993 saw the release of Everything Changes, based on Barlow's original material. It peaked at number one in the UK and spawned six singles, with four being consecutive UK number one singles – their first number one "Pray", "Relight My Fire", "Babe" and the title track "Everything Changes". The lead single "Why Can't I Wake Up with You" had narrowly missed the top spot in the UK peaking at number two and the sixth and final single "Love Ain't Here Anymore" taken from the album reached number three on the UK charts. Everything Changes saw the band gain international success with the album being nominated for the 1994 Mercury Prize, but it failed to crack the U.S. market, where a U.S.-exclusive remix of "Love Ain't Here Anymore" gained little success.
By 1994, Take That had become radio and television stars across Europe and Asia, but it was not until 1995 that they did their first World Tour. It was during the years 1993–95 that the band fronted scores of magazine covers ranging from Smash Hits to GQ, becoming mass merchandised on all sorts of paraphernalia ranging from picture books, to posters, stickers, their own dolls, jewellery, caps, T-shirts, toothbrushes and even had their own annuals released. The band had also developed a large female teenage fanbase at the time. During this time, they performed at numerous music awards shows and chart shows such as the BRIT Awards and Top of the Pops, also winning the Best Live Act award in 1995 at the MTV Europe Music Awards, having been renowned for their breakdance routines, high energy and creative tour productions.
In 1995, Take That released their third studio album Nobody Else, again based on Barlow's own material which reached number 1 in the UK and across Europe, capturing new audiences along the way, with Take That also able to make inroads in the adult audience in Britain through Barlow's melodic, sensitive ballads. For nearly five years, Take That's popularity was unsurpassed in Britain. The release of the first single from the album, "Sure", achieved yet another number one in the UK charts. It was not until their second release from that album, however, that they would experience what would become their biggest hit single, "Back for Good", which reached number one in many countries including the UK, Germany, Australia, and Norway. It was also their only US hit, where it reached number seven.
The song was initially unveiled for the first time via live performance while at the 1995 BRIT Awards, and based on the reception of that performance, the record pre-sold more records than expected and forced the record label to bring the release date forward by an unprecedented six weeks. The album was also noted for its cover, which was a parody of the famed cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cover sleeve.
1995–1996: Break-up and Greatest Hits
Robbie Williams's drug abuse had escalated to a near drug overdose the night before the group was scheduled to perform at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 1994.
In June 1995, Williams was photographed by the press partying with Oasis at the Glastonbury Festival. The following month, the band offered him an ultimatum; he was to adhere to the band's responsibilities or leave before their scheduled world tour. Williams chose the latter. Williams claimed he was bored with Barlow's leadership and jealous of Barlow. Despite the loss of Williams, Take That continued to promote Nobody Else as a four-piece, scoring a further hit single with "Never Forget" with Donald on lead vocals. They subsequently went to America and completed the Nobody Else Tour in October 1995. Following the tour, the band began to plan for their next album; however, when they spent Christmas together, they mutually agreed it was time to part ways.
On 13 February 1996, Take That formally announced that they were disbanding. This was followed by the Greatest Hits compilation in 1996, which contained a new recording, a cover of the Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love". The single went on to become what was to be the band's final UK number one until their 2006 comeback a decade later. Take That gave what was thought to be their final performance in April 1996 at Amsterdam. Following the band's announcement, millions of their fans were distraught around the world and in the UK alone, teenage girls threatened suicide and were seen lining streets in tears, to the point that telephone hotlines were set up by the government to deal with counselling them. After the band broke up, highly respected music figures such as Elton John noted that Take That were different from other boy bands before and after them, in that they wrote their own material through Gary Barlow. Barlow is one of only a small number of people who have won an Ivor Novello award during their time in a boy band, with George Michael whilst in Wham! and Tony Mortimer whilst in East 17 being two others who have achieved this feat. Take That had also left a legacy of being immaculate performers with a very high work ethic, causing them to be voted in as the greatest boy band of all time.
2005–2006: Reunion as a quartet and Never Forget – The Ultimate Collection
On 14 November 2005, Never Forget – The Ultimate Collection, a new compilation of their hit singles including a new previously unreleased song, also achieved great success and peaked at number 2 on UK charts, selling over 2.4 million copies in the UK alone. The new song "Today I've Lost You" (recorded in September 2005) was originally written by Barlow as the follow up to "Back for Good" but was never recorded. On 16 November 2005, the group got back together for the ITV documentary Take That: For the Record, in which they aired their views over their fame, success, the split and what the post-Williams line-up had done since. On 25 November 2005, there was an official press conference by the band announcing that the post-Robbie Williams line-up was going to tour in 2006. The tour, entitled The Ultimate Tour, ran from April to June 2006. The tour featured a guest appearance by British soul singer Beverley Knight, who replaced Lulu's vocals on the song "Relight My Fire"; although Lulu did appear during the stadium shows on "Relight My Fire" and "Never Forget". The American female ensemble Pussycat Dolls supported the group at their Dublin concert, and the Sugababes supported the group on the final five dates of the stadium leg. In a seven-year study analysing over one billion online searches via Google conducted by AccuraCast, a leading digital search agency, their comeback was ranked at number one in the UK.
2006–2007: Beautiful World
On 9 May 2006, Take That returned to the recorded music scene after more than ten years of absence, signing with Polydor Records. The band's comeback album, Beautiful World, entered the UK Albums Chart at no. 1 and, as of June 2009, had sold over 2.8 million copies in the UK. It is the 35th best selling album in UK music history.
On Beautiful World, all four members of the band had the opportunity to sing lead vocals and contribute in the songwriting. Unlike the band's earlier works, where the majority of their material was written by Barlow who received sole credit, all four band members are credited as co-writers, along with John Shanks. The comeback single, "Patience", was released on 20 November 2006, with a special event launching it on 5 November.
On 26 November "Patience" hit number 1 in the UK in its second week of chart entry, making it the group's ninth No. 1, and staying there for 4 weeks. Take That also accompanied eventual winner Leona Lewis on a live version of "A Million Love Songs" during the final of The X Factor on 16 December 2006.
The week after Beautiful World was released, it was announced that Take That had become the first artists ever to top the UK official single and album charts along with the download single, download album and DVD charts in the same week, as well as topping the radio charts.
The video for the number 1 hit single "Shine", the follow-up to "Patience", premiered on 25 January 2007 on Channel 4, ahead of its release on 26 February 2007. The band's success continued on 14 February 2007 when Take That performed live at the BRIT Awards ceremony at Earl's Court. Their single "Patience" won the Best British Single category. The third single chosen from Beautiful World was "I'd Wait For Life", released on 18 June 2007 in the UK. The single reached 17 in the UK Singles Chart. This may have been due to lack of promotion, as the band decided to take a pre-tour break rather than do any promotion for the single. The single "Rule the World", included on the deluxe version of Beautiful World, was recorded for the soundtrack of the film Stardust (2007). It reached number two in the UK and went on to become the group's second best selling single, shifting over 1.2 million units in the UK. Beautiful World was the fourth biggest-selling album of 2007. It was announced at the start of 2007 that Take That signed a record deal with American label Interscope, and would also release their album in Canada. Starting on 11 October 2007, Take That began their Beautiful World Tour 2007 in Belfast. The tour included 49 shows throughout Europe and the UK and ended in Manchester on 23 December 2007. The band received four nominations at the 2008 BRIT Awards. Nominated for Best British Group, Best British Single ("Shine"), Best British Album (Beautiful World) and Best Live Act, they took home the Best Live Act and the Best British Single awards. According to a 2007 MSN UK internet poll, Take That were voted as the "comeback kings" of the year.
2008–2009: The Circus
"Greatest Day", the first single from the album The Circus, made its radio premiere on 13 October 2008 and it was released on 24 November. It debuted at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart on 30 November 2008. An album launch party for The Circus was held in Paris on 2 December. On its first day of release The Circus sold 133,000 copies, and after four days on sale it sold 306,000 copies (going platinum) making The Circus the fastest selling album of the year. The album reached number 1 on the UK Albums Chart on 7 December 2008 with total first-week sales of 432,490, the third highest opening sales week in UK history.
On 28 October 2008, on the Radio 1 Chris Moyles show, it was announced that Take That would be touring again in June/July 2009, covering the UK and Ireland. Tickets for the Take That Present: The Circus Live tour went on sale on 31 October. The promoters, SJM, have said that the band's tour is "the fastest selling in UK history".
On 22 May 2008, Barlow and Donald attended the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards where Take That won the award for Most Performed Work with their single "Shine". Take That won the Sony Ericsson Tour of the Year award at the Vodafone music awards on 18 September 2008. They were unable to attend as they were in LA finishing off The Circus. They did send a video link message, which was shown at the awards. On 22 November 2008, Take That appeared on week 7 of the talent show The X Factor where the finalists performed some of their greatest hits and Owen and Barlow made a guest appearance to personally coach the contestants. The band also performed on Children in Need 2008, singing their new single, "Greatest Day", before donating £250,000 to the charity from their Marks and Spencer fee. The band were also voted the Greatest Boy Band of All Time, reflecting their ongoing marketability and success in the pop arena, even after two decades.
At the 2009 Brit Awards they were nominated for Best British Group and they performed "Greatest Day" at the ceremony. "Up All Night", the second single from The Circus, was released on 2 March 2009, and peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart, despite heavy airplay. In Germany and Australia, "The Garden" was released as the second single instead. On 7 May 2009, Take That's official website confirmed that the third single from The Circus would be "Said It All" which was released on 15 June 2009, peaking at number 9 on the UK Singles chart. The video premiered on GMTV on 8 May 2009. It features all four band members dressed up as vintage circus clowns, which tied in with their forthcoming Take That Present: The Circus Live tour. Take That started their Circus Live tour at the Stadium of Light on 5 June 2009 in Sunderland and ended at the Wembley Stadium in London on 5 July 2009, which over 80,000 people attended. This tour quickly became the fastest-selling of all time, breaking all records by selling all of their 650,000 tickets in less than four and a half hours.
In November 2009 Take That released the official DVD of their Circus tour, which became the fastest-selling music DVD of all time in the UK on its first day of release and stayed in the top 10 of the videos chart for over a year. This overtook the previous record sales holder, which was Take That's Beautiful World Live tour and stayed at the number 1 spot for 8 weeks. The following week Take That released their first live album, The Greatest Day – Take That Present: The Circus Live, which sold 98,000 copies on its first day of release and was certified Platinum in July 2013. "Hold up a Light" was released as the fifth and final single from The Circus to radio stations and as a digital download to promote the release of the live album. The live album also featured a stripped down session recorded live at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. It featured the members singing the setlist from the preceding tour, albeit in a studio setting.
2010–2011: Williams' return and Progress
On 7 June 2010, the news broke of a single called "Shame", which had been written by Barlow and Williams and would feature the vocals of both artists. This was the first time the pair had worked together since 1995 and would appear on the second greatest hits collection of Williams. "Heart and I", another track from the same album, was also co-written by Williams and Barlow. The single "Shame" peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart while also achieving success throughout Europe, charting in over 19 countries.
After working with the band on new material in Los Angeles, on 15 July 2010 Robbie Williams announced he was returning to Take That. After months of working together, assembling new songs for a new album and even debating a band-name change to "The English", a joint statement between Williams and the group read, "The rumours are true ... Take That: the original lineup, have written and recorded a new album for release later this year." The statement went on to say, "Following months of speculation Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen, and Robbie Williams confirmed they have been recording a new studio album as a five-piece, which they will release in November." The lead single from Take That's album Progress was announced as "The Flood" and was released 7 November as a digital download, and on 8 November as a physical copy, with the album released a week later on 15 November. The single peaked at number 2 in the UK Singles Charts and to date has sold over 500,000 copies in the UK alone. The single also achieved success across Europe, charting inside the top 10 in ten countries while also charting in another nine countries whilst also being nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for best work.
On 26 October the band announced that they would be embarking on a huge UK stadium tour entitled Progress Live, starting in Sunderland on 27 May, and finishing with a record-breaking 8 nights at London's Wembley Stadium in July 2011. It was also announced that Williams would perform hit singles from his solo career during the tour. The band then played at some of the biggest venues across Europe for the second leg of the tour. The phenomenal demand for tickets across the country led to the web sites of all the major UK ticket suppliers either crashing or considerably slowing for hours on end. The demand and sheer volume of fans also created problems for the UK telephone network. Take That's Progress Live also broke all records for ticket sales selling over 1.1 million tickets in one day, smashing the previous box office record set by Take That's Circus tour in 2008.
On the first day of release Progress became the fastest selling album of the century, with 235,000 copies sold in just one day. The album reached number 1 in the UK, selling around 520,000 copies in its first week, becoming the second fastest-selling album in history. After the release of Progress it was announced that Take That have become Amazon UK's top-selling music artist of all time.
The album retained the number one spot for six consecutive weeks in the UK since its release, selling 2.8 million copies in the UK alone and becoming the best selling album of 2010
Progress also achieved success across Europe where it debuted at number one in Ireland, Greece, Germany and Denmark. and the European Top 100 Albums chart. It also debuted inside the top 10 of the charts in Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.
"Kidz" was announced as the second single from Progress, it was released 21 February 2011 and charted well across Europe. The band performed the song live at the 2011 Brit Awards hosted at The O2 Arena, where they won a Brit for Best British Group and were nominated for Best British Album. Their performance of "Kidz", praised by critics, involved a highly choreographed routine featuring dancers dressed in police-styled riot gear bearing the Take That symbol on the uniform and shields. On 19 May 2011, Take That announced a new EP entitled Progressed, which contained eight tracks written by the band since they had reunited as a five-piece. It was packaged alongside the album Progress and returned the band to number 1 in the UK Album Chart the week after it was released on 13 June 2011.
Take That announced that the Progress Live tour would be released worldwide as their second live album to date and would also be released on home media formats across the UK and Europe on 21 November 2011. The DVD debuted at number 1 on the UK Music Video top 40 in its first week on release and sold over 200,000 copies in two weeks of release in the UK alone. Take That's efforts were recognised further when they were awarded Virgin Media's Best Live Act of 2012.
On 4 October, it was reported that Take That were to take a break after the completion of the Progress tour, with Barlow continuing his role as a judge on The X Factor and Williams recording new solo material. Take That were presented with an Ivor Novello Award for their Outstanding Contribution to British Music in May 2012.
In August 2012, Take That performed at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics, despite Barlow announcing that his daughter had been stillborn the previous week. The performance earned him praise for appearing live so soon after the tragedy. Williams was due to perform with the band but dropped out due to his wife giving birth at around the same time and thus the group performed as a four-piece. In November 2012, Take That reunited as a five-piece for the last time to perform "Never Forget" at the Music Industry Trust Awards. In 2013, Donald became a judge on the German version of the television dancing show Got to Dance.
2014–2015: Line-up change and III
In May 2013, Owen announced that Take That was to begin recording their seventh studio album in 2014, and on 14 January 2014, Donald and Barlow both tweeted that Take That had entered the studio to begin recording the album, although it was not initially clear if Williams was present at these recording sessions. On 28 April 2014, Williams announced on Twitter he was to become a father for a second time, and consequently suggested he would be unable to join Take That on their album and tour. Although welcome to return to the band at any time, Williams chose not to return for group's seventh and eighth studio albums and their accompanying tours, focusing instead on his solo commitments. He continued to write music with his colleagues and has performed with the group on several occasions since 2011's Progress tour and plans on returning at some point in the future.
On 24 September 2014, it was announced that Jason Orange had left the band. He said: 'At a band meeting last week I confirmed to Mark, Gary and Howard that I do not wish to commit to recording and promoting a new album. 'At the end of The Progress Tour I began to question whether it might be the right time for me to not continue on with Take That,' he continued. 'There have been no fallings out, only a decision on my part that I no longer wish to do this,' he added. Barlow, Donald, and Owen issued a joint statement about Orange's decision which said: "This is a sad day for us. Jason leaving is a huge loss both professionally and even more so personally ... Jason's energy and belief in what this band could achieve has made it what it is today, and we'll forever be grateful for his enthusiasm, dedication and inspiration over the years." A day after the announcement, Robbie Williams took to Twitter to show support of Orange's decision. "Mr Orange. Until we ride again. Much love, Bro.", Williams tweeted.
On 10 October 2014, Take That unveiled their first song as a three-piece and lead single from their upcoming album. Titled "These Days", it was released on 23 November 2014 and went to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart, knocking Band Aid 30 off the top spot and becoming their 12th number one single. The album itself, called III, was released on 28 November 2014 and became the band's seventh No. 1 album. It was then followed by a sell-out arena tour entitled Take That Live. On 14 October 2015, the band announced their new single "Hey Boy", released on 16 October, which is the first single from the 2015 re-release of III. The 2015 edition of the album was released on 20 November.
In December 2015, British media buzzed about the group embarking on a stint in Las Vegas, starting 2017. Reports indicated the group impressed U.S. promoters and would headline their own residency show. Many venues circulated, including The AXIS at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, The Foundry at SLS Las Vegas and the Linq Theater at The LINQ Hotel & Casino. Local newspaper, the Las Vegas Sun writes that everything is still unconfirmed, despite Barlow confirming the rumour on Twitter.
2016–2017: Wonderland
On 2 February 2016, in an interview with The Sun, Barlow revealed that Take That would release their eighth studio album later in the year. On 4 May 2016, English drum and bass duo Sigma announced their newest single would feature Take That. "Cry" received its first radio play on 20 May 2016 and was released on that date. On 21 October 2016, the band posted a teaser on their social media pages and website depicting the logo of the band flickering with the hashtag "#WONDERLAND". The following day, it was announced that their new album, titled Wonderland, was scheduled to be released on 24 March 2017. It was then followed by a UK and Ireland arena tour entitled Wonderland Live, that commenced on 5 May 2017 at the Genting Arena in Birmingham. On 17 February 2017, the lead single of Wonderland was released. Titled "Giants", it debuted at 13 in the UK charts, which became the band's 24th UK top 20 single.
On 8 April 2017, ITV aired a specially commissioned hour-length television special titled An Evening with Take That, where the band performed some songs from the album, along with some old classics including "Never Forget", "Back for Good" and "Rule the World". The band also took part in a Q&A session with the audience members. On 27 April, it was announced on Twitter that "New Day" would be released as the next single from the album Wonderland. The band were seen recording the music video in a field in Luton the days leading up the opening night of the Wonderland Live tour. Due to the Manchester Arena bombing just days before they were due to perform at the venue, their Manchester and Liverpool dates were rescheduled or relocated. The band returned a month later to perform at the One Love Manchester benefit concert.
On 16 September 2017, Barlow, Owen and Donald were set to perform a special one-off show in Jersey after a fan bid more than £1.2 million to win a performance from the band. This then turned in to a ticketed charity event where the money from tickets sold would go towards benefiting Children in Need. The auction was held on BBC Radio 2. On 11 November 2017, Take That began their foreign tour in Perth, Australia, the first time they have performed in the country in over twenty years. They also played in New Zealand, United Arab Emirates and Israel for the first time. Unlike the other tours, a DVD for Wonderland Live was not released. Instead, it was broadcast on Sky 1 on 23 December and in cinemas.
2018–2020: The 30th Anniversary, and Odyssey
On 16 July 2018, while performing at first ever Hits Radio Live at the Manchester Arena, Barlow, Donald and Owen confirmed that they would be touring in 2019. The tour was a Greatest Hits tour and celebrated the 30th anniversary of the band. There was also a Greatest Hits album, Odyssey, which was released on 23 November 2018. The Greatest Hits album features existing songs from their back catalogue that have been re-imagined and 3 brand new songs. It also includes collaborations with Boyz II Men, Lulu, Sigma and Barry Gibb. Odyssey reached number one in the UK album chart and was certified as a platinum selling record. The following year, Odyssey Live, the recording of their tour, reached number 5, becoming the band's 13th top 5 album, with the DVD becoming the biggest live music sale of 2019.
In May 2020, Barlow, Donald, and Owen reunited with Williams for a virtual performance from their respective homes, hosted by price comparison website comparethemarket.com, to raise money for the music charity Nordoff Robbins and Crew Nation.
2022–present: Upcoming ninth studio album and tour
In June 2022, Barlow confirmed that the band had begun working on their ninth studio album due for a late 2023 release. The album was also confirmed by Owen earlier in May. In October 2022, it was announced that Take That would perform at BST Hyde Park on 1 July 2023, supported by The Script and the Sugababes.
On 7 May 2023, the band performed at King Charles III's Coronation Concert, held at Windsor Castle.
In other media
In April 2006, EMI licensed the band's songs to be used in the musical Never Forget, a musical based on songs of the band from the 1990s. Take That posted and then later removed a statement on their website distancing themselves from it.
Take That wrote and recorded the theme song "Rule the World" for the film Stardust directed by Matthew Vaughn, which was released in cinemas across the globe in October 2007. In 2007, their song "Back for Good" was used as part of the soundtrack for popular Korean drama The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince.
Take That presented their own TV show Take That Come to Town, a variety show in which they performed some of their biggest hits. The show also featured comedy sketches with one of Peter Kay's alter egos Geraldine McQueen. It aired on 7 December 2008 on ITV1. Sony launched their first Take That video game, SingStar Take That in 2009 for the PlayStation 3.
In November 2010, ITV aired Take That: Look Back, Don't Stare, a black-and-white documentary which focused on the band working together for the first time in 15 years. Through a series of interviews, the band look back at their achievements while also looking forward to what the future holds for them. On 18 November 2010, Williams and Barlow appeared together live on television for the first time on the Popstars program in Germany singing their hit "Shame".
In 2011, Take That's song "Love Love" was used in the credits of the 2011 film X-Men: First Class and later, "When We Were Young" was chosen as the main theme for The Three Musketeers movie. In 2015, the song "Get Ready for It" from their album III, was chosen as the theme song for the film Kingsman: The Secret Service.
In 2017, Take That launched The Band, a musical written by Tim Firth featuring the five winners of Let It Shine and some of Take That's biggest hits. Take That, including Robbie Williams, were billed as executive producers.
The group's music is regularly featured in the Channel 4 show Derry Girls, notably in the third episode of the second series, when the lead characters sneak off to attend the 1993 Take That concert in Belfast; the episode features the music video for "Pray" and ends on footage of the band performing "Everything Changes".
Artistry
Early in their career, Take That were known for party anthems such as "Do What U Like" and more mature ballads such as "A Million Love Songs" and "Back for Good". Since reuniting in 2006, they have become more experimental: their post-2006 albums Beautiful World and The Circus have featured "stadium-filling pop-rock" while Progress largely leaned towards electropop. Having been dubbed the "comeback kings" by the media for their highly successful reunion, the group has won widespread praise for their seamless transformation from teen idols to "man band" without overly relying on nostalgia, instead showcasing a more mature image and sound and reinventing themselves while maintaining their artistic integrity. Jude Rogers of The Guardian commented on Take That's post-reunion success, in light of a string of reunions by the group's disbanded counterparts from the 1990s: "Only Take That are penetrating pop's wider consciousness by becoming a man-band rather than a boy-band, singing mature, proper pop songs that cross the generations."
Take That have garnered critical acclaim and popularity as consummate live performers and for their musical output. Their domestic concert tours have been described as "some of the most flamboyant, imaginative and extravagant pop tours around". Aside from covers, all of their material is composed by the members themselves; Barlow was initially the principal songwriter who received sole credit but the other members have since taken a more active role in the composition and production process, including playing instruments for the backing track.
Band members
Current members
Gary Barlow (1990-1996, 2005–present)
Howard Donald (1990–1996, 2005–present)
Mark Owen (1990–1996, 2005–present)
Former members
Robbie Williams (1990-1995, 2010–2014)
Jason Orange (1990–1996, 2005–2014)
Timeline
Awards and nominations
Discography
Take That & Party (1992)
Everything Changes (1993)
Nobody Else (1995)
Beautiful World (2006)
The Circus (2008)
Progress (2010)
III (2014)
Wonderland (2017)
Tours
Party Tour (1992–93)
Everything Changes Tour (1993–94)
Pops Tour (1994–95)
Nobody Else Tour (1995)
The Ultimate Tour (2006)
Beautiful World Tour (2007)
Take That Present The Circus Live (2009)
Progress Live (2011)
Take That Live (2015)
Wonderland Live (2017)
Greatest Hits Live (2019)
TBA (2024)
See also
List of best-selling boy bands
References
External links
Chinese Fansite
Category:1990 establishments in England
Category:1996 disestablishments in England
Category:2005 establishments in England
Category:Brit Award winners
Category:Dance-pop groups
Category:Echo (music award) winners
Category:British musical trios
Category:English boy bands
Category:English dance music groups
Category:Interscope Records artists
Category:Ivor Novello Award winners
Category:MTV Europe Music Award winners
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1996
Category:Musical groups established in 1990
Category:Musical groups from Cheshire
Category:Musical groups from Manchester
Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2005
Category:Polydor Records artists
Category:Teen pop groups
Category:Universal Music Group artists
Category:Vocal quartets
Category:Vocal quintets
Category:Vocal trios | [] | [
"Robbie Williams announced in April 2014 that he was to become a dad for a second time and consequently suggested he would be unable to join Take That on their album and tour. This led to his second departure from the band.",
"Jason Orange decided to leave Take That because he did not wish to commit to recording and promoting a new album. After The Progress Tour, he began questioning if it was the right time for him to stop continuing on with Take That; he stated there were no fallings out, he just no longer wished to be part of it.",
"III is the seventh studio album by Take That, which was released on 28 November 2014 and became the band's seventh No. 1 album. It was also the name of the album's 2015 re-release.",
"Yes, they followed the release of the album, III, with a sell-out arena tour entitled Take That Live.",
"Yes, there were at least two singles from the album III. The lead single, \"These Days\", was unveiled on 10 October 2014 and released on 23 November 2014. It went to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart. The band also announced a new single \"Hey Boy\" on 14 October 2015, which was released on 16 October. It was the first single from the 2015 re-release of III.",
"The lead single from the album III, \"These Days,\" performed well as it went to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart, making it their 12th number one single. The performance of the single \"Hey Boy\" from the 2015 re-release is not mentioned in the text.",
"The context does not provide information on the critics' response to the album III by Take That.",
"The context does not provide information on whether the album III by Take That won any awards."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_1 | Take That | Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester, in 1989. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the group's lead singer and primary songwriter, with Owen and Williams initially providing backing vocals and Donald and Orange serving primarily as dancers. | 2006-2007: Beautiful World | On 9 May 2006, Take That returned to the recorded music scene after more than ten years of absence, signing with Polydor Records in a deal reportedly worth PS3 million. The band's comeback album, Beautiful World, entered the UK album chart at no. 1 and, as of June 2009, had sold over 2.8 million copies in the UK. It is the 35th best selling album in UK music history. In the album Beautiful World all four members of the band had the opportunity to sing lead vocals. Unlike the band's earlier works, where the majority of their material was written by Gary Barlow who received a sole credit, all four band members are credited as co-writers, along with John Shanks, regardless of whether they contributed to the writing process or not. The comeback single, "Patience", was released on 20 November 2006, with a special event launching it on 5 November. On 26 November "Patience" hit number 1 in the UK in its second week of chart entry making it the group's ninth No. 1 and stayed there for 4 weeks. Take That also accompanied eventual winner Leona Lewis in a live version of "A Million Love Songs" in the final of The X Factor on 16 December 2006. The week after Take That's comeback album Beautiful World was released it was announced that Take That had become the first artists ever to top the UK official single and album charts along with the download single, download album and DVD charts in the same week, as well as topping the radio charts. The video for the number 1 hit single "Shine", the follow-up to "Patience", premiered on 25 January 2007 on Channel 4, ahead of its release on 26 February 2007. The band's success continued on 14 February 2007 when Take That performed live at the BRIT Awards ceremony at Earl's Court. Their single "Patience" won the Best British Single category. The third single taken from Beautiful World was "I'd Wait For Life", released on 18 June 2007 in the UK. The single reached 17 in the UK Singles Chart. This was due to lack of promotion, as the band decided to take a pre-tour break rather than do any promotion for the single. Beautiful World was the fourth biggest-selling album of 2007. It was announced at the start of 2007 that Take That signed a record deal with American label Interscope, and would also release their album in Canada. Starting on 11 October 2007, Take That began their Beautiful World Tour 2007 in Belfast. The tour included 49 shows throughout Europe and the UK and ended in Manchester on 23 December 2007. The band received four nominations at the 2008 BRIT Awards. Nominated for Best British Group, Best British Single ("Shine"), Best British Album (Beautiful World) and Best Live Act, they took home the Best Live Act and the Best British Single awards. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_1_q#0",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_1_q#1",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_1_q#2",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_1_q#3",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_1_q#4",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_1_q#5",
"C_6e6a60800d1643268f8b7ee3189196de_1_q#6"
] | [
"What songs are on Beautiful World?",
"What other singles are on the album?",
"Are there any other notable singles?",
"Which band members worked on this album?",
"Did the band tour to promote the album?",
"Where did they go besides Belfast?",
"Who was the producer of Beautiful World?"
] | [
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
739
],
[
1492
],
[
1849
],
[
371
],
[
2321
],
[
2381
],
[
2732
]
],
"texts": [
[
"The comeback single, \"Patience\","
],
[
"\"Shine\","
],
[
"\"I'd Wait For Life\","
],
[
"In the album Beautiful World all four members of the band had the opportunity to sing lead vocals."
],
[
"Take That began their Beautiful World Tour 2007 in Belfast."
],
[
"The tour included 49 shows throughout Europe and the UK and ended in Manchester on 23 December 2007."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
739,
1492,
1849,
371,
2321,
2381,
2732
],
"texts": [
"The comeback single, \"Patience\",",
"\"Shine\",",
"\"I'd Wait For Life\",",
"In the album Beautiful World all four members of the band had the opportunity to sing lead vocals.",
"Take That began their Beautiful World Tour 2007 in Belfast.",
"The tour included 49 shows throughout Europe and the UK and ended in Manchester on 23 December 2007.",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer and primary songwriter, with Owen and Williams initially providing backing vocals and Donald and Orange serving primarily as dancers.
The group have had 28 top-40 singles and 17 top-5 singles on the UK Singles Chart, 12 of which have reached number one, including "Back for Good", "Never Forget", "Patience" and "Greatest Day". They have also had eight number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart. Internationally, the band have had 56 number one singles and 39 number-one albums. They have received eight Brit Awards—winning for Best British Group and Best British Live Act. In 2012 they received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), Take That has been certified for 14 million albums and 11.4 million singles in the UK.
Williams left the band in 1995 while the four remaining members completed their world tour and released a final single before splitting up in 1996. After filming a 2005 Take That: For the Record about the group and releasing a new greatest hits album, a four-piece Take That without Williams officially announced a 2006 reunion tour around the UK, entitled The Ultimate Tour. On 9 May 2006, it was announced that the group were set to record new material together once again; their fourth studio album, Beautiful World, was released in 2006 and was followed up with The Circus, in 2008. The group achieved new success as a four-piece, scoring a string of chart hits across the UK and Europe while selling over 45 million records worldwide. Williams rejoined Take That in 2010 for the band's sixth studio album, Progress. Released on 15 November of that year, it was the first album of new material to feature Take That's original line-up since their 1995 album, Nobody Else. It became the fastest-selling album of the 21st century and the second fastest-selling album in British history.
In 2014, the band recorded a seventh studio album, this time as a trio without Williams and Orange. The album, titled III, was released in November 2014 and became the band's seventh number one. It was preceded by the single "These Days", which became the band's 12th number one single in the UK.
In 2011, Take That set the new record for the fastest-selling tour of all time in the UK with Progress Live, beating the previous record set by their Circus Live Tour in 2009. At the 2011 Brit Awards they won Best British Group. In 2012, Forbes named them the fifth highest-earning music stars in the world. The group performed at the London 2012 Olympic Games closing ceremony, playing "Rule the World" while the Olympic Flame was extinguished. In the same year, the Official Charts Company revealed the biggest-selling singles artists in British music chart history with Take That currently placed at 15th overall, making them the most successful boy band in UK chart history. Four of their albums are listed in the best-selling albums of the millennium, with three of them among the 60 best-selling albums in UK chart history.
History
1989–1990: Formation
In 1989, Manchester-based Nigel Martin-Smith sought to create a British male vocal singing group modelled on New Kids on the Block. Martin-Smith's vision, however, was to create a teen-oriented group that could appeal to multiple demographic segments within the music industry. Martin-Smith was then introduced to young singer-songwriter Gary Barlow, who had been performing in clubs since the age of 15. Impressed with Barlow's catalogue of self-written material, Martin-Smith decided to build his new-look boy band around Barlow's musical abilities. A campaign to audition young men with abilities in dancing and singing followed and took place in Manchester and other surrounding cities in 1990. At 22, Howard Donald was one of the oldest to audition, but was chosen after he got time off work as a vehicle painter to continue the process. A budding DJ, he and Barlow had a shared interest in electronic acts such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) and Gary Numan. Prior to auditioning, Jason Orange had appeared as a breakdancer on the popular television programme The Hit Man and Her. Martin-Smith also selected 18-year-old bank employee Mark Owen and finally 16-year-old Robbie Williams to round out the group, which initially went by the name Kick It.
1990–1992: Take That & Party
Take That's first TV appearance was on The Hit Man and Her in 1990, where they performed Barlow's self-written, unreleased song, "My Kind of Girl". They later appeared a second time to perform "Waiting Around", which would become the B-side for the first single, "Do What U Like". "Promises" and "Once You've Tasted Love" were also released as singles but were minor hits in the UK. Take That initially worked the same territory as their American counterparts, singing new jack R&B, urban soul, and mainstream pop. However, they worked their way toward Hi-NRG dance music, while also pursuing an adult contemporary ballad direction. As they aimed to break into the mainstream music industry, they worked a number of small clubs, schools, and events across the country building up a fanbase as they travelled to gigs constantly for months.
Take That's breakthrough single was a cover of the 1975 Tavares hit "It Only Takes a Minute", which peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart in June 1992. This success was followed by "I Found Heaven", then by the first Barlow ballad "A Million Love Songs", which also reached number seven in October. Their cover of the Barry Manilow hit "Could It Be Magic" gave them their first big success, peaking at number three in the UK in the first chart of 1993. Their first album, Take That & Party, was released in 1992, and included all the hit singles to date.
1993–1995: Everything Changes, Nobody Else and superstardom
1993 saw the release of Everything Changes, based on Barlow's original material. It peaked at number one in the UK and spawned six singles, with four being consecutive UK number one singles – their first number one "Pray", "Relight My Fire", "Babe" and the title track "Everything Changes". The lead single "Why Can't I Wake Up with You" had narrowly missed the top spot in the UK peaking at number two and the sixth and final single "Love Ain't Here Anymore" taken from the album reached number three on the UK charts. Everything Changes saw the band gain international success with the album being nominated for the 1994 Mercury Prize, but it failed to crack the U.S. market, where a U.S.-exclusive remix of "Love Ain't Here Anymore" gained little success.
By 1994, Take That had become radio and television stars across Europe and Asia, but it was not until 1995 that they did their first World Tour. It was during the years 1993–95 that the band fronted scores of magazine covers ranging from Smash Hits to GQ, becoming mass merchandised on all sorts of paraphernalia ranging from picture books, to posters, stickers, their own dolls, jewellery, caps, T-shirts, toothbrushes and even had their own annuals released. The band had also developed a large female teenage fanbase at the time. During this time, they performed at numerous music awards shows and chart shows such as the BRIT Awards and Top of the Pops, also winning the Best Live Act award in 1995 at the MTV Europe Music Awards, having been renowned for their breakdance routines, high energy and creative tour productions.
In 1995, Take That released their third studio album Nobody Else, again based on Barlow's own material which reached number 1 in the UK and across Europe, capturing new audiences along the way, with Take That also able to make inroads in the adult audience in Britain through Barlow's melodic, sensitive ballads. For nearly five years, Take That's popularity was unsurpassed in Britain. The release of the first single from the album, "Sure", achieved yet another number one in the UK charts. It was not until their second release from that album, however, that they would experience what would become their biggest hit single, "Back for Good", which reached number one in many countries including the UK, Germany, Australia, and Norway. It was also their only US hit, where it reached number seven.
The song was initially unveiled for the first time via live performance while at the 1995 BRIT Awards, and based on the reception of that performance, the record pre-sold more records than expected and forced the record label to bring the release date forward by an unprecedented six weeks. The album was also noted for its cover, which was a parody of the famed cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cover sleeve.
1995–1996: Break-up and Greatest Hits
Robbie Williams's drug abuse had escalated to a near drug overdose the night before the group was scheduled to perform at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 1994.
In June 1995, Williams was photographed by the press partying with Oasis at the Glastonbury Festival. The following month, the band offered him an ultimatum; he was to adhere to the band's responsibilities or leave before their scheduled world tour. Williams chose the latter. Williams claimed he was bored with Barlow's leadership and jealous of Barlow. Despite the loss of Williams, Take That continued to promote Nobody Else as a four-piece, scoring a further hit single with "Never Forget" with Donald on lead vocals. They subsequently went to America and completed the Nobody Else Tour in October 1995. Following the tour, the band began to plan for their next album; however, when they spent Christmas together, they mutually agreed it was time to part ways.
On 13 February 1996, Take That formally announced that they were disbanding. This was followed by the Greatest Hits compilation in 1996, which contained a new recording, a cover of the Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love". The single went on to become what was to be the band's final UK number one until their 2006 comeback a decade later. Take That gave what was thought to be their final performance in April 1996 at Amsterdam. Following the band's announcement, millions of their fans were distraught around the world and in the UK alone, teenage girls threatened suicide and were seen lining streets in tears, to the point that telephone hotlines were set up by the government to deal with counselling them. After the band broke up, highly respected music figures such as Elton John noted that Take That were different from other boy bands before and after them, in that they wrote their own material through Gary Barlow. Barlow is one of only a small number of people who have won an Ivor Novello award during their time in a boy band, with George Michael whilst in Wham! and Tony Mortimer whilst in East 17 being two others who have achieved this feat. Take That had also left a legacy of being immaculate performers with a very high work ethic, causing them to be voted in as the greatest boy band of all time.
2005–2006: Reunion as a quartet and Never Forget – The Ultimate Collection
On 14 November 2005, Never Forget – The Ultimate Collection, a new compilation of their hit singles including a new previously unreleased song, also achieved great success and peaked at number 2 on UK charts, selling over 2.4 million copies in the UK alone. The new song "Today I've Lost You" (recorded in September 2005) was originally written by Barlow as the follow up to "Back for Good" but was never recorded. On 16 November 2005, the group got back together for the ITV documentary Take That: For the Record, in which they aired their views over their fame, success, the split and what the post-Williams line-up had done since. On 25 November 2005, there was an official press conference by the band announcing that the post-Robbie Williams line-up was going to tour in 2006. The tour, entitled The Ultimate Tour, ran from April to June 2006. The tour featured a guest appearance by British soul singer Beverley Knight, who replaced Lulu's vocals on the song "Relight My Fire"; although Lulu did appear during the stadium shows on "Relight My Fire" and "Never Forget". The American female ensemble Pussycat Dolls supported the group at their Dublin concert, and the Sugababes supported the group on the final five dates of the stadium leg. In a seven-year study analysing over one billion online searches via Google conducted by AccuraCast, a leading digital search agency, their comeback was ranked at number one in the UK.
2006–2007: Beautiful World
On 9 May 2006, Take That returned to the recorded music scene after more than ten years of absence, signing with Polydor Records. The band's comeback album, Beautiful World, entered the UK Albums Chart at no. 1 and, as of June 2009, had sold over 2.8 million copies in the UK. It is the 35th best selling album in UK music history.
On Beautiful World, all four members of the band had the opportunity to sing lead vocals and contribute in the songwriting. Unlike the band's earlier works, where the majority of their material was written by Barlow who received sole credit, all four band members are credited as co-writers, along with John Shanks. The comeback single, "Patience", was released on 20 November 2006, with a special event launching it on 5 November.
On 26 November "Patience" hit number 1 in the UK in its second week of chart entry, making it the group's ninth No. 1, and staying there for 4 weeks. Take That also accompanied eventual winner Leona Lewis on a live version of "A Million Love Songs" during the final of The X Factor on 16 December 2006.
The week after Beautiful World was released, it was announced that Take That had become the first artists ever to top the UK official single and album charts along with the download single, download album and DVD charts in the same week, as well as topping the radio charts.
The video for the number 1 hit single "Shine", the follow-up to "Patience", premiered on 25 January 2007 on Channel 4, ahead of its release on 26 February 2007. The band's success continued on 14 February 2007 when Take That performed live at the BRIT Awards ceremony at Earl's Court. Their single "Patience" won the Best British Single category. The third single chosen from Beautiful World was "I'd Wait For Life", released on 18 June 2007 in the UK. The single reached 17 in the UK Singles Chart. This may have been due to lack of promotion, as the band decided to take a pre-tour break rather than do any promotion for the single. The single "Rule the World", included on the deluxe version of Beautiful World, was recorded for the soundtrack of the film Stardust (2007). It reached number two in the UK and went on to become the group's second best selling single, shifting over 1.2 million units in the UK. Beautiful World was the fourth biggest-selling album of 2007. It was announced at the start of 2007 that Take That signed a record deal with American label Interscope, and would also release their album in Canada. Starting on 11 October 2007, Take That began their Beautiful World Tour 2007 in Belfast. The tour included 49 shows throughout Europe and the UK and ended in Manchester on 23 December 2007. The band received four nominations at the 2008 BRIT Awards. Nominated for Best British Group, Best British Single ("Shine"), Best British Album (Beautiful World) and Best Live Act, they took home the Best Live Act and the Best British Single awards. According to a 2007 MSN UK internet poll, Take That were voted as the "comeback kings" of the year.
2008–2009: The Circus
"Greatest Day", the first single from the album The Circus, made its radio premiere on 13 October 2008 and it was released on 24 November. It debuted at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart on 30 November 2008. An album launch party for The Circus was held in Paris on 2 December. On its first day of release The Circus sold 133,000 copies, and after four days on sale it sold 306,000 copies (going platinum) making The Circus the fastest selling album of the year. The album reached number 1 on the UK Albums Chart on 7 December 2008 with total first-week sales of 432,490, the third highest opening sales week in UK history.
On 28 October 2008, on the Radio 1 Chris Moyles show, it was announced that Take That would be touring again in June/July 2009, covering the UK and Ireland. Tickets for the Take That Present: The Circus Live tour went on sale on 31 October. The promoters, SJM, have said that the band's tour is "the fastest selling in UK history".
On 22 May 2008, Barlow and Donald attended the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards where Take That won the award for Most Performed Work with their single "Shine". Take That won the Sony Ericsson Tour of the Year award at the Vodafone music awards on 18 September 2008. They were unable to attend as they were in LA finishing off The Circus. They did send a video link message, which was shown at the awards. On 22 November 2008, Take That appeared on week 7 of the talent show The X Factor where the finalists performed some of their greatest hits and Owen and Barlow made a guest appearance to personally coach the contestants. The band also performed on Children in Need 2008, singing their new single, "Greatest Day", before donating £250,000 to the charity from their Marks and Spencer fee. The band were also voted the Greatest Boy Band of All Time, reflecting their ongoing marketability and success in the pop arena, even after two decades.
At the 2009 Brit Awards they were nominated for Best British Group and they performed "Greatest Day" at the ceremony. "Up All Night", the second single from The Circus, was released on 2 March 2009, and peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart, despite heavy airplay. In Germany and Australia, "The Garden" was released as the second single instead. On 7 May 2009, Take That's official website confirmed that the third single from The Circus would be "Said It All" which was released on 15 June 2009, peaking at number 9 on the UK Singles chart. The video premiered on GMTV on 8 May 2009. It features all four band members dressed up as vintage circus clowns, which tied in with their forthcoming Take That Present: The Circus Live tour. Take That started their Circus Live tour at the Stadium of Light on 5 June 2009 in Sunderland and ended at the Wembley Stadium in London on 5 July 2009, which over 80,000 people attended. This tour quickly became the fastest-selling of all time, breaking all records by selling all of their 650,000 tickets in less than four and a half hours.
In November 2009 Take That released the official DVD of their Circus tour, which became the fastest-selling music DVD of all time in the UK on its first day of release and stayed in the top 10 of the videos chart for over a year. This overtook the previous record sales holder, which was Take That's Beautiful World Live tour and stayed at the number 1 spot for 8 weeks. The following week Take That released their first live album, The Greatest Day – Take That Present: The Circus Live, which sold 98,000 copies on its first day of release and was certified Platinum in July 2013. "Hold up a Light" was released as the fifth and final single from The Circus to radio stations and as a digital download to promote the release of the live album. The live album also featured a stripped down session recorded live at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. It featured the members singing the setlist from the preceding tour, albeit in a studio setting.
2010–2011: Williams' return and Progress
On 7 June 2010, the news broke of a single called "Shame", which had been written by Barlow and Williams and would feature the vocals of both artists. This was the first time the pair had worked together since 1995 and would appear on the second greatest hits collection of Williams. "Heart and I", another track from the same album, was also co-written by Williams and Barlow. The single "Shame" peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart while also achieving success throughout Europe, charting in over 19 countries.
After working with the band on new material in Los Angeles, on 15 July 2010 Robbie Williams announced he was returning to Take That. After months of working together, assembling new songs for a new album and even debating a band-name change to "The English", a joint statement between Williams and the group read, "The rumours are true ... Take That: the original lineup, have written and recorded a new album for release later this year." The statement went on to say, "Following months of speculation Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen, and Robbie Williams confirmed they have been recording a new studio album as a five-piece, which they will release in November." The lead single from Take That's album Progress was announced as "The Flood" and was released 7 November as a digital download, and on 8 November as a physical copy, with the album released a week later on 15 November. The single peaked at number 2 in the UK Singles Charts and to date has sold over 500,000 copies in the UK alone. The single also achieved success across Europe, charting inside the top 10 in ten countries while also charting in another nine countries whilst also being nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for best work.
On 26 October the band announced that they would be embarking on a huge UK stadium tour entitled Progress Live, starting in Sunderland on 27 May, and finishing with a record-breaking 8 nights at London's Wembley Stadium in July 2011. It was also announced that Williams would perform hit singles from his solo career during the tour. The band then played at some of the biggest venues across Europe for the second leg of the tour. The phenomenal demand for tickets across the country led to the web sites of all the major UK ticket suppliers either crashing or considerably slowing for hours on end. The demand and sheer volume of fans also created problems for the UK telephone network. Take That's Progress Live also broke all records for ticket sales selling over 1.1 million tickets in one day, smashing the previous box office record set by Take That's Circus tour in 2008.
On the first day of release Progress became the fastest selling album of the century, with 235,000 copies sold in just one day. The album reached number 1 in the UK, selling around 520,000 copies in its first week, becoming the second fastest-selling album in history. After the release of Progress it was announced that Take That have become Amazon UK's top-selling music artist of all time.
The album retained the number one spot for six consecutive weeks in the UK since its release, selling 2.8 million copies in the UK alone and becoming the best selling album of 2010
Progress also achieved success across Europe where it debuted at number one in Ireland, Greece, Germany and Denmark. and the European Top 100 Albums chart. It also debuted inside the top 10 of the charts in Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.
"Kidz" was announced as the second single from Progress, it was released 21 February 2011 and charted well across Europe. The band performed the song live at the 2011 Brit Awards hosted at The O2 Arena, where they won a Brit for Best British Group and were nominated for Best British Album. Their performance of "Kidz", praised by critics, involved a highly choreographed routine featuring dancers dressed in police-styled riot gear bearing the Take That symbol on the uniform and shields. On 19 May 2011, Take That announced a new EP entitled Progressed, which contained eight tracks written by the band since they had reunited as a five-piece. It was packaged alongside the album Progress and returned the band to number 1 in the UK Album Chart the week after it was released on 13 June 2011.
Take That announced that the Progress Live tour would be released worldwide as their second live album to date and would also be released on home media formats across the UK and Europe on 21 November 2011. The DVD debuted at number 1 on the UK Music Video top 40 in its first week on release and sold over 200,000 copies in two weeks of release in the UK alone. Take That's efforts were recognised further when they were awarded Virgin Media's Best Live Act of 2012.
On 4 October, it was reported that Take That were to take a break after the completion of the Progress tour, with Barlow continuing his role as a judge on The X Factor and Williams recording new solo material. Take That were presented with an Ivor Novello Award for their Outstanding Contribution to British Music in May 2012.
In August 2012, Take That performed at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics, despite Barlow announcing that his daughter had been stillborn the previous week. The performance earned him praise for appearing live so soon after the tragedy. Williams was due to perform with the band but dropped out due to his wife giving birth at around the same time and thus the group performed as a four-piece. In November 2012, Take That reunited as a five-piece for the last time to perform "Never Forget" at the Music Industry Trust Awards. In 2013, Donald became a judge on the German version of the television dancing show Got to Dance.
2014–2015: Line-up change and III
In May 2013, Owen announced that Take That was to begin recording their seventh studio album in 2014, and on 14 January 2014, Donald and Barlow both tweeted that Take That had entered the studio to begin recording the album, although it was not initially clear if Williams was present at these recording sessions. On 28 April 2014, Williams announced on Twitter he was to become a father for a second time, and consequently suggested he would be unable to join Take That on their album and tour. Although welcome to return to the band at any time, Williams chose not to return for group's seventh and eighth studio albums and their accompanying tours, focusing instead on his solo commitments. He continued to write music with his colleagues and has performed with the group on several occasions since 2011's Progress tour and plans on returning at some point in the future.
On 24 September 2014, it was announced that Jason Orange had left the band. He said: 'At a band meeting last week I confirmed to Mark, Gary and Howard that I do not wish to commit to recording and promoting a new album. 'At the end of The Progress Tour I began to question whether it might be the right time for me to not continue on with Take That,' he continued. 'There have been no fallings out, only a decision on my part that I no longer wish to do this,' he added. Barlow, Donald, and Owen issued a joint statement about Orange's decision which said: "This is a sad day for us. Jason leaving is a huge loss both professionally and even more so personally ... Jason's energy and belief in what this band could achieve has made it what it is today, and we'll forever be grateful for his enthusiasm, dedication and inspiration over the years." A day after the announcement, Robbie Williams took to Twitter to show support of Orange's decision. "Mr Orange. Until we ride again. Much love, Bro.", Williams tweeted.
On 10 October 2014, Take That unveiled their first song as a three-piece and lead single from their upcoming album. Titled "These Days", it was released on 23 November 2014 and went to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart, knocking Band Aid 30 off the top spot and becoming their 12th number one single. The album itself, called III, was released on 28 November 2014 and became the band's seventh No. 1 album. It was then followed by a sell-out arena tour entitled Take That Live. On 14 October 2015, the band announced their new single "Hey Boy", released on 16 October, which is the first single from the 2015 re-release of III. The 2015 edition of the album was released on 20 November.
In December 2015, British media buzzed about the group embarking on a stint in Las Vegas, starting 2017. Reports indicated the group impressed U.S. promoters and would headline their own residency show. Many venues circulated, including The AXIS at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, The Foundry at SLS Las Vegas and the Linq Theater at The LINQ Hotel & Casino. Local newspaper, the Las Vegas Sun writes that everything is still unconfirmed, despite Barlow confirming the rumour on Twitter.
2016–2017: Wonderland
On 2 February 2016, in an interview with The Sun, Barlow revealed that Take That would release their eighth studio album later in the year. On 4 May 2016, English drum and bass duo Sigma announced their newest single would feature Take That. "Cry" received its first radio play on 20 May 2016 and was released on that date. On 21 October 2016, the band posted a teaser on their social media pages and website depicting the logo of the band flickering with the hashtag "#WONDERLAND". The following day, it was announced that their new album, titled Wonderland, was scheduled to be released on 24 March 2017. It was then followed by a UK and Ireland arena tour entitled Wonderland Live, that commenced on 5 May 2017 at the Genting Arena in Birmingham. On 17 February 2017, the lead single of Wonderland was released. Titled "Giants", it debuted at 13 in the UK charts, which became the band's 24th UK top 20 single.
On 8 April 2017, ITV aired a specially commissioned hour-length television special titled An Evening with Take That, where the band performed some songs from the album, along with some old classics including "Never Forget", "Back for Good" and "Rule the World". The band also took part in a Q&A session with the audience members. On 27 April, it was announced on Twitter that "New Day" would be released as the next single from the album Wonderland. The band were seen recording the music video in a field in Luton the days leading up the opening night of the Wonderland Live tour. Due to the Manchester Arena bombing just days before they were due to perform at the venue, their Manchester and Liverpool dates were rescheduled or relocated. The band returned a month later to perform at the One Love Manchester benefit concert.
On 16 September 2017, Barlow, Owen and Donald were set to perform a special one-off show in Jersey after a fan bid more than £1.2 million to win a performance from the band. This then turned in to a ticketed charity event where the money from tickets sold would go towards benefiting Children in Need. The auction was held on BBC Radio 2. On 11 November 2017, Take That began their foreign tour in Perth, Australia, the first time they have performed in the country in over twenty years. They also played in New Zealand, United Arab Emirates and Israel for the first time. Unlike the other tours, a DVD for Wonderland Live was not released. Instead, it was broadcast on Sky 1 on 23 December and in cinemas.
2018–2020: The 30th Anniversary, and Odyssey
On 16 July 2018, while performing at first ever Hits Radio Live at the Manchester Arena, Barlow, Donald and Owen confirmed that they would be touring in 2019. The tour was a Greatest Hits tour and celebrated the 30th anniversary of the band. There was also a Greatest Hits album, Odyssey, which was released on 23 November 2018. The Greatest Hits album features existing songs from their back catalogue that have been re-imagined and 3 brand new songs. It also includes collaborations with Boyz II Men, Lulu, Sigma and Barry Gibb. Odyssey reached number one in the UK album chart and was certified as a platinum selling record. The following year, Odyssey Live, the recording of their tour, reached number 5, becoming the band's 13th top 5 album, with the DVD becoming the biggest live music sale of 2019.
In May 2020, Barlow, Donald, and Owen reunited with Williams for a virtual performance from their respective homes, hosted by price comparison website comparethemarket.com, to raise money for the music charity Nordoff Robbins and Crew Nation.
2022–present: Upcoming ninth studio album and tour
In June 2022, Barlow confirmed that the band had begun working on their ninth studio album due for a late 2023 release. The album was also confirmed by Owen earlier in May. In October 2022, it was announced that Take That would perform at BST Hyde Park on 1 July 2023, supported by The Script and the Sugababes.
On 7 May 2023, the band performed at King Charles III's Coronation Concert, held at Windsor Castle.
In other media
In April 2006, EMI licensed the band's songs to be used in the musical Never Forget, a musical based on songs of the band from the 1990s. Take That posted and then later removed a statement on their website distancing themselves from it.
Take That wrote and recorded the theme song "Rule the World" for the film Stardust directed by Matthew Vaughn, which was released in cinemas across the globe in October 2007. In 2007, their song "Back for Good" was used as part of the soundtrack for popular Korean drama The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince.
Take That presented their own TV show Take That Come to Town, a variety show in which they performed some of their biggest hits. The show also featured comedy sketches with one of Peter Kay's alter egos Geraldine McQueen. It aired on 7 December 2008 on ITV1. Sony launched their first Take That video game, SingStar Take That in 2009 for the PlayStation 3.
In November 2010, ITV aired Take That: Look Back, Don't Stare, a black-and-white documentary which focused on the band working together for the first time in 15 years. Through a series of interviews, the band look back at their achievements while also looking forward to what the future holds for them. On 18 November 2010, Williams and Barlow appeared together live on television for the first time on the Popstars program in Germany singing their hit "Shame".
In 2011, Take That's song "Love Love" was used in the credits of the 2011 film X-Men: First Class and later, "When We Were Young" was chosen as the main theme for The Three Musketeers movie. In 2015, the song "Get Ready for It" from their album III, was chosen as the theme song for the film Kingsman: The Secret Service.
In 2017, Take That launched The Band, a musical written by Tim Firth featuring the five winners of Let It Shine and some of Take That's biggest hits. Take That, including Robbie Williams, were billed as executive producers.
The group's music is regularly featured in the Channel 4 show Derry Girls, notably in the third episode of the second series, when the lead characters sneak off to attend the 1993 Take That concert in Belfast; the episode features the music video for "Pray" and ends on footage of the band performing "Everything Changes".
Artistry
Early in their career, Take That were known for party anthems such as "Do What U Like" and more mature ballads such as "A Million Love Songs" and "Back for Good". Since reuniting in 2006, they have become more experimental: their post-2006 albums Beautiful World and The Circus have featured "stadium-filling pop-rock" while Progress largely leaned towards electropop. Having been dubbed the "comeback kings" by the media for their highly successful reunion, the group has won widespread praise for their seamless transformation from teen idols to "man band" without overly relying on nostalgia, instead showcasing a more mature image and sound and reinventing themselves while maintaining their artistic integrity. Jude Rogers of The Guardian commented on Take That's post-reunion success, in light of a string of reunions by the group's disbanded counterparts from the 1990s: "Only Take That are penetrating pop's wider consciousness by becoming a man-band rather than a boy-band, singing mature, proper pop songs that cross the generations."
Take That have garnered critical acclaim and popularity as consummate live performers and for their musical output. Their domestic concert tours have been described as "some of the most flamboyant, imaginative and extravagant pop tours around". Aside from covers, all of their material is composed by the members themselves; Barlow was initially the principal songwriter who received sole credit but the other members have since taken a more active role in the composition and production process, including playing instruments for the backing track.
Band members
Current members
Gary Barlow (1990-1996, 2005–present)
Howard Donald (1990–1996, 2005–present)
Mark Owen (1990–1996, 2005–present)
Former members
Robbie Williams (1990-1995, 2010–2014)
Jason Orange (1990–1996, 2005–2014)
Timeline
Awards and nominations
Discography
Take That & Party (1992)
Everything Changes (1993)
Nobody Else (1995)
Beautiful World (2006)
The Circus (2008)
Progress (2010)
III (2014)
Wonderland (2017)
Tours
Party Tour (1992–93)
Everything Changes Tour (1993–94)
Pops Tour (1994–95)
Nobody Else Tour (1995)
The Ultimate Tour (2006)
Beautiful World Tour (2007)
Take That Present The Circus Live (2009)
Progress Live (2011)
Take That Live (2015)
Wonderland Live (2017)
Greatest Hits Live (2019)
TBA (2024)
See also
List of best-selling boy bands
References
External links
Chinese Fansite
Category:1990 establishments in England
Category:1996 disestablishments in England
Category:2005 establishments in England
Category:Brit Award winners
Category:Dance-pop groups
Category:Echo (music award) winners
Category:British musical trios
Category:English boy bands
Category:English dance music groups
Category:Interscope Records artists
Category:Ivor Novello Award winners
Category:MTV Europe Music Award winners
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1996
Category:Musical groups established in 1990
Category:Musical groups from Cheshire
Category:Musical groups from Manchester
Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2005
Category:Polydor Records artists
Category:Teen pop groups
Category:Universal Music Group artists
Category:Vocal quartets
Category:Vocal quintets
Category:Vocal trios | [] | [
"The context mentions three songs from the Beautiful World album: \"Patience,\" \"Shine,\" and \"I'd Wait For Life.\"",
"The context does not provide information on any other singles on the Beautiful World album.",
"The context does not provide information on any other notable singles from the Beautiful World album.",
"The context mentions that all four members of Take That worked on the Beautiful World album, though their names are not specifically listed. They all had the opportunity to sing lead vocals and are credited as co-writers alongside John Shanks.",
"Yes, the band toured to promote the album. Starting on 11 October 2007, Take That began their Beautiful World Tour 2007 in Belfast. The tour included 49 shows throughout Europe and the UK and ended in Manchester on 23 December 2007.",
"The context does not provide specific locations of the Beautiful World Tour 2007, beyond mentioning that they performed shows throughout Europe and the UK, and ended the tour in Manchester.",
"The context does not provide information on who the producer of the Beautiful World album was."
] | [
"No",
"Neutral",
"no",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_1 | Taryn Terrell | Taryn Nicole Terrell-Dryden (born December 28, 1985) is an American professional wrestler, ring announcer, referee, model, actress and stunt woman. She is best known for her time with Impact Wrestling, formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under her real name Taryn Terrell and also had short stint in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where she performed under the ring name Tiffany. She is a former TNA Knockouts Champion, and she holds the record for the longest reign with the title at 279 days. During her time in WWE, she trained at WWE's then-developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), and served as the final general manager of the now-defunct ECW. | Florida Championship Wrestling (2007-2010) | Terrell tried out for the 2007 WWE Diva Search. She made it to the final eight, but was eliminated fourth. In February 2008, WWE signed her to a developmental contract. Terrell debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), WWE's developmental territory, alongside Beverly Mullins, and they competed in various matches together, including lingerie matches. Soon afterwards, Terrell and Mullins drifted apart, leading to Terrell receiving a larger singles wrestling role as she competed against various other FCW Divas, including Mullins (now renamed to Wesley Holiday), Miss Angela, The Bella Twins, Alicia Fox, and Roucka. Terrell made her FCW television debut when she competed in a twist competition, which ended in a no contest. She and Angela were then used as ring announcers. On the March 11, 2008 episode of FCW TV, Terrell teamed up with Nic Nemeth and Brad Allen to defeat The Puerto Rican Nightmares (Eric Perez, Eddie Colon and Angela Fong). On the August 2, 2008 episode of FCW TV, Terrell teamed up with The Bella Twins to defeat Alicia Fox, Roucka and Daisy and again on August 9, 2008. Later on, Terrell, now renamed Tiffany, lost her first FCW televised match in a fatal four-way match including Roucka, Holiday, and Fox. She then teamed with Nikki Bella and Eve Torres on the December 14 episode of FCW TV to defeat Roucka, Holiday, and Fox. Tiffany participated in the tournament to determine the inaugural Queen of FCW, and defeated Holiday in the first round before losing to Fox in the semi-finals. She teamed up with Angela Fong on several occasions, and also competed against Serena Mancini, April Lee, and Fox in a four-pack challenge to determine the new number one contender to the Queen of FCW crown, but was unsuccessful. On July 30, 2009 episode of FCW TV, Tiffany tamed up with Angela Fong and April Lee to defeat Alicia Fox, Roucka and Serena Deeb in a 6-Diva tag team match. On the August 6 episode of FCW TV, Tiffany and Yoshi Tatsu defeated Fox and Ricky Ortiz in a mixed tag team match. Tiffany unsuccessfully challenged the newly crowned Serena Mancini for the Queen of FCW crown and injured her humerus bone, on the September 24 taping of FCW TV. She returned on the February 19, 2010 episode of FCW TV, teaming with Aksana to defeat Courtney Taylor and Liviana in a tag team match. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_1_q#0",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_1_q#1",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_1_q#2",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_1_q#3",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_1_q#4",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_1_q#5",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_1_q#6",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_1_q#7"
] | [
"What name did Taryn use while with Florida Championship Wrestling?",
"Was her time with Florida Championship Wrestling successful?",
"Were there other matches she lost?",
"Did she lose a lot of her matches while with Florida Championship Wrestling?",
"What good came out of her time with Florida Championship Wrestling?",
"What was the outcome of her match with Angela Fong?",
"Who else did she team with while at Florida Championship Wrestling?",
"Was she with them the whole time from 2007-2010?"
] | [
1,
2,
0,
1,
0,
1,
1,
1
] | [
1,
0,
0,
2,
1,
1,
1,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1137
],
[
1146
],
[
1604
],
[
2326
],
[
1756
],
[
1843
],
[
1620
],
[
2326
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Tiffany,"
],
[
"lost her first FCW televised match in a fatal four-way match including Roucka, Holiday, and Fox."
],
[
"Serena Mancini"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"On July 30, 2009 episode of FCW TV, Tiffany tamed up with Angela Fong"
],
[
"defeat Alicia Fox, Roucka and Serena Deeb in a 6-Diva tag team match."
],
[
"April Lee"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1137,
1146,
1604,
2326,
1756,
1843,
1620,
2326
],
"texts": [
"Tiffany,",
"lost her first FCW televised match in a fatal four-way match including Roucka, Holiday, and Fox.",
"Serena Mancini",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"On July 30, 2009 episode of FCW TV, Tiffany tamed up with Angela Fong",
"defeat Alicia Fox, Roucka and Serena Deeb in a 6-Diva tag team match.",
"April Lee",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Taryn Nicole Dryden (née Terrell; born December 28, 1985) is an American model, actress, stuntwoman, ring announcer, and a retired professional wrestler.
She is best known for her time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), under her real name, and for her time in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Tiffany. She is a former TNA Knockouts Champion, where her 279-day reign stood as the longest reign in the title's history until 2019. During her time in WWE, she trained at WWE's then-developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), and served as the final general manager of the now-defunct ECW brand. She worked in National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 2021 up until her retirement on November 10, 2022.
Professional wrestling career
World Wrestling Entertainment
Florida Championship Wrestling (2007–2010)
Terrell tried out for the 2007 WWE Diva Search. She made it to the final eight, but was eliminated fourth. In February 2008, WWE signed her to a developmental contract.
Terrell debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), WWE's developmental territory, alongside Beverly Mullins, and they competed in various matches together, including lingerie matches. Soon afterwards, Terrell and Mullins drifted apart, leading to Terrell receiving a larger singles wrestling role as she competed against various other FCW Divas, including Mullins (now renamed to Wesley Holiday), Miss Angela, The Bella Twins, Alicia Fox, and Roucka. Terrell made her FCW television debut when she competed in a twist competition, which ended in a no contest. She and Angela were then used as ring announcers. On the March 11, 2008, episode of FCW TV, Terrell teamed up with Nic Nemeth and Brad Allen to defeat The Puerto Rican Nightmares (Eric Pérez, Eddie Colón and Angela Fong). On the August 2, 2008, episode of FCW TV, Terrell teamed up with The Bella Twins to defeat Alicia Fox, Roucka and Daisy and again on August 9, 2008.
Later on, Terrell, now renamed Tiffany, lost her first FCW televised match in a fatal four-way match including Roucka, Holiday, and Fox. She then teamed with Nikki Bella and Eve Torres on the December 14 episode of FCW TV to defeat Roucka, Holiday, and Fox. Tiffany participated in the tournament to determine the inaugural Queen of FCW, and defeated Holiday in the first round before losing to Fox in the semi-finals. She teamed up with Angela Fong on several occasions, and also competed against Serena Mancini, AJ Lee, and Fox in a four-pack challenge to determine the new number one contender to the Queen of FCW crown, but was unsuccessful.
On July 30, 2009, episode of FCW TV, Tiffany tamed up with Angela Fong and April Lee to defeat Alicia Fox, Roucka and Serena Deeb in a 6-Diva tag team match. On the August 6 episode of FCW TV, Tiffany and Yoshi Tatsu defeated Fox and Ricky Ortiz in a mixed tag team match. Tiffany unsuccessfully challenged the newly crowned Serena Mancini for the Queen of FCW crown and injured her humerus bone, on the September 24 taping of FCW TV. She returned on the February 19, 2010, episode of FCW TV, teaming with Aksana to defeat Courtney Taylor and Liviana in a tag team match.
Brand switches (2008–2010)
On the June 10, 2008, episode of ECW, Terrell made her main roster debut as Tiffany, the on-screen Assistant General Manager under Theodore Long. Tiffany participated in the Halloween costume contest on October 26 at the Cyber Sunday pay-per-view, and was dressed as a nun. Tiffany made her in-ring debut in a 16-Diva tag team match on the 800th episode of Raw teaming up with Mickie James, Candice Michelle, Michelle McCool, Brie Bella, Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres and WWE Hall of Famer Mae Young against Beth Phoenix, Layla, Lena Yada, Jillian Hall, Natalya, Maryse, Victoria and Katie Lea Burchill, which her team lost, despite Tiffany never being tagged into the match.
On the March 30, 2009, episode of Raw, Tiffany competed in an 18-Diva tag team match, which she won for her team by pinning Katie Lea Burchill. On April 5, Tiffany made her WrestleMania debut as she competed in a 25 Diva battle royal at WrestleMania XXV to crown the first-ever "Miss WrestleMania", which was won by Santina Marella. On the April 7 episode of ECW, Tiffany was announced by Theodore Long as the new General Manager of ECW due to Long returning to SmackDown to again become its General Manager. As the new General Manager, her first order was to announce an elimination chase to determine who would face Jack Swagger for the ECW Championship at Backlash, with the participants being Mark Henry, Tommy Dreamer, Christian and Finlay, which Christian would ultimately win. In late June 2009, Tiffany was promoted to full-time General Manager of ECW. However, Tiffany was absent from television due to a storyline car accident with William Regal. In reality, Tiffany had injured her arm in an FCW match. She returned on the October 6 episode of ECW. On the final episode of ECW on February 16, 2010, Tiffany speared Rosa Mendes after she and Zack Ryder interfered in the ECW Championship match.
On the March 5, 2010, episode of SmackDown, Tiffany made her debut for the brand in a backstage segment, being welcomed by Rey Mysterio. On the March 12 episode of SmackDown, Tiffany made her in-ring debut, winning a match against Michelle McCool via disqualification after Vickie Guerrero interfered. Following the match, McCool, Guerrero, and Layla attacked Tiffany, until she was saved by Beth Phoenix. The following week, Tiffany and Phoenix defeated McCool and Layla (collectively known as LayCool) in a tag team match, and again in a rematch on the April 2 episode of SmackDown.
Tiffany then formed an alliance with Kelly Kelly, with the pair being dubbed "The Blondetourage", and they continued to feud with LayCool. On the June 12 of SmackDown!, Tiffany lost her first singles match to Layla after an interference from McCool. On May 21 episode of SmackDown!, Tiffany and Kelly lost to LayCool in a tag team match. On the July 2 episode of SmackDown!, Tiffany managed Kelly where she defeated McCool, and during the match Tiffany stopped Layla from interfering. On the July 10 episode of Superstars, Tiffany and Kelly again lost to LayCool. On the July 16 episode of SmackDown!, Tiffany managed Kelly and Chris Masters where they defeated Layla and Trent Barreta after interference from Rosa Mendes. She also managed Kelly in her WWE Women's Championship match against Layla at Money in the Bank. On July 23 episode of SmackDown!, Theodore Long announced that Tiffany would receive a match for the Women's Championship, which occurred on the July 30 episode of Smackdown, however she failed to capture the championship. She was originally scheduled to fight Layla, however, she instead fought McCool, as the two defended the title under the Freebird rule.
On August 13, 2010, it was reported that WWE had suspended Terrell because of an incident involving her real-life husband, Drew McIntyre. Before she could return to WWE programming, Terrell was released from her contract on November 19, 2010.
Independent circuit (2010–2013)
On December 4, 2010, it was announced that Terrell would make her independent circuit debut in a match against Alissa Flash at the Pro Wrestling Revolution's ChickFight event in San Francisco, California, on February 5, 2011. On January 4, 2011, it was announced that Terrell had pulled out of the show, citing personal reasons. ChickFight later claimed that the promotion could not cater to Terrell's requests that she had made despite already having an agreement with the promotion.
On April 5, 2012, Terrell made her debut for Powerslam Brewsky Brawl, where she teamed up with Jack Jameson to defeat Barbi Hayden and Houston Carson. On April 8, Terrell made appearance at Coastal Wrestling Federation, where she teamed with Sho Funaki in a winning effort, again defeating Hayden and Carson. Earlier in that event, Terrell defeated Jen Alise in singles match. Terrell also appeared at Maryland Championship Wrestling's Bodyslam Autism event on April 27, 2013.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)
Ohio Valley Wrestling (2012–2013)
On November 4, 2012, Terrell made her debut for Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)'s then-developmental branch, at OVW's Saturday Night Special event, being introduced as the special guest referee for the OVW Women's Championship match between Josette Bynum, Taeler Hendrix, and Heidi Lovelace. During the match, Terrell ignited a feud with Hendrix after Terrell cost Hendrix the match, after she put her hands on Terrell. On the November 10 episode of OVW, Terrell was interrupted by Hendrix during an interview, who then provoked Terrell, only to get attacked in return. Later that event, Terrell refereed a tag team match between Lovelace, Jessie Belle against Hendrix and Epiphany.
Terrell made her in-ring debut on the November 17 episode of OVW, where she defeated Heidi Lovelace with Hendrix as special guest referee to win the OVW Women's Championship. On the November 24 episode of OVW, Terrell defeated Scarlett Bordeaux in a non-title match, but was attacked by Hendrix post-match. On the November 28 episode OVW, Terrell attacked Hendrix during an in-ring segment, but was stopped by Bostic. OVW announced that Terrell issued a challenged to Hendrix at OVW's Saturday Night Special with the OVW Women's Championship on the line, with the stipulation that the loser will swim in a pool of "animal feces". At the event on December 1, Terrell lost the Women's Championship to Hendrix. After the match, Hendrix tried to attack Terrell, but she gained a measure of revenge when she moved out the way and Hendrix fell in the pool.
Knockouts referee and feud with Gail Kim (2012–2013)
On August 16, 2012, Terrell made her debut for TNA, being introduced by the Vice President of the Knockouts Division, Brooke Hogan, as the special guest referee for the Impact Women's Knockout Championship match between Madison Rayne and Miss Tessmacher. Terrell later became the official referee for the Knockouts division.
On January 13, 2013, at Genesis, Terrell began a storyline with Gail Kim after making a bad call during a gauntlet match, thus costing Kim's chance to become the number one contender to the Knockouts Championship. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell appeared backstage with Kim, who told Terrell not to make another mistake. Later that night, during Kim's match with Velvet Sky, Kim would argue with Terrell, costing herself the match in the process. On the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell helped Sky defeat Tara, Miss Tessmacher and Kim in a fatal four–way elimination match, with Sky lastly eliminating Kim to win the Knockouts Championship after Kim provoked Terrell into getting involved in the match. On March 10 at Lockdown, towards the end of the Knockouts Championship match, Terrell would attack Kim, again costing her the title. After the match, Terrell was attacked by Kim backstage during an interview. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Kim revealed that Brooke Hogan put Terrell on probation for attacking Kim. In a tag team match between Mickie James and Velvet Sky against Gail Kim and Tara, Terrell would again cost Kim the match by attacking her.
On the March 21 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell was terminated as Knockouts referee by Hogan, and was subsequently signed as an impact Knockout. On the March 28 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell challenged Kim to a match, however the match never started when Kim and Tara attacked Terrell, only to be saved by the Knockouts Champion, Velvet Sky. On the April 4 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell and Sky were defeated by Kim and Tara after the special guest referee Joey Ryan made a fast count on Terrell. Terrell finally faced Kim in a match on the April 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, which Terrell won. On the May 2 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell and Mickie James defeated Kim and Tara. After the match, Kim attacked Terrell. The rivalry between Terrell and Kim culminated in a Last Knockout Standing match on June 2 at Slammiversary XI, which Terrell would win. On the July 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell was defeated by Kim in a ladder match to determine the number one contender to the Knockouts Championship. The following month, Terrell was granted time off from Impact Wrestling due to her real life pregnancy.
Knockouts Champion and departure (2014–2016)
Terrell made her televised return on the June 19, 2014, episode of Impact Wrestling, being welcomed by her former rival Gail Kim and later interrupted by The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky). This led to Terrell's in–ring return, the following week on Impact Wrestling, where Kim and Terrell defeated Love and Sky in a tag team match. Terrell went on to unsuccessfully challenge Kim for the TNA Knockouts Championship on July 24 and on August 14 in a fatal four–way match also involving Love and Sky. After defeating the evil Madison Rayne on August 27 to become the number one contender, Terrell received her title match on the September 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, where she was again unsuccessful. After the match, both Terrell and Kim were attacked by the debuting Havok.
On the November 19 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell defeated newly crowned champion Havok and Gail Kim in a three–way match to win the TNA Knockouts Championship for the first time. On January 7, 2015, during Impact Wrestlings debut on Destination America, Terrell successfully defended the championship in a battle royal against the other TNA Knockouts, lastly eliminating Havok. Terrell went on to successfully retain her championship in various matches: on January 30 against Kim and Madison Rayne in a three–way match and against Angelina Love on February 20. After that Terrell started a feud with the recently returned Awesome Kong, after Kong attacked her. This led to a match between the two, on March 6, which Taryn won via disqualification and Kong would continue her attack after the match, with Kim making the save. This led to a three–way match, where Terrell again prevailed. On April 18, Terrell became the new longest reigning TNA Knockouts Champion in history, surpassing Kim's previous record of 210 days.
On the special episode of Impact Wrestling, titled TKO: Night of Knockouts on April 24, Terrell retained her championship against Kong in a no disqualification match after The Dollhouse (Jade and Marti Bell) interfered and attacked Kong, ultimately assisting Terrell in putting Kong through a table as a "receipt" for an earlier attack in which Kong put Terrell through a table. After the match, Terrell transitioned into a villainess for the first time in her wrestling career and joined The Dollhouse as their leader. Terrell retained her championship on the Hardcore Justice episode of Impact Wrestling on May 1, against Brooke, with help from Jade and Marti. In their first match as a team, the following week, The Dollhouse were defeated by Kong and Kim in a three–on–two handicap match. On the May 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, in a steel cage match, Terrell again retained her championship against Kim. At Slammiversary XIII, The Dollhouse were defeated by Kong and Brooke in another three–on–two handicap match. After successfully retaining her championship against Brooke and Kong in a three–way match, Terrell lost the championship to Brooke, on the July 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, after interference from Gail Kim, ending her reign at 279 days. After her loss, Terrell went on a hiatus citing a hand injury, courtesy of Kim but continued to appear in segments on the jumbotron, orchestrating attacks on various Knockouts. During her absence, Rebel joined The Dollhouse. On January 4, 2016, Terrell announced that she had parted ways with the company, describing her departure as a personal decision.
On October 2, 2016, Terrell made an appearance at Bound for Glory alongside Awesome Kong, Christy Hemme, and Chairman Dixie Carter to induct Gail Kim into the TNA Hall of Fame.
Return to Impact Wrestling (2017)
On August 17, 2017, at Destination X, Terrell made her return to the newly rebranded Impact Wrestling, attacking Gail Kim during her GFW Knockouts Championship match against Sienna. On the September 7 episode of Impact!, in her first match back after her one and a half year hiatus, Terrell teamed with Sienna and defeated Kim and Allie in a tag team match. On October 20, 2017, it was announced that Terrell had departed Impact Wrestling.
National Wrestling Alliance (2021–2022)
On March 21, 2021, Terrell made her NWA debut on commentary during the women's match between Thunder Rosa and Kamille. On the June 6, at When Our Shadows Fall, Terrell teamed with Kylie Rae and won their debut match against Thunder Rosa and Melina Perez. With her arrival to NWA, Terrell started managing Jennacide and Paola Blaze. The trio teamed together on August 29 at the pre-show of NWA 73rd Anniversary Show to challenge the NWA World Women's Tag Team Champions The Hex (Allysin Kay and Marti Belle), alongside Lady Frost in a six-woman tag team match, but were unsuccessful.
On February 12, 2022, at NWA PowerrrTrip, Terrell received a title match for the NWA World Women's Championship when she challenged the champion Kamille, but was unsuccessful. On the March 21 episode of Powerrr, as Blaze and Jennacide lost to Women's World Tag Team Champions The Hex in a title match, they were forced to dissolved as a team, due to a stipulation that was made before the match, thus ending Terrell managing the two. Terrell would quickly find an ally in Natalia Markova. On November 10, Terrell confirmed her retirement from professional wrestling and leaving NWA.
Acting career
Terrell made a special appearance on The Showbiz Show with David Spade in 2007. Terrell was featured in a segment on Lopez Tonight on August 4, 2010. She received her start in acting after appearing alongside Will Ferrell in the 2012 comedy film The Campaign. She was later hired as a stunt double for Kayla Ewell in the film The Demented.
Filmography
Personal life
Terrell attended the University of New Orleans, majoring in marketing. Terrell is a co-leader for a volunteer mission group called Hope Children's Home that provides love and time to children that have been neglected, abused, and discarded. Terrell is a founder for a volunteer mission foundation called Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
In 2008, Terrell became a vegan due to animal rights. However, she revealed she was no longer a vegan in 2010.
She is also a convert to Christianity.
Terrell first appeared in Playboy in the special College Girls edition of January 2007. She next appeared in the February/March 2010 issue of the Playboy Lingerie Special Edition. The photos were an accumulation of previous photoshoots that she had done for the magazine prior to signing with WWE, and show her fully naked. She appeared again in Playboy in November 2010, in the special issue Big Boobs, Hot Buns, with the photos having been taken prior to her signing with WWE. Terrell has appeared in an issue of Maxim and on Sky Sports.com.
Terrell previously dated Alfonso Ribeiro in 2008. Terrell became engaged to Drew Galloway, who appears on-screen as wrestler Drew McIntyre, in July 2009. The couple married in Las Vegas in May 2010. On May 24, 2011, Terrell announced that she and Galloway were divorcing.
Terrell gave birth to a girl named Emerson on March 2, 2014. Terrell married professional motorcyclist and stunt man Joseph Dryden in 2015.
Championships and accomplishments
Ohio Valley Wrestling OVW Women's Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' Ranked No. 10 of the best 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2015
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling'''
TNA Knockouts Championship (1 time)
Impact Year End Awards
Knockout of The Year (2014)
References
External links
Taryn Terrell Impact Wrestling Profile
Category:1985 births
Category:Female models from Florida
Category:Actresses from Tampa, Florida
Category:American female professional wrestlers
Category:American film actresses
Category:American stunt performers
Category:American television actresses
Category:Converts to Christianity
Category:Female models from Louisiana
Category:Glamour models
Category:Living people
Category:Sportspeople from New Orleans
Category:Professional wrestlers from Louisiana
Category:Professional wrestling authority figures
Category:Professional wrestling managers and valets
Category:Professional wrestling referees
Category:University of New Orleans alumni
Category:WWE Diva Search contestants
Category:21st-century American women
Category:21st-century female professional wrestlers
Category:TNA/Impact Knockouts World Champions
Category:OVW Women's Champions | [] | [
"Taryn used the name Tiffany while with Florida Championship Wrestling.",
"The context indicates that Tiffany had a mix of successes and losses during her time with Florida Championship Wrestling. She did not win every match, and at one point she was injured, but she also had several victories and participated in a number of important matches.",
"Yes, in addition to losing her first FCW televised match in a fatal four-way match, Tiffany was also unsuccessful in a four-pack challenge to determine the new number one contender to the Queen of FCW crown. Furthermore, she unsuccessfully challenged Serena Mancini for the Queen of FCW crown.",
"The context does not provide enough information to determine whether Tiffany lost a lot of her matches while with Florida Championship Wrestling. It mentions specific losses but also includes victories she had.",
"During her time with Florida Championship Wrestling, Tiffany attained experience in the ring by participating in various notable matches. She had a series of victories, including team victories with other wrestlers such as The Bella Twins, Nikki Bella, Eve Torres, Angela Fong, April Lee, and Yoshi Tatsu. She also made it to the semi-finals in the tournament to determine the inaugural Queen of FCW.",
"Tiffany teamed up with Angela Fong on multiple occasions. On one occasion, Tiffany and Angela Fong, along with April Lee, won a 6-Diva tag team match against Alicia Fox, Roucka, and Serena Deeb. There is no specific mention of a one-on-one match between Tiffany and Angela Fong.",
"While at Florida Championship Wrestling, Tiffany (Terrell) teamed up with several other wrestlers on various occasions. These include Beverly Mullins, Nic Nemeth, Brad Allen, The Bella Twins, Nikki Bella, Eve Torres, Angela Fong, April Lee, Yoshi Tatsu, and Aksana.",
"The context states that Tiffany (Terrell) tried out for the 2007 WWE Diva Search and was then signed to a developmental contract by WWE in February 2008. She was active in Florida Championship Wrestling matches through 2009, and returned from injury in February 2010 for a tag team match. The context does not provide information about her status after February 2010."
] | [
"Yes",
"Neutral",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_1 | Laurence Olivier | Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, (; 22 May 1907 - 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career, he had considerable success in television roles. | Family background and early life (1907-1924) | Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, the youngest of the three children of the Revd Gerard Kerr Olivier (1869-1939) and his wife Agnes Louise, nee Crookenden (1871-1920). Their elder children were Sybille (1901-1989) and Gerard Dacres "Dickie" (1904-1958). His great-great-grandfather was of French Huguenot descent, and Olivier came from a long line of Protestant clergymen. Gerard Olivier had begun a career as a schoolmaster, but in his thirties he discovered a strong religious vocation and was ordained as a priest of the Church of England. He practised extremely high church, ritualist Anglicanism and liked to be addressed as "Father Olivier". This made him unacceptable to most Anglican congregations, and the only church posts he was offered were temporary, usually deputising for regular incumbents in their absence. This meant a nomadic existence, and for Laurence's first few years, he never lived in one place long enough to make friends. In 1912, when Olivier was five, his father secured a permanent appointment as assistant priest at St Saviour's, Pimlico. He held the post for six years, and a stable family life was at last possible. Olivier was devoted to his mother, but not to his father, whom he found a cold and remote parent. Nevertheless, he learned a great deal of the art of performing from him. As a young man Gerard Olivier had considered a stage career and was a dramatic and effective preacher. Olivier wrote that his father knew "when to drop the voice, when to bellow about the perils of hellfire, when to slip in a gag, when suddenly to wax sentimental ... The quick changes of mood and manner absorbed me, and I have never forgotten them." In 1916, after attending a series of preparatory schools, Olivier passed the singing examination for admission to the choir school of All Saints, Margaret Street, in central London. His elder brother was already a pupil, and Olivier gradually settled in, though he felt himself to be something of an outsider. The church's style of worship was (and remains) Anglo-Catholic, with emphasis on ritual, vestments and incense. The theatricality of the services appealed to Olivier, and the vicar encouraged the students to develop a taste for secular as well as religious drama. In a school production of Julius Caesar in 1917, the ten-year-old Olivier's performance as Brutus impressed an audience that included Lady Tree, the young Sybil Thorndike, and Ellen Terry, who wrote in her diary, "The small boy who played Brutus is already a great actor." He later won praise in other schoolboy productions, as Maria in Twelfth Night (1918) and Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew (1922). From All Saints, Olivier went on to St Edward's School, Oxford, from 1920 to 1924. He made little mark until his final year, when he played Puck in the school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream; his performance was a tour de force that won him popularity among his fellow pupils. In January 1924, his brother left England to work in India as a rubber planter. Olivier missed him greatly and asked his father how soon he could follow. He recalled in his memoirs that his father replied, "Don't be such a fool, you're not going to India, you're going on the stage." CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_1_q#0",
"C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_1_q#1",
"C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_1_q#2",
"C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_1_q#3",
"C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_1_q#4"
] | [
"Who were Olivier's parents?",
"Where did he grow up?",
"Did he have any siblings?",
"Where did he attend school?",
"What else happened in his early life?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
0,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
79
],
[
17
],
[
37
],
[
1677
],
[
429
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Revd Gerard Kerr Olivier"
],
[
"in Dorking, Surrey,"
],
[
"the youngest of the three children"
],
[
"In 1916, after attending a series of preparatory schools, Olivier passed the singing examination for admission to the choir school of All Saints,"
],
[
"but in his thirties he discovered a strong religious vocation and was ordained as a priest of the Church of England."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
79,
17,
37,
1677,
429
],
"texts": [
"Revd Gerard Kerr Olivier",
"in Dorking, Surrey,",
"the youngest of the three children",
"In 1916, after attending a series of preparatory schools, Olivier passed the singing examination for admission to the choir school of All Saints,",
"but in his thirties he discovered a strong religious vocation and was ordained as a priest of the Church of England."
]
} | Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career he had considerable success in television roles.
His family had no theatrical connections, but Olivier's father, a clergyman, decided that his son should become an actor. After attending a drama school in London, Olivier learned his craft in a succession of acting jobs during the late 1920s. In 1930 he had his first important West End success in Noël Coward's Private Lives, and he appeared in his first film. In 1935 he played in a celebrated production of Romeo and Juliet alongside Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft, and by the end of the decade he was an established star. In the 1940s, together with Richardson and John Burrell, Olivier was the co-director of the Old Vic, building it into a highly respected company. There his most celebrated roles included Shakespeare's Richard III and Sophocles's Oedipus. In the 1950s Olivier was an independent actor-manager, but his stage career was in the doldrums until he joined the avant-garde English Stage Company in 1957 to play the title role in The Entertainer, a part he later played on film. From 1963 to 1973 he was the founding director of Britain's National Theatre, running a resident company that fostered many future stars. His own parts there included the title role in Othello (1965) and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1970).
Among Olivier's films are Wuthering Heights (1939), Rebecca (1940), and a trilogy of Shakespeare films as actor/director: Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), and Richard III (1955). His later films included Spartacus (1960), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Sleuth (1972), Marathon Man (1976), and The Boys from Brazil (1978). His television appearances included an adaptation of The Moon and Sixpence (1960), Long Day's Journey into Night (1973), Love Among the Ruins (1975), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976), Brideshead Revisited (1981) and King Lear (1983).
Olivier's honours included a knighthood (1947), a life peerage (1970), and the Order of Merit (1981). For his on-screen work he received four Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. The National Theatre's largest auditorium is named in his honour, and he is commemorated in the Laurence Olivier Awards, given annually by the Society of London Theatre. He was married three times, to the actresses Jill Esmond from 1930 to 1940, Vivien Leigh from 1940 to 1960, and Joan Plowright from 1961 until his death.
Life and career
Family background and early life (1907–1924)
Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, the youngest of the three children of Agnes Louise (née Crookenden) and Reverend Gerard Kerr Olivier. He had two older siblings: Sybille and Gerard Dacres "Dickie". His great-great-grandfather was of French Huguenot descent, and Olivier came from a long line of Protestant clergymen. Gerard Olivier had begun a career as a schoolmaster, but in his thirties he discovered a strong religious vocation and was ordained as a priest of the Church of England. He practised extremely high church, ritualist Anglicanism and liked to be addressed as "Father Olivier". This made him unacceptable to most Anglican congregations, and the only church posts he was offered were temporary, usually deputising for regular incumbents in their absence. This meant a nomadic existence, and for Laurence's first few years, he never lived in one place long enough to make friends.
In 1912, when Olivier was five, his father secured a permanent appointment as assistant rector at St Saviour's, Pimlico. He held the post for six years, and a stable family life was at last possible. Olivier was devoted to his mother, but not to his father, whom he found a cold and remote parent, though he learned a great deal of the art of performing from him. As a young man Gerard Olivier had considered a stage career and was a dramatic and effective preacher. Olivier wrote that his father knew "when to drop the voice, when to bellow about the perils of hellfire, when to slip in a gag, when suddenly to wax sentimental ... The quick changes of mood and manner absorbed me, and I have never forgotten them."
In 1916, after attending a series of preparatory schools, Olivier passed the singing examination for admission to the choir school of All Saints, Margaret Street, in central London. His elder brother was already a pupil and Olivier gradually settled in, though he felt himself to be something of an outsider. The church's style of worship was (and remains) Anglo-Catholic, with emphasis on ritual, vestments and incense. The theatricality of the services appealed to Olivier, and the vicar encouraged the students to develop a taste for secular as well as religious drama. In a school production of Julius Caesar in 1917, the ten-year-old Olivier's performance as Brutus impressed an audience that included Lady Tree, the young Sybil Thorndike, and Ellen Terry, who wrote in her diary, "The small boy who played Brutus is already a great actor." He later won praise in other schoolboy productions, as Maria in Twelfth Night (1918) and Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew (1922).
From All Saints, Olivier went on to St Edward's School, Oxford, from 1921 to 1924. He made little mark until his final year, when he played Puck in the school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream; his performance was a tour de force that won him popularity among his fellow pupils. In January 1924, his brother left England to work in India as a rubber planter. Olivier missed him greatly and asked his father how soon he could follow. He recalled in his memoirs that his father replied, "Don't be such a fool, you're not going to India, you're going on the stage."
Early acting career (1924–1929)
In 1924 Gerard Olivier, a habitually frugal man, told his son that he must gain not only admission to the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, but also a scholarship with a bursary to cover his tuition fees and living expenses. Olivier's sister had been a student there and was a favourite of Elsie Fogerty, the founder and principal of the school. Olivier later speculated that it was on the strength of this connection that Fogerty agreed to award him the bursary.
One of Olivier's contemporaries at the school was Peggy Ashcroft, who observed he was "rather uncouth in that his sleeves were too short and his hair stood on end but he was intensely lively and great fun". By his own admission he was not a very conscientious student, but Fogerty liked him and later said that he and Ashcroft stood out among her many pupils.
After leaving the Central School in 1925, Olivier worked for small theatrical companies; his first stage appearance was in a sketch called The Unfailing Instinct at the Brighton Hippodrome in August 1925. Later that year, he was taken on by Sybil Thorndike (the daughter of a friend of Olivier's father) and her husband Lewis Casson as a bit-part player, understudy, and assistant stage manager for their London company. Olivier modelled his performing style on that of Gerald du Maurier, of whom he said, "He seemed to mutter on stage but had such perfect technique. When I started I was so busy doing a du Maurier that no one ever heard a word I said. The Shakespearean actors one saw were terrible hams like Frank Benson." Olivier's concern with speaking naturally and avoiding what he called "singing" Shakespeare's verse was the cause of much frustration in his early career, as critics regularly decried his delivery.
In 1926, on Thorndike's recommendation, Olivier joined the Birmingham Repertory Company. His biographer Michael Billington describes the Birmingham company as "Olivier's university", where in his second year he was given the chance to play a wide range of important roles, including Tony Lumpkin in She Stoops to Conquer, the title role in Uncle Vanya, and Parolles in All's Well That Ends Well. Billington adds that the engagement led to "a lifelong friendship with his fellow actor Ralph Richardson that was to have a decisive effect on the British theatre."
While playing the juvenile lead in Bird in Hand at the Royalty Theatre in June 1928, Olivier began a relationship with Jill Esmond, the daughter of the actors Henry V. Esmond and Eva Moore. Olivier later recounted that he thought "she would most certainly do excellent well for a wife ... I wasn't likely to do any better at my age and with my undistinguished track-record, so I promptly fell in love with her."
In 1928 Olivier created the role of Stanhope in R. C. Sherriff's Journey's End, in which he scored a great success at its single Sunday night premiere. He was offered the part in the West End production the following year, but turned it down in favour of the more glamorous role of Beau Geste in a stage adaptation of P. C. Wren's 1929 novel of the same name. Journey's End became a long-running success; Beau Geste failed. The Manchester Guardian commented, "Mr. Laurence Olivier did his best as Beau, but he deserves and will get better parts. Mr. Olivier is going to make a big name for himself". For the rest of 1929 Olivier appeared in seven plays, all of which were short-lived. Billington ascribes this failure rate to poor choices by Olivier rather than mere bad luck.
Rising star (1930–1935)
In 1930, with his impending marriage in mind, Olivier earned some extra money with small roles in two films. In April he travelled to Berlin to film the English-language version of The Temporary Widow, a crime comedy with Lilian Harvey, and in May he spent four nights working on another comedy, Too Many Crooks. During work on the latter film, for which he was paid £60, he met Laurence Evans, who became his personal manager. Olivier did not enjoy working in film, which he dismissed as "this anaemic little medium which could not stand great acting", but financially it was much more rewarding than his theatre work.
Olivier and Esmond married on 25 July 1930 at All Saints, Margaret Street, although within weeks both realised they had erred. Olivier later recorded that the marriage was "a pretty crass mistake. I insisted on getting married from a pathetic mixture of religious and animal promptings. ... She had admitted to me that she was in love elsewhere and could never love me as completely as I would wish". Olivier later recounted that following the wedding he did not keep a diary for ten years and never followed religious practices again, although he considered those facts to be "mere coincidence", unconnected to the nuptials.
In 1930 Noël Coward cast Olivier as Victor Prynne in his new play Private Lives, which opened at the new Phoenix Theatre in London in September. Coward and Gertrude Lawrence played the lead roles, Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne. Victor is a secondary character, along with Sybil Chase; the author called them "extra puppets, lightly wooden ninepins, only to be repeatedly knocked down and stood up again". To make them credible spouses for Amanda and Elyot, Coward was determined that two outstandingly attractive performers should play the parts. Olivier played Victor in the West End and then on Broadway; Adrianne Allen was Sybil in London, but could not go to New York, where the part was taken by Esmond. In addition to giving the 23-year-old Olivier his first successful West End role, Coward became something of a mentor. In the late 1960s Olivier told Sheridan Morley:
In 1931 RKO Pictures offered Olivier a two-film contract at $1,000 a week; he discussed the possibility with Coward, who, irked, told Olivier "You've no artistic integrity, that's your trouble; this is how you cheapen yourself." He accepted and moved to Hollywood, despite some misgivings. His first film was the drama Friends and Lovers, in a supporting role, before RKO loaned him to Fox Studios for his first film lead, a British journalist in a Russia under martial law in The Yellow Ticket, alongside Elissa Landi and Lionel Barrymore. The cultural historian Jeffrey Richards describes Olivier's look as an attempt by Fox Studios to produce a likeness of Ronald Colman, and Colman's moustache, voice and manner are "perfectly reproduced". Olivier returned to RKO to complete his contract with the 1932 drama Westward Passage, which was a commercial failure. Olivier's initial foray into American films had not provided the breakthrough he hoped for; disillusioned with Hollywood, he returned to London, where he appeared in two British films, Perfect Understanding with Gloria Swanson and No Funny Business—in which Esmond also appeared. He was tempted back to Hollywood in 1933 to appear opposite Greta Garbo in Queen Christina, but was replaced after two weeks of filming because of a lack of chemistry between the two.
Olivier's stage roles in 1934 included Bothwell in Gordon Daviot's Queen of Scots, which was only a moderate success for him and for the play, but led to an important engagement for the same management (Bronson Albery) shortly afterwards. In the interim he had a great success playing a thinly disguised version of the American actor John Barrymore in George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's Theatre Royal. His success was vitiated by his breaking an ankle two months into the run, in one of the athletic, acrobatic stunts with which he liked to enliven his performances.
In 1935, under Albery's management, John Gielgud staged Romeo and Juliet at the New Theatre, co-starring with Peggy Ashcroft, Edith Evans and Olivier. Gielgud had seen Olivier in Queen of Scots, spotted his potential, and gave him a major step up in his career. For the first weeks of the run Gielgud played Mercutio and Olivier played Romeo, after which they exchanged roles. The production broke all box-office records for the play, running for 189 performances. Olivier was enraged at the notices after the first night, which praised the virility of his performance but fiercely criticised his speaking of Shakespeare's verse, contrasting it with his co-star's mastery of the poetry. The friendship between the two men was prickly, on Olivier's side, for the rest of his life.
Old Vic and Vivien Leigh (1936–1938)
In May 1936 Olivier and Richardson jointly directed and starred in a new piece by J. B. Priestley, Bees on the Boatdeck. Both actors won excellent notices, but the play, an allegory of Britain's decay, did not attract the public and closed after four weeks. Later in the same year Olivier accepted an invitation to join the Old Vic company. The theatre, in an unfashionable location south of the Thames, had offered inexpensive tickets for opera and drama under its proprietor Lilian Baylis since 1912. Her drama company specialised in the plays of Shakespeare, and many leading actors had taken very large cuts in their pay to develop their Shakespearean techniques there. Gielgud had been in the company from 1929 to 1931 and Richardson from 1930 to 1932. Among the actors whom Olivier joined in late 1936 were Edith Evans, Ruth Gordon, Alec Guinness and Michael Redgrave. In January 1937 Olivier took the title role in an uncut version of Hamlet in which once again his delivery of the verse was unfavourably compared with that of Gielgud, who had played the role on the same stage seven years previously to enormous acclaim. The Observers Ivor Brown praised Olivier's "magnetism and muscularity" but missed "the kind of pathos so richly established by Mr Gielgud". The reviewer in The Times found the performance "full of vitality", but at times "too light ... the character slips from Mr Olivier's grasp".
After Hamlet, the company presented Twelfth Night in what the director, Tyrone Guthrie, summed up as "a baddish, immature production of mine, with Olivier outrageously amusing as Sir Toby and a very young Alec Guinness outrageous and more amusing as Sir Andrew". Henry V was the next play, presented in May to mark the Coronation of George VI. A pacifist, as he then was, Olivier was as reluctant to play the warrior king as Guthrie was to direct the piece, but the production was a success and Baylis had to extend the run from four to eight weeks.
Following Olivier's success in Shakespearean stage productions, he made his first foray into Shakespeare on film in 1936, as Orlando in As You Like It, directed by Paul Czinner, "a charming if lightweight production", according to Michael Brooke of the British Film Institute's (BFI's) Screenonline. The following year Olivier appeared alongside Vivien Leigh in the historical drama Fire Over England. He had first met Leigh briefly at the Savoy Grill and then again when she visited him during the run of Romeo and Juliet, probably early in 1936, and the two had begun an affair sometime that year. Of the relationship, Olivier later said that "I couldn't help myself with Vivien. No man could. I hated myself for cheating on Jill, but then I had cheated before, but this was something different. This wasn't just out of lust. This was love that I really didn't ask for but was drawn into." While his relationship with Leigh continued he conducted an affair with the actress Ann Todd, and possibly had a brief affair with the actor Henry Ainley, according to the biographer Michael Munn.
In June 1937 the Old Vic company took up an invitation to perform Hamlet in the courtyard of the castle at Elsinore, where Shakespeare located the play. Olivier secured the casting of Leigh to replace Cherry Cottrell as Ophelia. Because of torrential rain the performance had to be moved from the castle courtyard to the ballroom of a local hotel, but the tradition of playing Hamlet at Elsinore was established, and Olivier was followed by, among others, Gielgud (1939), Redgrave (1950), Richard Burton (1954), Christopher Plummer (1964), Derek Jacobi (1979), Kenneth Branagh (1988) and Jude Law (2009). Back in London, the company staged Macbeth, with Olivier in the title role. The stylised production by Michel Saint-Denis was not well liked, but Olivier had some good notices among the bad. On returning from Denmark, Olivier and Leigh told their respective spouses about the affair and that their marriages were over; Esmond moved out of the marital house and in with her mother. After Olivier and Leigh made a tour of Europe in mid-1937 they returned to separate film projects—A Yank at Oxford for her and The Divorce of Lady X for him—and moved into a property together in Iver, Buckinghamshire.
Olivier returned to the Old Vic for a second season in 1938. For Othello he played Iago, with Richardson in the title role. Guthrie wanted to experiment with the theory that Iago's villainy is driven by a suppressed love for Othello. Olivier was willing to co-operate, but Richardson was not; audiences and most critics failed to spot the supposed motivation of Olivier's Iago, and Richardson's Othello seemed underpowered. After that comparative failure, the company had a success with Coriolanus starring Olivier in the title role. The notices were laudatory, mentioning him alongside great predecessors such as Edmund Kean, William Macready and Henry Irving. The actor Robert Speaight described it as "Olivier's first incontestably great performance". This was Olivier's last appearance on a London stage for six years.
Hollywood and the Second World War (1938–1944)
In 1938 Olivier joined Richardson to film the spy thriller Q Planes, released the following year. Frank Nugent, the critic for The New York Times, thought Olivier was "not quite so good" as Richardson, but was "quite acceptable". In late 1938, lured by a salary of $50,000, the actor travelled to Hollywood to take the part of Heathcliff in the 1939 film Wuthering Heights, alongside Merle Oberon and David Niven. In less than a month Leigh had joined him, explaining that her trip was "partially because Larry's there and partially because I intend to get the part of Scarlett O'Hara"—the role in Gone with the Wind in which she was eventually cast. Olivier did not enjoy making Wuthering Heights, and his approach to film acting, combined with a dislike for Oberon, led to tensions on set. The director, William Wyler, was a hard taskmaster, and Olivier learned to remove what Billington described as "the carapace of theatricality" to which he was prone, replacing it with "a palpable reality". The resulting film was a commercial and critical success that earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor and created his screen reputation. Caroline Lejeune, writing for The Observer, considered that "Olivier's dark, moody face, abrupt style, and a certain fine arrogance towards the world in his playing are just right" in the role, while the reviewer for The Times wrote that Olivier "is a good embodiment of Heathcliff ... impressive enough on a more human plane, speaking his lines with real distinction, and always both romantic and alive."
After returning to London briefly in mid-1939, the couple returned to America, Leigh to film the final takes for Gone with the Wind, and Olivier to prepare for filming of Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca—although the couple had hoped to appear in it together. Instead, Joan Fontaine was selected for the role of Mrs de Winter, as the producer David O. Selznick thought that not only was she more suitable for the role, but that it was best to keep Olivier and Leigh apart until their divorces came through. Olivier followed Rebecca with Pride and Prejudice, in the role of Mr. Darcy. To his disappointment Elizabeth Bennet was played by Greer Garson rather than Leigh. He received good reviews for both films and showed a more confident screen presence than he had in his early work. In January 1940 Olivier and Esmond were granted their divorce. In February, following another request from Leigh, her husband also applied for their marriage to be terminated.
On stage, Olivier and Leigh starred in Romeo and Juliet on Broadway. It was an extravagant production, but a commercial failure. In The New York Times Brooks Atkinson praised the scenery but not the acting: "Although Miss Leigh and Mr Olivier are handsome young people they hardly act their parts at all." The couple had invested almost all their savings in the project, and its failure was a grave financial blow. They were married in August 1940, at the San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara.
The war in Europe had been under way for a year and was going badly for Britain. After his wedding Olivier wanted to help the war effort. He telephoned Duff Cooper, the Minister of Information under Winston Churchill, hoping to get a position in Cooper's department. Cooper advised him to remain where he was and speak to the film director Alexander Korda, who was based in the US at Churchill's behest, with connections to British Intelligence. Korda—with Churchill's support and involvement—directed That Hamilton Woman, with Olivier as Horatio Nelson and Leigh in the title role. Korda saw that the relationship between the couple was strained. Olivier was tiring of Leigh's suffocating adulation, and she was drinking to excess. The film, in which the threat of Napoleon paralleled that of Hitler, was seen by critics as "bad history but good British propaganda", according to the BFI.
Olivier's life was under threat from the Nazis and pro-German sympathisers. The studio owners were concerned enough that Samuel Goldwyn and Cecil B. DeMille both provided support and security to ensure his safety. On the completion of filming, Olivier and Leigh returned to Britain. He had spent the previous year learning to fly and had completed nearly 250 hours by the time he left America. He intended to join the Royal Air Force but instead made another propaganda film, 49th Parallel, narrated short pieces for the Ministry of Information, and joined the Fleet Air Arm because Richardson was already in the service. Richardson had gained a reputation for crashing aircraft, which Olivier rapidly eclipsed. Olivier and Leigh settled in a cottage just outside RNAS Worthy Down, where he was stationed with a training squadron; Noël Coward visited the couple and thought Olivier looked unhappy. Olivier spent much of his time taking part in broadcasts and making speeches to build morale, and in 1942 he was invited to make another propaganda film, The Demi-Paradise, in which he played a Soviet engineer who helps improve British-Russian relationships.
In 1943, at the behest of the Ministry of Information, Olivier began working on Henry V. Originally he had no intention of taking the directorial duties, but ended up directing and producing, in addition to taking the title role. He was assisted by an Italian internee, Filippo Del Giudice, who had been released to produce propaganda for the Allied cause. The decision was made to film the battle scenes in neutral Ireland, where it was easier to find the 650 extras. John Betjeman, the press attaché at the British embassy in Dublin, played a key liaison role with the Irish government in making suitable arrangements. The film was released in November 1944. Brooke, writing for the BFI, considers that it "came too late in the Second World War to be a call to arms as such, but formed a powerful reminder of what Britain was defending." The music for the film was written by William Walton, "a score that ranks with the best in film music", according to the music critic Michael Kennedy. Walton also provided the music for Olivier's next two Shakespearean adaptations, Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955). Henry V was warmly received by critics. The reviewer for The Manchester Guardian wrote that the film combined "new art hand-in-hand with old genius, and both superbly of one mind", in a film that worked "triumphantly". The critic for The Times considered that Olivier "plays Henry on a high, heroic note and never is there danger of a crack", in a film described as "a triumph of film craft". There were Oscar nominations for the film, including Best Picture and Best Actor, but it won none and Olivier was instead presented with a "Special Award". He was unimpressed, and later commented that "this was my first absolute fob-off, and I regarded it as such."
Co-directing the Old Vic (1944–1948)
Throughout the war Tyrone Guthrie had striven to keep the Old Vic company going, even after German bombing in 1942 left the theatre a near-ruin. A small troupe toured the provinces, with Sybil Thorndike at its head. By 1944, with the tide of the war turning, Guthrie felt it time to re-establish the company in a London base and invited Richardson to head it. Richardson made it a condition of accepting that he should share the acting and management in a triumvirate. Initially he proposed Gielgud and Olivier as his colleagues, but the former declined, saying, "It would be a disaster, you would have to spend your whole time as referee between Larry and me." It was finally agreed that the third member would be the stage director John Burrell. The Old Vic governors approached the Royal Navy to secure the release of Richardson and Olivier; the Sea Lords consented, with, as Olivier put it, "a speediness and lack of reluctance which was positively hurtful."
The triumvirate secured the New Theatre for their first season and recruited a company. Thorndike was joined by, among others, Harcourt Williams, Joyce Redman and Margaret Leighton. It was agreed to open with a repertory of four plays: Peer Gynt, Arms and the Man, Richard III and Uncle Vanya. Olivier's roles were the Button Moulder, Sergius, Richard and Astrov; Richardson played Peer, Bluntschli, Richmond and Vanya. The first three productions met with acclaim from reviewers and audiences; Uncle Vanya had a mixed reception, although The Times thought Olivier's Astrov "a most distinguished portrait" and Richardson's Vanya "the perfect compound of absurdity and pathos". In Richard III, according to Billington, Olivier's triumph was absolute: "so much so that it became his most frequently imitated performance and one whose supremacy went unchallenged until Antony Sher played the role forty years later". In 1945 the company toured Germany, where they were seen by many thousands of Allied servicemen; they also appeared at the Comédie-Française theatre in Paris, the first foreign company to be given that honour. The critic Harold Hobson wrote that Richardson and Olivier quickly "made the Old Vic the most famous theatre in the Anglo-Saxon world."
The second season, in 1945, featured two double bills. The first consisted of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2. Olivier played the warrior Hotspur in the first and the doddering Justice Shallow in the second. He received good notices, but by general consent the production belonged to Richardson as Falstaff. In the second double bill it was Olivier who dominated, in the title roles of Oedipus Rex and The Critic. In the two one-act plays his switch from searing tragedy and horror in the first half to farcical comedy in the second impressed most critics and audience members, though a minority felt that the transformation from Sophocles's bloodily blinded hero to Sheridan's vain and ludicrous Mr Puff "smacked of a quick-change turn in a music hall". After the London season the company played both the double bills and Uncle Vanya in a six-week run on Broadway.
The third, and final, London season under the triumvirate was in 1946–47. Olivier played King Lear, and Richardson took the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac. Olivier would have preferred the roles to be reversed, but Richardson did not wish to attempt Lear. Olivier's Lear received good but not outstanding reviews. In his scenes of decline and madness towards the end of the play some critics found him less moving than his finest predecessors in the role. The influential critic James Agate suggested that Olivier used his dazzling stage technique to disguise a lack of feeling, a charge that the actor strongly rejected, but which was often made throughout his later career. During the run of Cyrano, Richardson was knighted, to Olivier's undisguised envy. The younger man received the accolade six months later, by which time the days of the triumvirate were numbered. The high profile of the two star actors did not endear them to the new chairman of the Old Vic governors, Lord Esher. He had ambitions to be the first head of the National Theatre and had no intention of letting actors run it. He was encouraged by Guthrie, who, having instigated the appointment of Richardson and Olivier, had come to resent their knighthoods and international fame.
In January 1947 Olivier began working on his second film as a director, Hamlet (1948), in which he also took the lead role. The original play was heavily cut to focus on the relationships, rather than the political intrigue. The film became a critical and commercial success in Britain and abroad, although Lejeune, in The Observer, considered it "less effective than [Olivier's] stage work. ... He speaks the lines nobly, and with the caress of one who loves them, but he nullifies his own thesis by never, for a moment, leaving the impression of a man who cannot make up his own mind; here, you feel rather, is an actor-producer-director who, in every circumstance, knows exactly what he wants, and gets it". Campbell Dixon, the critic for The Daily Telegraph thought the film "brilliant ... one of the masterpieces of the stage has been made into one of the greatest of films." Hamlet became the first non-American film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, while Olivier won the Award for Best Actor.
In 1948 Olivier led the Old Vic company on a six-month tour of Australia and New Zealand. He played Richard III, Sir Peter Teazle in Sheridan's The School for Scandal and Antrobus in Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, appearing alongside Leigh in the latter two plays. While Olivier was on the Australian tour and Richardson was in Hollywood, Esher terminated the contracts of the three directors, who were said to have "resigned". Melvyn Bragg in a 1984 study of Olivier, and John Miller in the authorised biography of Richardson, both comment that Esher's action put back the establishment of a National Theatre for at least a decade. Looking back in 1971, Bernard Levin wrote that the Old Vic company of 1944 to 1948 "was probably the most illustrious that has ever been assembled in this country". The Times said that the triumvirate's years were the greatest in the Old Vic's history; as The Guardian put it, "the governors summarily sacked them in the interests of a more mediocre company spirit".
Post-war (1948–1951)
By the end of the Australian tour, both Leigh and Olivier were exhausted and ill, and he told a journalist, "You may not know it, but you are talking to a couple of walking corpses." Later he would comment that he "lost Vivien" in Australia, a reference to Leigh's affair with the Australian actor Peter Finch, whom the couple met during the tour. Shortly afterwards Finch moved to London, where Olivier auditioned him and put him under a long-term contract with Laurence Olivier Productions. Finch and Leigh's affair continued on and off for several years.
Although it was common knowledge that the Old Vic triumvirate had been dismissed, they refused to be drawn on the matter in public, and Olivier even arranged to play a final London season with the company in 1949, as Richard III, Sir Peter Teazle, and Chorus in his own production of Anouilh's Antigone with Leigh in the title role. After that, he was free to embark on a new career as an actor-manager. In partnership with Binkie Beaumont he staged the English premiere of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, with Leigh in the central role of Blanche DuBois. The play was condemned by most critics, but the production was a considerable commercial success, and led to Leigh's casting as Blanche in the 1951 film version. Gielgud, who was a devoted friend of Leigh's, doubted whether Olivier was wise to let her play the demanding role of the mentally unstable heroine: "[Blanche] was so very like her, in a way. It must have been a most dreadful strain to do it night after night. She would be shaking and white and quite distraught at the end of it."
The production company set up by Olivier took a lease on the St James's Theatre. In January 1950 he produced, directed and starred in Christopher Fry's verse play Venus Observed. The production was popular, despite poor reviews, but the expensive production did little to help the finances of Laurence Olivier Productions. After a series of box-office failures, the company balanced its books in 1951 with productions of Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra which the Oliviers played in London and then took to Broadway. Olivier was thought by some critics to be under par in both his roles, and some suspected him of playing deliberately below his usual strength so that Leigh might appear his equal. Olivier dismissed the suggestion, regarding it as an insult to his integrity as an actor. In the view of the critic and biographer W. A. Darlington, he was simply miscast both as Caesar and Antony, finding the former boring and the latter weak. Darlington comments, "Olivier, in his middle forties when he should have been displaying his powers at their very peak, seemed to have lost interest in his own acting". Over the next four years Olivier spent much of his time working as a producer, presenting plays rather than directing or acting in them. His presentations at the St James's included seasons by Ruggero Ruggeri's company giving two Pirandello plays in Italian, followed by a visit from the Comédie-Française playing works by Molière, Racine, Marivaux and Musset in French. Darlington considers a 1951 production of Othello starring Orson Welles as the pick of Olivier's productions at the theatre.
Independent actor-manager (1951–1954)
While Leigh made Streetcar in 1951, Olivier joined her in Hollywood to film Carrie, based on the controversial novel Sister Carrie; although the film was plagued by troubles, Olivier received warm reviews and a BAFTA nomination. Olivier began to notice a change in Leigh's behaviour, and he later recounted that "I would find Vivien sitting on the corner of the bed, wringing her hands and sobbing, in a state of grave distress; I would naturally try desperately to give her some comfort, but for some time she would be inconsolable." After a holiday with Coward in Jamaica, she seemed to have recovered, but Olivier later recorded, "I am sure that ... [the doctors] must have taken some pains to tell me what was wrong with my wife; that her disease was called manic depression and what that meant—a possibly permanent cyclical to-and-fro between the depths of depression and wild, uncontrollable mania. He also recounted the years of problems he had experienced because of Leigh's illness, writing, "throughout her possession by that uncannily evil monster, manic depression, with its deadly ever-tightening spirals, she retained her own individual canniness—an ability to disguise her true mental condition from almost all except me, for whom she could hardly be expected to take the trouble."
In January 1953 Leigh travelled to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to film Elephant Walk with Peter Finch. Shortly after filming started she suffered a breakdown, and returned to Britain where, between periods of incoherence, she told Olivier that she was in love with Finch, and had been having an affair with him; she gradually recovered over a period of several months. As a result of the breakdown, many of the Oliviers' friends learned of her problems. Niven said she had been "quite, quite mad", and in his diary, Coward expressed the view that "things had been bad and getting worse since 1948 or thereabouts."
For the Coronation season of 1953, Olivier and Leigh starred in the West End in Terence Rattigan's Ruritanian comedy, The Sleeping Prince. It ran for eight months but was widely regarded as a minor contribution to the season, in which other productions included Gielgud in Venice Preserv'd, Coward in The Apple Cart and Ashcroft and Redgrave in Antony and Cleopatra.
Olivier directed his third Shakespeare film in September 1954, Richard III (1955), which he co-produced with Korda. The presence of four theatrical knights in the one film—Olivier was joined by Cedric Hardwicke, Gielgud and Richardson—led an American reviewer to dub it "An-All-Sir-Cast". The critic for The Manchester Guardian described the film as a "bold and successful achievement", but it was not a box-office success, which accounted for Olivier's subsequent failure to raise the funds for a planned film of Macbeth. He won a BAFTA award for the role and was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award, which Yul Brynner won.
Last productions with Leigh (1955–1956)
In 1955 Olivier and Leigh were invited to play leading roles in three plays at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford. They began with Twelfth Night, directed by Gielgud, with Olivier as Malvolio and Leigh as Viola. Rehearsals were difficult, with Olivier determined to play his conception of the role despite the director's view that it was vulgar. Gielgud later commented:
The next production was Macbeth. Reviewers were lukewarm about the direction by Glen Byam Shaw and the designs by Roger Furse, but Olivier's performance in the title role attracted superlatives. To J. C. Trewin, Olivier's was "the finest Macbeth of our day"; to Darlington it was "the best Macbeth of our time". Leigh's Lady Macbeth received mixed but generally polite notices, although to the end of his life Olivier believed it to have been the best Lady Macbeth he ever saw.
In their third production of the 1955 Stratford season, Olivier played the title role in Titus Andronicus, with Leigh as Lavinia. Her notices in the part were damning, but the production by Peter Brook and Olivier's performance as Titus received the greatest ovation in Stratford history from the first-night audience, and the critics hailed the production as a landmark in post-war British theatre. Olivier and Brook revived the production for a continental tour in June 1957; its final performance, which closed the old Stoll Theatre in London, was the last time Leigh and Olivier acted together.
Leigh became pregnant in 1956 and withdrew from the production of Coward's comedy South Sea Bubble. The day after her final performance in the play she miscarried and entered a period of depression that lasted for months. In the same year Olivier directed and co-starred with Marilyn Monroe in a film version of The Sleeping Prince, retitled The Prince and the Showgirl. Although the filming was challenging because of Monroe's behaviour, the film was appreciated by the critics.
Royal Court and Chichester (1957–1963)
During the production of The Prince and the Showgirl, Olivier, Monroe and her husband, the American playwright Arthur Miller, went to see the English Stage Company's production of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court. Olivier had seen the play earlier in the run and disliked it, but Miller was convinced that Osborne had talent, and Olivier reconsidered. He was ready for a change of direction; in 1981 he wrote:
Osborne was already at work on a new play, The Entertainer, an allegory of Britain's post-colonial decline, centred on a seedy variety comedian, Archie Rice. Having read the first act—all that was completed by then—Olivier asked to be cast in the part. He had for years maintained that he might easily have been a third-rate comedian called "Larry Oliver", and would sometimes play the character at parties. Behind Archie's brazen façade there is a deep desolation, and Olivier caught both aspects, switching, in the words of the biographer Anthony Holden, "from a gleefully tacky comic routine to moments of the most wrenching pathos". Tony Richardson's production for the English Stage Company transferred from the Royal Court to the Palace Theatre in September 1957; after that it toured and returned to the Palace. The role of Archie's daughter Jean was taken by three actresses during the various runs. The second of them was Joan Plowright, with whom Olivier began a relationship that endured for the rest of his life. Olivier said that playing Archie "made me feel like a modern actor again". In finding an avant-garde play that suited him, he was, as Osborne remarked, far ahead of Gielgud and Ralph Richardson, who did not successfully follow his lead for more than a decade. Their first substantial successes in works by any of Osborne's generation were Alan Bennett's Forty Years On (Gielgud in 1968) and David Storey's Home (Richardson and Gielgud in 1970).
Olivier received another BAFTA nomination for his supporting role in 1959's The Devil's Disciple. The same year, after a gap of two decades, Olivier returned to the role of Coriolanus, in a Stratford production directed by the 28-year-old Peter Hall. Olivier's performance received strong praise from the critics for its fierce athleticism combined with an emotional vulnerability. In 1960 he made his second appearance for the Royal Court company in Ionesco's absurdist play Rhinoceros. The production was chiefly remarkable for the star's quarrels with the director, Orson Welles, who according to the biographer Francis Beckett suffered the "appalling treatment" that Olivier had inflicted on Gielgud at Stratford five years earlier. Olivier again ignored his director and undermined his authority. In 1960 and 1961 Olivier appeared in Anouilh's Becket on Broadway, first in the title role, with Anthony Quinn as the king, and later exchanging roles with his co-star.
Two films featuring Olivier were released in 1960. The first—filmed in 1959—was Spartacus, in which he portrayed the Roman general, Marcus Licinius Crassus. His second was The Entertainer, shot while he was appearing in Coriolanus; the film was well received by the critics, but not as warmly as the stage show had been. The reviewer for The Guardian thought the performances were good, and wrote that Olivier "on the screen as on the stage, achieves the tour de force of bringing Archie Rice ... to life". For his performance, Olivier was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He also made an adaptation of The Moon and Sixpence in 1960, winning an Emmy Award.
The Oliviers' marriage was disintegrating during the late 1950s. While directing Charlton Heston in the 1960 play The Tumbler, Olivier divulged that "Vivien is several thousand miles away, trembling on the edge of a cliff, even when she's sitting quietly in her own drawing room", at a time when she was threatening suicide. In May 1960 divorce proceedings started; Leigh reported the fact to the press and informed reporters of Olivier's relationship with Plowright. The decree nisi was issued in December 1960, which enabled him to marry Plowright in March 1961. A son, Richard, was born in December 1961; two daughters followed, Tamsin Agnes Margaret—born in January 1963—and actress Julie-Kate, born in July 1966.
In 1961 Olivier accepted the directorship of a new theatrical venture, the Chichester Festival. For the opening season in 1962 he directed two neglected 17th-century English plays, John Fletcher's 1638 comedy The Chances and John Ford's 1633 tragedy The Broken Heart, followed by Uncle Vanya. The company he recruited was forty strong and included Thorndike, Casson, Redgrave, Athene Seyler, John Neville and Plowright. The first two plays were politely received; the Chekhov production attracted rapturous notices. The Times commented, "It is doubtful if the Moscow Arts Theatre itself could improve on this production." The second Chichester season the following year consisted of a revival of Uncle Vanya and two new productions—Shaw's Saint Joan and John Arden's The Workhouse Donkey. In 1963 Olivier received another BAFTA nomination for his leading role as a schoolteacher accused of sexually molesting a student in the film Term of Trial.
National Theatre
1963–1968
At around the time the Chichester Festival opened, plans for the creation of the National Theatre were coming to fruition. The British government agreed to release funds for a new building on the South Bank of the Thames. Lord Chandos was appointed chairman of the National Theatre Board in 1962, and in August Olivier accepted its invitation to be the company's first director. As his assistants, he recruited the directors John Dexter and William Gaskill, with Kenneth Tynan as literary adviser or "dramaturge". Pending the construction of the new theatre, the company was based at the Old Vic. With the agreement of both organisations, Olivier remained in overall charge of the Chichester Festival during the first three seasons of the National; he used the festivals of 1964 and 1965 to give preliminary runs to plays he hoped to stage at the Old Vic.
The opening production of the National Theatre was Hamlet in October 1963, starring Peter O'Toole and directed by Olivier. O'Toole was a guest star, one of occasional exceptions to Olivier's policy of casting productions from a regular company. Among those who made a mark during Olivier's directorship were Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi and Anthony Hopkins. It was widely remarked that Olivier seemed reluctant to recruit his peers to perform with his company. Evans, Gielgud and Paul Scofield guested only briefly, and Ashcroft and Richardson never appeared at the National during Olivier's time. Robert Stephens, a member of the company, observed, "Olivier's one great fault was a paranoid jealousy of anyone who he thought was a rival".
In his decade in charge of the National, Olivier acted in thirteen plays and directed eight. Several of the roles he played were minor characters, including a crazed butler in Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear and a pompous solicitor in Maugham's Home and Beauty; the vulgar soldier Captain Brazen in Farquhar's 1706 comedy The Recruiting Officer was a larger role but not the leading one.
Apart from his Astrov in the Uncle Vanya, familiar from Chichester, his first leading role for the National was Othello, directed by Dexter in 1964. The production was a box-office success and was revived regularly over the next five seasons. His performance divided opinion. Most of the reviewers and theatrical colleagues praised it highly; Franco Zeffirelli called it "an anthology of everything that has been discovered about acting in the past three centuries." Dissenting voices included The Sunday Telegraph, which called it "the kind of bad acting of which only a great actor is capable ... near the frontiers of self-parody"; the director Jonathan Miller thought it "a condescending view of an Afro Caribbean person". The burden of playing this demanding part at the same time as managing the new company and planning for the move to the new theatre took its toll on Olivier. To add to his load, he felt obliged to take over as Solness in The Master Builder when the ailing Redgrave withdrew from the role in November 1964. For the first time Olivier began to suffer from stage fright, which plagued him for several years. The National Theatre production of Othello was released as a film in 1965, which earned four Academy Award nominations, including another for Best Actor for Olivier.
During the following year Olivier concentrated on management, directing one production (The Crucible), taking the comic role of the foppish Tattle in Congreve's Love for Love, and making one film, Bunny Lake is Missing, in which he and Coward were on the same bill for the first time since Private Lives. In 1966, his one play as director was Juno and the Paycock. The Times commented that the production "restores one's faith in the work as a masterpiece". In the same year Olivier portrayed the Mahdi, opposite Heston as General Gordon, in the film Khartoum.
In 1967 Olivier was caught in the middle of a confrontation between Chandos and Tynan over the latter's proposal to stage Rolf Hochhuth's Soldiers. As the play speculatively depicted Churchill as complicit in the assassination of the Polish prime minister Władysław Sikorski, Chandos regarded it as indefensible. At his urging the board unanimously vetoed the production. Tynan considered resigning over this interference with the management's artistic freedom, but Olivier himself stayed firmly in place, and Tynan also remained. At about this time Olivier began a long struggle against a succession of illnesses. He was treated for prostate cancer and, during rehearsals for his production of Chekhov's Three Sisters he was hospitalised with pneumonia. He recovered enough to take the heavy role of Edgar in Strindberg's The Dance of Death, the finest of all his performances other than in Shakespeare, in Gielgud's view.
1968–1974
Olivier had intended to step down from the directorship of the National Theatre at the end of his first five-year contract, having, he hoped, led the company into its new building. By 1968 because of bureaucratic delays construction work had not even begun, and he agreed to serve for a second five-year term. His next major role, and his last appearance in a Shakespeare play, was as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, his first appearance in the work. He had intended Guinness or Scofield to play Shylock, but stepped in when neither was available. The production by Jonathan Miller, and Olivier's performance, attracted a wide range of responses. Two different critics reviewed it for The Guardian: one wrote "this is not a role which stretches him, or for which he will be particularly remembered"; the other commented that the performance "ranks as one of his greatest achievements, involving his whole range".
In 1969 Olivier appeared in two war films, portraying military leaders. He played Field Marshal French in the First World War film Oh! What a Lovely War, for which he won another BAFTA award, followed by Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding in Battle of Britain. In June 1970 he became the first actor to be created a peer for services to the theatre. Although he initially declined the honour, Harold Wilson, the incumbent prime minister, wrote to him, then invited him and Plowright to dinner, and persuaded him to accept.
After this Olivier played three more stage roles: James Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (1971–72), Antonio in Eduardo de Filippo's Saturday, Sunday, Monday and John Tagg in Trevor Griffiths's The Party (both 1973–74). Among the roles he hoped to play, but could not because of ill-health, was Nathan Detroit in the musical Guys and Dolls. In 1972 he took leave of absence from the National to star opposite Michael Caine in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's film of Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth, which The Illustrated London News considered to be "Olivier at his twinkling, eye-rolling best"; both he and Caine were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, losing to Marlon Brando in The Godfather.
The last two stage plays Olivier directed were Jean Giradoux's Amphitryon (1971) and Priestley's Eden End (1974). By the time of Eden End, he was no longer director of the National Theatre; Peter Hall took over on 1 November 1973. The succession was tactlessly handled by the board, and Olivier felt that he had been eased out—although he had declared his intention to go—and that he had not been properly consulted about the choice of successor. The largest of the three theatres within the National's new building was named in his honour, but his only appearance on the stage of the Olivier Theatre was at its official opening by the Queen in October 1976, when he made a speech of welcome, which Hall privately described as the most successful part of the evening.
Later years (1975–1989)
Olivier spent the last 15 years of his life securing his finances and dealing with deteriorating health, which included thrombosis and dermatomyositis, a degenerative muscle disorder. Professionally, and to provide financial security, he made a series of advertisements for Polaroid cameras in 1972, although he stipulated that they must never be shown in Britain; he also took a number of cameo film roles, which were in "often undistinguished films", according to Billington. Olivier's move from leading parts to supporting and cameo roles came about because his poor health meant he could not get the necessary long insurance for larger parts, with only short engagements in films available.
Olivier's dermatomyositis meant he spent the last three months of 1974 in hospital, and he spent early 1975 slowly recovering and regaining his strength. When strong enough, he was contacted by the director John Schlesinger, who offered him the role of a Nazi torturer in the 1976 film Marathon Man. Olivier shaved his pate and wore oversized glasses to enlarge the look of his eyes, in a role that the critic David Robinson, writing for The Times, thought was "strongly played", adding that Olivier was "always at his best in roles that call for him to be seedy or nasty or both". Olivier was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and won the Golden Globe of the same category.
In the mid-1970s Olivier became increasingly involved in television work, a medium of which he was initially dismissive. In 1973 he provided the narration for a 26-episode documentary, The World at War, which chronicled the events of the Second World War, and won a second Emmy Award for Long Day's Journey into Night (1973). In 1975 he won another Emmy for Love Among the Ruins. The following year he appeared in adaptations of Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Harold Pinter's The Collection. Olivier portrayed the Pharisee Nicodemus in Franco Zeffirelli's 1977 miniseries Jesus of Nazareth. In 1978 he appeared in the film The Boys from Brazil, playing the role of Ezra Lieberman, an ageing Nazi hunter; he received his eleventh Academy Award nomination. Although he did not win the Oscar, he was presented with an Honorary Award for his lifetime achievement.
Olivier continued working in film into the 1980s, with roles in The Jazz Singer (1980), Inchon (1981), The Bounty (1984) and Wild Geese II (1985). He continued to work in television; in 1981 he appeared as Lord Marchmain in Brideshead Revisited, winning another Emmy, and the following year he received his tenth and last BAFTA nomination in the television adaptation of John Mortimer's stage play A Voyage Round My Father. In 1983 he played his last Shakespearean role as Lear in King Lear, for Granada Television, earning his fifth Emmy. He thought the role of Lear much less demanding than other tragic Shakespearean heroes: "No, Lear is easy. He's like all of us, really: he's just a stupid old fart." When the production was first shown on American television, the critic Steve Vineberg wrote:
The same year he also appeared in a cameo alongside Gielgud and Richardson in Wagner, with Burton in the title role; his final screen appearance was as an elderly wheelchair-using soldier in Derek Jarman's 1989 film War Requiem.
After being ill for the last 22 years of his life, Olivier died of kidney failure on 11 July 1989 aged 82 at his home in the village of Ashurst, near Steyning, West Sussex. His cremation was held three days later; his ashes were buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey during a memorial service in October that year.
Honours
Olivier was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1947 Birthday Honours for services to the stage and to films. A life peerage as Baron Olivier, of Brighton in the County of Sussex followed in the 1970 Birthday Honours for services to the theatre. Olivier was later appointed to the Order of Merit in 1981. He also received honours from foreign governments. In 1949 he was made Commander of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog; the French appointed him , Legion of Honour, in 1953; the Italian government created him , Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, in 1953; and in 1971 he was granted the Order of Yugoslav Flag with Golden Wreath.
Awards and memorials
From academic and other institutions, Olivier received honorary doctorates from Tufts University in Massachusetts (1946), Oxford (1957) and Edinburgh (1964). He was also awarded the Danish Sonning Prize in 1966, the Gold Medallion of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities in 1968; and the Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts in 1976.
For his work in films, Olivier received four Academy Awards: an honorary award for Henry V (1947), a Best Actor award and one as producer for Hamlet (1948), and a second honorary award in 1979 to recognise his lifetime of contribution to the art of film. He was nominated for nine other acting Oscars and one each for production and direction. He also won two British Academy Film Awards out of ten nominations, five Emmy Awards out of nine nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards out of six nominations. He was nominated once for a Tony Award (for best actor, as Archie Rice) but did not win.
In February 1960, for his contribution to the film industry, Olivier was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with a star at 6319 Hollywood Boulevard; he is included in the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 1977 Olivier was awarded a British Film Institute Fellowship.
In addition to the naming of the National Theatre's largest auditorium in Olivier's honour, he is commemorated in the Laurence Olivier Awards, bestowed annually since 1984 by the Society of London Theatre. In 1991 Gielgud unveiled a memorial stone commemorating Olivier in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey. In 2007, the centenary of Olivier's birth, a life-sized statue of him was unveiled on the South Bank, outside the National Theatre; the same year the BFI held a retrospective season of his film work.
Technique and reputation
Olivier's acting technique was minutely crafted, and he was known for changing his appearance considerably from role to role. By his own admission, he was addicted to extravagant make-up, and unlike Richardson and Gielgud, he excelled at different voices and accents. His own description of his technique was "working from the outside in"; he said, "I can never act as myself, I have to have a pillow up my jumper, a false nose or a moustache or wig... I cannot come on looking like me and be someone else." Rattigan described how at rehearsals Olivier "built his performance slowly and with immense application from a mass of tiny details". This attention to detail had its critics: Agate remarked, "When I look at a watch it is to see the time and not to admire the mechanism. I want an actor to tell me Lear's time of day and Olivier doesn't. He bids me watch the wheels go round."
Tynan remarked to Olivier, "you aren't really a contemplative or philosophical actor"; Olivier was known for the strenuous physicality of his performances in some roles. He told Tynan this was because he was influenced as a young man by Douglas Fairbanks, Ramon Navarro and John Barrymore in films, and Barrymore on stage as Hamlet: "tremendously athletic. I admired that greatly, all of us did. ... One thought of oneself, idiotically, skinny as I was, as a sort of Tarzan." According to Morley, Gielgud was widely considered "the best actor in the world from the neck up and Olivier from the neck down." Olivier described the contrast thus: "I've always thought that we were the reverses of the same coin... the top half John, all spirituality, all beauty, all abstract things; and myself as all earth, blood, humanity."
Olivier, a classically trained actor, was known to have been distrustful of method acting. In his memoir, On Acting, he exhorts actors to "have Stanislavski with you in your study or in your limousine... but don't bring him onto the film set." During production of The Prince and the Showgirl, he quarrelled with Marilyn Monroe, who was trained under Lee Strasberg's method, over her acting process. Similarly, an anecdote casts him as offering Dustin Hoffman, enduring physical travails while playing in Marathon Man, a curt suggestion: "why don't you just try acting?" Hoffman disputes the details of this account, which he claims was distorted by a journalist: he had been up all night at the Studio 54 nightclub for personal rather than professional reasons and Olivier, who understood this, was joking.
Together with Richardson and Gielgud, Olivier was internationally recognised as one of the "great trinity of theatrical knights" who dominated the British stage during the middle and later decades of the 20th century. In an obituary tribute in The Times, Bernard Levin wrote, "What we have lost with Laurence Olivier is glory. He reflected it in his greatest roles; indeed he walked clad in it—you could practically see it glowing around him like a nimbus.... no one will ever play the roles he played as he played them; no one will replace the splendour that he gave his native land with his genius." Billington commented:
After Olivier's death, Gielgud reflected, "He followed in the theatrical tradition of Kean and Irving. He respected tradition in the theatre, but he also took great delight in breaking tradition, which is what made him so unique. He was gifted, brilliant, and one of the great controversial figures of our time in theatre, which is a virtue and not a vice at all."
Olivier said in 1963 that he believed he was born to be an actor, but his colleague Peter Ustinov disagreed; he commented that although Olivier's great contemporaries were clearly predestined for the stage, "Larry could have been a notable ambassador, a considerable minister, a redoubtable cleric. At his worst, he would have acted the parts more ably than they are usually lived." The director David Ayliff agreed that acting did not come instinctively to Olivier as it did to his great rivals. He observed, "Ralph was a natural actor, he couldn't stop being a perfect actor; Olivier did it through sheer hard work and determination." The American actor William Redfield had a similar view:
In comparing Olivier and the other leading actors of his generation, Ustinov wrote, "It is of course vain to talk of who is and who is not the greatest actor. There is simply no such thing as a greatest actor, or painter or composer". Nonetheless, some colleagues, particularly film actors such as Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, came to regard Olivier as the finest of his peers. Peter Hall, though acknowledging Olivier as the head of the theatrical profession, thought Richardson the greater actor. Olivier's claim to theatrical greatness lay not only in his acting, but as, in Hall's words, "the supreme man of the theatre of our time", pioneering Britain's National Theatre. As Bragg identified, "no one doubts that the National is perhaps his most enduring monument".
Stage roles and filmography
See also
Laurence Olivier Awards
List of British Academy Award nominees and winners
List of actors with Academy Award nominations
List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories
Notes and references
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Laurence Olivier Archive at the British Library
Category:1907 births
Category:1989 deaths
Laurence
Category:20th-century English male actors
Category:20th-century theatre managers
Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients
Category:Actor-managers
Category:Actors awarded British peerages
Category:Actors awarded knighthoods
Category:Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Category:Artistic directors
Category:BAFTA fellows
Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners
Category:Best British Actor BAFTA Award winners
Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Category:Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award winners
Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey
Category:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners
Category:David di Donatello winners
Category:Directors of Golden Lion winners
Category:Deaths from kidney failure
Category:English Anglo-Catholics
Category:English male film actors
Category:English film directors
Category:English male Shakespearean actors
Category:English male stage actors
Category:English male television actors
Category:English theatre directors
Category:English people of French descent
Category:Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II
Category:Knights Bachelor
Category:Life peers
Category:Male actors from Surrey
Category:Members of the Order of Merit
Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners
Category:People educated at St Edward's School, Oxford
Category:People from Dorking
Category:Royal Navy officers of World War II
Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II | [
{
"text": "The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Awards, but they were renamed in honour of the British actor of the same name in 1984.\n\nThe awards are given annually to individuals involved in West End productions and other leading non-commercial theatres based in London across a range of categories covering plays, musicals, dance, opera and affiliate theatre. A discretionary non-competitive Special Olivier Award is also given each year. The Olivier Awards are recognised internationally as the highest honour in British theatre, equivalent to the BAFTA Awards for film and television, and the BRIT Awards for music. The Olivier Awards are considered equivalent to Broadway's Tony Awards and France's Molière Award.\n\nSince inception, the awards have been held at various venues and theatres across London, from 2012 to 2016 at the Royal Opera House, before moving to the Royal Albert Hall in 2017. Television coverage is broadcast in prime time on ITV1, who acquired the rights from 2013 onwards, with radio coverage by Magic Radio.\n\nHistory\nThe awards were established in 1976 by the Society of London Theatre as the Society of West End Theatre Awards and were designed by artist Tom Merrifield. The first ceremony was in December 1976 at the Café Royal. In 1984, British actor Laurence Olivier gave his consent for the awards to be renamed in his honour and they became known as the Laurence Olivier Awards.\n\nJudging\nEvery year, judging panels for theatre, opera, dance and affiliate shows are put together by the Society of London Theatre. \n\nFor opera, dance and affiliates, each panel is made up of a mix of professional panellists (journalists, casting directors, arts administrators, publishers and other industry professionals chosen for their knowledge in the field) and members of the public who are passionate about London theatre. The panels first select the shows they consider most worthy of an Olivier Award nomination, then vote on a winner at the end of the judging period.\n\nFor the theatre awards, a longlist is compiled by a panel made up of members of the public, and submitted to SOLT members to vote on. Members may still vote outside of the list at this stage, except for in the four Supporting Actor/Actress categories (as these each contain thousands of eligible performers). The members’ votes are collated with those of the panellists to create the list of nominees. The nominees list is then voted on by both members and panellists to produce the winners.\n\nCeremony\n\nHosts\nPast hosts of the Olivier Awards ceremony include Michael Ball, Imelda Staunton, Clive Anderson, Gemma Arterton, Stephen Mangan, Hugh Bonneville, Sheridan Smith, Lenny Henry, Catherine Tate, and Jason Manford.\n\nVenues\nThe venue most associated with the Awards is Grosvenor House Hotel, which has housed the after-show reception nine times and hosted the whole event on four further occasions. As well as at the Grosvenor, the presentations have been held at the Albery Theatre (now Noël Coward), Café Royal, Dominion Theatre, London Palladium, Lyceum Theatre, Park Lane Hilton, Piccadilly Theatre, Royal National Theatre Olivier, Royalty Theatre (now Peacock), Shaftesbury Theatre, Theatre Royal Drury Lane and Victoria Palace Theatre.\n\nThe awards ceremony was held at the Royal Opera House from 2012 to 2016, moving to the Royal Albert Hall in 2017.\n\nBroadcast\nThe first Laurence Olivier Awards to be broadcast on television was the 1981 ceremony, which was broadcast on BBC1. This continued until 1992, before a switch to BBC2 until 2003. The awards ceremony was then only broadcast on radio until 2011, when the BBC broadcast live interactive red-button coverage of the event, while Paul Gambaccini presented a programme on BBC Radio 2 with live coverage and interviews. The same coverage followed in 2012, before ITV secured the broadcast rights which saw the return of the Olivier Awards to mainstream television in 2013. This has continued in recent years, and the ceremony has also been broadcast on Magic Radio.\n\nAward categories\n\nDrama\n Best New Play\n Best Revival\n Best Entertainment or Comedy Play\n Best Actor\n Best Actress\n Best Performance in a Supporting Role\n Best Actor in a Supporting Role\n Best Actress in a Supporting Role\n\nMusical\n Best New Musical\n Best Musical Revival\n Best Actor in a Musical\n Best Actress in a Musical\n Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical\n Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical\n Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical\n Best Original Score or New Orchestrations\n\nProduction\n Best Director\n Best Theatre Choreographer\n Best Set Design\n Best Costume Design\n Best Lighting Design\n Best Sound Design\n\nDance/Opera\n Best New Dance Production\n Best New Opera Production\n Outstanding Achievement in Dance\n Outstanding Achievement in Opera\n\nOther\n Special Award\n Best Entertainment and Family\n Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre\n\nRetired\n Actor of the Year in a New Play\n Actress of the Year in a New Play\n Actor of the Year in a Revival\n Actress of the Year in a Revival\n Best Comedy Performance\n Best Performance in a Musical\n Supporting Artist of the Year\n Best Newcomer in a Play\n Most Promising Performer\n Best Company Performance\n Best Director of a Play\n Best Director of a Musical\n Most Promising Playwright\n Best Set Designer\n Outstanding Achievement in a Musical\n Audience Award\n\nAward milestones\nSome notable records and facts about the Laurence Olivier Awards include the following:\n\nProductions\n The most Olivier Awards ever received in the history of the awards were given to the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in 2017, when it won nine awards including Best New Play.\n\nThe record for the most Olivier Awards ever received by a musical is tied between Matilda, Hamilton and the 2021 production of Cabaret which received seven awards including Best Musical (for Matilda & Hamilton), and Best Musical Revival in the instance of Cabaret, which additionally became the first production in Olivier history to win in all four applicable acting categories.\n\n The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2013) received seven Olivier Awards. Nicholas Nickleby (1980) and My Neighbour Totoro (2023) received six. Life of Pi (2022), Chimerica (2014), Sunday in the Park with George (2007), She Loves Me (1995) and Guys and Dolls (1982) received five. Gypsy (2016), The Book of Mormon (2014), After the Dance (2011), Spring Awakening (2010), Black Watch (2009), Hairspray (2008), Jerry Springer (2004), All My Sons (2001), Billy Elliot (2006), Hedda Gabler (2006), Oklahoma (1999), Stanley (1997), Machinal (1994), Sweeney Todd (1994), An Inspector Calls (1993) and Carousel (1993) received four.\n The most nominations ever received by a production is 13 with Hamilton (2018). Cabaret (2021), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2017) and Hairspray (2008) received 11. Follies (2018) had 10. My Neighbour Totoro (2023), Life of Pi (2022), & Juliet (2020), Come from Away (2019), Company (2019), Memphis (2015), Matilda (2012), Billy Elliot (2006), Mary Poppins (2005), Kiss Me, Kate (2002), Oklahoma (1999) and Carousel (1993) received nine. The Inheritance (2019), The Ferryman (2018), Groundhog Day (2017), Gypsy (2016), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (2015), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2013), The Producers (2005), Guys and Dolls (2006), Jerry Springer (2004), Pacific Overtures (2004), Ragtime (2004), My Fair Lady (2002), Spend, Spend, Spend (2000), The Lion King (2000), Tommy (1997), She Loves Me (1995) and Fiddler on the Roof (2020) received eight.\nKiss Me, Kate (2002) holds the record for most nominations without any wins at nine.\n\nIndividuals\n\n William Dudley (designer), Judi Dench (actress) and Matthew Bourne (choreographer) are tied for the record for the most competitive wins by an individual with seven each. Dench also won a Special Olivier Award in 2004. Andrew Lloyd Webber (composer/producer) has won six plus the Special Olivier Award in 2008.\n Ian McKellen, Alan Bennett, Richard Eyre and Stephen Sondheim have all won five competitive awards plus the Special Olivier Award.\n Five wins: Declan Donnellan, Mark Henderson, Mark Thompson.\n Four wins: Michael Bryant, Michael Frayn, Tim Goodchild, Clare Higgins, Alex Jennings, Sam Mendes, Trevor Nunn, Philip Quast, Willy Russell, Simon Russell Beale, Imelda Staunton, Frances de la Tour, Paule Constable, Bunny Christie.\n Michael Gambon has a record thirteen Olivier nominations, winning an Olivier three times.\n Performers who have won Olivier Awards in both the play and musical categories are: Simon Russell Beale, Jonathan Pryce, Henry Goodman, Imelda Staunton, Judi Dench, Sheridan Smith, Janie Dee, Sharon D. Clarke, Sheila Atim and Eddie Redmayne.\n Of those 10, Judi Dench is the only performer to win both the play and musical Olivier acting awards in the same year (1996) - for her performances in Absolute Hell and A Little Night Music.\nIn 1991 Karla Burns became the first black performer to win the award, for the role of Queenie in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Show Boat.\n Maggie Smith has never won the award despite being nominated a total of six times. She did receive the Special Olivier Award in 2010.\n Sinéad Cusack has never won the award despite being nominated a total of five times.\n Philip Quast has won the Olivier for Best Actor in a Musical on three occasions, while Michael Crawford, Robert Lindsay, Daniel Evans and Michael Ball have all won the award twice.\n Imelda Staunton has won the Olivier for Best Actress in a Musical three times. Julia McKenzie, Joanna Riding, Maria Friedman and Samantha Spiro have all won twice. Imelda Staunton also holds the record for the most Olivier nominations in the Best Actress in a Musical category, with seven nominations. Maria Friedman is next, with six nominations.\n In 1985, Patti LuPone tied with herself for an Olivier for her performances as Fantine in the Original London Cast of Les Miserables, and as Moll in The Cradle Will Rock.\n Jenny Galloway and Tracie Bennett have both won the Olivier for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical twice.\n Shows that have won Olivier Awards for both Best Actor and Best Actress in a Musical: Barbara Dickson and Con O'Neill in Blood Brothers (1988), Jonathan Pryce and Lea Salonga in Miss Saigon (1990), Alun Armstrong and Julia McKenzie in Sweeney Todd (1993), Daniel Evans and Samantha Spiro in Merrily We Roll Along (2001), Alex Jennings and Joanna Riding in My Fair Lady (2003), Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell in Sunday in the Park with George (2007), Michael Ball and Leanne Jones in Hairspray (2008), Bertie Carvel and all four Matildas in Matilda (2012) and Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton in Sweeney Todd (2013)\n In 1984, Tim Flavin was the first American actor to win the Olivier Award for his performance in On Your Toes at the Palace Theatre. He was nominated twice in the same year for Most Promising Newcomer and Best Actor in a Musical and the award was presented by Dame Anna Neagle. In 1985, Patti LuPone was the first American actress to win an Olivier award for her work in The Cradle Will Rock and Les Miserables. Jessica Lange was the first American actress nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress for her performance in Long Day's Journey Into Night\n Hairspray won all three musical acting awards in 2008: Best Actor and Actress in a Musical for Michael Ball and Leanne Jones and Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for Tracie Bennett.\n Roles that have won awards for actors on more than one occasion include: Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls (1982 and 2006), George in Sunday in the Park with George (1991 and 2007), The Baker's Wife in Into the Woods (1991 and 1999), Nicely Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls (1982 and 1997), Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd (1980, 1994 and 2013), Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (1980, 1994 and 2013), Frau Schneider in Cabaret (1994 and 2007) and Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (2002 and 2003).\n Michael Ball and Bertie Carvel both won Oliviers for playing roles of the opposite sex, in 2008 for Hairspray and 2012 for Matilda, respectively.\n Shared wins: In 2022, all seven actors sharing the role of the Tiger in Life of Pi received the Olivier for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In 2012, all four actresses sharing the role of Matilda in Matilda the Musical received the Olivier for Best Actress in a Musical. In 2006, all three actors sharing the role of Billy Elliot in Billy Elliot the Musical received the Olivier for Best Actor in a Musical.\n Shared nominations: In 2017, the eight members of the cast (six leads and two understudies) of Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour were jointly nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Also in 2017, the six cast members from The Girls were jointly nominated in the Best Actress in a Musical category. In 2019, the six cast members of Six were jointly nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical for their performances as the six wives of Henry VIII.\n On April 15, 2012, at age 10 years 299 days, Eleanor Worthington Cox became the youngest winner of an award, when she received the Olivier for Best Actress in a Musical for Matilda the Musical.\n In 2018, Billie Piper became the first, and so far only, actor to have won all six of the currently available UK Theatre Best Actress awards for a single performance: Evening Standard Theatre Awards, What's On Stage Theatre Awards, Critic's Circle Theatre Awards, Broadway UK Theatre Awards, Glamour Awards and Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards. This accolade was achieved by her performance in Yerma, which was hailed as “the performance of the decade”, “shattering, exhausting, earthquaking” and “unbearably harrowing”.\n\nSee also\nIan Charleson Award\nWest End theatre\nEvening Standard Theatre Award\nTony Awards\nDrama Desk Award\nList of Tony Award and Olivier Award winning musicals\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n \nCategory:1976 establishments in the United Kingdom\nCategory:Awards established in 1976\nCategory:Laurence Olivier\nCategory:Stagecraft",
"title": "Laurence Olivier Awards"
},
{
"text": "This article is a list of British Academy Award winners and nominees. This list details the filmmakers, actors, actresses, and others born and working in the United Kingdom who have been nominated for or have won an Academy Award.\n\nBest Actor in a Leading Role\n\nBest Actress in a Leading Role\n\nBest Actor in a Supporting Role\n\nBest Actress in a Supporting Role\n\nBest Director\n\nBest Assistant Director (1933 to 1937)\n\nBest Writing – Adapted Screenplay\n\nBest Writing – Original Screenplay\n\nBest Writing – Story (1928 to 1956)\n\nBest Picture\n\nBest International Feature Film\n\nBest Documentary Feature\n\nBest Documentary – Short Subject\n\nBest Animated Feature\n\nBest Animated Short Film\n\nBest Production Design\n\nBest Cinematography\n\nBest Editing\n\nBest Sound\n\nBest Sound Editing (1963 to 2019)\n\nBest Costume Design\n\nBest Makeup and Hairstyling\n\nBest Original Score\n\nBest Original Song\n\nBest Visual Effects\n\nBest Live Action Short Film\n\nSpecial Awards\n\nNominations and Winners\n\nSee also\nCinema of the United Kingdom\nList of British actors\nList of British films\nBritish Academy Film Awards\nList of Irish Academy Award winners and nominees\n\nReferences\n\nBritish\nCategory:Lists of British award winners",
"title": "List of British Academy Award nominees and winners"
},
{
"text": "This list of actors with Academy Award nominations includes all male and female actors with Academy Award nominations for lead and supporting roles in motion pictures, and the total nominations and wins for each actor. Nominations in non-acting categories, such as for producing, directing or writing, are not included.\n\nThe most recent winners of all four acting categories, as of the 95th Academy Awards are Brendan Fraser for The Whale, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis for Everything Everywhere All at Once.\n\nThe award information is available on the Academy Awards website via dynamically-generated lists for specific actors, and for each year's nominees and winners via a scrolling timeline of all ceremonies.\n\nStatistics\n\nA total of 970 actors appear in the list—490 males and 480 females. Non-winning nominees include 336 males and 326 females—a total of 662. Actors that have won at least once include 155 males and 155 females—a total of 310. Only 44 actors—23 males and 21 females—are multiple Academy Award winners.\n\nKatharine Hepburn won four times from twelve nominations—all for lead roles—making her the actor with the most wins in Academy Awards history. Daniel Day-Lewis has won three times from six lead actor nominations—the most wins for any male in the lead actor category.\n\nMeryl Streep is the most-nominated actor of all with twenty one nominations. Jack Nicholson has received the most Academy Award nominations for any male actor with twelve nominations. Both actors have had three wins which included two for lead roles and one for a supporting role. Additionally, Ingrid Bergman, Daniel Day-Lewis,Walter Brennan, and Frances McDormand each won three awards with Bergman earning two statues from her lead roles and one from her supporting roles (out of seven total nominations) Brennan earning three (from four nominations), all in the supporting actor category, Day-Lewis earning three for his lead roles (out of six nominations) and McDormand earning three from her lead roles (out of six nominationsthree lead and three supporting).\n\nTable key\n§a winning actor who refused an award\n\nAn italicized First or Last year indicates the listed film's year of release when it is the first or most recent nomination of an actor with multiple nominations, otherwise the film year is provided after the film title in parentheses.\n\nList of actors\nThe list is designed to be sortable by clicking on any of the column headings; however, sorting is only possible if JavaScript is enabled in your web browser. If viewing on a mobile device, switch to the desktop view to enable sorting by clicking on the word Desktop at the bottom of the page. The initial sort order is by actor surnames.\n\nSee also\n\nNotes\n\nActors with multiple nominations at a single ceremony:\n\nAdditional winning roles:\n\nOther:\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\n\nExternal links\n\n Oscars.org - official Academy Awards site\n\nAcademy Awards\nAcademy Awards\nAcademy Awards\nAcademy Awards",
"title": "List of actors with Academy Award nominations"
},
{
"text": "The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have presented their annual Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, for over 90 years. The Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress have been presented since the 1st ceremony in 1929, and the awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress have been presented since the 9th ceremony in 1937. Of the 954 Academy Award nominees in an acting category, a total of 354 have received two or more acting nominations, 179 women and 175 men.\n\nA three-time Oscar winner, Meryl Streep is the most nominated performer in the acting categories, with 21 nominations between 1979 and 2018. Streep's total includes a record 17 best actress nominations. Seven actors have won three or more Oscars in the acting categories, with Katharine Hepburn being the only person to win four acting Oscars, winning best actress for the fourth time at the 1982 ceremony. Ingrid Bergman and Meryl Streep both have two best actress and one best supporting actress win, and in 2021, Frances McDormand became only the second woman to win three best actress Oscars. Thelma Ritter has a record six best supporting actress nominations. The only women to have won two Oscars in the supporting actress category are Shelley Winters and Dianne Wiest. The seven women to have won in both the lead and supporting actress categories are Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Cate Blanchett, and Renée Zellweger.\n\nJack Nicholson is the most nominated male performer in the acting categories with eight for best actor and four for best supporting actor, for a total of 12 nominations, winning three, two for best actor and one for best supporting actor. The record for most best actor nominations is nine, for both Spencer Tracy and Laurence Olivier (Olivier has a total of ten acting nominations). Daniel Day-Lewis has a record three best actor wins. Seven actors have each received four best supporting actor nominations, including Walter Brennan, who has a record three supporting actor wins. The six men to have won in both the lead and supporting actor categories are Jack Lemmon, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey and Denzel Washington.\n\nPeter O'Toole and Glenn Close jointly hold the record for most nominations in the acting categories without a win, with eight, followed by Richard Burton with seven, and Deborah Kerr, Thelma Ritter and Amy Adams with six. Both O'Toole and Kerr did receive the Academy Honorary Award.\n\nMost nominations in four acting categories\nListed below are the 188 actors who have received three or more Academy Award nominations in the acting categories plus the seven actors who have two wins from two nominations.\nBA = Best Actor/Actress Nominations\nBSA = Best Supporting Actor/Actress Nominations\n\nMost nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor combined\n\nMost nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress combined\n\nMost nominations by category (actor)\nListed are the actors with three or more nominations plus those with two wins from two nominations.\n\nMost nominations by category (actress)\n\nActors with two or more acting nominations who have won Academy Awards in non-acting categories\nTN = Total Nominations.\nAN = Acting Nominations.\n\nSee also \n\n List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories\n List of actors nominated for Academy Awards for foreign language performances\n List of directors with two or more Academy Awards for Best Director\n List of Academy Award records\n\nNotes\n\nABette Davis' performance in Of Human Bondage (1934) and Paul Muni's performance in Black Fury (1935) were not nominated for Oscars. As a result of Davis's failure to get a nomination, several influential people campaigned to have her name included on the list, so for that year, and the following year also, the Academy allowed a write-in vote. Technically this meant that any performance was eligible. At the 6th, 7th and 8th Academy Awards, the Academy publicly announced those that placed second and third in the vote, Davis placed third ahead of one official nominee and Muni placed second, ahead of three official nominees, and both Davis and Muni are listed on the Academy's official database as write-in nominees who placed in the final voting. From the 9th Academy Awards, the nominating committees were no longer used and the entire membership of each individual branch voted for the nominees in their respective categories.\nBLaurence Olivier received a total of 11 Oscar nominations, winning one. In addition to his 10 acting nominations, he received a Best Director nomination for Hamlet (1948). Prior to 1951, the Academy Award for Best Picture was credited to the production company, not individual producers, so Olivier was not credited for the Best Picture nomination for Henry V (1946) or Best Picture win for Hamlet. Olivier also received two Honorary Oscars; one for bringing Henry V to the screen, and a second in 1979 for Lifetime Achievement.\nCDenzel Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Shirley MacLaine and Will Smith have all received an additional nomination in a non-acting category. MacLaine in the Best Documentary Feature category as co-director of the 1975 film The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir, and Washington, DiCaprio and Smith in the Best Picture category; Washington for co-producing Fences (2016), DiCaprio for co-producing The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and Smith for co-producing King Richard (2021).\nDActors who received multiple nominations without winning a competitive Oscar but did receive an honorary Oscar, are Greta Garbo (1955), Barbara Stanwyck (1982), Deborah Kerr (1994), Kirk Douglas (1996), Peter O'Toole (2003), Angela Lansbury (2013) and Gena Rowlands (2015), who all received the Academy Honorary Award, Rosalind Russell (1973), who received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, Judy Garland (1940), who received the Academy Juvenile Award, and Mickey Rooney, who received both the Academy Juvenile Award (1939) and the Academy Honorary Award (1983).\nEAt the 2nd Academy Awards only the Best Actor and Best Actress winners were announced. There was no announcement of nominations. The official Academy site states that \"although not official nominations, the additional names in each category, according to in-house records, were under consideration by various boards of judges\". Although unofficial, Ruth Chatterton's nomination at the 2nd ceremony (the first of her two) counts towards her total in the above lists, and Paul Muni's nomination at the 2nd ceremony, counts as one of his five nominations in the above lists (his write-in vote from 1935 is not counted).\nFRules at the time of the first three Academy Award ceremonies allowed for a performer to receive a single nomination for their work in more than one film. At the 1st ceremony, Emil Jannings won Best Actor for his work in two films and Janet Gaynor won Best Actress for her work in three films. Richard Barthelmess also received a nomination for two films at the 1st ceremony. At the 3rd ceremony, George Arliss, Maurice Chevalier, Ronald Colman, Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer all received a single nomination for their work in two films. This is why the Academy lists Colman and Garbo as three-time nominees and Shearer as a five-time nominee. Barthelmess, Arliss and Chevalier are one-time nominees, so do not feature in the above lists. No official reason was ever given as to why Arliss and Shearer were named Best Actor and Best Actress for only one of the two films for which they were listed.\nGFrances McDormand, George Clooney, Emma Thompson, Warren Beatty, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Clint Eastwood have all won Oscars in non-acting categories. McDormand has seven Oscar nominations with four wins. In addition to her three Best Actress wins, she won for co-producing Best Picture winner Nomadland (2020). Clooney has eight Oscar nominations (four for acting, two for writing, one for directing and one for producing) with two wins. In addition to his win for Best Supporting Actor, he won Best Picture for co-producing Argo (2012). Thompson is a five-time nominee with two wins. In addition to her Best Actress win, she won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Sense and Sensibility (1995). Beatty is a 14-time nominee (four for acting, four for writing, four for producing and two for directing), winning Best Director for Reds (1981). Pitt is a seven-time Oscar nominee (four for acting, three for producing). In addition to his win for Best Supporting Actor, he won for co-producing Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave (2013). Damon is a five-time nominee (three for acting, one for writing and one for co-producing 2016 Best Picture nominee Manchester by the Sea), winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (shared with Ben Affleck) for Good Will Hunting (1997). Eastwood is an 11-time nominee (five for producing, four for directing, two for acting), winning four; Best Director and Best Picture for Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004). Both Eastwood (1995) and Beatty (2000) have also received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.\nHBradley Cooper has a total of nine Oscar nominations. In addition to his four acting nominations, he has received a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for A Star Is Born, and four nominations for Best Picture for co-producing American Sniper (2014), A Star Is Born (2018), Joker (2019), and Nightmare Alley (2021).\nIAt the 1st Academy Award ceremony, Charlie Chaplin received four nominations (including Best Actor) for his film The Circus, before the Academy decided to remove his name from the competitive categories and instead honor him with a special award. A letter sent by the Academy to Chaplin told him that they had \"Unanimously decided that your name should be removed from the competitive classes, and that a special award be conferred upon you for writing, acting, directing and producing The Circus. The collective accomplishments thus displayed place you in a class by yourself\". Chaplin went on to receive nominations for Best Actor, Best Writing and Best Picture (the latter credited to Charlie Chaplin Productions) for the 1940 film The Great Dictator and a Best Writing nomination for the 1947 film Monsieur Verdoux. He received a second Honorary Oscar at the 44th Academy Awards in 1972, before winning his sole competitive Oscar at the 45th Academy Awards in 1973 for Best Original Dramatic Score for his 1952 film Limelight, which was eligible for that years Oscars because it was not released in Los Angeles until 1972.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n www.oscars.org — official site\n\nCategory:Academy Awards lists\nAcademy Award nominations",
"title": "List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories"
},
{
"text": "The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has given Academy Awards to actors and actresses for their performances in films since its inception. Throughout the history of the Academy Awards, there have been actors and actresses who have received multiple Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, or Best Supporting Actress. The only restriction is that actors cannot receive multiple nominations for the same performance. This rule was implemented after Barry Fitzgerald received a Best Actor and a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in Going My Way.\n\n, 44 actors and actresses have received two or more Academy Awards in acting categories. Katharine Hepburn leads the way with four (all Best Actress). Six have won exactly three acting Academy Awards: Daniel Day-Lewis (three Best Actor awards), Frances McDormand (three Best Actress awards), Meryl Streep (two Best Actress awards and one Best Supporting Actress award), Jack Nicholson (two Best Actor awards and one Best Supporting Actor award), Ingrid Bergman (two Best Actress awards and one Best Supporting Actress award), and Walter Brennan (three Best Supporting Actor awards). Brennan became the first to receive three or more Academy Awards (winning the third for a 1940 film), followed by Hepburn (1968), Bergman (1974), Nicholson (1997), Streep (2011), Day-Lewis (2012), and, most recently, McDormand (2020). Of the seven, only Nicholson, Streep, McDormand, and Day-Lewis are still living.\n\nWhile there is no restriction on a performer winning the Best Actor/Actress and Best Supporting Actor/Actress awards in the same year for two roles in two movies, this has yet to happen—although there have been occasions where performers have been nominated for both in the same year.\n\nList\n † = deceased\n\nSee also \n\n List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories\n List of actors nominated for Academy Awards for foreign language performances\n List of Academy Award records\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n The Official Academy Awards Database\n \n IMDb Academy Awards Page\n\nCategory:Lists of Academy Award winners\nAcademy Awards",
"title": "List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories"
},
{
"text": "Laurence is an English and French given name (usually female in French and usually male in English). The English masculine name is a variant of Lawrence and it originates from a French form of the Latin Laurentius, a name meaning \"man from Laurentum\".\n\nThe French feminine name Laurence is a form of the masculine Laurent, which is derived from the Latin name.\n\nGiven name\n Laurence Broze (born 1960), Belgian applied mathematician, statistician, and economist\n Laurence des Cars, French curator and art historian\n Laurence Neil Creme, known professionally as Lol Creme, British musician\n Laurence Ekperigin (born 1988), British-American basketball player in the Israeli National League\n Laurence Equilbey, French conductor\n Laurence Fishburne (born 1961), American actor\n Laurence Fournier Beaudry, Canadian ice dancer\n Laurence Fox (born 1978), British actor\nLaurence Gayte (born 1965), French politician\n Laurence S. Geller, British-born, US-based real estate investor.\n Laurence Ginnell, Irish politician\n Laurence Godfrey (archer), British athlete\n Laurence Godfrey (physics lecturer), regular and controversial contributor to the Usenet newsgroups 'soc.culture.British' and 'soc.culture.Canada'\n Laurence Golborne, Chilean mining and energy minister\n Laurence Harvey, Lithuanian-born actor\n Laurence Keitt, Confederate general\n Laurence \"Laurie\" Lee (1914–1997), British poet and novelist\n Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, British television presenter and designer\n Laurence McKeown, Provisional Irish Republican Army member\n Laurence Myers (1858–99), American world-record-setting runner\n Laurence Olivier (1907–1989), British actor and director\n Laurence Owen, American figure skater\n Laurence J. Rittenband (1905–1993), American judge\n Laurence Rochat, Swiss cross-country skier who has competed since 1996\n Laurence Sullivan, British writer\n Laurence Andrew Tolhurst, known professionally as Lol Tolhurst, British musician\n Laurence Tribe, American professor of constitutional law\n Laurence Tureaud (born 1952), known professionally as Mr. T, American actor and wrestler\n St Laurence O'Toole, or Lorcán Ua Tuathail, Irish Roman Catholic Saint\n Laurence of Canterbury, the second Archbishop of Canterbury\n Laurence Tubiana, French Ambassador responsible for COP21\nLaurence Vichnievsky (born 1955), French politician and magistrate\n\nSurname\n Duncan Laurence (born 1994), Dutch singer, representing Netherlands in Eurovision Song Contest 2019 \n Elizabeth Laurence (born 1949), English classical mezzo-soprano singer\n French Laurence (17571809), English lawyer and politician, brother of Richard\n John Zachariah Laurence (182970), English ophthalmologist\n Richard Laurence (17601838), English Hebraist and Anglican churchman, brother of French\n Samuel Laurence (181284), British portrait painter\n Stephen Laurence (born before 1998), American philosopher\n Timothy Laurence (born 1955) retired British Royal Navy officer and second husband of Anne, Princess Royal\n William L. Laurence (18881977), Lithuanian-American science journalist for The New York Times (193064)\n\nSee also\n Larry (disambiguation)\n Lars\n Laurent (disambiguation)\n Laurentius (disambiguation)\n Laura and Lauren, feminine derivatives\n Laurance (name)\n\nReferences\n\nCategory:English-language masculine given names\nCategory:English masculine given names\nCategory:French masculine given names\nCategory:English feminine given names\nCategory:French feminine given names\nCategory:Surnames from given names",
"title": "Laurence"
}
] | [
"Olivier's parents were the Revd Gerard Kerr Olivier and his wife Agnes Louise, nee Crookenden.",
"Olivier spent his early years in various locations due to his father's temporary church posts. However, a more stable life was achieved when in 1912, at the age of five, his father secured a permanent appointment as an assistant priest at St Saviour's, Pimlico. Therefore, it can be inferred that Olivier spent a significant part of his childhood in Pimlico.",
"Yes, Olivier had two elder siblings named Sybille and Gerard Dacres \"Dickie\".",
"Olivier attended a series of preparatory schools before passing the singing examination for admission to the choir school of All Saints, Margaret Street, in central London. From All Saints, Olivier then went on to St Edward's School, Oxford.",
"In Olivier's early life, his theatrical talents began to shine while attending the choir school of All Saints, where church services had a strong theatrical element. He received commendation for his performances in various school productions and his performance as Brutus in Julius Caesar was observed by several notable personalities in the field including Lady Tree, Sybil Thorndike, and Ellen Terry. While at St Edward's School, Oxford, his performance as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream garnered him popularity among his peers. Also during this time, his elder brother left England to work in India which Olivier greatly missed and he expressed the desire to follow him. However, his father encouraged him to pursue a career in the performing arts instead."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_0 | Laurence Olivier | Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, (; 22 May 1907 - 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career, he had considerable success in television roles. | Independent actor-manager (1951-1954) | While Leigh made Streetcar in 1951, Olivier joined her in Hollywood to film Carrie, based on the controversial novel Sister Carrie; although the film was plagued by troubles, Olivier received warm reviews and a BAFTA nomination. Olivier began to notice a change in Leigh's behaviour, and he later recounted that "I would find Vivien sitting on the corner of the bed, wringing her hands and sobbing, in a state of grave distress; I would naturally try desperately to give her some comfort, but for some time she would be inconsolable." After a holiday with Coward in Jamaica, she seemed to have recovered, but Olivier later recorded, "I am sure that ... [the doctors] must have taken some pains to tell me what was wrong with my wife; that her disease was called manic depression and what that meant--a possibly permanent cyclical to-and-fro between the depths of depression and wild, uncontrollable mania. He also recounted the years of problems he had experienced because of Leigh's illness, writing, "throughout her possession by that uncannily evil monster, manic depression, with its deadly ever-tightening spirals, she retained her own individual canniness--an ability to disguise her true mental condition from almost all except me, for whom she could hardly be expected to take the trouble." In January 1953 Leigh travelled to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to film Elephant Walk with Peter Finch. Shortly after filming started she suffered a breakdown, and returned to Britain where, between periods of incoherence, she told Olivier that she was in love with Finch, and had been having an affair with him; she gradually recovered over a period of several months. As a result of the breakdown, many of the Oliviers' friends learned of her problems. Niven said she had been "quite, quite mad", and in his diary, Coward expressed the view that "things had been bad and getting worse since 1948 or thereabouts." For the Coronation season of 1953, Olivier and Leigh starred in the West End in Terence Rattigan's Ruritanian comedy, The Sleeping Prince. It ran for eight months but was widely regarded as a minor contribution to the season, in which other productions included Gielgud in Venice Preserv'd, Coward in The Apple Cart and Ashcroft and Redgrave in Antony and Cleopatra. Olivier directed his third Shakespeare film in September 1954, Richard III (1955), which he co-produced with Korda. The presence of four theatrical knights in the one film--Olivier was joined by Cedric Hardwicke, Gielgud and Richardson--led an American reviewer to dub it "An-All-Sir-Cast". The critic for The Manchester Guardian described the film as a "bold and successful achievement", but it was not a box-office success, which accounted for Olivier's subsequent failure to raise the funds for a planned film of Macbeth. He won a BAFTA award for the role and was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award, which Yul Brynner won. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_0_q#0",
"C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_0_q#1",
"C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_0_q#2",
"C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_0_q#3",
"C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_0_q#4",
"C_7427c320c6534a9091238202c90e2d81_0_q#5"
] | [
"what happened in 1951",
"was carrie a success",
"what was oliver manager on",
"what happened in 1954",
"was the film a success",
"who did he work with"
] | [
2,
2,
1,
1,
2,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
1,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
175
],
[
2912
],
[
2278
],
[
2667
],
[
2449
]
],
"texts": [
[
"While Leigh made Streetcar in 1951, Olivier joined her in Hollywood to film Carrie,"
],
[
"Olivier received warm reviews and a BAFTA nomination."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Olivier directed his third Shakespeare film in September 1954,"
],
[
"but it was not a box-office success,"
],
[
"--Olivier was joined by Cedric Hardwicke, Gielgud and Richardson--led an American reviewer to dub it \"An-All-Sir-Cast\"."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
175,
2912,
2278,
2667,
2449
],
"texts": [
"While Leigh made Streetcar in 1951, Olivier joined her in Hollywood to film Carrie,",
"Olivier received warm reviews and a BAFTA nomination.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Olivier directed his third Shakespeare film in September 1954,",
"but it was not a box-office success,",
"--Olivier was joined by Cedric Hardwicke, Gielgud and Richardson--led an American reviewer to dub it \"An-All-Sir-Cast\"."
]
} | Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career he had considerable success in television roles.
His family had no theatrical connections, but Olivier's father, a clergyman, decided that his son should become an actor. After attending a drama school in London, Olivier learned his craft in a succession of acting jobs during the late 1920s. In 1930 he had his first important West End success in Noël Coward's Private Lives, and he appeared in his first film. In 1935 he played in a celebrated production of Romeo and Juliet alongside Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft, and by the end of the decade he was an established star. In the 1940s, together with Richardson and John Burrell, Olivier was the co-director of the Old Vic, building it into a highly respected company. There his most celebrated roles included Shakespeare's Richard III and Sophocles's Oedipus. In the 1950s Olivier was an independent actor-manager, but his stage career was in the doldrums until he joined the avant-garde English Stage Company in 1957 to play the title role in The Entertainer, a part he later played on film. From 1963 to 1973 he was the founding director of Britain's National Theatre, running a resident company that fostered many future stars. His own parts there included the title role in Othello (1965) and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1970).
Among Olivier's films are Wuthering Heights (1939), Rebecca (1940), and a trilogy of Shakespeare films as actor/director: Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), and Richard III (1955). His later films included Spartacus (1960), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Sleuth (1972), Marathon Man (1976), and The Boys from Brazil (1978). His television appearances included an adaptation of The Moon and Sixpence (1960), Long Day's Journey into Night (1973), Love Among the Ruins (1975), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976), Brideshead Revisited (1981) and King Lear (1983).
Olivier's honours included a knighthood (1947), a life peerage (1970), and the Order of Merit (1981). For his on-screen work he received four Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. The National Theatre's largest auditorium is named in his honour, and he is commemorated in the Laurence Olivier Awards, given annually by the Society of London Theatre. He was married three times, to the actresses Jill Esmond from 1930 to 1940, Vivien Leigh from 1940 to 1960, and Joan Plowright from 1961 until his death.
Life and career
Family background and early life (1907–1924)
Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, the youngest of the three children of Agnes Louise (née Crookenden) and Reverend Gerard Kerr Olivier. He had two older siblings: Sybille and Gerard Dacres "Dickie". His great-great-grandfather was of French Huguenot descent, and Olivier came from a long line of Protestant clergymen. Gerard Olivier had begun a career as a schoolmaster, but in his thirties he discovered a strong religious vocation and was ordained as a priest of the Church of England. He practised extremely high church, ritualist Anglicanism and liked to be addressed as "Father Olivier". This made him unacceptable to most Anglican congregations, and the only church posts he was offered were temporary, usually deputising for regular incumbents in their absence. This meant a nomadic existence, and for Laurence's first few years, he never lived in one place long enough to make friends.
In 1912, when Olivier was five, his father secured a permanent appointment as assistant rector at St Saviour's, Pimlico. He held the post for six years, and a stable family life was at last possible. Olivier was devoted to his mother, but not to his father, whom he found a cold and remote parent, though he learned a great deal of the art of performing from him. As a young man Gerard Olivier had considered a stage career and was a dramatic and effective preacher. Olivier wrote that his father knew "when to drop the voice, when to bellow about the perils of hellfire, when to slip in a gag, when suddenly to wax sentimental ... The quick changes of mood and manner absorbed me, and I have never forgotten them."
In 1916, after attending a series of preparatory schools, Olivier passed the singing examination for admission to the choir school of All Saints, Margaret Street, in central London. His elder brother was already a pupil and Olivier gradually settled in, though he felt himself to be something of an outsider. The church's style of worship was (and remains) Anglo-Catholic, with emphasis on ritual, vestments and incense. The theatricality of the services appealed to Olivier, and the vicar encouraged the students to develop a taste for secular as well as religious drama. In a school production of Julius Caesar in 1917, the ten-year-old Olivier's performance as Brutus impressed an audience that included Lady Tree, the young Sybil Thorndike, and Ellen Terry, who wrote in her diary, "The small boy who played Brutus is already a great actor." He later won praise in other schoolboy productions, as Maria in Twelfth Night (1918) and Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew (1922).
From All Saints, Olivier went on to St Edward's School, Oxford, from 1921 to 1924. He made little mark until his final year, when he played Puck in the school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream; his performance was a tour de force that won him popularity among his fellow pupils. In January 1924, his brother left England to work in India as a rubber planter. Olivier missed him greatly and asked his father how soon he could follow. He recalled in his memoirs that his father replied, "Don't be such a fool, you're not going to India, you're going on the stage."
Early acting career (1924–1929)
In 1924 Gerard Olivier, a habitually frugal man, told his son that he must gain not only admission to the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, but also a scholarship with a bursary to cover his tuition fees and living expenses. Olivier's sister had been a student there and was a favourite of Elsie Fogerty, the founder and principal of the school. Olivier later speculated that it was on the strength of this connection that Fogerty agreed to award him the bursary.
One of Olivier's contemporaries at the school was Peggy Ashcroft, who observed he was "rather uncouth in that his sleeves were too short and his hair stood on end but he was intensely lively and great fun". By his own admission he was not a very conscientious student, but Fogerty liked him and later said that he and Ashcroft stood out among her many pupils.
After leaving the Central School in 1925, Olivier worked for small theatrical companies; his first stage appearance was in a sketch called The Unfailing Instinct at the Brighton Hippodrome in August 1925. Later that year, he was taken on by Sybil Thorndike (the daughter of a friend of Olivier's father) and her husband Lewis Casson as a bit-part player, understudy, and assistant stage manager for their London company. Olivier modelled his performing style on that of Gerald du Maurier, of whom he said, "He seemed to mutter on stage but had such perfect technique. When I started I was so busy doing a du Maurier that no one ever heard a word I said. The Shakespearean actors one saw were terrible hams like Frank Benson." Olivier's concern with speaking naturally and avoiding what he called "singing" Shakespeare's verse was the cause of much frustration in his early career, as critics regularly decried his delivery.
In 1926, on Thorndike's recommendation, Olivier joined the Birmingham Repertory Company. His biographer Michael Billington describes the Birmingham company as "Olivier's university", where in his second year he was given the chance to play a wide range of important roles, including Tony Lumpkin in She Stoops to Conquer, the title role in Uncle Vanya, and Parolles in All's Well That Ends Well. Billington adds that the engagement led to "a lifelong friendship with his fellow actor Ralph Richardson that was to have a decisive effect on the British theatre."
While playing the juvenile lead in Bird in Hand at the Royalty Theatre in June 1928, Olivier began a relationship with Jill Esmond, the daughter of the actors Henry V. Esmond and Eva Moore. Olivier later recounted that he thought "she would most certainly do excellent well for a wife ... I wasn't likely to do any better at my age and with my undistinguished track-record, so I promptly fell in love with her."
In 1928 Olivier created the role of Stanhope in R. C. Sherriff's Journey's End, in which he scored a great success at its single Sunday night premiere. He was offered the part in the West End production the following year, but turned it down in favour of the more glamorous role of Beau Geste in a stage adaptation of P. C. Wren's 1929 novel of the same name. Journey's End became a long-running success; Beau Geste failed. The Manchester Guardian commented, "Mr. Laurence Olivier did his best as Beau, but he deserves and will get better parts. Mr. Olivier is going to make a big name for himself". For the rest of 1929 Olivier appeared in seven plays, all of which were short-lived. Billington ascribes this failure rate to poor choices by Olivier rather than mere bad luck.
Rising star (1930–1935)
In 1930, with his impending marriage in mind, Olivier earned some extra money with small roles in two films. In April he travelled to Berlin to film the English-language version of The Temporary Widow, a crime comedy with Lilian Harvey, and in May he spent four nights working on another comedy, Too Many Crooks. During work on the latter film, for which he was paid £60, he met Laurence Evans, who became his personal manager. Olivier did not enjoy working in film, which he dismissed as "this anaemic little medium which could not stand great acting", but financially it was much more rewarding than his theatre work.
Olivier and Esmond married on 25 July 1930 at All Saints, Margaret Street, although within weeks both realised they had erred. Olivier later recorded that the marriage was "a pretty crass mistake. I insisted on getting married from a pathetic mixture of religious and animal promptings. ... She had admitted to me that she was in love elsewhere and could never love me as completely as I would wish". Olivier later recounted that following the wedding he did not keep a diary for ten years and never followed religious practices again, although he considered those facts to be "mere coincidence", unconnected to the nuptials.
In 1930 Noël Coward cast Olivier as Victor Prynne in his new play Private Lives, which opened at the new Phoenix Theatre in London in September. Coward and Gertrude Lawrence played the lead roles, Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne. Victor is a secondary character, along with Sybil Chase; the author called them "extra puppets, lightly wooden ninepins, only to be repeatedly knocked down and stood up again". To make them credible spouses for Amanda and Elyot, Coward was determined that two outstandingly attractive performers should play the parts. Olivier played Victor in the West End and then on Broadway; Adrianne Allen was Sybil in London, but could not go to New York, where the part was taken by Esmond. In addition to giving the 23-year-old Olivier his first successful West End role, Coward became something of a mentor. In the late 1960s Olivier told Sheridan Morley:
In 1931 RKO Pictures offered Olivier a two-film contract at $1,000 a week; he discussed the possibility with Coward, who, irked, told Olivier "You've no artistic integrity, that's your trouble; this is how you cheapen yourself." He accepted and moved to Hollywood, despite some misgivings. His first film was the drama Friends and Lovers, in a supporting role, before RKO loaned him to Fox Studios for his first film lead, a British journalist in a Russia under martial law in The Yellow Ticket, alongside Elissa Landi and Lionel Barrymore. The cultural historian Jeffrey Richards describes Olivier's look as an attempt by Fox Studios to produce a likeness of Ronald Colman, and Colman's moustache, voice and manner are "perfectly reproduced". Olivier returned to RKO to complete his contract with the 1932 drama Westward Passage, which was a commercial failure. Olivier's initial foray into American films had not provided the breakthrough he hoped for; disillusioned with Hollywood, he returned to London, where he appeared in two British films, Perfect Understanding with Gloria Swanson and No Funny Business—in which Esmond also appeared. He was tempted back to Hollywood in 1933 to appear opposite Greta Garbo in Queen Christina, but was replaced after two weeks of filming because of a lack of chemistry between the two.
Olivier's stage roles in 1934 included Bothwell in Gordon Daviot's Queen of Scots, which was only a moderate success for him and for the play, but led to an important engagement for the same management (Bronson Albery) shortly afterwards. In the interim he had a great success playing a thinly disguised version of the American actor John Barrymore in George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's Theatre Royal. His success was vitiated by his breaking an ankle two months into the run, in one of the athletic, acrobatic stunts with which he liked to enliven his performances.
In 1935, under Albery's management, John Gielgud staged Romeo and Juliet at the New Theatre, co-starring with Peggy Ashcroft, Edith Evans and Olivier. Gielgud had seen Olivier in Queen of Scots, spotted his potential, and gave him a major step up in his career. For the first weeks of the run Gielgud played Mercutio and Olivier played Romeo, after which they exchanged roles. The production broke all box-office records for the play, running for 189 performances. Olivier was enraged at the notices after the first night, which praised the virility of his performance but fiercely criticised his speaking of Shakespeare's verse, contrasting it with his co-star's mastery of the poetry. The friendship between the two men was prickly, on Olivier's side, for the rest of his life.
Old Vic and Vivien Leigh (1936–1938)
In May 1936 Olivier and Richardson jointly directed and starred in a new piece by J. B. Priestley, Bees on the Boatdeck. Both actors won excellent notices, but the play, an allegory of Britain's decay, did not attract the public and closed after four weeks. Later in the same year Olivier accepted an invitation to join the Old Vic company. The theatre, in an unfashionable location south of the Thames, had offered inexpensive tickets for opera and drama under its proprietor Lilian Baylis since 1912. Her drama company specialised in the plays of Shakespeare, and many leading actors had taken very large cuts in their pay to develop their Shakespearean techniques there. Gielgud had been in the company from 1929 to 1931 and Richardson from 1930 to 1932. Among the actors whom Olivier joined in late 1936 were Edith Evans, Ruth Gordon, Alec Guinness and Michael Redgrave. In January 1937 Olivier took the title role in an uncut version of Hamlet in which once again his delivery of the verse was unfavourably compared with that of Gielgud, who had played the role on the same stage seven years previously to enormous acclaim. The Observers Ivor Brown praised Olivier's "magnetism and muscularity" but missed "the kind of pathos so richly established by Mr Gielgud". The reviewer in The Times found the performance "full of vitality", but at times "too light ... the character slips from Mr Olivier's grasp".
After Hamlet, the company presented Twelfth Night in what the director, Tyrone Guthrie, summed up as "a baddish, immature production of mine, with Olivier outrageously amusing as Sir Toby and a very young Alec Guinness outrageous and more amusing as Sir Andrew". Henry V was the next play, presented in May to mark the Coronation of George VI. A pacifist, as he then was, Olivier was as reluctant to play the warrior king as Guthrie was to direct the piece, but the production was a success and Baylis had to extend the run from four to eight weeks.
Following Olivier's success in Shakespearean stage productions, he made his first foray into Shakespeare on film in 1936, as Orlando in As You Like It, directed by Paul Czinner, "a charming if lightweight production", according to Michael Brooke of the British Film Institute's (BFI's) Screenonline. The following year Olivier appeared alongside Vivien Leigh in the historical drama Fire Over England. He had first met Leigh briefly at the Savoy Grill and then again when she visited him during the run of Romeo and Juliet, probably early in 1936, and the two had begun an affair sometime that year. Of the relationship, Olivier later said that "I couldn't help myself with Vivien. No man could. I hated myself for cheating on Jill, but then I had cheated before, but this was something different. This wasn't just out of lust. This was love that I really didn't ask for but was drawn into." While his relationship with Leigh continued he conducted an affair with the actress Ann Todd, and possibly had a brief affair with the actor Henry Ainley, according to the biographer Michael Munn.
In June 1937 the Old Vic company took up an invitation to perform Hamlet in the courtyard of the castle at Elsinore, where Shakespeare located the play. Olivier secured the casting of Leigh to replace Cherry Cottrell as Ophelia. Because of torrential rain the performance had to be moved from the castle courtyard to the ballroom of a local hotel, but the tradition of playing Hamlet at Elsinore was established, and Olivier was followed by, among others, Gielgud (1939), Redgrave (1950), Richard Burton (1954), Christopher Plummer (1964), Derek Jacobi (1979), Kenneth Branagh (1988) and Jude Law (2009). Back in London, the company staged Macbeth, with Olivier in the title role. The stylised production by Michel Saint-Denis was not well liked, but Olivier had some good notices among the bad. On returning from Denmark, Olivier and Leigh told their respective spouses about the affair and that their marriages were over; Esmond moved out of the marital house and in with her mother. After Olivier and Leigh made a tour of Europe in mid-1937 they returned to separate film projects—A Yank at Oxford for her and The Divorce of Lady X for him—and moved into a property together in Iver, Buckinghamshire.
Olivier returned to the Old Vic for a second season in 1938. For Othello he played Iago, with Richardson in the title role. Guthrie wanted to experiment with the theory that Iago's villainy is driven by a suppressed love for Othello. Olivier was willing to co-operate, but Richardson was not; audiences and most critics failed to spot the supposed motivation of Olivier's Iago, and Richardson's Othello seemed underpowered. After that comparative failure, the company had a success with Coriolanus starring Olivier in the title role. The notices were laudatory, mentioning him alongside great predecessors such as Edmund Kean, William Macready and Henry Irving. The actor Robert Speaight described it as "Olivier's first incontestably great performance". This was Olivier's last appearance on a London stage for six years.
Hollywood and the Second World War (1938–1944)
In 1938 Olivier joined Richardson to film the spy thriller Q Planes, released the following year. Frank Nugent, the critic for The New York Times, thought Olivier was "not quite so good" as Richardson, but was "quite acceptable". In late 1938, lured by a salary of $50,000, the actor travelled to Hollywood to take the part of Heathcliff in the 1939 film Wuthering Heights, alongside Merle Oberon and David Niven. In less than a month Leigh had joined him, explaining that her trip was "partially because Larry's there and partially because I intend to get the part of Scarlett O'Hara"—the role in Gone with the Wind in which she was eventually cast. Olivier did not enjoy making Wuthering Heights, and his approach to film acting, combined with a dislike for Oberon, led to tensions on set. The director, William Wyler, was a hard taskmaster, and Olivier learned to remove what Billington described as "the carapace of theatricality" to which he was prone, replacing it with "a palpable reality". The resulting film was a commercial and critical success that earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor and created his screen reputation. Caroline Lejeune, writing for The Observer, considered that "Olivier's dark, moody face, abrupt style, and a certain fine arrogance towards the world in his playing are just right" in the role, while the reviewer for The Times wrote that Olivier "is a good embodiment of Heathcliff ... impressive enough on a more human plane, speaking his lines with real distinction, and always both romantic and alive."
After returning to London briefly in mid-1939, the couple returned to America, Leigh to film the final takes for Gone with the Wind, and Olivier to prepare for filming of Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca—although the couple had hoped to appear in it together. Instead, Joan Fontaine was selected for the role of Mrs de Winter, as the producer David O. Selznick thought that not only was she more suitable for the role, but that it was best to keep Olivier and Leigh apart until their divorces came through. Olivier followed Rebecca with Pride and Prejudice, in the role of Mr. Darcy. To his disappointment Elizabeth Bennet was played by Greer Garson rather than Leigh. He received good reviews for both films and showed a more confident screen presence than he had in his early work. In January 1940 Olivier and Esmond were granted their divorce. In February, following another request from Leigh, her husband also applied for their marriage to be terminated.
On stage, Olivier and Leigh starred in Romeo and Juliet on Broadway. It was an extravagant production, but a commercial failure. In The New York Times Brooks Atkinson praised the scenery but not the acting: "Although Miss Leigh and Mr Olivier are handsome young people they hardly act their parts at all." The couple had invested almost all their savings in the project, and its failure was a grave financial blow. They were married in August 1940, at the San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara.
The war in Europe had been under way for a year and was going badly for Britain. After his wedding Olivier wanted to help the war effort. He telephoned Duff Cooper, the Minister of Information under Winston Churchill, hoping to get a position in Cooper's department. Cooper advised him to remain where he was and speak to the film director Alexander Korda, who was based in the US at Churchill's behest, with connections to British Intelligence. Korda—with Churchill's support and involvement—directed That Hamilton Woman, with Olivier as Horatio Nelson and Leigh in the title role. Korda saw that the relationship between the couple was strained. Olivier was tiring of Leigh's suffocating adulation, and she was drinking to excess. The film, in which the threat of Napoleon paralleled that of Hitler, was seen by critics as "bad history but good British propaganda", according to the BFI.
Olivier's life was under threat from the Nazis and pro-German sympathisers. The studio owners were concerned enough that Samuel Goldwyn and Cecil B. DeMille both provided support and security to ensure his safety. On the completion of filming, Olivier and Leigh returned to Britain. He had spent the previous year learning to fly and had completed nearly 250 hours by the time he left America. He intended to join the Royal Air Force but instead made another propaganda film, 49th Parallel, narrated short pieces for the Ministry of Information, and joined the Fleet Air Arm because Richardson was already in the service. Richardson had gained a reputation for crashing aircraft, which Olivier rapidly eclipsed. Olivier and Leigh settled in a cottage just outside RNAS Worthy Down, where he was stationed with a training squadron; Noël Coward visited the couple and thought Olivier looked unhappy. Olivier spent much of his time taking part in broadcasts and making speeches to build morale, and in 1942 he was invited to make another propaganda film, The Demi-Paradise, in which he played a Soviet engineer who helps improve British-Russian relationships.
In 1943, at the behest of the Ministry of Information, Olivier began working on Henry V. Originally he had no intention of taking the directorial duties, but ended up directing and producing, in addition to taking the title role. He was assisted by an Italian internee, Filippo Del Giudice, who had been released to produce propaganda for the Allied cause. The decision was made to film the battle scenes in neutral Ireland, where it was easier to find the 650 extras. John Betjeman, the press attaché at the British embassy in Dublin, played a key liaison role with the Irish government in making suitable arrangements. The film was released in November 1944. Brooke, writing for the BFI, considers that it "came too late in the Second World War to be a call to arms as such, but formed a powerful reminder of what Britain was defending." The music for the film was written by William Walton, "a score that ranks with the best in film music", according to the music critic Michael Kennedy. Walton also provided the music for Olivier's next two Shakespearean adaptations, Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955). Henry V was warmly received by critics. The reviewer for The Manchester Guardian wrote that the film combined "new art hand-in-hand with old genius, and both superbly of one mind", in a film that worked "triumphantly". The critic for The Times considered that Olivier "plays Henry on a high, heroic note and never is there danger of a crack", in a film described as "a triumph of film craft". There were Oscar nominations for the film, including Best Picture and Best Actor, but it won none and Olivier was instead presented with a "Special Award". He was unimpressed, and later commented that "this was my first absolute fob-off, and I regarded it as such."
Co-directing the Old Vic (1944–1948)
Throughout the war Tyrone Guthrie had striven to keep the Old Vic company going, even after German bombing in 1942 left the theatre a near-ruin. A small troupe toured the provinces, with Sybil Thorndike at its head. By 1944, with the tide of the war turning, Guthrie felt it time to re-establish the company in a London base and invited Richardson to head it. Richardson made it a condition of accepting that he should share the acting and management in a triumvirate. Initially he proposed Gielgud and Olivier as his colleagues, but the former declined, saying, "It would be a disaster, you would have to spend your whole time as referee between Larry and me." It was finally agreed that the third member would be the stage director John Burrell. The Old Vic governors approached the Royal Navy to secure the release of Richardson and Olivier; the Sea Lords consented, with, as Olivier put it, "a speediness and lack of reluctance which was positively hurtful."
The triumvirate secured the New Theatre for their first season and recruited a company. Thorndike was joined by, among others, Harcourt Williams, Joyce Redman and Margaret Leighton. It was agreed to open with a repertory of four plays: Peer Gynt, Arms and the Man, Richard III and Uncle Vanya. Olivier's roles were the Button Moulder, Sergius, Richard and Astrov; Richardson played Peer, Bluntschli, Richmond and Vanya. The first three productions met with acclaim from reviewers and audiences; Uncle Vanya had a mixed reception, although The Times thought Olivier's Astrov "a most distinguished portrait" and Richardson's Vanya "the perfect compound of absurdity and pathos". In Richard III, according to Billington, Olivier's triumph was absolute: "so much so that it became his most frequently imitated performance and one whose supremacy went unchallenged until Antony Sher played the role forty years later". In 1945 the company toured Germany, where they were seen by many thousands of Allied servicemen; they also appeared at the Comédie-Française theatre in Paris, the first foreign company to be given that honour. The critic Harold Hobson wrote that Richardson and Olivier quickly "made the Old Vic the most famous theatre in the Anglo-Saxon world."
The second season, in 1945, featured two double bills. The first consisted of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2. Olivier played the warrior Hotspur in the first and the doddering Justice Shallow in the second. He received good notices, but by general consent the production belonged to Richardson as Falstaff. In the second double bill it was Olivier who dominated, in the title roles of Oedipus Rex and The Critic. In the two one-act plays his switch from searing tragedy and horror in the first half to farcical comedy in the second impressed most critics and audience members, though a minority felt that the transformation from Sophocles's bloodily blinded hero to Sheridan's vain and ludicrous Mr Puff "smacked of a quick-change turn in a music hall". After the London season the company played both the double bills and Uncle Vanya in a six-week run on Broadway.
The third, and final, London season under the triumvirate was in 1946–47. Olivier played King Lear, and Richardson took the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac. Olivier would have preferred the roles to be reversed, but Richardson did not wish to attempt Lear. Olivier's Lear received good but not outstanding reviews. In his scenes of decline and madness towards the end of the play some critics found him less moving than his finest predecessors in the role. The influential critic James Agate suggested that Olivier used his dazzling stage technique to disguise a lack of feeling, a charge that the actor strongly rejected, but which was often made throughout his later career. During the run of Cyrano, Richardson was knighted, to Olivier's undisguised envy. The younger man received the accolade six months later, by which time the days of the triumvirate were numbered. The high profile of the two star actors did not endear them to the new chairman of the Old Vic governors, Lord Esher. He had ambitions to be the first head of the National Theatre and had no intention of letting actors run it. He was encouraged by Guthrie, who, having instigated the appointment of Richardson and Olivier, had come to resent their knighthoods and international fame.
In January 1947 Olivier began working on his second film as a director, Hamlet (1948), in which he also took the lead role. The original play was heavily cut to focus on the relationships, rather than the political intrigue. The film became a critical and commercial success in Britain and abroad, although Lejeune, in The Observer, considered it "less effective than [Olivier's] stage work. ... He speaks the lines nobly, and with the caress of one who loves them, but he nullifies his own thesis by never, for a moment, leaving the impression of a man who cannot make up his own mind; here, you feel rather, is an actor-producer-director who, in every circumstance, knows exactly what he wants, and gets it". Campbell Dixon, the critic for The Daily Telegraph thought the film "brilliant ... one of the masterpieces of the stage has been made into one of the greatest of films." Hamlet became the first non-American film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, while Olivier won the Award for Best Actor.
In 1948 Olivier led the Old Vic company on a six-month tour of Australia and New Zealand. He played Richard III, Sir Peter Teazle in Sheridan's The School for Scandal and Antrobus in Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, appearing alongside Leigh in the latter two plays. While Olivier was on the Australian tour and Richardson was in Hollywood, Esher terminated the contracts of the three directors, who were said to have "resigned". Melvyn Bragg in a 1984 study of Olivier, and John Miller in the authorised biography of Richardson, both comment that Esher's action put back the establishment of a National Theatre for at least a decade. Looking back in 1971, Bernard Levin wrote that the Old Vic company of 1944 to 1948 "was probably the most illustrious that has ever been assembled in this country". The Times said that the triumvirate's years were the greatest in the Old Vic's history; as The Guardian put it, "the governors summarily sacked them in the interests of a more mediocre company spirit".
Post-war (1948–1951)
By the end of the Australian tour, both Leigh and Olivier were exhausted and ill, and he told a journalist, "You may not know it, but you are talking to a couple of walking corpses." Later he would comment that he "lost Vivien" in Australia, a reference to Leigh's affair with the Australian actor Peter Finch, whom the couple met during the tour. Shortly afterwards Finch moved to London, where Olivier auditioned him and put him under a long-term contract with Laurence Olivier Productions. Finch and Leigh's affair continued on and off for several years.
Although it was common knowledge that the Old Vic triumvirate had been dismissed, they refused to be drawn on the matter in public, and Olivier even arranged to play a final London season with the company in 1949, as Richard III, Sir Peter Teazle, and Chorus in his own production of Anouilh's Antigone with Leigh in the title role. After that, he was free to embark on a new career as an actor-manager. In partnership with Binkie Beaumont he staged the English premiere of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, with Leigh in the central role of Blanche DuBois. The play was condemned by most critics, but the production was a considerable commercial success, and led to Leigh's casting as Blanche in the 1951 film version. Gielgud, who was a devoted friend of Leigh's, doubted whether Olivier was wise to let her play the demanding role of the mentally unstable heroine: "[Blanche] was so very like her, in a way. It must have been a most dreadful strain to do it night after night. She would be shaking and white and quite distraught at the end of it."
The production company set up by Olivier took a lease on the St James's Theatre. In January 1950 he produced, directed and starred in Christopher Fry's verse play Venus Observed. The production was popular, despite poor reviews, but the expensive production did little to help the finances of Laurence Olivier Productions. After a series of box-office failures, the company balanced its books in 1951 with productions of Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra which the Oliviers played in London and then took to Broadway. Olivier was thought by some critics to be under par in both his roles, and some suspected him of playing deliberately below his usual strength so that Leigh might appear his equal. Olivier dismissed the suggestion, regarding it as an insult to his integrity as an actor. In the view of the critic and biographer W. A. Darlington, he was simply miscast both as Caesar and Antony, finding the former boring and the latter weak. Darlington comments, "Olivier, in his middle forties when he should have been displaying his powers at their very peak, seemed to have lost interest in his own acting". Over the next four years Olivier spent much of his time working as a producer, presenting plays rather than directing or acting in them. His presentations at the St James's included seasons by Ruggero Ruggeri's company giving two Pirandello plays in Italian, followed by a visit from the Comédie-Française playing works by Molière, Racine, Marivaux and Musset in French. Darlington considers a 1951 production of Othello starring Orson Welles as the pick of Olivier's productions at the theatre.
Independent actor-manager (1951–1954)
While Leigh made Streetcar in 1951, Olivier joined her in Hollywood to film Carrie, based on the controversial novel Sister Carrie; although the film was plagued by troubles, Olivier received warm reviews and a BAFTA nomination. Olivier began to notice a change in Leigh's behaviour, and he later recounted that "I would find Vivien sitting on the corner of the bed, wringing her hands and sobbing, in a state of grave distress; I would naturally try desperately to give her some comfort, but for some time she would be inconsolable." After a holiday with Coward in Jamaica, she seemed to have recovered, but Olivier later recorded, "I am sure that ... [the doctors] must have taken some pains to tell me what was wrong with my wife; that her disease was called manic depression and what that meant—a possibly permanent cyclical to-and-fro between the depths of depression and wild, uncontrollable mania. He also recounted the years of problems he had experienced because of Leigh's illness, writing, "throughout her possession by that uncannily evil monster, manic depression, with its deadly ever-tightening spirals, she retained her own individual canniness—an ability to disguise her true mental condition from almost all except me, for whom she could hardly be expected to take the trouble."
In January 1953 Leigh travelled to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to film Elephant Walk with Peter Finch. Shortly after filming started she suffered a breakdown, and returned to Britain where, between periods of incoherence, she told Olivier that she was in love with Finch, and had been having an affair with him; she gradually recovered over a period of several months. As a result of the breakdown, many of the Oliviers' friends learned of her problems. Niven said she had been "quite, quite mad", and in his diary, Coward expressed the view that "things had been bad and getting worse since 1948 or thereabouts."
For the Coronation season of 1953, Olivier and Leigh starred in the West End in Terence Rattigan's Ruritanian comedy, The Sleeping Prince. It ran for eight months but was widely regarded as a minor contribution to the season, in which other productions included Gielgud in Venice Preserv'd, Coward in The Apple Cart and Ashcroft and Redgrave in Antony and Cleopatra.
Olivier directed his third Shakespeare film in September 1954, Richard III (1955), which he co-produced with Korda. The presence of four theatrical knights in the one film—Olivier was joined by Cedric Hardwicke, Gielgud and Richardson—led an American reviewer to dub it "An-All-Sir-Cast". The critic for The Manchester Guardian described the film as a "bold and successful achievement", but it was not a box-office success, which accounted for Olivier's subsequent failure to raise the funds for a planned film of Macbeth. He won a BAFTA award for the role and was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award, which Yul Brynner won.
Last productions with Leigh (1955–1956)
In 1955 Olivier and Leigh were invited to play leading roles in three plays at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford. They began with Twelfth Night, directed by Gielgud, with Olivier as Malvolio and Leigh as Viola. Rehearsals were difficult, with Olivier determined to play his conception of the role despite the director's view that it was vulgar. Gielgud later commented:
The next production was Macbeth. Reviewers were lukewarm about the direction by Glen Byam Shaw and the designs by Roger Furse, but Olivier's performance in the title role attracted superlatives. To J. C. Trewin, Olivier's was "the finest Macbeth of our day"; to Darlington it was "the best Macbeth of our time". Leigh's Lady Macbeth received mixed but generally polite notices, although to the end of his life Olivier believed it to have been the best Lady Macbeth he ever saw.
In their third production of the 1955 Stratford season, Olivier played the title role in Titus Andronicus, with Leigh as Lavinia. Her notices in the part were damning, but the production by Peter Brook and Olivier's performance as Titus received the greatest ovation in Stratford history from the first-night audience, and the critics hailed the production as a landmark in post-war British theatre. Olivier and Brook revived the production for a continental tour in June 1957; its final performance, which closed the old Stoll Theatre in London, was the last time Leigh and Olivier acted together.
Leigh became pregnant in 1956 and withdrew from the production of Coward's comedy South Sea Bubble. The day after her final performance in the play she miscarried and entered a period of depression that lasted for months. In the same year Olivier directed and co-starred with Marilyn Monroe in a film version of The Sleeping Prince, retitled The Prince and the Showgirl. Although the filming was challenging because of Monroe's behaviour, the film was appreciated by the critics.
Royal Court and Chichester (1957–1963)
During the production of The Prince and the Showgirl, Olivier, Monroe and her husband, the American playwright Arthur Miller, went to see the English Stage Company's production of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court. Olivier had seen the play earlier in the run and disliked it, but Miller was convinced that Osborne had talent, and Olivier reconsidered. He was ready for a change of direction; in 1981 he wrote:
Osborne was already at work on a new play, The Entertainer, an allegory of Britain's post-colonial decline, centred on a seedy variety comedian, Archie Rice. Having read the first act—all that was completed by then—Olivier asked to be cast in the part. He had for years maintained that he might easily have been a third-rate comedian called "Larry Oliver", and would sometimes play the character at parties. Behind Archie's brazen façade there is a deep desolation, and Olivier caught both aspects, switching, in the words of the biographer Anthony Holden, "from a gleefully tacky comic routine to moments of the most wrenching pathos". Tony Richardson's production for the English Stage Company transferred from the Royal Court to the Palace Theatre in September 1957; after that it toured and returned to the Palace. The role of Archie's daughter Jean was taken by three actresses during the various runs. The second of them was Joan Plowright, with whom Olivier began a relationship that endured for the rest of his life. Olivier said that playing Archie "made me feel like a modern actor again". In finding an avant-garde play that suited him, he was, as Osborne remarked, far ahead of Gielgud and Ralph Richardson, who did not successfully follow his lead for more than a decade. Their first substantial successes in works by any of Osborne's generation were Alan Bennett's Forty Years On (Gielgud in 1968) and David Storey's Home (Richardson and Gielgud in 1970).
Olivier received another BAFTA nomination for his supporting role in 1959's The Devil's Disciple. The same year, after a gap of two decades, Olivier returned to the role of Coriolanus, in a Stratford production directed by the 28-year-old Peter Hall. Olivier's performance received strong praise from the critics for its fierce athleticism combined with an emotional vulnerability. In 1960 he made his second appearance for the Royal Court company in Ionesco's absurdist play Rhinoceros. The production was chiefly remarkable for the star's quarrels with the director, Orson Welles, who according to the biographer Francis Beckett suffered the "appalling treatment" that Olivier had inflicted on Gielgud at Stratford five years earlier. Olivier again ignored his director and undermined his authority. In 1960 and 1961 Olivier appeared in Anouilh's Becket on Broadway, first in the title role, with Anthony Quinn as the king, and later exchanging roles with his co-star.
Two films featuring Olivier were released in 1960. The first—filmed in 1959—was Spartacus, in which he portrayed the Roman general, Marcus Licinius Crassus. His second was The Entertainer, shot while he was appearing in Coriolanus; the film was well received by the critics, but not as warmly as the stage show had been. The reviewer for The Guardian thought the performances were good, and wrote that Olivier "on the screen as on the stage, achieves the tour de force of bringing Archie Rice ... to life". For his performance, Olivier was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He also made an adaptation of The Moon and Sixpence in 1960, winning an Emmy Award.
The Oliviers' marriage was disintegrating during the late 1950s. While directing Charlton Heston in the 1960 play The Tumbler, Olivier divulged that "Vivien is several thousand miles away, trembling on the edge of a cliff, even when she's sitting quietly in her own drawing room", at a time when she was threatening suicide. In May 1960 divorce proceedings started; Leigh reported the fact to the press and informed reporters of Olivier's relationship with Plowright. The decree nisi was issued in December 1960, which enabled him to marry Plowright in March 1961. A son, Richard, was born in December 1961; two daughters followed, Tamsin Agnes Margaret—born in January 1963—and actress Julie-Kate, born in July 1966.
In 1961 Olivier accepted the directorship of a new theatrical venture, the Chichester Festival. For the opening season in 1962 he directed two neglected 17th-century English plays, John Fletcher's 1638 comedy The Chances and John Ford's 1633 tragedy The Broken Heart, followed by Uncle Vanya. The company he recruited was forty strong and included Thorndike, Casson, Redgrave, Athene Seyler, John Neville and Plowright. The first two plays were politely received; the Chekhov production attracted rapturous notices. The Times commented, "It is doubtful if the Moscow Arts Theatre itself could improve on this production." The second Chichester season the following year consisted of a revival of Uncle Vanya and two new productions—Shaw's Saint Joan and John Arden's The Workhouse Donkey. In 1963 Olivier received another BAFTA nomination for his leading role as a schoolteacher accused of sexually molesting a student in the film Term of Trial.
National Theatre
1963–1968
At around the time the Chichester Festival opened, plans for the creation of the National Theatre were coming to fruition. The British government agreed to release funds for a new building on the South Bank of the Thames. Lord Chandos was appointed chairman of the National Theatre Board in 1962, and in August Olivier accepted its invitation to be the company's first director. As his assistants, he recruited the directors John Dexter and William Gaskill, with Kenneth Tynan as literary adviser or "dramaturge". Pending the construction of the new theatre, the company was based at the Old Vic. With the agreement of both organisations, Olivier remained in overall charge of the Chichester Festival during the first three seasons of the National; he used the festivals of 1964 and 1965 to give preliminary runs to plays he hoped to stage at the Old Vic.
The opening production of the National Theatre was Hamlet in October 1963, starring Peter O'Toole and directed by Olivier. O'Toole was a guest star, one of occasional exceptions to Olivier's policy of casting productions from a regular company. Among those who made a mark during Olivier's directorship were Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi and Anthony Hopkins. It was widely remarked that Olivier seemed reluctant to recruit his peers to perform with his company. Evans, Gielgud and Paul Scofield guested only briefly, and Ashcroft and Richardson never appeared at the National during Olivier's time. Robert Stephens, a member of the company, observed, "Olivier's one great fault was a paranoid jealousy of anyone who he thought was a rival".
In his decade in charge of the National, Olivier acted in thirteen plays and directed eight. Several of the roles he played were minor characters, including a crazed butler in Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear and a pompous solicitor in Maugham's Home and Beauty; the vulgar soldier Captain Brazen in Farquhar's 1706 comedy The Recruiting Officer was a larger role but not the leading one.
Apart from his Astrov in the Uncle Vanya, familiar from Chichester, his first leading role for the National was Othello, directed by Dexter in 1964. The production was a box-office success and was revived regularly over the next five seasons. His performance divided opinion. Most of the reviewers and theatrical colleagues praised it highly; Franco Zeffirelli called it "an anthology of everything that has been discovered about acting in the past three centuries." Dissenting voices included The Sunday Telegraph, which called it "the kind of bad acting of which only a great actor is capable ... near the frontiers of self-parody"; the director Jonathan Miller thought it "a condescending view of an Afro Caribbean person". The burden of playing this demanding part at the same time as managing the new company and planning for the move to the new theatre took its toll on Olivier. To add to his load, he felt obliged to take over as Solness in The Master Builder when the ailing Redgrave withdrew from the role in November 1964. For the first time Olivier began to suffer from stage fright, which plagued him for several years. The National Theatre production of Othello was released as a film in 1965, which earned four Academy Award nominations, including another for Best Actor for Olivier.
During the following year Olivier concentrated on management, directing one production (The Crucible), taking the comic role of the foppish Tattle in Congreve's Love for Love, and making one film, Bunny Lake is Missing, in which he and Coward were on the same bill for the first time since Private Lives. In 1966, his one play as director was Juno and the Paycock. The Times commented that the production "restores one's faith in the work as a masterpiece". In the same year Olivier portrayed the Mahdi, opposite Heston as General Gordon, in the film Khartoum.
In 1967 Olivier was caught in the middle of a confrontation between Chandos and Tynan over the latter's proposal to stage Rolf Hochhuth's Soldiers. As the play speculatively depicted Churchill as complicit in the assassination of the Polish prime minister Władysław Sikorski, Chandos regarded it as indefensible. At his urging the board unanimously vetoed the production. Tynan considered resigning over this interference with the management's artistic freedom, but Olivier himself stayed firmly in place, and Tynan also remained. At about this time Olivier began a long struggle against a succession of illnesses. He was treated for prostate cancer and, during rehearsals for his production of Chekhov's Three Sisters he was hospitalised with pneumonia. He recovered enough to take the heavy role of Edgar in Strindberg's The Dance of Death, the finest of all his performances other than in Shakespeare, in Gielgud's view.
1968–1974
Olivier had intended to step down from the directorship of the National Theatre at the end of his first five-year contract, having, he hoped, led the company into its new building. By 1968 because of bureaucratic delays construction work had not even begun, and he agreed to serve for a second five-year term. His next major role, and his last appearance in a Shakespeare play, was as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, his first appearance in the work. He had intended Guinness or Scofield to play Shylock, but stepped in when neither was available. The production by Jonathan Miller, and Olivier's performance, attracted a wide range of responses. Two different critics reviewed it for The Guardian: one wrote "this is not a role which stretches him, or for which he will be particularly remembered"; the other commented that the performance "ranks as one of his greatest achievements, involving his whole range".
In 1969 Olivier appeared in two war films, portraying military leaders. He played Field Marshal French in the First World War film Oh! What a Lovely War, for which he won another BAFTA award, followed by Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding in Battle of Britain. In June 1970 he became the first actor to be created a peer for services to the theatre. Although he initially declined the honour, Harold Wilson, the incumbent prime minister, wrote to him, then invited him and Plowright to dinner, and persuaded him to accept.
After this Olivier played three more stage roles: James Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (1971–72), Antonio in Eduardo de Filippo's Saturday, Sunday, Monday and John Tagg in Trevor Griffiths's The Party (both 1973–74). Among the roles he hoped to play, but could not because of ill-health, was Nathan Detroit in the musical Guys and Dolls. In 1972 he took leave of absence from the National to star opposite Michael Caine in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's film of Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth, which The Illustrated London News considered to be "Olivier at his twinkling, eye-rolling best"; both he and Caine were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, losing to Marlon Brando in The Godfather.
The last two stage plays Olivier directed were Jean Giradoux's Amphitryon (1971) and Priestley's Eden End (1974). By the time of Eden End, he was no longer director of the National Theatre; Peter Hall took over on 1 November 1973. The succession was tactlessly handled by the board, and Olivier felt that he had been eased out—although he had declared his intention to go—and that he had not been properly consulted about the choice of successor. The largest of the three theatres within the National's new building was named in his honour, but his only appearance on the stage of the Olivier Theatre was at its official opening by the Queen in October 1976, when he made a speech of welcome, which Hall privately described as the most successful part of the evening.
Later years (1975–1989)
Olivier spent the last 15 years of his life securing his finances and dealing with deteriorating health, which included thrombosis and dermatomyositis, a degenerative muscle disorder. Professionally, and to provide financial security, he made a series of advertisements for Polaroid cameras in 1972, although he stipulated that they must never be shown in Britain; he also took a number of cameo film roles, which were in "often undistinguished films", according to Billington. Olivier's move from leading parts to supporting and cameo roles came about because his poor health meant he could not get the necessary long insurance for larger parts, with only short engagements in films available.
Olivier's dermatomyositis meant he spent the last three months of 1974 in hospital, and he spent early 1975 slowly recovering and regaining his strength. When strong enough, he was contacted by the director John Schlesinger, who offered him the role of a Nazi torturer in the 1976 film Marathon Man. Olivier shaved his pate and wore oversized glasses to enlarge the look of his eyes, in a role that the critic David Robinson, writing for The Times, thought was "strongly played", adding that Olivier was "always at his best in roles that call for him to be seedy or nasty or both". Olivier was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and won the Golden Globe of the same category.
In the mid-1970s Olivier became increasingly involved in television work, a medium of which he was initially dismissive. In 1973 he provided the narration for a 26-episode documentary, The World at War, which chronicled the events of the Second World War, and won a second Emmy Award for Long Day's Journey into Night (1973). In 1975 he won another Emmy for Love Among the Ruins. The following year he appeared in adaptations of Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Harold Pinter's The Collection. Olivier portrayed the Pharisee Nicodemus in Franco Zeffirelli's 1977 miniseries Jesus of Nazareth. In 1978 he appeared in the film The Boys from Brazil, playing the role of Ezra Lieberman, an ageing Nazi hunter; he received his eleventh Academy Award nomination. Although he did not win the Oscar, he was presented with an Honorary Award for his lifetime achievement.
Olivier continued working in film into the 1980s, with roles in The Jazz Singer (1980), Inchon (1981), The Bounty (1984) and Wild Geese II (1985). He continued to work in television; in 1981 he appeared as Lord Marchmain in Brideshead Revisited, winning another Emmy, and the following year he received his tenth and last BAFTA nomination in the television adaptation of John Mortimer's stage play A Voyage Round My Father. In 1983 he played his last Shakespearean role as Lear in King Lear, for Granada Television, earning his fifth Emmy. He thought the role of Lear much less demanding than other tragic Shakespearean heroes: "No, Lear is easy. He's like all of us, really: he's just a stupid old fart." When the production was first shown on American television, the critic Steve Vineberg wrote:
The same year he also appeared in a cameo alongside Gielgud and Richardson in Wagner, with Burton in the title role; his final screen appearance was as an elderly wheelchair-using soldier in Derek Jarman's 1989 film War Requiem.
After being ill for the last 22 years of his life, Olivier died of kidney failure on 11 July 1989 aged 82 at his home in the village of Ashurst, near Steyning, West Sussex. His cremation was held three days later; his ashes were buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey during a memorial service in October that year.
Honours
Olivier was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1947 Birthday Honours for services to the stage and to films. A life peerage as Baron Olivier, of Brighton in the County of Sussex followed in the 1970 Birthday Honours for services to the theatre. Olivier was later appointed to the Order of Merit in 1981. He also received honours from foreign governments. In 1949 he was made Commander of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog; the French appointed him , Legion of Honour, in 1953; the Italian government created him , Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, in 1953; and in 1971 he was granted the Order of Yugoslav Flag with Golden Wreath.
Awards and memorials
From academic and other institutions, Olivier received honorary doctorates from Tufts University in Massachusetts (1946), Oxford (1957) and Edinburgh (1964). He was also awarded the Danish Sonning Prize in 1966, the Gold Medallion of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities in 1968; and the Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts in 1976.
For his work in films, Olivier received four Academy Awards: an honorary award for Henry V (1947), a Best Actor award and one as producer for Hamlet (1948), and a second honorary award in 1979 to recognise his lifetime of contribution to the art of film. He was nominated for nine other acting Oscars and one each for production and direction. He also won two British Academy Film Awards out of ten nominations, five Emmy Awards out of nine nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards out of six nominations. He was nominated once for a Tony Award (for best actor, as Archie Rice) but did not win.
In February 1960, for his contribution to the film industry, Olivier was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with a star at 6319 Hollywood Boulevard; he is included in the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 1977 Olivier was awarded a British Film Institute Fellowship.
In addition to the naming of the National Theatre's largest auditorium in Olivier's honour, he is commemorated in the Laurence Olivier Awards, bestowed annually since 1984 by the Society of London Theatre. In 1991 Gielgud unveiled a memorial stone commemorating Olivier in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey. In 2007, the centenary of Olivier's birth, a life-sized statue of him was unveiled on the South Bank, outside the National Theatre; the same year the BFI held a retrospective season of his film work.
Technique and reputation
Olivier's acting technique was minutely crafted, and he was known for changing his appearance considerably from role to role. By his own admission, he was addicted to extravagant make-up, and unlike Richardson and Gielgud, he excelled at different voices and accents. His own description of his technique was "working from the outside in"; he said, "I can never act as myself, I have to have a pillow up my jumper, a false nose or a moustache or wig... I cannot come on looking like me and be someone else." Rattigan described how at rehearsals Olivier "built his performance slowly and with immense application from a mass of tiny details". This attention to detail had its critics: Agate remarked, "When I look at a watch it is to see the time and not to admire the mechanism. I want an actor to tell me Lear's time of day and Olivier doesn't. He bids me watch the wheels go round."
Tynan remarked to Olivier, "you aren't really a contemplative or philosophical actor"; Olivier was known for the strenuous physicality of his performances in some roles. He told Tynan this was because he was influenced as a young man by Douglas Fairbanks, Ramon Navarro and John Barrymore in films, and Barrymore on stage as Hamlet: "tremendously athletic. I admired that greatly, all of us did. ... One thought of oneself, idiotically, skinny as I was, as a sort of Tarzan." According to Morley, Gielgud was widely considered "the best actor in the world from the neck up and Olivier from the neck down." Olivier described the contrast thus: "I've always thought that we were the reverses of the same coin... the top half John, all spirituality, all beauty, all abstract things; and myself as all earth, blood, humanity."
Olivier, a classically trained actor, was known to have been distrustful of method acting. In his memoir, On Acting, he exhorts actors to "have Stanislavski with you in your study or in your limousine... but don't bring him onto the film set." During production of The Prince and the Showgirl, he quarrelled with Marilyn Monroe, who was trained under Lee Strasberg's method, over her acting process. Similarly, an anecdote casts him as offering Dustin Hoffman, enduring physical travails while playing in Marathon Man, a curt suggestion: "why don't you just try acting?" Hoffman disputes the details of this account, which he claims was distorted by a journalist: he had been up all night at the Studio 54 nightclub for personal rather than professional reasons and Olivier, who understood this, was joking.
Together with Richardson and Gielgud, Olivier was internationally recognised as one of the "great trinity of theatrical knights" who dominated the British stage during the middle and later decades of the 20th century. In an obituary tribute in The Times, Bernard Levin wrote, "What we have lost with Laurence Olivier is glory. He reflected it in his greatest roles; indeed he walked clad in it—you could practically see it glowing around him like a nimbus.... no one will ever play the roles he played as he played them; no one will replace the splendour that he gave his native land with his genius." Billington commented:
After Olivier's death, Gielgud reflected, "He followed in the theatrical tradition of Kean and Irving. He respected tradition in the theatre, but he also took great delight in breaking tradition, which is what made him so unique. He was gifted, brilliant, and one of the great controversial figures of our time in theatre, which is a virtue and not a vice at all."
Olivier said in 1963 that he believed he was born to be an actor, but his colleague Peter Ustinov disagreed; he commented that although Olivier's great contemporaries were clearly predestined for the stage, "Larry could have been a notable ambassador, a considerable minister, a redoubtable cleric. At his worst, he would have acted the parts more ably than they are usually lived." The director David Ayliff agreed that acting did not come instinctively to Olivier as it did to his great rivals. He observed, "Ralph was a natural actor, he couldn't stop being a perfect actor; Olivier did it through sheer hard work and determination." The American actor William Redfield had a similar view:
In comparing Olivier and the other leading actors of his generation, Ustinov wrote, "It is of course vain to talk of who is and who is not the greatest actor. There is simply no such thing as a greatest actor, or painter or composer". Nonetheless, some colleagues, particularly film actors such as Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, came to regard Olivier as the finest of his peers. Peter Hall, though acknowledging Olivier as the head of the theatrical profession, thought Richardson the greater actor. Olivier's claim to theatrical greatness lay not only in his acting, but as, in Hall's words, "the supreme man of the theatre of our time", pioneering Britain's National Theatre. As Bragg identified, "no one doubts that the National is perhaps his most enduring monument".
Stage roles and filmography
See also
Laurence Olivier Awards
List of British Academy Award nominees and winners
List of actors with Academy Award nominations
List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories
Notes and references
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Laurence Olivier Archive at the British Library
Category:1907 births
Category:1989 deaths
Laurence
Category:20th-century English male actors
Category:20th-century theatre managers
Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients
Category:Actor-managers
Category:Actors awarded British peerages
Category:Actors awarded knighthoods
Category:Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Category:Artistic directors
Category:BAFTA fellows
Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners
Category:Best British Actor BAFTA Award winners
Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Category:Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award winners
Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey
Category:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners
Category:David di Donatello winners
Category:Directors of Golden Lion winners
Category:Deaths from kidney failure
Category:English Anglo-Catholics
Category:English male film actors
Category:English film directors
Category:English male Shakespearean actors
Category:English male stage actors
Category:English male television actors
Category:English theatre directors
Category:English people of French descent
Category:Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II
Category:Knights Bachelor
Category:Life peers
Category:Male actors from Surrey
Category:Members of the Order of Merit
Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners
Category:People educated at St Edward's School, Oxford
Category:People from Dorking
Category:Royal Navy officers of World War II
Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II | [
{
"text": "The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Awards, but they were renamed in honour of the British actor of the same name in 1984.\n\nThe awards are given annually to individuals involved in West End productions and other leading non-commercial theatres based in London across a range of categories covering plays, musicals, dance, opera and affiliate theatre. A discretionary non-competitive Special Olivier Award is also given each year. The Olivier Awards are recognised internationally as the highest honour in British theatre, equivalent to the BAFTA Awards for film and television, and the BRIT Awards for music. The Olivier Awards are considered equivalent to Broadway's Tony Awards and France's Molière Award.\n\nSince inception, the awards have been held at various venues and theatres across London, from 2012 to 2016 at the Royal Opera House, before moving to the Royal Albert Hall in 2017. Television coverage is broadcast in prime time on ITV1, who acquired the rights from 2013 onwards, with radio coverage by Magic Radio.\n\nHistory\nThe awards were established in 1976 by the Society of London Theatre as the Society of West End Theatre Awards and were designed by artist Tom Merrifield. The first ceremony was in December 1976 at the Café Royal. In 1984, British actor Laurence Olivier gave his consent for the awards to be renamed in his honour and they became known as the Laurence Olivier Awards.\n\nJudging\nEvery year, judging panels for theatre, opera, dance and affiliate shows are put together by the Society of London Theatre. \n\nFor opera, dance and affiliates, each panel is made up of a mix of professional panellists (journalists, casting directors, arts administrators, publishers and other industry professionals chosen for their knowledge in the field) and members of the public who are passionate about London theatre. The panels first select the shows they consider most worthy of an Olivier Award nomination, then vote on a winner at the end of the judging period.\n\nFor the theatre awards, a longlist is compiled by a panel made up of members of the public, and submitted to SOLT members to vote on. Members may still vote outside of the list at this stage, except for in the four Supporting Actor/Actress categories (as these each contain thousands of eligible performers). The members’ votes are collated with those of the panellists to create the list of nominees. The nominees list is then voted on by both members and panellists to produce the winners.\n\nCeremony\n\nHosts\nPast hosts of the Olivier Awards ceremony include Michael Ball, Imelda Staunton, Clive Anderson, Gemma Arterton, Stephen Mangan, Hugh Bonneville, Sheridan Smith, Lenny Henry, Catherine Tate, and Jason Manford.\n\nVenues\nThe venue most associated with the Awards is Grosvenor House Hotel, which has housed the after-show reception nine times and hosted the whole event on four further occasions. As well as at the Grosvenor, the presentations have been held at the Albery Theatre (now Noël Coward), Café Royal, Dominion Theatre, London Palladium, Lyceum Theatre, Park Lane Hilton, Piccadilly Theatre, Royal National Theatre Olivier, Royalty Theatre (now Peacock), Shaftesbury Theatre, Theatre Royal Drury Lane and Victoria Palace Theatre.\n\nThe awards ceremony was held at the Royal Opera House from 2012 to 2016, moving to the Royal Albert Hall in 2017.\n\nBroadcast\nThe first Laurence Olivier Awards to be broadcast on television was the 1981 ceremony, which was broadcast on BBC1. This continued until 1992, before a switch to BBC2 until 2003. The awards ceremony was then only broadcast on radio until 2011, when the BBC broadcast live interactive red-button coverage of the event, while Paul Gambaccini presented a programme on BBC Radio 2 with live coverage and interviews. The same coverage followed in 2012, before ITV secured the broadcast rights which saw the return of the Olivier Awards to mainstream television in 2013. This has continued in recent years, and the ceremony has also been broadcast on Magic Radio.\n\nAward categories\n\nDrama\n Best New Play\n Best Revival\n Best Entertainment or Comedy Play\n Best Actor\n Best Actress\n Best Performance in a Supporting Role\n Best Actor in a Supporting Role\n Best Actress in a Supporting Role\n\nMusical\n Best New Musical\n Best Musical Revival\n Best Actor in a Musical\n Best Actress in a Musical\n Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical\n Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical\n Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical\n Best Original Score or New Orchestrations\n\nProduction\n Best Director\n Best Theatre Choreographer\n Best Set Design\n Best Costume Design\n Best Lighting Design\n Best Sound Design\n\nDance/Opera\n Best New Dance Production\n Best New Opera Production\n Outstanding Achievement in Dance\n Outstanding Achievement in Opera\n\nOther\n Special Award\n Best Entertainment and Family\n Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre\n\nRetired\n Actor of the Year in a New Play\n Actress of the Year in a New Play\n Actor of the Year in a Revival\n Actress of the Year in a Revival\n Best Comedy Performance\n Best Performance in a Musical\n Supporting Artist of the Year\n Best Newcomer in a Play\n Most Promising Performer\n Best Company Performance\n Best Director of a Play\n Best Director of a Musical\n Most Promising Playwright\n Best Set Designer\n Outstanding Achievement in a Musical\n Audience Award\n\nAward milestones\nSome notable records and facts about the Laurence Olivier Awards include the following:\n\nProductions\n The most Olivier Awards ever received in the history of the awards were given to the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in 2017, when it won nine awards including Best New Play.\n\nThe record for the most Olivier Awards ever received by a musical is tied between Matilda, Hamilton and the 2021 production of Cabaret which received seven awards including Best Musical (for Matilda & Hamilton), and Best Musical Revival in the instance of Cabaret, which additionally became the first production in Olivier history to win in all four applicable acting categories.\n\n The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2013) received seven Olivier Awards. Nicholas Nickleby (1980) and My Neighbour Totoro (2023) received six. Life of Pi (2022), Chimerica (2014), Sunday in the Park with George (2007), She Loves Me (1995) and Guys and Dolls (1982) received five. Gypsy (2016), The Book of Mormon (2014), After the Dance (2011), Spring Awakening (2010), Black Watch (2009), Hairspray (2008), Jerry Springer (2004), All My Sons (2001), Billy Elliot (2006), Hedda Gabler (2006), Oklahoma (1999), Stanley (1997), Machinal (1994), Sweeney Todd (1994), An Inspector Calls (1993) and Carousel (1993) received four.\n The most nominations ever received by a production is 13 with Hamilton (2018). Cabaret (2021), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2017) and Hairspray (2008) received 11. Follies (2018) had 10. My Neighbour Totoro (2023), Life of Pi (2022), & Juliet (2020), Come from Away (2019), Company (2019), Memphis (2015), Matilda (2012), Billy Elliot (2006), Mary Poppins (2005), Kiss Me, Kate (2002), Oklahoma (1999) and Carousel (1993) received nine. The Inheritance (2019), The Ferryman (2018), Groundhog Day (2017), Gypsy (2016), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (2015), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2013), The Producers (2005), Guys and Dolls (2006), Jerry Springer (2004), Pacific Overtures (2004), Ragtime (2004), My Fair Lady (2002), Spend, Spend, Spend (2000), The Lion King (2000), Tommy (1997), She Loves Me (1995) and Fiddler on the Roof (2020) received eight.\nKiss Me, Kate (2002) holds the record for most nominations without any wins at nine.\n\nIndividuals\n\n William Dudley (designer), Judi Dench (actress) and Matthew Bourne (choreographer) are tied for the record for the most competitive wins by an individual with seven each. Dench also won a Special Olivier Award in 2004. Andrew Lloyd Webber (composer/producer) has won six plus the Special Olivier Award in 2008.\n Ian McKellen, Alan Bennett, Richard Eyre and Stephen Sondheim have all won five competitive awards plus the Special Olivier Award.\n Five wins: Declan Donnellan, Mark Henderson, Mark Thompson.\n Four wins: Michael Bryant, Michael Frayn, Tim Goodchild, Clare Higgins, Alex Jennings, Sam Mendes, Trevor Nunn, Philip Quast, Willy Russell, Simon Russell Beale, Imelda Staunton, Frances de la Tour, Paule Constable, Bunny Christie.\n Michael Gambon has a record thirteen Olivier nominations, winning an Olivier three times.\n Performers who have won Olivier Awards in both the play and musical categories are: Simon Russell Beale, Jonathan Pryce, Henry Goodman, Imelda Staunton, Judi Dench, Sheridan Smith, Janie Dee, Sharon D. Clarke, Sheila Atim and Eddie Redmayne.\n Of those 10, Judi Dench is the only performer to win both the play and musical Olivier acting awards in the same year (1996) - for her performances in Absolute Hell and A Little Night Music.\nIn 1991 Karla Burns became the first black performer to win the award, for the role of Queenie in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Show Boat.\n Maggie Smith has never won the award despite being nominated a total of six times. She did receive the Special Olivier Award in 2010.\n Sinéad Cusack has never won the award despite being nominated a total of five times.\n Philip Quast has won the Olivier for Best Actor in a Musical on three occasions, while Michael Crawford, Robert Lindsay, Daniel Evans and Michael Ball have all won the award twice.\n Imelda Staunton has won the Olivier for Best Actress in a Musical three times. Julia McKenzie, Joanna Riding, Maria Friedman and Samantha Spiro have all won twice. Imelda Staunton also holds the record for the most Olivier nominations in the Best Actress in a Musical category, with seven nominations. Maria Friedman is next, with six nominations.\n In 1985, Patti LuPone tied with herself for an Olivier for her performances as Fantine in the Original London Cast of Les Miserables, and as Moll in The Cradle Will Rock.\n Jenny Galloway and Tracie Bennett have both won the Olivier for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical twice.\n Shows that have won Olivier Awards for both Best Actor and Best Actress in a Musical: Barbara Dickson and Con O'Neill in Blood Brothers (1988), Jonathan Pryce and Lea Salonga in Miss Saigon (1990), Alun Armstrong and Julia McKenzie in Sweeney Todd (1993), Daniel Evans and Samantha Spiro in Merrily We Roll Along (2001), Alex Jennings and Joanna Riding in My Fair Lady (2003), Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell in Sunday in the Park with George (2007), Michael Ball and Leanne Jones in Hairspray (2008), Bertie Carvel and all four Matildas in Matilda (2012) and Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton in Sweeney Todd (2013)\n In 1984, Tim Flavin was the first American actor to win the Olivier Award for his performance in On Your Toes at the Palace Theatre. He was nominated twice in the same year for Most Promising Newcomer and Best Actor in a Musical and the award was presented by Dame Anna Neagle. In 1985, Patti LuPone was the first American actress to win an Olivier award for her work in The Cradle Will Rock and Les Miserables. Jessica Lange was the first American actress nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress for her performance in Long Day's Journey Into Night\n Hairspray won all three musical acting awards in 2008: Best Actor and Actress in a Musical for Michael Ball and Leanne Jones and Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for Tracie Bennett.\n Roles that have won awards for actors on more than one occasion include: Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls (1982 and 2006), George in Sunday in the Park with George (1991 and 2007), The Baker's Wife in Into the Woods (1991 and 1999), Nicely Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls (1982 and 1997), Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd (1980, 1994 and 2013), Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (1980, 1994 and 2013), Frau Schneider in Cabaret (1994 and 2007) and Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (2002 and 2003).\n Michael Ball and Bertie Carvel both won Oliviers for playing roles of the opposite sex, in 2008 for Hairspray and 2012 for Matilda, respectively.\n Shared wins: In 2022, all seven actors sharing the role of the Tiger in Life of Pi received the Olivier for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In 2012, all four actresses sharing the role of Matilda in Matilda the Musical received the Olivier for Best Actress in a Musical. In 2006, all three actors sharing the role of Billy Elliot in Billy Elliot the Musical received the Olivier for Best Actor in a Musical.\n Shared nominations: In 2017, the eight members of the cast (six leads and two understudies) of Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour were jointly nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Also in 2017, the six cast members from The Girls were jointly nominated in the Best Actress in a Musical category. In 2019, the six cast members of Six were jointly nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical for their performances as the six wives of Henry VIII.\n On April 15, 2012, at age 10 years 299 days, Eleanor Worthington Cox became the youngest winner of an award, when she received the Olivier for Best Actress in a Musical for Matilda the Musical.\n In 2018, Billie Piper became the first, and so far only, actor to have won all six of the currently available UK Theatre Best Actress awards for a single performance: Evening Standard Theatre Awards, What's On Stage Theatre Awards, Critic's Circle Theatre Awards, Broadway UK Theatre Awards, Glamour Awards and Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards. This accolade was achieved by her performance in Yerma, which was hailed as “the performance of the decade”, “shattering, exhausting, earthquaking” and “unbearably harrowing”.\n\nSee also\nIan Charleson Award\nWest End theatre\nEvening Standard Theatre Award\nTony Awards\nDrama Desk Award\nList of Tony Award and Olivier Award winning musicals\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n \nCategory:1976 establishments in the United Kingdom\nCategory:Awards established in 1976\nCategory:Laurence Olivier\nCategory:Stagecraft",
"title": "Laurence Olivier Awards"
},
{
"text": "This article is a list of British Academy Award winners and nominees. This list details the filmmakers, actors, actresses, and others born and working in the United Kingdom who have been nominated for or have won an Academy Award.\n\nBest Actor in a Leading Role\n\nBest Actress in a Leading Role\n\nBest Actor in a Supporting Role\n\nBest Actress in a Supporting Role\n\nBest Director\n\nBest Assistant Director (1933 to 1937)\n\nBest Writing – Adapted Screenplay\n\nBest Writing – Original Screenplay\n\nBest Writing – Story (1928 to 1956)\n\nBest Picture\n\nBest International Feature Film\n\nBest Documentary Feature\n\nBest Documentary – Short Subject\n\nBest Animated Feature\n\nBest Animated Short Film\n\nBest Production Design\n\nBest Cinematography\n\nBest Editing\n\nBest Sound\n\nBest Sound Editing (1963 to 2019)\n\nBest Costume Design\n\nBest Makeup and Hairstyling\n\nBest Original Score\n\nBest Original Song\n\nBest Visual Effects\n\nBest Live Action Short Film\n\nSpecial Awards\n\nNominations and Winners\n\nSee also\nCinema of the United Kingdom\nList of British actors\nList of British films\nBritish Academy Film Awards\nList of Irish Academy Award winners and nominees\n\nReferences\n\nBritish\nCategory:Lists of British award winners",
"title": "List of British Academy Award nominees and winners"
},
{
"text": "This list of actors with Academy Award nominations includes all male and female actors with Academy Award nominations for lead and supporting roles in motion pictures, and the total nominations and wins for each actor. Nominations in non-acting categories, such as for producing, directing or writing, are not included.\n\nThe most recent winners of all four acting categories, as of the 95th Academy Awards are Brendan Fraser for The Whale, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis for Everything Everywhere All at Once.\n\nThe award information is available on the Academy Awards website via dynamically-generated lists for specific actors, and for each year's nominees and winners via a scrolling timeline of all ceremonies.\n\nStatistics\n\nA total of 970 actors appear in the list—490 males and 480 females. Non-winning nominees include 336 males and 326 females—a total of 662. Actors that have won at least once include 155 males and 155 females—a total of 310. Only 44 actors—23 males and 21 females—are multiple Academy Award winners.\n\nKatharine Hepburn won four times from twelve nominations—all for lead roles—making her the actor with the most wins in Academy Awards history. Daniel Day-Lewis has won three times from six lead actor nominations—the most wins for any male in the lead actor category.\n\nMeryl Streep is the most-nominated actor of all with twenty one nominations. Jack Nicholson has received the most Academy Award nominations for any male actor with twelve nominations. Both actors have had three wins which included two for lead roles and one for a supporting role. Additionally, Ingrid Bergman, Daniel Day-Lewis,Walter Brennan, and Frances McDormand each won three awards with Bergman earning two statues from her lead roles and one from her supporting roles (out of seven total nominations) Brennan earning three (from four nominations), all in the supporting actor category, Day-Lewis earning three for his lead roles (out of six nominations) and McDormand earning three from her lead roles (out of six nominationsthree lead and three supporting).\n\nTable key\n§a winning actor who refused an award\n\nAn italicized First or Last year indicates the listed film's year of release when it is the first or most recent nomination of an actor with multiple nominations, otherwise the film year is provided after the film title in parentheses.\n\nList of actors\nThe list is designed to be sortable by clicking on any of the column headings; however, sorting is only possible if JavaScript is enabled in your web browser. If viewing on a mobile device, switch to the desktop view to enable sorting by clicking on the word Desktop at the bottom of the page. The initial sort order is by actor surnames.\n\nSee also\n\nNotes\n\nActors with multiple nominations at a single ceremony:\n\nAdditional winning roles:\n\nOther:\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\n\nExternal links\n\n Oscars.org - official Academy Awards site\n\nAcademy Awards\nAcademy Awards\nAcademy Awards\nAcademy Awards",
"title": "List of actors with Academy Award nominations"
},
{
"text": "The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have presented their annual Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, for over 90 years. The Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress have been presented since the 1st ceremony in 1929, and the awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress have been presented since the 9th ceremony in 1937. Of the 954 Academy Award nominees in an acting category, a total of 354 have received two or more acting nominations, 179 women and 175 men.\n\nA three-time Oscar winner, Meryl Streep is the most nominated performer in the acting categories, with 21 nominations between 1979 and 2018. Streep's total includes a record 17 best actress nominations. Seven actors have won three or more Oscars in the acting categories, with Katharine Hepburn being the only person to win four acting Oscars, winning best actress for the fourth time at the 1982 ceremony. Ingrid Bergman and Meryl Streep both have two best actress and one best supporting actress win, and in 2021, Frances McDormand became only the second woman to win three best actress Oscars. Thelma Ritter has a record six best supporting actress nominations. The only women to have won two Oscars in the supporting actress category are Shelley Winters and Dianne Wiest. The seven women to have won in both the lead and supporting actress categories are Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Cate Blanchett, and Renée Zellweger.\n\nJack Nicholson is the most nominated male performer in the acting categories with eight for best actor and four for best supporting actor, for a total of 12 nominations, winning three, two for best actor and one for best supporting actor. The record for most best actor nominations is nine, for both Spencer Tracy and Laurence Olivier (Olivier has a total of ten acting nominations). Daniel Day-Lewis has a record three best actor wins. Seven actors have each received four best supporting actor nominations, including Walter Brennan, who has a record three supporting actor wins. The six men to have won in both the lead and supporting actor categories are Jack Lemmon, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey and Denzel Washington.\n\nPeter O'Toole and Glenn Close jointly hold the record for most nominations in the acting categories without a win, with eight, followed by Richard Burton with seven, and Deborah Kerr, Thelma Ritter and Amy Adams with six. Both O'Toole and Kerr did receive the Academy Honorary Award.\n\nMost nominations in four acting categories\nListed below are the 188 actors who have received three or more Academy Award nominations in the acting categories plus the seven actors who have two wins from two nominations.\nBA = Best Actor/Actress Nominations\nBSA = Best Supporting Actor/Actress Nominations\n\nMost nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor combined\n\nMost nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress combined\n\nMost nominations by category (actor)\nListed are the actors with three or more nominations plus those with two wins from two nominations.\n\nMost nominations by category (actress)\n\nActors with two or more acting nominations who have won Academy Awards in non-acting categories\nTN = Total Nominations.\nAN = Acting Nominations.\n\nSee also \n\n List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories\n List of actors nominated for Academy Awards for foreign language performances\n List of directors with two or more Academy Awards for Best Director\n List of Academy Award records\n\nNotes\n\nABette Davis' performance in Of Human Bondage (1934) and Paul Muni's performance in Black Fury (1935) were not nominated for Oscars. As a result of Davis's failure to get a nomination, several influential people campaigned to have her name included on the list, so for that year, and the following year also, the Academy allowed a write-in vote. Technically this meant that any performance was eligible. At the 6th, 7th and 8th Academy Awards, the Academy publicly announced those that placed second and third in the vote, Davis placed third ahead of one official nominee and Muni placed second, ahead of three official nominees, and both Davis and Muni are listed on the Academy's official database as write-in nominees who placed in the final voting. From the 9th Academy Awards, the nominating committees were no longer used and the entire membership of each individual branch voted for the nominees in their respective categories.\nBLaurence Olivier received a total of 11 Oscar nominations, winning one. In addition to his 10 acting nominations, he received a Best Director nomination for Hamlet (1948). Prior to 1951, the Academy Award for Best Picture was credited to the production company, not individual producers, so Olivier was not credited for the Best Picture nomination for Henry V (1946) or Best Picture win for Hamlet. Olivier also received two Honorary Oscars; one for bringing Henry V to the screen, and a second in 1979 for Lifetime Achievement.\nCDenzel Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Shirley MacLaine and Will Smith have all received an additional nomination in a non-acting category. MacLaine in the Best Documentary Feature category as co-director of the 1975 film The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir, and Washington, DiCaprio and Smith in the Best Picture category; Washington for co-producing Fences (2016), DiCaprio for co-producing The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and Smith for co-producing King Richard (2021).\nDActors who received multiple nominations without winning a competitive Oscar but did receive an honorary Oscar, are Greta Garbo (1955), Barbara Stanwyck (1982), Deborah Kerr (1994), Kirk Douglas (1996), Peter O'Toole (2003), Angela Lansbury (2013) and Gena Rowlands (2015), who all received the Academy Honorary Award, Rosalind Russell (1973), who received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, Judy Garland (1940), who received the Academy Juvenile Award, and Mickey Rooney, who received both the Academy Juvenile Award (1939) and the Academy Honorary Award (1983).\nEAt the 2nd Academy Awards only the Best Actor and Best Actress winners were announced. There was no announcement of nominations. The official Academy site states that \"although not official nominations, the additional names in each category, according to in-house records, were under consideration by various boards of judges\". Although unofficial, Ruth Chatterton's nomination at the 2nd ceremony (the first of her two) counts towards her total in the above lists, and Paul Muni's nomination at the 2nd ceremony, counts as one of his five nominations in the above lists (his write-in vote from 1935 is not counted).\nFRules at the time of the first three Academy Award ceremonies allowed for a performer to receive a single nomination for their work in more than one film. At the 1st ceremony, Emil Jannings won Best Actor for his work in two films and Janet Gaynor won Best Actress for her work in three films. Richard Barthelmess also received a nomination for two films at the 1st ceremony. At the 3rd ceremony, George Arliss, Maurice Chevalier, Ronald Colman, Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer all received a single nomination for their work in two films. This is why the Academy lists Colman and Garbo as three-time nominees and Shearer as a five-time nominee. Barthelmess, Arliss and Chevalier are one-time nominees, so do not feature in the above lists. No official reason was ever given as to why Arliss and Shearer were named Best Actor and Best Actress for only one of the two films for which they were listed.\nGFrances McDormand, George Clooney, Emma Thompson, Warren Beatty, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Clint Eastwood have all won Oscars in non-acting categories. McDormand has seven Oscar nominations with four wins. In addition to her three Best Actress wins, she won for co-producing Best Picture winner Nomadland (2020). Clooney has eight Oscar nominations (four for acting, two for writing, one for directing and one for producing) with two wins. In addition to his win for Best Supporting Actor, he won Best Picture for co-producing Argo (2012). Thompson is a five-time nominee with two wins. In addition to her Best Actress win, she won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Sense and Sensibility (1995). Beatty is a 14-time nominee (four for acting, four for writing, four for producing and two for directing), winning Best Director for Reds (1981). Pitt is a seven-time Oscar nominee (four for acting, three for producing). In addition to his win for Best Supporting Actor, he won for co-producing Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave (2013). Damon is a five-time nominee (three for acting, one for writing and one for co-producing 2016 Best Picture nominee Manchester by the Sea), winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (shared with Ben Affleck) for Good Will Hunting (1997). Eastwood is an 11-time nominee (five for producing, four for directing, two for acting), winning four; Best Director and Best Picture for Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004). Both Eastwood (1995) and Beatty (2000) have also received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.\nHBradley Cooper has a total of nine Oscar nominations. In addition to his four acting nominations, he has received a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for A Star Is Born, and four nominations for Best Picture for co-producing American Sniper (2014), A Star Is Born (2018), Joker (2019), and Nightmare Alley (2021).\nIAt the 1st Academy Award ceremony, Charlie Chaplin received four nominations (including Best Actor) for his film The Circus, before the Academy decided to remove his name from the competitive categories and instead honor him with a special award. A letter sent by the Academy to Chaplin told him that they had \"Unanimously decided that your name should be removed from the competitive classes, and that a special award be conferred upon you for writing, acting, directing and producing The Circus. The collective accomplishments thus displayed place you in a class by yourself\". Chaplin went on to receive nominations for Best Actor, Best Writing and Best Picture (the latter credited to Charlie Chaplin Productions) for the 1940 film The Great Dictator and a Best Writing nomination for the 1947 film Monsieur Verdoux. He received a second Honorary Oscar at the 44th Academy Awards in 1972, before winning his sole competitive Oscar at the 45th Academy Awards in 1973 for Best Original Dramatic Score for his 1952 film Limelight, which was eligible for that years Oscars because it was not released in Los Angeles until 1972.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n www.oscars.org — official site\n\nCategory:Academy Awards lists\nAcademy Award nominations",
"title": "List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories"
},
{
"text": "The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has given Academy Awards to actors and actresses for their performances in films since its inception. Throughout the history of the Academy Awards, there have been actors and actresses who have received multiple Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, or Best Supporting Actress. The only restriction is that actors cannot receive multiple nominations for the same performance. This rule was implemented after Barry Fitzgerald received a Best Actor and a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in Going My Way.\n\n, 44 actors and actresses have received two or more Academy Awards in acting categories. Katharine Hepburn leads the way with four (all Best Actress). Six have won exactly three acting Academy Awards: Daniel Day-Lewis (three Best Actor awards), Frances McDormand (three Best Actress awards), Meryl Streep (two Best Actress awards and one Best Supporting Actress award), Jack Nicholson (two Best Actor awards and one Best Supporting Actor award), Ingrid Bergman (two Best Actress awards and one Best Supporting Actress award), and Walter Brennan (three Best Supporting Actor awards). Brennan became the first to receive three or more Academy Awards (winning the third for a 1940 film), followed by Hepburn (1968), Bergman (1974), Nicholson (1997), Streep (2011), Day-Lewis (2012), and, most recently, McDormand (2020). Of the seven, only Nicholson, Streep, McDormand, and Day-Lewis are still living.\n\nWhile there is no restriction on a performer winning the Best Actor/Actress and Best Supporting Actor/Actress awards in the same year for two roles in two movies, this has yet to happen—although there have been occasions where performers have been nominated for both in the same year.\n\nList\n † = deceased\n\nSee also \n\n List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories\n List of actors nominated for Academy Awards for foreign language performances\n List of Academy Award records\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n The Official Academy Awards Database\n \n IMDb Academy Awards Page\n\nCategory:Lists of Academy Award winners\nAcademy Awards",
"title": "List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories"
},
{
"text": "Laurence is an English and French given name (usually female in French and usually male in English). The English masculine name is a variant of Lawrence and it originates from a French form of the Latin Laurentius, a name meaning \"man from Laurentum\".\n\nThe French feminine name Laurence is a form of the masculine Laurent, which is derived from the Latin name.\n\nGiven name\n Laurence Broze (born 1960), Belgian applied mathematician, statistician, and economist\n Laurence des Cars, French curator and art historian\n Laurence Neil Creme, known professionally as Lol Creme, British musician\n Laurence Ekperigin (born 1988), British-American basketball player in the Israeli National League\n Laurence Equilbey, French conductor\n Laurence Fishburne (born 1961), American actor\n Laurence Fournier Beaudry, Canadian ice dancer\n Laurence Fox (born 1978), British actor\nLaurence Gayte (born 1965), French politician\n Laurence S. Geller, British-born, US-based real estate investor.\n Laurence Ginnell, Irish politician\n Laurence Godfrey (archer), British athlete\n Laurence Godfrey (physics lecturer), regular and controversial contributor to the Usenet newsgroups 'soc.culture.British' and 'soc.culture.Canada'\n Laurence Golborne, Chilean mining and energy minister\n Laurence Harvey, Lithuanian-born actor\n Laurence Keitt, Confederate general\n Laurence \"Laurie\" Lee (1914–1997), British poet and novelist\n Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, British television presenter and designer\n Laurence McKeown, Provisional Irish Republican Army member\n Laurence Myers (1858–99), American world-record-setting runner\n Laurence Olivier (1907–1989), British actor and director\n Laurence Owen, American figure skater\n Laurence J. Rittenband (1905–1993), American judge\n Laurence Rochat, Swiss cross-country skier who has competed since 1996\n Laurence Sullivan, British writer\n Laurence Andrew Tolhurst, known professionally as Lol Tolhurst, British musician\n Laurence Tribe, American professor of constitutional law\n Laurence Tureaud (born 1952), known professionally as Mr. T, American actor and wrestler\n St Laurence O'Toole, or Lorcán Ua Tuathail, Irish Roman Catholic Saint\n Laurence of Canterbury, the second Archbishop of Canterbury\n Laurence Tubiana, French Ambassador responsible for COP21\nLaurence Vichnievsky (born 1955), French politician and magistrate\n\nSurname\n Duncan Laurence (born 1994), Dutch singer, representing Netherlands in Eurovision Song Contest 2019 \n Elizabeth Laurence (born 1949), English classical mezzo-soprano singer\n French Laurence (17571809), English lawyer and politician, brother of Richard\n John Zachariah Laurence (182970), English ophthalmologist\n Richard Laurence (17601838), English Hebraist and Anglican churchman, brother of French\n Samuel Laurence (181284), British portrait painter\n Stephen Laurence (born before 1998), American philosopher\n Timothy Laurence (born 1955) retired British Royal Navy officer and second husband of Anne, Princess Royal\n William L. Laurence (18881977), Lithuanian-American science journalist for The New York Times (193064)\n\nSee also\n Larry (disambiguation)\n Lars\n Laurent (disambiguation)\n Laurentius (disambiguation)\n Laura and Lauren, feminine derivatives\n Laurance (name)\n\nReferences\n\nCategory:English-language masculine given names\nCategory:English masculine given names\nCategory:French masculine given names\nCategory:English feminine given names\nCategory:French feminine given names\nCategory:Surnames from given names",
"title": "Laurence"
}
] | [
"In 1951, Leigh made the film Streetcar and Olivier joined her in Hollywood to film Carrie, a movie based on the controversial novel Sister Carrie. Despite the various troubles surrounding the film, Olivier received warm reviews and a BAFTA nomination.",
"The text does not provide information on whether the film \"Carrie\" was a success.",
"The text does not provide information on what Olivier managed.",
"In September 1954, Olivier directed his third Shakespeare film, Richard III, which he also co-produced with Korda. This film was noted for having four theatrical knights, including Olivier, Cedric Hardwicke, Gielgud and Richardson. However, it was not a box-office success.",
"The film Richard III, despite being called a \"bold and successful achievement\" by The Manchester Guardian, was not a box-office success.",
"In the film Richard III, Olivier worked with Cedric Hardwicke, Gielgud and Richardson. He also co-produced the film with Korda."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_1 | Pavel Bure | Bure was born in Moscow in 1971 to Vladimir and Tatiana Bure. At age 12, his parents separated, and he remained with his mother. Vladimir Bure, a Russian swimming legend, had dreams of Pavel becoming a professional swimmer, but he aspired to play hockey at an early age. He attended his first tryout with the CSKA Moscow hockey school at the age of six, despite his limited skating ability. | CSKA Moscow (1987-1991) | At age 16, Bure began his professional hockey career playing for CSKA Moscow. He was invited to the senior club's training camp for the 1987-88 season. Although he was deemed too young, and not yet ready, for the Soviet League, Bure earned minimal playing time filling in for absent regulars. He made his debut in September 1987, and played five games for the senior team, scoring his only goal in his first game. Bure joined the club full-time in 1988-89 and amassed 17 goals, a Soviet League record for rookies. The record would last for 18 years until Alexei Cherepanov scored 18 goals in 2006-07. Bure added 9 assists for 26 points to earn the league's rookie of the year honours. His individual success helped CSKA Moscow capture their thirteenth consecutive Soviet championship and twelfth consecutive IIHF European Cup in 1989 (they repeated as European champions the following year). As a member CSKA, Bure joined a lineup that featured several future NHL players, including linemates Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny, as well as Igor Larionov, Viacheslav Fetisov, Sergei Makarov, and Vladimir Konstantinov. The combination of Bure, Fedorov and Mogilny formed a promising combination for head coach Viktor Tikhonov, with expectations to replace the previous top Soviet line, the K-L-M combination of Vladimir Krutov, Larionov and Makarov. The trio was short-lived, as Mogilny defected to play for the Buffalo Sabres in 1989, and Fedorov joined the Detroit Red Wings the following year. In his third and final season with the Red Army, Bure tied for the lead in team-scoring with Valeri Kamensky, tallying 46 points. His 35 goals was second in the league, one goal behind Ramil Yuldashev of Sokil Kyiv. Bure turned down a three-year contract extension in August 1991, which resulted in him being left off the roster of the Soviet team for the Canada Cup. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_1_q#0",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_1_q#1",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_1_q#2",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_1_q#3",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_1_q#4",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_1_q#5",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_1_q#6",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_1_q#7"
] | [
"What is CSKA?",
"What did he do with CSKA?",
"Did he win?",
"Did he receive any special recognition or awards?",
"What was he doing in 1991?",
"Did he have any injuries?",
"What is significant during this time?",
"Did Bure retire?"
] | [
1,
2,
0,
1,
1,
1,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1869
],
[
26
],
[
686
],
[
602
],
[
1717
],
[
1869
],
[
1122
],
[
1869
]
],
"texts": [
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"professional hockey"
],
[
"His individual success helped CSKA Moscow capture their thirteenth consecutive Soviet championship and twelfth consecutive IIHF European Cup in 1989 ("
],
[
"Bure added 9 assists for 26 points to earn the league's rookie of the year honours."
],
[
"Bure turned down a three-year contract extension in August 1991, which resulted in him being left off the roster of the Soviet team for the Canada Cup."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"The combination of Bure, Fedorov and Mogilny formed a promising combination for head coach Viktor Tikhonov, with expectations to replace the previous top Soviet line,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1869,
26,
686,
602,
1717,
1869,
1122,
1869
],
"texts": [
"CANNOTANSWER",
"professional hockey",
"His individual success helped CSKA Moscow capture their thirteenth consecutive Soviet championship and twelfth consecutive IIHF European Cup in 1989 (",
"Bure added 9 assists for 26 points to earn the league's rookie of the year honours.",
"Bure turned down a three-year contract extension in August 1991, which resulted in him being left off the roster of the Soviet team for the Canada Cup.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"The combination of Bure, Fedorov and Mogilny formed a promising combination for head coach Viktor Tikhonov, with expectations to replace the previous top Soviet line,",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Pavel Vladimirovich Bure (, ; born March 31, 1971) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player who played the right wing position. Nicknamed "the Russian Rocket" for his speed, Bure played for 12 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Vancouver Canucks, Florida Panthers and New York Rangers between 1991 and 2003. Trained in the Soviet Union, he played three seasons with the Central Red Army team before his NHL career.
Selected 113th overall in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft by Vancouver, he began his NHL career in the 1991–92 season, and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's best rookie before leading the NHL in goal-scoring in 1993-94 and helping the Canucks to the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals. After seven seasons the Canucks traded Bure to the Panthers, where he won back-to-back Rocket Richard Trophies as the league's leading goal-scorer. Bure struggled with knee injuries throughout his career, resulting in his retirement in 2005 as a member of the Rangers, although he had not played since 2003. He averaged better than a point per game in his NHL career (779 points with 437 goals in 702 NHL games) and is fourth all-time in goals per game. After six years of eligibility, Bure was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in June 2012. In 2017, an NHL panel named Bure one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history.
Internationally, Bure competed for the Soviet Union and Russia. As a member of the Soviet Union, he won two silver medals and a gold in three World Junior Championships, followed by a gold and a silver medal in the 1990 and 1991 World Championships, respectively. After the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, Bure competed for Russia in two Winter Olympics, claiming silver at the 1998 Games in Nagano as team captain, and bronze at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. Following Bure's retirement in 2005, he was named the general manager for Russia's national team at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. Bure was later recognized for his international career as a 2012 inductee in the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.
Early life
Bure was born in Moscow in 1971 to Vladimir and Tatiana Bure. Vladimir Bure, a Russian swimming legend, had dreams of Pavel becoming a professional swimmer, but he aspired to play hockey at an early age. He attended his first tryout with the CSKA Moscow hockey school at the age of six, despite his limited skating ability. Until that point, Bure had only played ball hockey on the streets. After Bure failed to impress in his first tryout, his father told him that if he did not show significant improvement within two months, he would withdraw him from the hockey school. By age 11, he was named the best forward in his league. Around that time, in July 1982, Bure was selected as one of three young Russian players to practice with Wayne Gretzky and Soviet national goaltender Vladislav Tretiak in a taped television special.
At age 12, his parents separated, and he remained with his mother. By the time he was 14 years old, he was named to the Central Red Army's junior team. In 1991, he joined his father and brother, Valeri in moving to North America as he embarked on a National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Vancouver Canucks. His mother arrived two months later. They settled initially in Los Angeles where Vladimir continued to train and coach both Valeri and Pavel in hockey and physical conditioning. However both became estranged from their father, along with his second wife and their half-sister Katya, by 1998. Neither brother has explained a reason for the split.
In December 1986, he embarked on a tour of Canada with the Soviet national midget team from Ottawa to Vancouver. Nearly five years before Bure made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks in 1991 at the Pacific Coliseum, he played his first game at his future home rink as part of the tour. Bure also earned another opportunity to meet Gretzky, as well as defenceman Paul Coffey, when his team stopped in Edmonton to play at the Northlands Coliseum.
Playing career
CSKA Moscow (1987–1991)
At age 16, Bure began his professional hockey career playing for CSKA Moscow. He was invited to the senior club's training camp for the 1987–88 season. Although he was deemed too young and not yet ready for the Soviet League, Bure earned minimal playing time filling in for absent regulars. He made his debut in September 1987, and played five games for the senior team, scoring his only goal in his first game.
Bure joined the club full-time in 1988–89 and amassed 17 goals, a Soviet League record for rookies. The record would last for 18 years until Alexei Cherepanov scored 18 goals in 2006–07. Bure added 9 assists for 26 points to earn the league's rookie of the year honours. His individual success helped CSKA Moscow capture their thirteenth consecutive Soviet championship and twelfth consecutive IIHF European Cup in 1989 (they repeated as European champions the following year).
As a member CSKA, Bure joined a lineup that featured several future NHL players, including linemates Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny, as well as Igor Larionov, Viacheslav Fetisov, Sergei Makarov, and Vladimir Konstantinov. The combination of Bure, Fedorov and Mogilny formed a promising combination for head coach Viktor Tikhonov, with expectations to replace the previous top Soviet line, the K-L-M combination of Vladimir Krutov, Larionov and Makarov. The trio was short-lived, as Mogilny defected to play for the Buffalo Sabres in 1989, and Fedorov joined the Detroit Red Wings the following year.
In his third and final season with the Red Army, Bure tied for the lead in team-scoring with Valeri Kamensky, tallying 46 points. His 35 goals was second in the league, one goal behind Ramil Yuldashev of Sokil Kyiv. Bure turned down a three-year contract extension in August 1991, which resulted in him being left off the roster of the Soviet team for the Canada Cup.
Transfer to the NHL (1989–1991)
Prior to the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, William Houston of The Globe and Mail wrote, "The best of the group is Soviet star winger Pavel Bure, a spectacular player with outstanding speed. He is compared to Vladimir Krutov and also the late Soviet superstar of the 1970s, Valeri Kharlamov." NHL organizations were afraid he would not leave the Soviet Union to play in the NHL thus deterring teams from selecting him early, although scouts and analysts believed he could have been selected as high as the second round had he defected. Many analysts compared him to Valeri Kharlamov. Edmonton Oilers' scout Barry Fraser commented, "From what I've seen of him, Bure can play on any team in the NHL right now... he's quick, real quick, small and very exciting. He may be the top player in this year's draft, but because he is from the Soviet Union, we don't analyze him the same way as a kid from the West... I don't expect him to go really early because it is still too much of a gamble to hope he will defect."
Bure was selected 113th overall in the sixth round Draft by the Vancouver Canucks, following his rookie season with CSKA Moscow. The pick was controversial, as the Canucks had chosen him seemingly a year ahead of his eligible draft season. At the age of 18, he was available to be chosen in the first three rounds of the draft, but to be selected any later, he would have needed to play at least two seasons—with a minimum of 11 games per season—for his elite-level Soviet club, the Central Red Army. While most teams believed he was ineligible, the Canucks' head scout at the time, Mike Penny, discovered Bure had played in additional exhibition and international games to make him an eligible late-round draft choice a year early. Jack Button, the Washington Capitals' director of player personnel, admitted "everybody would have taken him earlier. We assumed he was not eligible... you've got to give the Canucks credit for doing their homework."
Several other teams either had similar knowledge or had pursued Bure but there was confusion as to the legitimacy of the extra games. The Detroit Red Wings had asked league vice president Gil Stein about Bure's availability before their fifth-round pick but were told he was not eligible. They later decided to select him with their sixth-round pick, 116th overall, and settle his eligibility later. The Canucks selected Bure three picks ahead of Detroit's turn. Meanwhile, Winnipeg Jets general manager Mike Smith, claimed he made an offer to the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation that would involve three years of transfer payments before Bure would be allowed to join the Jets; however Smith did not have any plans to draft Bure in 1989 as he believed he was ineligible.
Canucks' general manager Pat Quinn originally intended to draft Bure in the eighth round but after receiving word the Oilers had similar intentions selected him in the sixth. Following the announcement of Bure's draft, several other team representatives reportedly stormed the Met Center stage in Minnesota, where the draft was being held. Formal complaints were filed resulting in an investigation into the selection. After the pick was deemed illegal by league president John Ziegler in a press release on May 17, 1990, the Canucks appealed the decision, procuring game sheets proving Bure's participation in the additional games with the help of recent Soviet acquisition Igor Larionov. It was not until the eve of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, in which Bure would have been re-entered that the draft choice was upheld. Although Larionov and Fetisov had successfully spearheaded the rebellion against Soviet ice hockey officials in the late 1980s that led to Soviet players joining the NHL, Bure's transfer to the Canucks was met with resistance, and the Soviet authorities forbade the Canucks to contact Bure personally. During the 1991 World Junior Championships, he said in an interview that he was hesitant to defect for fears the Soviets would make things difficult for his younger brother Valeri Bure, who was 15 at the time and playing in the junior league.
Bure left Moscow with his father and brother on September 6, 1991, staying temporarily in Los Angeles. His mother arrived shortly afterward. The Canucks began negotiating a contract with Bure, but before one could be finalized, the issue of his existing contract with the Central Red Army had to be settled. The Canucks management and officials from the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation met in late-October 1991 in a Detroit court, where they bartered for a cash settlement. After the Canucks offered US$200,000, Bure stood up in the courtroom to offer an additional $50,000, bringing the total to $250,000. The Soviet officials accepted, and Canucks management paid the full $250,000. Bure signed a four-year contract worth a reported $2.7 million with an $800,000 signing bonus. The deal made Bure the Canucks' second highest paid player behind team captain Trevor Linden.
Vancouver Canucks (1991–1999)
Due to the court proceedings, Bure's debut with the Canucks was delayed until a month into the 1991–92 season. Garnering much attention in Vancouver, his first practice with the club on November 3, 1991, was attended by approximately 2,000 fans. He played his first game for the Canucks on November 5, 1991, in a 2–2 tie against the Winnipeg Jets. Despite not scoring a point, Bure showcased his talent and speed with several end-to-end rushes, carrying the puck past several defenders from near his defensive zone to the opposing net. Following the game, Vancouver Sun columnist Iain MacIntyre compared him to a rocket, calling him "the fastest Soviet creation since Sputnik". MacIntyre's comments are credited for laying the groundwork for Bure's moniker as the "Russian Rocket," which echoed the nickname of Maurice "Rocket" Richard, who played for the Montreal Canadiens in the 1950s. In his third game, Bure recorded his first point, an assist against the New York Islanders on November 10. He scored his first two NHL goals in the next game, on November 12, against Daniel Berthiaume of the Los Angeles Kings. He finished with 34 goals and 60 points in 65 games that season, including 22 goals in his final 23 games. In the last game of the regular season, Bure scored a goal to tie Ivan Hlinka's 1981–82 team mark for most points by a rookie.
As the Canucks opened the 1992 playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets, Bure recorded his first NHL hat trick in game six to help force a seventh and deciding game. Vancouver won the series to advance to the second round, but were eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers. Bure finished his first Stanley Cup playoffs with six goals and 10 points in 13 games. At the end of the season, he was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year. His 60 points were second among first-year players to Tony Amonte's 69 points with the Rangers, although Bure played in 14 fewer games. When accepting the award, Bure thanked Canucks linemate Igor Larionov for his guidance. On arriving in Vancouver, his former Red Army teammate took him into his home for two weeks before Bure moved into his own apartment; the two also roomed together on the road. Bure's Calder Trophy, along with head coach Pat Quinn's Jack Adams Award as the league's top coach, marked the first major individual NHL awards in Canucks' team history. However, despite being named the league's top rookie, Bure was left off the NHL All-Rookie Team, making him the only Calder recipient not to be named to the lineup. This was because he split his time playing both left and right wing. When it came to voting for the players, Bure had the most total votes, but not enough at either position to claim a spot.
Bure improved on his rookie season in 1992–93 with the first of two consecutive 60-goal seasons. In the third game of the season, he scored a career-high four goals against the Winnipeg Jets. His three goals and one assist in the second period set a pair of Canucks' records for most goals and points in a period, in addition to the team mark for most goals overall in a game (for which he is tied with several players). Furthermore, Bure scored two of his goals on the penalty kill to set a fourth team record for most short-handed goals in one contest. He appeared in his first NHL All-Star Game in 1993, being named to the Clarence Campbell Conference Team as the lone Canucks' representative, and scored two goals. Shortly after the All-Star break, Bure established a new franchise record for goals in a season during a 5–1 win over the Quebec Nordiques, surpassing Tony Tanti's 45-goal mark. The next month, on March 1, he reached the 50-goal mark for the first time in his career, scoring against Grant Fuhr of the Buffalo Sabres in a neutral-site game in Hamilton, Ontario. He also surpassed Patrik Sundström's franchise record of 91 points. Bure finished the season with 110 points in 83 games, and became the first Canuck named to the NHL first All-Star team. His 110 points stood as the team record until it was broken by Henrik Sedin's 112 points in 2009–10.
A groin injury early in the 1993-94 season limited Bure's production for the first half of the season. Even so, he improved in the second half, and led the league in goal-scoring by repeating his 60-goal feat of the previous season. In doing so, he became the eighth player in NHL history to record back-to-back 60-goal seasons. He concluded the season with a streak of 49 goals and 78 points in his final 51 games, and earned player of the month honours in March 1994 after scoring 19 goals and 30 points in 16 games. His March scoring burst was just one point shy of Stan Smyl's 31-point March in 1983 for the most productive month by a Canucks player. Bure's 154 NHL goals at that point in his career put him behind only Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy for the most in any NHL player's first three seasons. He recorded 49 goals in the club's final 51 games, and contributed to 46.45% of his team's goals in the final 47 games of the season to carry the Canucks into the 1994 postseason.
Entering the 1994 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the seventh seed, the Canucks went on a run to the Stanley Cup Finals. In the seventh game of the opening-round series against the Calgary Flames, Bure scored one of the most significant and well-known goals in Canucks' history. After receiving a breakaway pass from defenceman Jeff Brown, he deked and scored on Flames' goalie Mike Vernon in the second overtime to win the series. In game two of the second round against the Dallas Stars, Bure knocked enforcer Shane Churla to the ice with an elbow to the jaw. He also scored two goals in the game to help Vancouver to a 3–0 win. Although Bure was not initially penalized for the play, he was later fined $500 by the league. He recorded six goals and eight points in five games against the Dallas Stars, and against the Toronto Maple Leafs the following round scored four goals and six points in five games.
After defeating Dallas in five games, the Canucks eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Campbell Conference Finals to meet the New York Rangers in the Finals, where the Canucks lost in seven games. Bure finished with a team-high 16 goals and 31 points in 24 games, second in playoff scoring only to Conn Smythe Trophy winner Brian Leetch. His points total also remained the highest by any Russian player until Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins recorded 36 in 2009.
In the next off-season, the Canucks announced they had re-signed Bure to a five-year, $24.5 million contract on June 16. The deal was reported to have been signed before game three of the Stanley Cup Finals against New York. It also included Bure's marketing rights and put his father, Vladimir, on the team payroll as a fitness and marketing consultant. The average annual salary of $4.9 million made Bure the league's third highest-paid player, behind Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. In fact, Bure and the Canucks had entered into contract negotiations at the beginning of the 1993–94 season, although two years remained in his original deal. Neither side could come to an initial agreement; one of the major factors was the Canucks' demands for the contract to be in Canadian dollars on account of the American exchange rate. Numerous accusations were made in the media during the Canucks' playoff run that Bure threatened not to play if a contract could not be agreed upon. A Toronto Star article, published before the first game of the Finals on May 31, 1994, claimed Bure had signed a five-year, $30 million contract that, if the Canucks had not agreed to, would have seen him pull out of game five of the Conference Finals against the Maple Leafs. The article was followed by two additional claims in the following two days in the Vancouver-based newspaper The Province and Toronto Sun. The Toronto Sun held the contract was a five-year, $22.5 million deal, and that it was signed before either game six or seven of the opening round against the Flames after Bure's agent, Ron Salcer, told general manager Quinn that Bure would not play if the deal was not made. As the story continued well into the next season, Pat Quinn appeared in a segment on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)'s Hockey Night in Canada on March 27, 1995, publicly denying the claims.
Due to the 1994–95 NHL lockout, Bure spent single-game stints with Spartak Moscow of the Russian Super League and EV Landshut of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He joined a team of Russian NHL players organized by Slava Fetisov that returned to Russia to play a five-game charity tour against local clubs. On the team, Bure reunited with former Central Red Army linemates Mogilny and Fedorov. When the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) and owners came to an agreement on January 12, 1995, NHL play was set to resume. However, there were unresolved contract issues, as Salcer claimed the Canucks promised they would pay Bure's full salary, despite the lockout, which cancelled nearly half of the 1994–95 season. Bure held out for four days as a result (the amount claimed to be owing was $1.7 million), before the two sides reached an agreement. The Canucks would put the disputed amount in escrow and would continue discussions. He soon reported to Vancouver and went on to tally 43 points in 44 games of the shortened season. In the 1995 playoffs, Bure set franchise records for most goals and points in a series with seven and 12 respectively in a seven-game series victory against the St. Louis Blues (Mikael Samuelsson tied Bure's goal-scoring record in 2010 against the Los Angeles Kings). The Canucks, however, failed to defend their Clarence Campbell Conference championship title, being swept by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round. The Canucks' elimination in 1995 marked the last time Bure appeared in the post-season with the club. He finished with a career playoff total of 66 points with the Canucks, including 34 goals, which remained the highest club total until Linden tied the mark in 2007.
At the start of the 1995–96 season, Bure changed his jersey number from 10 to 96. The switch commemorated September 6, 1991, the day on which he first landed in North America from Moscow—9th month, 6th day. He had originally asked to wear the number when he first joined the Canucks, but was not permitted to do so by head coach Pat Quinn, who did not approve of high jersey numbers. After the Canucks traded with the Buffalo Sabres for Alexander Mogilny, reuniting the two Russian players, the jersey number was deemed acceptable because Mogilny had used number 89 since defecting to North America in 1989.
Early in the season, Bure sustained the first of several serious knee injuries during his career. On November 9, 1995, in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Bure was grabbed around the head by defenceman Steve Smith while approaching the end boards. Falling to the ice, he caught his skate against the boards, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee. Requiring arthroscopic surgery, in which tendon was removed from his hamstring to repair the ACL, he was sidelined for the remainder of the season.
Bure returned to the Canucks' lineup with his knee fully recovered in the 1996–97 season. In the season opener against the Flames on October 5, 1996, Bure was pushed into the boards head-first. He continued to play after the hit, but experienced headaches in the following weeks. As Bure's play dropped early in the season, the media speculated that he was playing injured. After he went eight games without a goal, head coach Tom Renney claimed Bure was not playing with a head injury, but instead had injured his shoulder in a game against the New York Rangers on November 23. Nevertheless, he continued to play. With under a month left in the season, he received another hit, during a game against the Avalanche on March 3, 1997. Bure left the game and did not return for the remainder of the season. Afterwards, he admitted he was playing with a neck injury, having sustained whiplash from the first game against Calgary, but did not want to take himself out of the lineup after missing 62 games the previous season. With Bure's reduced playing capacity, he managed 55 points in 63 games, well below his usual pace, and the Canucks missed the playoffs for the first time since he joined the team. In a 2012 interview, Bure admitted having sustained a head injury on the initial hit against Calgary and that "he should not have played through it".
In the off-season, the Canucks made another significant move, signing Rangers' captain Mark Messier during free agency on July 26, 1997. Despite finally having a high-profile centre to play with, media reports soon appeared claiming that Bure was asking to be traded. The Canucks opened the season with two games against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Tokyo – an event organized by the league to market hockey for the upcoming 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. After two injury-plagued seasons with the number 96 on his jersey, Bure switched back to his familiar number 10, explaining: "I'm not superstitious, but the last two seasons have been bad memories." Although the Canucks missed the playoffs for the second straight year, he returned to his previous form in 1997–98, scoring 51 goals for his first 50-goal season since 1993–94, and third overall. Bure later recalled that with the Canucks out of playoff contention with a handful of games left, head coach Mike Keenan told him he could play as much as he wanted to reach the milestone. Scoring 50 goals was also implicit in a contract bonus for Bure. With an additional 39 assists, his 90 points ranked him third in the NHL, behind Peter Forsberg and Jaromír Jágr.
Following the 1997–98 season, Bure told newly appointed general manager Brian Burke that he would not play for the Canucks again, despite still having a year left in his contract worth $8 million. He then went public with the declaration, stating he intended to leave the club for "personal reasons". Bure did not report to the club the following season. Instead, he returned to his hometown Moscow to practise with his former Central Red Army club. During this time, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko offered Bure a tax-free $4 million salary to play in Belarus, which he turned down.
Florida Panthers (1999–2002)
Bure held out well into the 1998–99 season until he was traded on January 17, 1999, to the Florida Panthers, with Bret Hedican, Brad Ference, and Vancouver's third-round choice in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft (Robert Fried) for Ed Jovanovski, Dave Gagner, Mike Brown, Kevin Weekes, and Florida's first-round choice in the 2000 draft (Nathan Smith). Talks between Burke and Bryan Murray, general manager of the Panthers, had begun in late-December. After the trade was completed, Bure explained that he felt alienated from Canucks' management after arriving in North America having defected from Russia. He claimed he had been in Los Angeles for two weeks before any Canucks' representative came to see him, as well as several bitter contract negotiations—particularly those of 1994. He also claimed that someone within the Canucks' management planted the constant allegations that he threatened not to play during the 1994 playoff run. Bure's agent at the time, Ron Salcer, also believed the story.
Meeting the Panthers in New York for a game against the Islanders, Bure debuted with his new club on January 20, 1999. He played on an all-Russian line with Viktor Kozlov and Oleg Kvasha and scored two goals. In his first six games with the club, Bure scored eight goals and three assists for eleven points. Less than a month into his Panthers debut, he reinjured his knee, keeping him out for three weeks. Despite the injury, the Panthers signed him to a five-year, $47.5 million contract (with an option for a sixth year at $10.5 million), the most lucrative in team history. Another injury ended Bure's season after just 11 games with Florida, though he scored 13 goals and three assists in that time.
In 1999–2000, his first full season as a Panther, Bure led the league in goal-scoring to capture his first of two consecutive Rocket Richard Trophies with a 58-goal season. It marked the second time Bure led the league in goal-scoring, but his first Rocket Richard Trophy as the award had been introduced the previous season. Combined with 36 assists, his 94 points came within two of Art Ross Trophy winner Jaromír Jágr as the league's leading point-scorer. His 58 goals and 94 points both set franchise records. He helped Florida to a fifth-place finish in the Eastern Conference to earn their first post-season berth in three seasons, though they were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the New Jersey Devils. Bure finished third for the Hart Memorial Trophy winner behind Chris Pronger and Jágr. He was named to the NHL second All-Star team for the first time.
Bure was set to make his much-anticipated return to Vancouver to play the Canucks on November 5, 1999, but was kept out of the lineup due to a broken finger. A prior groin injury had also forced him out of a Panther's home game against the Canucks earlier in the season. During the season, he was named to the 2000 NHL All-Star Game in Toronto, where he recorded an assist and the eleventh hat trick in the history of the All-Star Game. Of Bure's three goals, two were assisted by his brother Valeri, who played on the same line with him, along with his Panthers linemate, Viktor Kozlov. Helping lead the World team to a 9–4 victory over North America, Bure was named the All-Star Game MVP.
Bure repeated as league scoring champion in 2000–01 with 59 goals, reaching the 50-goal plateau for the fifth and final time in his career, as well as bettering his franchise single-season, goal-scoring record. However, the Panthers missed the playoffs, finishing 12th place in the East. Bure set a league record that season by scoring 29.5% of his team's total goals over the course of the season. He was named to the NHL second All-Star team, behind Jágr in the right wing position for the second consecutive year.
Before the 2001–02 season, the Panthers acquired Valeri Bure from the Calgary Flames in a trade, putting the brothers on the same team for the first time. However, Bure suffered a setback in the pre-season re-injuring his groin. Bure recalled having "good relations" with Panthers' management, who often consulted with him on team matters, including the acquisition of his brother. At the trading deadline, Bure was traded to the New York Rangers. During his 56 games for the Panthers that season, he led the team in scoring for the third consecutive season with 49 points.
New York Rangers (2002–2003)
The New York Rangers acquired Bure on March 18, 2002, along with Florida's second-round pick in the 2002 draft (Lee Falardeau) for Igor Ulanov, Filip Novak, as well as the Rangers' first and second-round choices in the 2002 draft (Petr Tatíček and Rob Globke, respectively) and a fourth-round choice in the 2003 draft. The Rangers had shown interest in Bure when he requested a trade from the Canucks in 1997. After losing their initial bid for Bure, Wayne Gretzky, who retired the same season Bure was traded to Florida, announced prior to the 1999–2000 season he would have extended his career had the Rangers been able to pull off the trade. Bure made his Rangers debut against the Vancouver Canucks the day after his trade on March 19, scoring a goal against his former team. He scored 12 goals and 20 points in 12 games after being traded, bettering his pace with Florida that season. Between the two teams, he finished the season with 34 goals and 69 points.
Bure suffered another knee injury in the 2002–03 pre-season; combined with a case of strep throat, he missed the first three games of the regular season. After returning to play, he had 14 goals and 21 points in his first 27 games, including two goals and an assist in his first game back, before a knee-on-knee collision in December forced him back out. After undergoing surgery 10 days later, it was revealed that there was no damage to the ACL as previously feared, but instead a tear to the meniscus in his left knee, which was repaired. Bure returned that season to appear in 39 games, managing 19 goals and 30 points.
Even after two operations, Bure did not play in 2003–04 due to the lingering effects of the knee injury. He failed a pre-season physical and was declared medically unable to play. Left with his fully insured $10 million salary (80 percent of which would be reimbursed to the team), the Rangers left him unprotected in the NHL's Waiver Draft, where he was unclaimed.
Retirement
Bure remained inactive for another season due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout. After the NHL resumed play for the 2005–06 season, he announced his retirement from professional hockey at a press conference in Moscow on November 1, 2005, citing complications with his chronic knee injuries. In an interview Bure explained that he did not want to extend his playing career without being able to play at an elite level.
Because Bure had been inactive since the 2002–03 season, he was eligible for selection into the Hockey Hall of Fame (which requires players to wait three years after their last game) immediately following his retirement. After being passed for induction in his first six years of eligibility, Bure was voted in on June 27, 2012, alongside Joe Sakic, Adam Oates and Mats Sundin. He became the fifth Soviet or Russian player (after Vladislav Tretiak, Viacheslav Fetisov, Valeri Kharlamov and Igor Larionov) and the first player to spend the majority of his career with the Canucks to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
His non-selection in previous years was widely debated in the media. Bure was often compared with Cam Neely, a player who also waited six years for induction; he recorded similar goals-per-game numbers in a career that was also shortened to 700-plus games. It had been often rumoured that Pat Quinn, Bure's former head coach and general manager in Vancouver, who became co-chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame's selection committee, opposed Bure's induction. However, in a conference call following his selection, Quinn was among the most prominent figures he thanked. Quinn criticized the Canucks organization for not yet retiring Bure's jersey.
In his retirement, he remained publicly steadfast in his dissatisfaction with the way he was treated by the Canucks organization during his playing career. While Bure admitted to "a lot of disagreements with the Canucks management," he maintained that he "never had any problems with the Canucks fans". The Canucks retired Bure's 10 jersey on November 2, 2013. The day before the Canucks announced they would rename the team's Most Exciting Player Award to the Pavel Bure Most Exciting Player Award in his honour. Bure renounced his US citizenship in 2016.
International career
Junior
Prior to joining the NHL in 1991, Bure competed for the Soviet Union in several junior, international tournaments. The first was the 1988 Quebec Esso Cup, an under-17 tournament (now known as the World U-17 Hockey Challenge) held in Quebec City, where he earned a gold medal. That same year, he competed in his first of two consecutive European Junior Championships, winning a bronze medal.
The following year, Bure debuted at the world under-20 level as a 17-year-old at the 1989 World Junior Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. The top line of CSKA Moscow teammates Bure, Alexander Mogilny and Sergei Fedorov led the Soviet Union to a gold medal. Bure's eight goals tied him for the tournament lead with Jeremy Roenick of the United States; he led the Soviet team with 14 points. He was named to the Tournament All-Star team, and earned Best Forward honours. He again participated in the 1989 European Junior Championship, helping the Soviet Union win the gold medal.
Bure competed in his second World Juniors in 1990, winning a silver medal in Helsinki, Finland, and scoring seven goals in seven games. Later that year, he made his senior debut with the Soviet national team as a 19-year-old at the 1990 World Championships in Switzerland. He scored two goals and four assists in ten games to help the Soviets to a gold medal finish. The Soviet team also won silver in the European Championship, which was decided from games played among the European teams at the tournament. Several months later, in July, Bure took part in his third international tournament of the year at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle. Bure scored four goals and an assist in five games, and the Soviets won the gold medal.
In 1991, Bure appeared in his third and final World Junior Championships. Bure finished the tournament as the leading scorer with 12 goals in 7 games and the Soviets won the silver medal. He finished his three-year World Junior career with a tournament-record 27 goals, to go with 39 points, in 21 games. Bure later competed in the 1991 World Championships, his second international appearance of the year. He improved on his previous year's total with 11 points in 11 games, tied for the team lead with Valeri Kamensky, and helped the Soviets to a bronze medal finish. Bure was named to the tournament's second All-Star team. The 1991 team marked the last World Championships for the USSR, as the country was dissolved later that year.
Senior
Bure was set to represent the Soviet Union at the 1991 Canada Cup, however after turning down a three-year contract with his Russian club, CSKA Moscow, he was left off the final roster.
Bure played his first international tournament for Russia in preliminary games for the inaugural 1996 World Cup (the successor tournament to the Canada Cup). Bure had recently recovered from reconstructive surgery to his right knee, and had begun practicing with the Russian national team where he was reunited on a line with Fedorov and Mogilny, the first and only time the three of them would play together at the senior level; the line was considered "perhaps the best forward line on earth" at the time. However Bure bruised a kidney in one of the games and was forced to miss the main tournament.
As with the 1991 Canada Cup, controversy ensued when Bure refused to sign a petition organized by national team veteran Viacheslav Fetisov. With the Russian Ice Hockey Federation dealing with internal corruption, the petition called for the ouster of a few select Russian ice hockey officials. In response, Bure explained, "I do not sign petitions. I believe I should work – play hockey. Petitions to the federation or to Olympic committees do not interest me."
Two years later, Bure made his Olympic debut with Russia at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano. He helped his team to advance to the gold medal game after a five-goal game in Russia's 7–4 semifinal win against Finland. The Russians lost the gold medal game to the Czech Republic, ending with silver. Bure finished with a tournament-high nine goals to be named the top forward, and though he recorded no assists, placed third in point-scoring with nine points in six games.
Bure's next international tournament was the 2000 World Championships, held in Saint Petersburg. The Russians had a disappointing tournament and finished eleventh. In six games, Bure managed four goals and an assist. Two years later, Bure made his second Olympic appearance at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, playing with a fractured hand. Bure finished his final international tournament as a player with two goals and an assist in six games while Russia won the bronze medal.
On the announcement of his retirement in 2005, Bure was named Russia's Olympic general manager, succeeding Viacheslav Fetisov. He promised to put an end to the Russian Hockey Federation's history of internal conflict and player boycotts, saying, "You won't see such a mess with the national team that you've seen here before," and that "You won't see grouchy players here anymore. Only those who really want to play for Russia will be called into the team." As general manager, Bure chose the team for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. The Russians failed to win a medal, losing to the Czech Republic in the bronze medal match. Leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, former Soviet national goaltender Vladislav Tretiak was named Bure's successor as Olympic general manager.
In December 2011, Bure was announced as one of the 2012 inductees into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame. He was named alongside American Phil Housley, Finn Raimo Helminen and Czechoslovak Milan Nový in the annual class. The players were inducted in a ceremony in May 2012.
Playing style
Bure's playing style reflected the speed, skill and puck possession that was prominent in Soviet Union hockey programs. The most prevalent aspects of his game were his skating speed, agility, and acceleration, which earned him his nickname the "Russian Rocket". He was able to use his quickness to separate himself from defenders, to retrieve pucks before the opposition could in all zones of the ice, and to skate the length of the ice on many occasions. In a 1993 poll of NHL coaches conducted by hockey writer Bob McKenzie, Bure was named the league's best skater with eight of twenty-one votes, twice as many votes as any other player. One coach noted: "Bure has the best combination of speed, agility and balance ... He can also use change of speed better than anybody in the league right now."
During Bure's rehabilitation period, following his first major knee injury in 1995, Canucks' conditioning coach Peter Twist noticed that his skating style was distinct in comparison to typical North American players. He explained: "Most players skate on their inside edge and push off at a 45-degree angle, but Bure starts on his outer edge and rolls over to his inside edge and pushes back straighter on his stride ... he gets more power and force in his stride to get up to top speed quicker." his skating was also complemented by his ability to deke out defenders and goaltenders at top speeds, making him capable of routinely starting end-to-end rushes. However, several knee injuries, and the resulting reconstructive surgeries, compromised the speed that defined Bure's game, ultimately leading to his retirement.
Early in Bure's career, he was noted for playing a strong two-way game. Having joined Pat Quinn's defensive-minded Canucks in 1991, Bure's transition to the NHL was cited as being easier than that of his countryman, Igor Larionov, due to his quick adjustment to the team's defensive demands. Regarding Bure's first NHL game against the Winnipeg Jets, reporter Mike Beamish explained that "hockey fans marvelled at his offensive thrusts, but hockey people were taken by a singular display of jet-powered defensive diligence. On one play, after the Canucks were caught deep in the Winnipeg zone, the Russian winger raced back and almost single-handedly foiled a two-on-one Jets' rush, making up a half-rink disadvantage." Bure was used on the team's penalty kill for his entire tenure with the Canucks, and was proficient at generating shorthanded chances, pressuring the opposition with his quickness and positioning in the defensive zone. During the 1992 Stanley Cup playoffs, commentator and ex-NHL coach Harry Neale commented, "I like the effort he gives it when he doesn't have the puck. We all know what he can do when he thinks he can score, but he's killing penalties, he's checking, doing a lot of things." Bure tied for second-place on Bob McKenzie's 1993 coaches poll for the NHL's best penalty killer. He was also voted the league's second-best stickhandler that season and garnered recognition as one of the smartest players in the NHL.
Sports journalists Damien Cox and Stephen Brunt wrote about Bure during the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs that he was a "two-way dynamo," accounting for "several bodychecks he handed out on the night" and for his defensive abilities as he stayed on the ice in the last minutes of a one-goal playoff match against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They spoke highly of his creativity as well, recognizing him as "someone who sees in his game a world of possibilities that just never occur to others," praising his "sheer elegance and imagination" and characterizing his hockey sense as "ho-hum brilliance from the most explosive player in the sport". Brunt called him "a nonpareil, a van Gogh, a Picasso, a Charlie Parker". During the 1993-94 season, Bure demonstrated his strong playmaking abilities, helping linemate and friend Gino Odjick score a career-high 16 goals in a single season, more than twice the number of goals Odjick would score in any other year separated from Bure, and doubling his career goal totals up to that point in his career. According to teammate Cliff Ronning in 1994, "we play a much sounder game defensively when Pavel's flying, as he was in the first period". Former Canuck teammate Jyrki Lumme spoke of Bure as a player and teammate, "That guy does something spectacular every time ... it's frustrating to go against him in practice because he's all over the place. He makes everybody on our team better."
During his time with the Canucks, Bure won the team's Most Exciting Player Award, as voted by the fans, a record five times (tied with Tony Tanti), from 1992 to 1995, and once more in 1998. Trevor Linden, who had played with Bure for seven seasons, said following Bure's retirement, "I don't know if I've ever seen or played with a player that's brought people out of their seats like that." During the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals, Rangers coach Mike Keenan, who later coached Bure for one-and-a-half seasons in Vancouver, called him "perhaps the most electrifying forward in the league". The Canucks renamed the award the Pavel Bure Most Exciting Player Award in his honour in 2013.
Bure has been described as a pure goal scorer and is statistically among the top players in NHL history in that regard. In addition to having reached the 50-goal mark in his career five times, and the 60-goal mark twice, his .623 goals per game average is third among the top 100 goal scorers in NHL history, behind Mike Bossy and Mario Lemieux. Michael Farber of the Montreal Gazette described Bure as "the most dangerous scorer in the National Hockey League with the continued absence of Mario Lemieux because Bure can beat a defence with his speed, his strength, his mind. Bure isn't a scorer as much as he is a permanent late-night television guest; he is to highlight packages what Terri Garr is to Letterman."
Personal life
Family
Bure comes from an athletic family; his father Vladimir, who is of Swiss descent (his side of the family originated from Furna, Switzerland), was an Olympic swimmer who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Olympic Games, where he won four medals. Bure retained his father as his personal trainer well into his playing career, before severing ties with him in 1997. Bure's paternal grandfather, Valeri Bure, played goalkeeper for the national water polo team. Both Pavel and his younger brother Valeri became estranged from their father and his second wife, Julia, along with their half-sister Katya, by 1998. Neither brother has explained a reason for the split.
Named after their grandfather, Bure's younger brother, Valeri, was also a hockey player, spending 10 years in the NHL. The two siblings played with each other briefly as members of the Florida Panthers, after Valeri was traded there in 2001, and played together at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics.
The Bure family made precious watches for the Russian tsars from 1815 until 1917, and Bure was named after his great-grandfather, a watchmaker to Tsar Alexander III. As craftspersons to the imperial family, the Bures were granted noble status. After Bure sustained his first serious knee injury in 1995, he pursued the watchmaking business during his rehabilitation period in an attempt to revive the family business. Fifty replicas of the same watches his ancestors made for the Russian imperial family were made and sold at US$30,000 each. Bure presented three of the gold replicas to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and Moscow mayor Yuriy Luzhkov.
Relationships
Five days after arriving in North America from Moscow with his father and brother on September 6, 1991, (his mother Tatiana arrived two months later), Bure married an American fashion model, later revealed to be Jayme Bohn, in a civil ceremony. The marriage was allegedly set up by Bure's agents as a preventative measure against deportation in the event he and the Canucks could not come to terms with a contract. Bure derived no immigration benefit from the marriage, which was dissolved the following year. Bohn became a costume designer in the film and television industry.
After being linked to girlfriend Dahn Bryan, a model and actress, early in his NHL career, Bure shared a relationship with tennis star and fellow Russian Anna Kournikova. The two met in 1999 when she was still linked to Bure's former Russian teammate Sergei Fedorov. Bure and Kournikova were reported to have been engaged in 2000 after reporter Andrew Greven took a photo of them together in a Florida restaurant where Bure supposedly asked Kournikova to marry him. As the story made headlines in Russia, where they were both heavily followed in the media as celebrities, Bure and Kournikova both denied any engagement. Kournikova, 10 years younger than Bure, was 18 years old at the time. The following year, Kournikova and Fedorov were married in Moscow, though they soon divorced.
Bure married 23-year-old model Alina Khasanova on October 10, 2009, in Moscow, with 300 guests present. Pravda has reported, however, that the couple, who had known each other for four years, had officially married on October 10, 2008, in Miami. Together they have three children: Pavel Jr., Palina and Anastasia. Pavel Jr. was born on April 23, 2013; Palina was born on July 20, 2015. Their third child, a daughter named Anastasia, was born on 28 December 2018.
Politics
Bure is known to have frequently played ice hockey with Russian president Vladimir Putin, but has denied having any political ambitions himself in an interview with a Swedish newspaper in 2019.
Legal activity
In 2002, Bure sued the Russian newspaper the eXile for publishing an article stating he broke up with Kournikova because she had two vaginas. Although the newspapers' editorial staff claimed the story was a mere joke, the court ruled in favour of Bure in the amount of 500,000 rubles (US$17,770), and ordered a retraction to be printed. Two years later, on December 27, 2004, the Russian cosmetics chain Arbat Prestige published a story in their free promotional paper that Bure had bragged about Kournikova losing her virginity to him. Shortly thereafter, on January 31, 2005, Bure sued Arbat Prestige for 300 million rubles (US$10.65 million) in a court in Moscow. He also demanded the company print a retraction and apology in a future paper. The court ruled in favour of Bure in November 2005. However, the amount was reduced from 300 million to approximately 320,000 rubles.
On October 31, 2006, nearly a year after his retirement, Bure filed another suit after being kicked off a British Airways flight by the pilot, having been mistaken for a rowdy soccer fan. Despite an apology from the airline company in June 2007, Bure took the issue to court, suing British Airways for 20 million rubles. In late-August 2007, a Russian court ruled in favour of Bure in the amount of 67,000 rubles.
Alleged Mafia connections
During Bure's playing career, much speculation surrounded Russian NHL players and their potential ties to the Russian mafia both as victims and associates. As Soviet players began defecting to the NHL, many cases of extortion began surfacing. The Russian mafia was targeting the players' families still living in Russia. Former teammate Alexander Mogilny was a victim of such an extortion attempt in 1994, while Bure was reported to have made payments amounting to several thousand dollars to Russian extortionists in 1993. Three years later, in 1996, American sports network ESPN aired reports alleging Bure was a potential associate of the Russian mafia because of his relationship with friend and business partner Anzor Kikalishvili, known to both Russian and American police as a suspected criminal and possible Russian mob boss. Bure was revealed to hold a position as vice president in the sports company Twenty First Century Association, owned by Kikalishvili, and reportedly believed by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to be a mafia front worth at least US$100 million in illicit funds. While Bure did not deny his business and personal relationships with Kikalishvili, he refuted reports Kikalishvili was involved in any criminal activity.
Speculation resurfaced in 1999, as Bure was included in an investigation aired by the CBC investigative news program The Fifth Estate that made several supposed associations between Soviet NHL players and the Russian mafia. An allegation arose that Bure's former CSKA teammate Viacheslav Fetisov used a company, of which he was president, to launder money for Vyacheslav Ivankov, considered the "Russian godfather" in North America. Bure's relationship with Kikalishvili continued to be questioned. Bure denied Kikalishvili's involvement in any criminal activity, dismissing the allegations as "rumours".
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
Bold indicates led league
International
a does not include 1988 Quebec Esso Cup (U17)b does not include the 1990 Goodwill Games
Awards
Soviet
International
NHL
Vancouver Canucks
Records
Team
Vancouver Canucks' single-season record, most points by a rookie – 60 in 1991–92 (tied with Ivan Hlinka, 1981–82 and Elias Pettersson, 2018–19)
Vancouver Canucks' single-season record, most goals – 60 in 1992–93 and 1993–94
Vancouver Canucks' all-time playoffs record, most goals – 34 (tied with Trevor Linden)
Vancouver Canucks' all-time record, most shorthanded goals – 24
Vancouver Canucks' single-game record, most goals – four versus the Winnipeg Jets on October 12, 1992 (tied with Rosaire Paiement, Bobby Schmautz, Rick Blight, Petri Skriko, Greg Adams, Tony Tanti, Martin Gélinas, Markus Näslund and Daniel Sedin)
Florida Panthers' single-season record, most goals – 59 in 2000–01
International
World Junior Championships all-time record, most goals – 27 in 21 games (1989–1991)
Winter Olympics single-game record, most goals – five (1998; semifinal vs. Finland)
NHL
NHL record, most goals scored in proportion to team – 29.5% of the Florida Panthers' goals in 2000–01.
Transactions
June 9, 1989 – Drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth round, 113th overall, in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft.
October 31, 1991 – Signed by the Vancouver Canucks to a four-year, $3.5 million contract.
June 16, 1994 – Re-signed by the Vancouver Canucks to a five-year, $24.5 million contract.
January 17, 1999 – Traded by the Vancouver Canucks, along with Bret Hedican, Brad Ference and Vancouver's third-round draft choice (Robert Fried) in 2000, to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Ed Jovanovski, Dave Gagner, Mike Brown, Kevin Weekes and Florida's first-round draft choice (Nathan Smith) in 2000.
February 8, 1999 – Signed by the Florida Panthers to a five-year, $47.5 million deal.
March 18, 2002 – Traded by the Florida Panthers, along with Florida's second-round draft choice in 2002 (Lee Falardeau), to the New York Rangers in exchange for Igor Ulanov, Filip Novak, the Rangers' first-round draft choice in 2002 (Eric Nystrom), the Rangers' second-round draft choice in 2002 (Rob Globke) and the Rangers fourth-round draft choice in 2003 (later traded to the Atlanta Thrashers; Atlanta selected Guillaume Desbiens).
See also
List of NHL statistical leaders
List of NHL players with 50-goal seasons
List of NHL players with 100-point seasons
Notable families in the NHL
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
Pavel Bure's Official Web Site
Category:1971 births
Category:Living people
Category:Calder Trophy winners
Category:EV Landshut players
Category:Florida Panthers players
Category:HC CSKA Moscow players
Category:HC Spartak Moscow players
Category:Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Category:Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Category:IIHF Hall of Fame inductees
Category:New York Rangers players
Category:National Hockey League All-Stars
Category:National Hockey League players with retired numbers
Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Russia
Category:Olympic ice hockey players for Russia
Category:Olympic silver medalists for Russia
Category:Ice hockey people from Moscow
Category:Rocket Richard Trophy winners
Category:Russian ice hockey right wingers
Category:Russian people of Swiss descent
Category:Russian expatriate ice hockey people
Category:Russian expatriate sportspeople in Canada
Category:Soviet ice hockey right wingers
Category:Soviet people of Swiss descent
Category:Vancouver Canucks draft picks
Category:Vancouver Canucks players
Category:Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Category:Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Category:Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Pavel
Category:Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism alumni
Category:Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games
Category:Expatriate ice hockey players in Canada
Category:Russian expatriate sportspeople in Germany
Category:Russian expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Category:Expatriate ice hockey players in the United States
Category:Expatriate ice hockey players in Germany | [
{
"text": "Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes bibliography as a word having two senses: one, a list of books for further study or of works consulted by an author (or enumerative bibliography); the other one, applicable for collectors, is \"the study of books as physical objects\" and \"the systematic description of books as objects\" (or descriptive bibliography).\n\nEtymology \nThe word was used by Greek writers in the first three centuries CE to mean the copying of books by hand. In the 12th century, the word started being used for \"the intellectual activity of composing books.\" The 17th century then saw the emergence of the modern meaning, that of description of books. Currently, the field of bibliography has expanded to include studies that consider the book as a material object. Bibliography, in its systematic pursuit of understanding the past and the present through written and printed documents, describes a way and means of extracting information from this material. Bibliographers are interested in comparing versions of texts to each other rather than in interpreting their meaning or assessing their significance.\n\nField of study \nBibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868–1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about \"the science of bibliography.\" However, there have recently been voices claiming that \"the bibliographical paradigm\" is obsolete, and it is not today common in LIS. A defence of the bibliographical paradigm was provided by Hjørland (2007).\n\nThe quantitative study of bibliographies is known as bibliometrics, which is today an influential subfield in LIS and is used for major collection decisions such as the cancellation of big deals, through data analysis tools like Unpaywall Journals.\n\nBranches \nCarter and Barker describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). These two distinct concepts and practices have separate rationales and serve differing purposes. Innovators and originators in the field include W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, Philip Gaskell and G. Thomas Tanselle.\n\nBowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production (3). He refers to descriptive bibliography as the systematic description of a book as a material or physical artefact. Analytical bibliography, the cornerstone of descriptive bibliography, investigates the printing and all physical features of a book that yield evidence establishing a book's history and transmission (Feather 10). It is the preliminary phase of bibliographic description and provides the vocabulary, principles and techniques of analysis that descriptive bibliographers apply and on which they base their descriptive practice.\n\nDescriptive bibliographers follow specific conventions and associated classification in their description. Titles and title pages are transcribed in a quasi-facsimile style and representation. Illustration, typeface, binding, paper, and all physical elements related to identifying a book follow formulaic conventions, as Bowers established in his foundational opus, The Principles of Bibliographic Description. The thought expressed in this book expands substantively on W. W. Greg's groundbreaking theory that argued for the adoption of formal bibliographic principles (Greg 29). Fundamentally, analytical bibliography is concerned with objective, physical analysis and history of a book while descriptive bibliography employs all data that analytical bibliography furnishes and then codifies it with a view to identifying the ideal copy or form of a book that most nearly represents the printer's initial conception and intention in printing.\n\nIn addition to viewing bibliographic study as being composed of four interdependent approaches (enumerative, descriptive, analytical, and textual), Bowers notes two further subcategories of research, namely historical bibliography and aesthetic bibliography. Both historical bibliography, which involves the investigation of printing practices, tools, and related documents, and aesthetic bibliography, which examines the art of designing type and books, are often employed by analytical bibliographers.\n\nD. F. McKenzie extended previous notions of bibliography as set forth by Greg, Bowers, Gaskell and Tanselle. He describes the nature of bibliography as \"the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the processes of their transmission, including their production and reception\" (1999 12). This concept broadens the scope of bibliography to include \"non-book texts\" and an accounting for their material form and structure, as well as textual variations, technical and production processes that bring sociocultural context and effects into play. McKenzie's perspective contextualizes textual objects or artefacts with sociological and technical factors that have an effect on production, transmission and, ultimately, ideal copy (2002 14). Bibliography, generally, concerns the material conditions of books [as well as other texts] how they are designed, edited, printed, circulated, reprinted, collected.\n\nBibliographic works differ in the amount of detail depending on the purpose and can generally be divided into two categories: enumerative bibliography (also called compilative, reference or systematic), which results in an overview of publications in a particular category and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books. In earlier times, bibliography mostly focused on books. Now, both categories of bibliography cover works in other media including audio recordings, motion pictures and videos, graphic objects, databases, CD-ROMs and websites.\n\nEnumerative bibliography \n\nAn enumerative bibliography is a systematic list of books and other works such as journal articles. Bibliographies range from \"works cited\" lists at the end of books and articles, to complete and independent publications. A notable example of a complete, independent publication is Gow's A. E. Housman: A Sketch, Together with a List of His Classical Papers (1936). As separate works, they may be in bound volumes such as those shown on the right, or computerized bibliographic databases. A library catalog, while not referred to as a \"bibliography,\" is bibliographic in nature. Bibliographical works are almost always considered to be tertiary sources.\n\nEnumerative bibliographies are based on a unifying principle such as creator, subject, date, topic or other characteristic. An entry in an enumerative bibliography provides the core elements of a text resource including a title, the creator(s), publication date and place of publication. Belanger (1977) distinguishes an enumerative bibliography from other bibliographic forms such as descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography or textual bibliography in that its function is to record and list, rather than describe a source in detail or with any reference to the source's physical nature, materiality or textual transmission. The enumerative list may be comprehensive or selective. One noted example would be Tanselle's bibliography that exhaustively enumerates topics and sources related to all forms of bibliography. A more common and particular instance of an enumerative bibliography relates to specific sources used or considered in preparing a scholarly paper or academic term paper.\n\nCitation styles vary.\nAn entry for a book in a bibliography usually contains the following elements:\n creator(s)\n title\n place of publication\n publisher or printer\n date of publication\n\nAn entry for a journal or periodical article usually contains:\n creator(s)\n article title\n journal title\n volume\n pages\n date of publication\n\nA bibliography may be arranged by author, topic, or some other scheme. Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument. These descriptions, usually a few sentences long, provide a summary of the source and describe its relevance. Reference management software may be used to keep track of references and generate bibliographies as required.\n\nBibliographies differ from library catalogs by including only relevant items rather than all items present in a particular library. However, the catalogs of some national libraries effectively serve as national bibliographies, as the national libraries own almost all their countries' publications.\n\nDescriptive bibliography \nFredson Bowers described and formulated a standardized practice of descriptive bibliography in his Principles of Bibliographical Description\n(1949). Scholars to this day treat Bowers' scholarly guide as authoritative. In this classic text, Bowers describes the basic function of bibliography as, \"[providing] sufficient data so that a reader may identify the book described, understand the printing, and recognize the precise contents\" (124).\n\nDescriptive bibliographies as scholarly product \nDescriptive bibliographies as a scholarly product usually include information on the following aspect of a given book as a material object:\nFormat and Collation/Pagination Statement—a conventional, symbolic formula that describes the book block in terms of sheets, folds, quires, signatures, and pages\n\nAccording to Bowers (193), the format of a book is usually abbreviated in the collation formula:\nBroadsheet: I° or b.s. or bs.\nFolio: 2° or fol.\nQuarto: 4° or 4to or Q° or Q\nOctavo: 8° or 8vo\nDuodecimo: 12° or 12mo\nSexto-decimo: 16° or 16mo\nTricesimo-secundo: 32° or 32mo\nSexagesimo-quarto: 64° or 64mo\nThe collation, which follows the format, is the statement of the order and size of the gatherings.\nFor example, a quarto that consists of the signed gatherings:\n2 leaves signed A, 4 leaves signed B, 4 leaves signed C, and 2 leaves signed D\nwould be represented in the collation formula:\n4°: A2B-C4D2\nBinding—a description of the binding techniques (generally for books printed after 1800)\nTitle Page Transcription—a transcription of the title page, including rule lines and ornaments\nContents—a listing of the contents (by section) in the book\nPaper—a description of the physical properties of the paper, including production process, an account of chain-line measurements, and a description of watermarks (if present)\nIllustrations—a description of the illustrations found in the book, including printing process (e.g. woodblock, intaglio, etc.), measurements, and locations in the text\nPresswork—miscellaneous details gleaned from the text about its production\nCopies Examined—an enumeration of the copies examined, including those copies' location (i.e. belonging to which library or collector)\n\nAnalytical bibliography \nThis branch of the bibliographic discipline examines the material features of a textual artefact—such as type, ink, paper, imposition, format, impressions and states of a book—to essentially recreate the conditions of its production. Analytical bibliography often uses collateral evidence—such as general printing practices, trends in format, responses and non-responses to design, etc.—to scrutinize the historical conventions and influences underlying the physical appearance of a text. The bibliographer utilizes knowledge gained from the investigation of physical evidence in the form of a descriptive bibliography or textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination and cataloging of a text as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while textual bibliography (or textual criticism) identifies variations—and the aetiology of variations—in a text with a view to determining \"the establishment of the most correct form of [a] text\" (Bowers 498[1]).\n\nBibliographers \n\nA bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. A person who limits such efforts to a specific field or discipline is a subject bibliographer.\"\n\nA bibliographer, in the technical meaning of the word, is anyone who writes about books. But the accepted meaning since at least the 18th century is a person who attempts a comprehensive account—sometimes just a list, sometimes a fuller reckoning—of the books written on a particular subject. In the present, bibliography is no longer a career, generally speaking; bibliographies tend to be written on highly specific subjects and by specialists in the field.\n\nThe term bibliographer is sometimes—in particular subject bibliographer—today used about certain roles performed in libraries and bibliographic databases.\n\nOne of the first bibliographers was Conrad Gessner who sought to list all books printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in Bibliotheca Universalis (1545).\n\nNon-book material \nSystematic lists of media other than books can be referred to with terms formed analogously to bibliography:\n Discography—recorded music\n Filmography—films\n Webography (or webliography)—websites\n Arachniography, a term coined by NASA research historian Andrew J. Butrica, which means a reference list of URLs about a particular subject. It is equivalent to a bibliography in a book. The name derives from arachne in reference to a spider and its web.\n\nSee also \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (in Wikipedia)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Blum, Rudolf. (1980) Bibliographia. An Inquiry in Its Definition and Designations, Dawson, American Library Association.\n Bowers, Fredson. (1995) Principles of Bibliographical Description, Oak Knoll Press.\n Duncan, Paul Shaner. (1973) How to Catalog a Rare Book, 2nd ed., rev., American Library Association.\n \n Gaskell, Philip. (2000) A New Introduction to Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press.\n McKerrow, R. B. (1927) An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford: Clarendon Press\n Schneider, Georg. (1934) Theory and History of Bibliography, New York: Scarecrow Press.\n National Library of Canada, Committee on Bibliography and Information Services for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Guidelines for the Compilation of a Bibliography (National Library of Canada, 1987). N.B.: This is a brief guide to accurately practical bibliography, not a study concerning more precise and systematic bibliography.\n \nRobinson, A. M. Lewin (1966) Systematic Bibliography; rev. ed. London: Clive Bingley\n\nExternal links \n\n Oxford Bibliographies Online, in-depth annotated bibliographies by scholars in selected fields\n Introduction to Bibliography, a comprehensive syllabus by G. Thomas Tanselle\n The Bibliographical Society of America, a resource for information about current work in the field of bibliography\n Studies in Bibliography, the journal of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia\n A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology, (University of Zaragoza) includes thousands of listings on literary, philological and other subjects\n\n \nCategory:Book design\nCategory:Book terminology\nCategory:Textual scholarship",
"title": "Bibliography"
},
{
"text": "Pavel (Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and Macedonian: Павел, Czech, Slovene, Romanian: Pavel, Polish: Paweł, Ukrainian: Павло, Pavlo) is a male given name. It is a Slavic cognate of the name Paul (derived from the Greek Pavlos). Pavel may refer to:\n\nPeople\n\nGiven name\nPavel I of Russia (1754–1801), Emperor of Russia\nPaweł Adamowicz (1965–2019), Polish politician\nPaweł Brożek (born 1983), Polish footballer\nPaweł Cibicki (born 1994), Swedish footballer\nPaweł Deląg (born 1970), Polish actor\nPaweł Fajdek (born 1989), Polish hammer thrower\nPaweł Jasienica (1909–1970), Polish historian, journalist, essayist and soldier\nPaweł Łukaszewski (born 1968), Polish composer\nPaweł Mąciwoda (born 1967), Polish bassist for the German rock band Scorpions\nPaweł Mykietyn (born 1971), Polish composer\nPavel Nedvěd (born 1972), Czech footballer \nPaweł Pawlikowski (born 1957), Polish film director\nPaweł Edmund Strzelecki (1797–1873), Polish explorer, geologist, environmentalist and philanthropist\nPaweł Włodkowic (ca. 1370–1435), Polish scholar, jurist and rector of the Kraków Academy\nPaweł Wszołek (born 1992), Polish footballer\nPaweł Zagumny (born 1997), Polish volleyball player\nPavel (film director), an Indian Bengali film director\n\nSurname\nÁgoston Pável (1886–1946), Hungarian Slovene writer, poet, ethnologist, linguist and historian\nAndrei Pavel (born 1974), Romanian tennis coach and former professional tennis player\nClaudia Pavel (born 1984), Romanian pop singer and dancer also known as Claudia Cream\nElisabeth Pavel (born 1990), Romanian basketball player\nErnst Pavel, Romanian sprint canoeist who competed in the early 1970s\nHarry Pavel (born 1951), German wheelchair curler, 2018 Winter Paralympian\nMarcel Pavel (born 1959), Romanian folk singer\nPavel Pavel (born 1957), Czech engineer and experimental archaeologist\nPetr Pavel (born 1961), president of Czech Republic, former army general\nSzarlota Pawel (1950–2018), Polish comic book artist\n\nFictional characters\nPavel Korchagin, in How the Steel Was Tempered\nPavel Chekov, in Star Trek\nDoctor Leonid Pavel, in The Dark Knight Rises\nPavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov, in The Brothers Karamazov\nFra Pavel, in His Dark Materials\nPavel, in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas\nPavel Morozov, in Metro: Last Light\nPavel, in Grand Theft Auto Online\nPavel, in Epic Seven\nPavel Vlasov in The Mother\n\nSee also\n Paval (disambiguation)\n Pavol\n Pavao (given name)\n Pavle\n\nReferences\n\nCategory:Bulgarian masculine given names\nCategory:Czech masculine given names\nCategory:Russian masculine given names\nCategory:Macedonian masculine given names\nCategory:Romanian masculine given names\nCategory:Romanian-language surnames",
"title": "Pavel"
}
] | [
"CSKA is a professional hockey club in Moscow.",
"Bure began his professional hockey career with CSKA Moscow at the age of 16. He initially played for the senior team filling in for absent regulars, and made his debut in 1987. He joined the club full-time in 1988 and set a Soviet League record for rookies by scoring 17 goals. His individual success contributed to CSKA Moscow winning their thirteenth consecutive Soviet championship and twelfth consecutive IIHF European Cup in 1989. During his final season with the team, Bure tied for the lead in team-scoring with Valeri Kamensky, tallying 46 points.",
"Yes, Bure's individual success helped CSKA Moscow capture their thirteenth consecutive Soviet championship and twelfth consecutive IIHF European Cup in 1989.",
"Yes, Bure received the league's rookie of the year honours after he scored 17 goals and added 9 assists for a total of 26 points in the 1988-89 season. This goal record was a Soviet League record for rookies.",
"In 1991, Bure turned down a three-year contract extension with CSKA Moscow. This resulted in him being left off the roster of the Soviet team for the Canada Cup.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Bure had any injuries.",
"During this time, Bure began his professional hockey career at a young age of 16, and quickly excelled. Despite being initially considered too young for the Soviet League, he proved his skills by setting a Soviet League record for rookies by scoring 17 goals in the 1988-89 season. His individual success greatly contributed to CSKA Moscow's wins, including their thirteenth consecutive Soviet championship and twelfth consecutive IIHF European Cup in 1989.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Bure retired."
] | [
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_0 | Pavel Bure | Bure was born in Moscow in 1971 to Vladimir and Tatiana Bure. At age 12, his parents separated, and he remained with his mother. Vladimir Bure, a Russian swimming legend, had dreams of Pavel becoming a professional swimmer, but he aspired to play hockey at an early age. He attended his first tryout with the CSKA Moscow hockey school at the age of six, despite his limited skating ability. | New York Rangers (2002-2003) | The New York Rangers acquired Bure on March 18, 2002, along with Florida's second-round pick in the 2002 draft (Lee Falardeau) for Igor Ulanov, Filip Novak, as well as the Rangers' first and second-round choices in the 2002 draft (Petr Taticek and Rob Globke, respectively) and a fourth-round choice in the 2003 draft. The Rangers had shown interest in Bure when he requested a trade from the Canucks in 1997. After losing their initial bid for Bure, Wayne Gretzky, who retired the same season Bure was dealt to Florida, announced prior to the 1999-2000 season he would have extended his career had the Rangers been able to pull off the trade. Bure made his Rangers debut against the Vancouver Canucks the day after his trade on March 19, scoring a goal against his former team. He scored 12 goals and 20 points in 12 games after being traded, bettering his pace with Florida that season. Between the two teams, he finished the season with 34 goals and 69 points. Bure suffered another knee injury in the 2002-03 pre-season; combined with a case of strep throat, he missed the first three games of the regular season. After returning to play, he had 14 goals and 21 points in his first 27 games, including two goals and an assist in his first game back, before a knee-on-knee collision in December forced him back out. After undergoing surgery 10 days later, it was revealed that there was no damage to the ACL as previously feared, but instead a tear to the meniscus in his left knee, which was repaired. Bure returned that season to appear in 39 games, managing 19 goals and 30 points. Even after two operations, Bure did not play in 2003-04 due to the lingering effects of the knee injury. He failed a pre-season physical and was declared medically unable to play. Left with his fully insured $10 million salary (80 percent of which would be reimbursed to the team), the Rangers left him unprotected in the NHL's Waiver Draft, where he was unclaimed. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_0_q#0",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_0_q#1",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_0_q#2",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_0_q#3",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_0_q#4",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_0_q#5",
"C_32732a22d04542398a2a0695a7ea171d_0_q#6"
] | [
"what was pavel's stats during his year in new york rangers?",
"what was his position on the team",
"who was he traded from before the new york rangers",
"when he was traded, was there a contract, if so how much?",
"was he ill or injured at all during this time period with the rangers?",
"How long was he not being able to play due to injury",
"Was the new york rangers concerned about the injury"
] | [
2,
1,
2,
1,
2,
2,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1119
],
[
637
],
[
393
],
[
1956
],
[
965
],
[
1064
],
[
1695
]
],
"texts": [
[
"After returning to play, he had 14 goals and 21 points in his first 27 games,"
],
[
"trade. Bure made his Rangers debut against the Vancouver Canucks the day after his trade on March 19,"
],
[
"Canucks"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Bure suffered another knee injury in the 2002-03 pre-season;"
],
[
"he missed the first three games of the regular season."
],
[
"He failed a pre-season physical and was declared medically unable to play."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1119,
637,
393,
1956,
965,
1064,
1695
],
"texts": [
"After returning to play, he had 14 goals and 21 points in his first 27 games,",
"trade. Bure made his Rangers debut against the Vancouver Canucks the day after his trade on March 19,",
"Canucks",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Bure suffered another knee injury in the 2002-03 pre-season;",
"he missed the first three games of the regular season.",
"He failed a pre-season physical and was declared medically unable to play."
]
} | Pavel Vladimirovich Bure (, ; born March 31, 1971) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player who played the right wing position. Nicknamed "the Russian Rocket" for his speed, Bure played for 12 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Vancouver Canucks, Florida Panthers and New York Rangers between 1991 and 2003. Trained in the Soviet Union, he played three seasons with the Central Red Army team before his NHL career.
Selected 113th overall in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft by Vancouver, he began his NHL career in the 1991–92 season, and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's best rookie before leading the NHL in goal-scoring in 1993-94 and helping the Canucks to the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals. After seven seasons the Canucks traded Bure to the Panthers, where he won back-to-back Rocket Richard Trophies as the league's leading goal-scorer. Bure struggled with knee injuries throughout his career, resulting in his retirement in 2005 as a member of the Rangers, although he had not played since 2003. He averaged better than a point per game in his NHL career (779 points with 437 goals in 702 NHL games) and is fourth all-time in goals per game. After six years of eligibility, Bure was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in June 2012. In 2017, an NHL panel named Bure one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history.
Internationally, Bure competed for the Soviet Union and Russia. As a member of the Soviet Union, he won two silver medals and a gold in three World Junior Championships, followed by a gold and a silver medal in the 1990 and 1991 World Championships, respectively. After the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, Bure competed for Russia in two Winter Olympics, claiming silver at the 1998 Games in Nagano as team captain, and bronze at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. Following Bure's retirement in 2005, he was named the general manager for Russia's national team at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. Bure was later recognized for his international career as a 2012 inductee in the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.
Early life
Bure was born in Moscow in 1971 to Vladimir and Tatiana Bure. Vladimir Bure, a Russian swimming legend, had dreams of Pavel becoming a professional swimmer, but he aspired to play hockey at an early age. He attended his first tryout with the CSKA Moscow hockey school at the age of six, despite his limited skating ability. Until that point, Bure had only played ball hockey on the streets. After Bure failed to impress in his first tryout, his father told him that if he did not show significant improvement within two months, he would withdraw him from the hockey school. By age 11, he was named the best forward in his league. Around that time, in July 1982, Bure was selected as one of three young Russian players to practice with Wayne Gretzky and Soviet national goaltender Vladislav Tretiak in a taped television special.
At age 12, his parents separated, and he remained with his mother. By the time he was 14 years old, he was named to the Central Red Army's junior team. In 1991, he joined his father and brother, Valeri in moving to North America as he embarked on a National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Vancouver Canucks. His mother arrived two months later. They settled initially in Los Angeles where Vladimir continued to train and coach both Valeri and Pavel in hockey and physical conditioning. However both became estranged from their father, along with his second wife and their half-sister Katya, by 1998. Neither brother has explained a reason for the split.
In December 1986, he embarked on a tour of Canada with the Soviet national midget team from Ottawa to Vancouver. Nearly five years before Bure made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks in 1991 at the Pacific Coliseum, he played his first game at his future home rink as part of the tour. Bure also earned another opportunity to meet Gretzky, as well as defenceman Paul Coffey, when his team stopped in Edmonton to play at the Northlands Coliseum.
Playing career
CSKA Moscow (1987–1991)
At age 16, Bure began his professional hockey career playing for CSKA Moscow. He was invited to the senior club's training camp for the 1987–88 season. Although he was deemed too young and not yet ready for the Soviet League, Bure earned minimal playing time filling in for absent regulars. He made his debut in September 1987, and played five games for the senior team, scoring his only goal in his first game.
Bure joined the club full-time in 1988–89 and amassed 17 goals, a Soviet League record for rookies. The record would last for 18 years until Alexei Cherepanov scored 18 goals in 2006–07. Bure added 9 assists for 26 points to earn the league's rookie of the year honours. His individual success helped CSKA Moscow capture their thirteenth consecutive Soviet championship and twelfth consecutive IIHF European Cup in 1989 (they repeated as European champions the following year).
As a member CSKA, Bure joined a lineup that featured several future NHL players, including linemates Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny, as well as Igor Larionov, Viacheslav Fetisov, Sergei Makarov, and Vladimir Konstantinov. The combination of Bure, Fedorov and Mogilny formed a promising combination for head coach Viktor Tikhonov, with expectations to replace the previous top Soviet line, the K-L-M combination of Vladimir Krutov, Larionov and Makarov. The trio was short-lived, as Mogilny defected to play for the Buffalo Sabres in 1989, and Fedorov joined the Detroit Red Wings the following year.
In his third and final season with the Red Army, Bure tied for the lead in team-scoring with Valeri Kamensky, tallying 46 points. His 35 goals was second in the league, one goal behind Ramil Yuldashev of Sokil Kyiv. Bure turned down a three-year contract extension in August 1991, which resulted in him being left off the roster of the Soviet team for the Canada Cup.
Transfer to the NHL (1989–1991)
Prior to the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, William Houston of The Globe and Mail wrote, "The best of the group is Soviet star winger Pavel Bure, a spectacular player with outstanding speed. He is compared to Vladimir Krutov and also the late Soviet superstar of the 1970s, Valeri Kharlamov." NHL organizations were afraid he would not leave the Soviet Union to play in the NHL thus deterring teams from selecting him early, although scouts and analysts believed he could have been selected as high as the second round had he defected. Many analysts compared him to Valeri Kharlamov. Edmonton Oilers' scout Barry Fraser commented, "From what I've seen of him, Bure can play on any team in the NHL right now... he's quick, real quick, small and very exciting. He may be the top player in this year's draft, but because he is from the Soviet Union, we don't analyze him the same way as a kid from the West... I don't expect him to go really early because it is still too much of a gamble to hope he will defect."
Bure was selected 113th overall in the sixth round Draft by the Vancouver Canucks, following his rookie season with CSKA Moscow. The pick was controversial, as the Canucks had chosen him seemingly a year ahead of his eligible draft season. At the age of 18, he was available to be chosen in the first three rounds of the draft, but to be selected any later, he would have needed to play at least two seasons—with a minimum of 11 games per season—for his elite-level Soviet club, the Central Red Army. While most teams believed he was ineligible, the Canucks' head scout at the time, Mike Penny, discovered Bure had played in additional exhibition and international games to make him an eligible late-round draft choice a year early. Jack Button, the Washington Capitals' director of player personnel, admitted "everybody would have taken him earlier. We assumed he was not eligible... you've got to give the Canucks credit for doing their homework."
Several other teams either had similar knowledge or had pursued Bure but there was confusion as to the legitimacy of the extra games. The Detroit Red Wings had asked league vice president Gil Stein about Bure's availability before their fifth-round pick but were told he was not eligible. They later decided to select him with their sixth-round pick, 116th overall, and settle his eligibility later. The Canucks selected Bure three picks ahead of Detroit's turn. Meanwhile, Winnipeg Jets general manager Mike Smith, claimed he made an offer to the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation that would involve three years of transfer payments before Bure would be allowed to join the Jets; however Smith did not have any plans to draft Bure in 1989 as he believed he was ineligible.
Canucks' general manager Pat Quinn originally intended to draft Bure in the eighth round but after receiving word the Oilers had similar intentions selected him in the sixth. Following the announcement of Bure's draft, several other team representatives reportedly stormed the Met Center stage in Minnesota, where the draft was being held. Formal complaints were filed resulting in an investigation into the selection. After the pick was deemed illegal by league president John Ziegler in a press release on May 17, 1990, the Canucks appealed the decision, procuring game sheets proving Bure's participation in the additional games with the help of recent Soviet acquisition Igor Larionov. It was not until the eve of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, in which Bure would have been re-entered that the draft choice was upheld. Although Larionov and Fetisov had successfully spearheaded the rebellion against Soviet ice hockey officials in the late 1980s that led to Soviet players joining the NHL, Bure's transfer to the Canucks was met with resistance, and the Soviet authorities forbade the Canucks to contact Bure personally. During the 1991 World Junior Championships, he said in an interview that he was hesitant to defect for fears the Soviets would make things difficult for his younger brother Valeri Bure, who was 15 at the time and playing in the junior league.
Bure left Moscow with his father and brother on September 6, 1991, staying temporarily in Los Angeles. His mother arrived shortly afterward. The Canucks began negotiating a contract with Bure, but before one could be finalized, the issue of his existing contract with the Central Red Army had to be settled. The Canucks management and officials from the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation met in late-October 1991 in a Detroit court, where they bartered for a cash settlement. After the Canucks offered US$200,000, Bure stood up in the courtroom to offer an additional $50,000, bringing the total to $250,000. The Soviet officials accepted, and Canucks management paid the full $250,000. Bure signed a four-year contract worth a reported $2.7 million with an $800,000 signing bonus. The deal made Bure the Canucks' second highest paid player behind team captain Trevor Linden.
Vancouver Canucks (1991–1999)
Due to the court proceedings, Bure's debut with the Canucks was delayed until a month into the 1991–92 season. Garnering much attention in Vancouver, his first practice with the club on November 3, 1991, was attended by approximately 2,000 fans. He played his first game for the Canucks on November 5, 1991, in a 2–2 tie against the Winnipeg Jets. Despite not scoring a point, Bure showcased his talent and speed with several end-to-end rushes, carrying the puck past several defenders from near his defensive zone to the opposing net. Following the game, Vancouver Sun columnist Iain MacIntyre compared him to a rocket, calling him "the fastest Soviet creation since Sputnik". MacIntyre's comments are credited for laying the groundwork for Bure's moniker as the "Russian Rocket," which echoed the nickname of Maurice "Rocket" Richard, who played for the Montreal Canadiens in the 1950s. In his third game, Bure recorded his first point, an assist against the New York Islanders on November 10. He scored his first two NHL goals in the next game, on November 12, against Daniel Berthiaume of the Los Angeles Kings. He finished with 34 goals and 60 points in 65 games that season, including 22 goals in his final 23 games. In the last game of the regular season, Bure scored a goal to tie Ivan Hlinka's 1981–82 team mark for most points by a rookie.
As the Canucks opened the 1992 playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets, Bure recorded his first NHL hat trick in game six to help force a seventh and deciding game. Vancouver won the series to advance to the second round, but were eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers. Bure finished his first Stanley Cup playoffs with six goals and 10 points in 13 games. At the end of the season, he was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year. His 60 points were second among first-year players to Tony Amonte's 69 points with the Rangers, although Bure played in 14 fewer games. When accepting the award, Bure thanked Canucks linemate Igor Larionov for his guidance. On arriving in Vancouver, his former Red Army teammate took him into his home for two weeks before Bure moved into his own apartment; the two also roomed together on the road. Bure's Calder Trophy, along with head coach Pat Quinn's Jack Adams Award as the league's top coach, marked the first major individual NHL awards in Canucks' team history. However, despite being named the league's top rookie, Bure was left off the NHL All-Rookie Team, making him the only Calder recipient not to be named to the lineup. This was because he split his time playing both left and right wing. When it came to voting for the players, Bure had the most total votes, but not enough at either position to claim a spot.
Bure improved on his rookie season in 1992–93 with the first of two consecutive 60-goal seasons. In the third game of the season, he scored a career-high four goals against the Winnipeg Jets. His three goals and one assist in the second period set a pair of Canucks' records for most goals and points in a period, in addition to the team mark for most goals overall in a game (for which he is tied with several players). Furthermore, Bure scored two of his goals on the penalty kill to set a fourth team record for most short-handed goals in one contest. He appeared in his first NHL All-Star Game in 1993, being named to the Clarence Campbell Conference Team as the lone Canucks' representative, and scored two goals. Shortly after the All-Star break, Bure established a new franchise record for goals in a season during a 5–1 win over the Quebec Nordiques, surpassing Tony Tanti's 45-goal mark. The next month, on March 1, he reached the 50-goal mark for the first time in his career, scoring against Grant Fuhr of the Buffalo Sabres in a neutral-site game in Hamilton, Ontario. He also surpassed Patrik Sundström's franchise record of 91 points. Bure finished the season with 110 points in 83 games, and became the first Canuck named to the NHL first All-Star team. His 110 points stood as the team record until it was broken by Henrik Sedin's 112 points in 2009–10.
A groin injury early in the 1993-94 season limited Bure's production for the first half of the season. Even so, he improved in the second half, and led the league in goal-scoring by repeating his 60-goal feat of the previous season. In doing so, he became the eighth player in NHL history to record back-to-back 60-goal seasons. He concluded the season with a streak of 49 goals and 78 points in his final 51 games, and earned player of the month honours in March 1994 after scoring 19 goals and 30 points in 16 games. His March scoring burst was just one point shy of Stan Smyl's 31-point March in 1983 for the most productive month by a Canucks player. Bure's 154 NHL goals at that point in his career put him behind only Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy for the most in any NHL player's first three seasons. He recorded 49 goals in the club's final 51 games, and contributed to 46.45% of his team's goals in the final 47 games of the season to carry the Canucks into the 1994 postseason.
Entering the 1994 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the seventh seed, the Canucks went on a run to the Stanley Cup Finals. In the seventh game of the opening-round series against the Calgary Flames, Bure scored one of the most significant and well-known goals in Canucks' history. After receiving a breakaway pass from defenceman Jeff Brown, he deked and scored on Flames' goalie Mike Vernon in the second overtime to win the series. In game two of the second round against the Dallas Stars, Bure knocked enforcer Shane Churla to the ice with an elbow to the jaw. He also scored two goals in the game to help Vancouver to a 3–0 win. Although Bure was not initially penalized for the play, he was later fined $500 by the league. He recorded six goals and eight points in five games against the Dallas Stars, and against the Toronto Maple Leafs the following round scored four goals and six points in five games.
After defeating Dallas in five games, the Canucks eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Campbell Conference Finals to meet the New York Rangers in the Finals, where the Canucks lost in seven games. Bure finished with a team-high 16 goals and 31 points in 24 games, second in playoff scoring only to Conn Smythe Trophy winner Brian Leetch. His points total also remained the highest by any Russian player until Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins recorded 36 in 2009.
In the next off-season, the Canucks announced they had re-signed Bure to a five-year, $24.5 million contract on June 16. The deal was reported to have been signed before game three of the Stanley Cup Finals against New York. It also included Bure's marketing rights and put his father, Vladimir, on the team payroll as a fitness and marketing consultant. The average annual salary of $4.9 million made Bure the league's third highest-paid player, behind Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. In fact, Bure and the Canucks had entered into contract negotiations at the beginning of the 1993–94 season, although two years remained in his original deal. Neither side could come to an initial agreement; one of the major factors was the Canucks' demands for the contract to be in Canadian dollars on account of the American exchange rate. Numerous accusations were made in the media during the Canucks' playoff run that Bure threatened not to play if a contract could not be agreed upon. A Toronto Star article, published before the first game of the Finals on May 31, 1994, claimed Bure had signed a five-year, $30 million contract that, if the Canucks had not agreed to, would have seen him pull out of game five of the Conference Finals against the Maple Leafs. The article was followed by two additional claims in the following two days in the Vancouver-based newspaper The Province and Toronto Sun. The Toronto Sun held the contract was a five-year, $22.5 million deal, and that it was signed before either game six or seven of the opening round against the Flames after Bure's agent, Ron Salcer, told general manager Quinn that Bure would not play if the deal was not made. As the story continued well into the next season, Pat Quinn appeared in a segment on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)'s Hockey Night in Canada on March 27, 1995, publicly denying the claims.
Due to the 1994–95 NHL lockout, Bure spent single-game stints with Spartak Moscow of the Russian Super League and EV Landshut of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He joined a team of Russian NHL players organized by Slava Fetisov that returned to Russia to play a five-game charity tour against local clubs. On the team, Bure reunited with former Central Red Army linemates Mogilny and Fedorov. When the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) and owners came to an agreement on January 12, 1995, NHL play was set to resume. However, there were unresolved contract issues, as Salcer claimed the Canucks promised they would pay Bure's full salary, despite the lockout, which cancelled nearly half of the 1994–95 season. Bure held out for four days as a result (the amount claimed to be owing was $1.7 million), before the two sides reached an agreement. The Canucks would put the disputed amount in escrow and would continue discussions. He soon reported to Vancouver and went on to tally 43 points in 44 games of the shortened season. In the 1995 playoffs, Bure set franchise records for most goals and points in a series with seven and 12 respectively in a seven-game series victory against the St. Louis Blues (Mikael Samuelsson tied Bure's goal-scoring record in 2010 against the Los Angeles Kings). The Canucks, however, failed to defend their Clarence Campbell Conference championship title, being swept by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round. The Canucks' elimination in 1995 marked the last time Bure appeared in the post-season with the club. He finished with a career playoff total of 66 points with the Canucks, including 34 goals, which remained the highest club total until Linden tied the mark in 2007.
At the start of the 1995–96 season, Bure changed his jersey number from 10 to 96. The switch commemorated September 6, 1991, the day on which he first landed in North America from Moscow—9th month, 6th day. He had originally asked to wear the number when he first joined the Canucks, but was not permitted to do so by head coach Pat Quinn, who did not approve of high jersey numbers. After the Canucks traded with the Buffalo Sabres for Alexander Mogilny, reuniting the two Russian players, the jersey number was deemed acceptable because Mogilny had used number 89 since defecting to North America in 1989.
Early in the season, Bure sustained the first of several serious knee injuries during his career. On November 9, 1995, in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Bure was grabbed around the head by defenceman Steve Smith while approaching the end boards. Falling to the ice, he caught his skate against the boards, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee. Requiring arthroscopic surgery, in which tendon was removed from his hamstring to repair the ACL, he was sidelined for the remainder of the season.
Bure returned to the Canucks' lineup with his knee fully recovered in the 1996–97 season. In the season opener against the Flames on October 5, 1996, Bure was pushed into the boards head-first. He continued to play after the hit, but experienced headaches in the following weeks. As Bure's play dropped early in the season, the media speculated that he was playing injured. After he went eight games without a goal, head coach Tom Renney claimed Bure was not playing with a head injury, but instead had injured his shoulder in a game against the New York Rangers on November 23. Nevertheless, he continued to play. With under a month left in the season, he received another hit, during a game against the Avalanche on March 3, 1997. Bure left the game and did not return for the remainder of the season. Afterwards, he admitted he was playing with a neck injury, having sustained whiplash from the first game against Calgary, but did not want to take himself out of the lineup after missing 62 games the previous season. With Bure's reduced playing capacity, he managed 55 points in 63 games, well below his usual pace, and the Canucks missed the playoffs for the first time since he joined the team. In a 2012 interview, Bure admitted having sustained a head injury on the initial hit against Calgary and that "he should not have played through it".
In the off-season, the Canucks made another significant move, signing Rangers' captain Mark Messier during free agency on July 26, 1997. Despite finally having a high-profile centre to play with, media reports soon appeared claiming that Bure was asking to be traded. The Canucks opened the season with two games against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Tokyo – an event organized by the league to market hockey for the upcoming 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. After two injury-plagued seasons with the number 96 on his jersey, Bure switched back to his familiar number 10, explaining: "I'm not superstitious, but the last two seasons have been bad memories." Although the Canucks missed the playoffs for the second straight year, he returned to his previous form in 1997–98, scoring 51 goals for his first 50-goal season since 1993–94, and third overall. Bure later recalled that with the Canucks out of playoff contention with a handful of games left, head coach Mike Keenan told him he could play as much as he wanted to reach the milestone. Scoring 50 goals was also implicit in a contract bonus for Bure. With an additional 39 assists, his 90 points ranked him third in the NHL, behind Peter Forsberg and Jaromír Jágr.
Following the 1997–98 season, Bure told newly appointed general manager Brian Burke that he would not play for the Canucks again, despite still having a year left in his contract worth $8 million. He then went public with the declaration, stating he intended to leave the club for "personal reasons". Bure did not report to the club the following season. Instead, he returned to his hometown Moscow to practise with his former Central Red Army club. During this time, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko offered Bure a tax-free $4 million salary to play in Belarus, which he turned down.
Florida Panthers (1999–2002)
Bure held out well into the 1998–99 season until he was traded on January 17, 1999, to the Florida Panthers, with Bret Hedican, Brad Ference, and Vancouver's third-round choice in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft (Robert Fried) for Ed Jovanovski, Dave Gagner, Mike Brown, Kevin Weekes, and Florida's first-round choice in the 2000 draft (Nathan Smith). Talks between Burke and Bryan Murray, general manager of the Panthers, had begun in late-December. After the trade was completed, Bure explained that he felt alienated from Canucks' management after arriving in North America having defected from Russia. He claimed he had been in Los Angeles for two weeks before any Canucks' representative came to see him, as well as several bitter contract negotiations—particularly those of 1994. He also claimed that someone within the Canucks' management planted the constant allegations that he threatened not to play during the 1994 playoff run. Bure's agent at the time, Ron Salcer, also believed the story.
Meeting the Panthers in New York for a game against the Islanders, Bure debuted with his new club on January 20, 1999. He played on an all-Russian line with Viktor Kozlov and Oleg Kvasha and scored two goals. In his first six games with the club, Bure scored eight goals and three assists for eleven points. Less than a month into his Panthers debut, he reinjured his knee, keeping him out for three weeks. Despite the injury, the Panthers signed him to a five-year, $47.5 million contract (with an option for a sixth year at $10.5 million), the most lucrative in team history. Another injury ended Bure's season after just 11 games with Florida, though he scored 13 goals and three assists in that time.
In 1999–2000, his first full season as a Panther, Bure led the league in goal-scoring to capture his first of two consecutive Rocket Richard Trophies with a 58-goal season. It marked the second time Bure led the league in goal-scoring, but his first Rocket Richard Trophy as the award had been introduced the previous season. Combined with 36 assists, his 94 points came within two of Art Ross Trophy winner Jaromír Jágr as the league's leading point-scorer. His 58 goals and 94 points both set franchise records. He helped Florida to a fifth-place finish in the Eastern Conference to earn their first post-season berth in three seasons, though they were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the New Jersey Devils. Bure finished third for the Hart Memorial Trophy winner behind Chris Pronger and Jágr. He was named to the NHL second All-Star team for the first time.
Bure was set to make his much-anticipated return to Vancouver to play the Canucks on November 5, 1999, but was kept out of the lineup due to a broken finger. A prior groin injury had also forced him out of a Panther's home game against the Canucks earlier in the season. During the season, he was named to the 2000 NHL All-Star Game in Toronto, where he recorded an assist and the eleventh hat trick in the history of the All-Star Game. Of Bure's three goals, two were assisted by his brother Valeri, who played on the same line with him, along with his Panthers linemate, Viktor Kozlov. Helping lead the World team to a 9–4 victory over North America, Bure was named the All-Star Game MVP.
Bure repeated as league scoring champion in 2000–01 with 59 goals, reaching the 50-goal plateau for the fifth and final time in his career, as well as bettering his franchise single-season, goal-scoring record. However, the Panthers missed the playoffs, finishing 12th place in the East. Bure set a league record that season by scoring 29.5% of his team's total goals over the course of the season. He was named to the NHL second All-Star team, behind Jágr in the right wing position for the second consecutive year.
Before the 2001–02 season, the Panthers acquired Valeri Bure from the Calgary Flames in a trade, putting the brothers on the same team for the first time. However, Bure suffered a setback in the pre-season re-injuring his groin. Bure recalled having "good relations" with Panthers' management, who often consulted with him on team matters, including the acquisition of his brother. At the trading deadline, Bure was traded to the New York Rangers. During his 56 games for the Panthers that season, he led the team in scoring for the third consecutive season with 49 points.
New York Rangers (2002–2003)
The New York Rangers acquired Bure on March 18, 2002, along with Florida's second-round pick in the 2002 draft (Lee Falardeau) for Igor Ulanov, Filip Novak, as well as the Rangers' first and second-round choices in the 2002 draft (Petr Tatíček and Rob Globke, respectively) and a fourth-round choice in the 2003 draft. The Rangers had shown interest in Bure when he requested a trade from the Canucks in 1997. After losing their initial bid for Bure, Wayne Gretzky, who retired the same season Bure was traded to Florida, announced prior to the 1999–2000 season he would have extended his career had the Rangers been able to pull off the trade. Bure made his Rangers debut against the Vancouver Canucks the day after his trade on March 19, scoring a goal against his former team. He scored 12 goals and 20 points in 12 games after being traded, bettering his pace with Florida that season. Between the two teams, he finished the season with 34 goals and 69 points.
Bure suffered another knee injury in the 2002–03 pre-season; combined with a case of strep throat, he missed the first three games of the regular season. After returning to play, he had 14 goals and 21 points in his first 27 games, including two goals and an assist in his first game back, before a knee-on-knee collision in December forced him back out. After undergoing surgery 10 days later, it was revealed that there was no damage to the ACL as previously feared, but instead a tear to the meniscus in his left knee, which was repaired. Bure returned that season to appear in 39 games, managing 19 goals and 30 points.
Even after two operations, Bure did not play in 2003–04 due to the lingering effects of the knee injury. He failed a pre-season physical and was declared medically unable to play. Left with his fully insured $10 million salary (80 percent of which would be reimbursed to the team), the Rangers left him unprotected in the NHL's Waiver Draft, where he was unclaimed.
Retirement
Bure remained inactive for another season due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout. After the NHL resumed play for the 2005–06 season, he announced his retirement from professional hockey at a press conference in Moscow on November 1, 2005, citing complications with his chronic knee injuries. In an interview Bure explained that he did not want to extend his playing career without being able to play at an elite level.
Because Bure had been inactive since the 2002–03 season, he was eligible for selection into the Hockey Hall of Fame (which requires players to wait three years after their last game) immediately following his retirement. After being passed for induction in his first six years of eligibility, Bure was voted in on June 27, 2012, alongside Joe Sakic, Adam Oates and Mats Sundin. He became the fifth Soviet or Russian player (after Vladislav Tretiak, Viacheslav Fetisov, Valeri Kharlamov and Igor Larionov) and the first player to spend the majority of his career with the Canucks to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
His non-selection in previous years was widely debated in the media. Bure was often compared with Cam Neely, a player who also waited six years for induction; he recorded similar goals-per-game numbers in a career that was also shortened to 700-plus games. It had been often rumoured that Pat Quinn, Bure's former head coach and general manager in Vancouver, who became co-chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame's selection committee, opposed Bure's induction. However, in a conference call following his selection, Quinn was among the most prominent figures he thanked. Quinn criticized the Canucks organization for not yet retiring Bure's jersey.
In his retirement, he remained publicly steadfast in his dissatisfaction with the way he was treated by the Canucks organization during his playing career. While Bure admitted to "a lot of disagreements with the Canucks management," he maintained that he "never had any problems with the Canucks fans". The Canucks retired Bure's 10 jersey on November 2, 2013. The day before the Canucks announced they would rename the team's Most Exciting Player Award to the Pavel Bure Most Exciting Player Award in his honour. Bure renounced his US citizenship in 2016.
International career
Junior
Prior to joining the NHL in 1991, Bure competed for the Soviet Union in several junior, international tournaments. The first was the 1988 Quebec Esso Cup, an under-17 tournament (now known as the World U-17 Hockey Challenge) held in Quebec City, where he earned a gold medal. That same year, he competed in his first of two consecutive European Junior Championships, winning a bronze medal.
The following year, Bure debuted at the world under-20 level as a 17-year-old at the 1989 World Junior Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. The top line of CSKA Moscow teammates Bure, Alexander Mogilny and Sergei Fedorov led the Soviet Union to a gold medal. Bure's eight goals tied him for the tournament lead with Jeremy Roenick of the United States; he led the Soviet team with 14 points. He was named to the Tournament All-Star team, and earned Best Forward honours. He again participated in the 1989 European Junior Championship, helping the Soviet Union win the gold medal.
Bure competed in his second World Juniors in 1990, winning a silver medal in Helsinki, Finland, and scoring seven goals in seven games. Later that year, he made his senior debut with the Soviet national team as a 19-year-old at the 1990 World Championships in Switzerland. He scored two goals and four assists in ten games to help the Soviets to a gold medal finish. The Soviet team also won silver in the European Championship, which was decided from games played among the European teams at the tournament. Several months later, in July, Bure took part in his third international tournament of the year at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle. Bure scored four goals and an assist in five games, and the Soviets won the gold medal.
In 1991, Bure appeared in his third and final World Junior Championships. Bure finished the tournament as the leading scorer with 12 goals in 7 games and the Soviets won the silver medal. He finished his three-year World Junior career with a tournament-record 27 goals, to go with 39 points, in 21 games. Bure later competed in the 1991 World Championships, his second international appearance of the year. He improved on his previous year's total with 11 points in 11 games, tied for the team lead with Valeri Kamensky, and helped the Soviets to a bronze medal finish. Bure was named to the tournament's second All-Star team. The 1991 team marked the last World Championships for the USSR, as the country was dissolved later that year.
Senior
Bure was set to represent the Soviet Union at the 1991 Canada Cup, however after turning down a three-year contract with his Russian club, CSKA Moscow, he was left off the final roster.
Bure played his first international tournament for Russia in preliminary games for the inaugural 1996 World Cup (the successor tournament to the Canada Cup). Bure had recently recovered from reconstructive surgery to his right knee, and had begun practicing with the Russian national team where he was reunited on a line with Fedorov and Mogilny, the first and only time the three of them would play together at the senior level; the line was considered "perhaps the best forward line on earth" at the time. However Bure bruised a kidney in one of the games and was forced to miss the main tournament.
As with the 1991 Canada Cup, controversy ensued when Bure refused to sign a petition organized by national team veteran Viacheslav Fetisov. With the Russian Ice Hockey Federation dealing with internal corruption, the petition called for the ouster of a few select Russian ice hockey officials. In response, Bure explained, "I do not sign petitions. I believe I should work – play hockey. Petitions to the federation or to Olympic committees do not interest me."
Two years later, Bure made his Olympic debut with Russia at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano. He helped his team to advance to the gold medal game after a five-goal game in Russia's 7–4 semifinal win against Finland. The Russians lost the gold medal game to the Czech Republic, ending with silver. Bure finished with a tournament-high nine goals to be named the top forward, and though he recorded no assists, placed third in point-scoring with nine points in six games.
Bure's next international tournament was the 2000 World Championships, held in Saint Petersburg. The Russians had a disappointing tournament and finished eleventh. In six games, Bure managed four goals and an assist. Two years later, Bure made his second Olympic appearance at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, playing with a fractured hand. Bure finished his final international tournament as a player with two goals and an assist in six games while Russia won the bronze medal.
On the announcement of his retirement in 2005, Bure was named Russia's Olympic general manager, succeeding Viacheslav Fetisov. He promised to put an end to the Russian Hockey Federation's history of internal conflict and player boycotts, saying, "You won't see such a mess with the national team that you've seen here before," and that "You won't see grouchy players here anymore. Only those who really want to play for Russia will be called into the team." As general manager, Bure chose the team for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. The Russians failed to win a medal, losing to the Czech Republic in the bronze medal match. Leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, former Soviet national goaltender Vladislav Tretiak was named Bure's successor as Olympic general manager.
In December 2011, Bure was announced as one of the 2012 inductees into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame. He was named alongside American Phil Housley, Finn Raimo Helminen and Czechoslovak Milan Nový in the annual class. The players were inducted in a ceremony in May 2012.
Playing style
Bure's playing style reflected the speed, skill and puck possession that was prominent in Soviet Union hockey programs. The most prevalent aspects of his game were his skating speed, agility, and acceleration, which earned him his nickname the "Russian Rocket". He was able to use his quickness to separate himself from defenders, to retrieve pucks before the opposition could in all zones of the ice, and to skate the length of the ice on many occasions. In a 1993 poll of NHL coaches conducted by hockey writer Bob McKenzie, Bure was named the league's best skater with eight of twenty-one votes, twice as many votes as any other player. One coach noted: "Bure has the best combination of speed, agility and balance ... He can also use change of speed better than anybody in the league right now."
During Bure's rehabilitation period, following his first major knee injury in 1995, Canucks' conditioning coach Peter Twist noticed that his skating style was distinct in comparison to typical North American players. He explained: "Most players skate on their inside edge and push off at a 45-degree angle, but Bure starts on his outer edge and rolls over to his inside edge and pushes back straighter on his stride ... he gets more power and force in his stride to get up to top speed quicker." his skating was also complemented by his ability to deke out defenders and goaltenders at top speeds, making him capable of routinely starting end-to-end rushes. However, several knee injuries, and the resulting reconstructive surgeries, compromised the speed that defined Bure's game, ultimately leading to his retirement.
Early in Bure's career, he was noted for playing a strong two-way game. Having joined Pat Quinn's defensive-minded Canucks in 1991, Bure's transition to the NHL was cited as being easier than that of his countryman, Igor Larionov, due to his quick adjustment to the team's defensive demands. Regarding Bure's first NHL game against the Winnipeg Jets, reporter Mike Beamish explained that "hockey fans marvelled at his offensive thrusts, but hockey people were taken by a singular display of jet-powered defensive diligence. On one play, after the Canucks were caught deep in the Winnipeg zone, the Russian winger raced back and almost single-handedly foiled a two-on-one Jets' rush, making up a half-rink disadvantage." Bure was used on the team's penalty kill for his entire tenure with the Canucks, and was proficient at generating shorthanded chances, pressuring the opposition with his quickness and positioning in the defensive zone. During the 1992 Stanley Cup playoffs, commentator and ex-NHL coach Harry Neale commented, "I like the effort he gives it when he doesn't have the puck. We all know what he can do when he thinks he can score, but he's killing penalties, he's checking, doing a lot of things." Bure tied for second-place on Bob McKenzie's 1993 coaches poll for the NHL's best penalty killer. He was also voted the league's second-best stickhandler that season and garnered recognition as one of the smartest players in the NHL.
Sports journalists Damien Cox and Stephen Brunt wrote about Bure during the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs that he was a "two-way dynamo," accounting for "several bodychecks he handed out on the night" and for his defensive abilities as he stayed on the ice in the last minutes of a one-goal playoff match against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They spoke highly of his creativity as well, recognizing him as "someone who sees in his game a world of possibilities that just never occur to others," praising his "sheer elegance and imagination" and characterizing his hockey sense as "ho-hum brilliance from the most explosive player in the sport". Brunt called him "a nonpareil, a van Gogh, a Picasso, a Charlie Parker". During the 1993-94 season, Bure demonstrated his strong playmaking abilities, helping linemate and friend Gino Odjick score a career-high 16 goals in a single season, more than twice the number of goals Odjick would score in any other year separated from Bure, and doubling his career goal totals up to that point in his career. According to teammate Cliff Ronning in 1994, "we play a much sounder game defensively when Pavel's flying, as he was in the first period". Former Canuck teammate Jyrki Lumme spoke of Bure as a player and teammate, "That guy does something spectacular every time ... it's frustrating to go against him in practice because he's all over the place. He makes everybody on our team better."
During his time with the Canucks, Bure won the team's Most Exciting Player Award, as voted by the fans, a record five times (tied with Tony Tanti), from 1992 to 1995, and once more in 1998. Trevor Linden, who had played with Bure for seven seasons, said following Bure's retirement, "I don't know if I've ever seen or played with a player that's brought people out of their seats like that." During the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals, Rangers coach Mike Keenan, who later coached Bure for one-and-a-half seasons in Vancouver, called him "perhaps the most electrifying forward in the league". The Canucks renamed the award the Pavel Bure Most Exciting Player Award in his honour in 2013.
Bure has been described as a pure goal scorer and is statistically among the top players in NHL history in that regard. In addition to having reached the 50-goal mark in his career five times, and the 60-goal mark twice, his .623 goals per game average is third among the top 100 goal scorers in NHL history, behind Mike Bossy and Mario Lemieux. Michael Farber of the Montreal Gazette described Bure as "the most dangerous scorer in the National Hockey League with the continued absence of Mario Lemieux because Bure can beat a defence with his speed, his strength, his mind. Bure isn't a scorer as much as he is a permanent late-night television guest; he is to highlight packages what Terri Garr is to Letterman."
Personal life
Family
Bure comes from an athletic family; his father Vladimir, who is of Swiss descent (his side of the family originated from Furna, Switzerland), was an Olympic swimmer who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Olympic Games, where he won four medals. Bure retained his father as his personal trainer well into his playing career, before severing ties with him in 1997. Bure's paternal grandfather, Valeri Bure, played goalkeeper for the national water polo team. Both Pavel and his younger brother Valeri became estranged from their father and his second wife, Julia, along with their half-sister Katya, by 1998. Neither brother has explained a reason for the split.
Named after their grandfather, Bure's younger brother, Valeri, was also a hockey player, spending 10 years in the NHL. The two siblings played with each other briefly as members of the Florida Panthers, after Valeri was traded there in 2001, and played together at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics.
The Bure family made precious watches for the Russian tsars from 1815 until 1917, and Bure was named after his great-grandfather, a watchmaker to Tsar Alexander III. As craftspersons to the imperial family, the Bures were granted noble status. After Bure sustained his first serious knee injury in 1995, he pursued the watchmaking business during his rehabilitation period in an attempt to revive the family business. Fifty replicas of the same watches his ancestors made for the Russian imperial family were made and sold at US$30,000 each. Bure presented three of the gold replicas to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and Moscow mayor Yuriy Luzhkov.
Relationships
Five days after arriving in North America from Moscow with his father and brother on September 6, 1991, (his mother Tatiana arrived two months later), Bure married an American fashion model, later revealed to be Jayme Bohn, in a civil ceremony. The marriage was allegedly set up by Bure's agents as a preventative measure against deportation in the event he and the Canucks could not come to terms with a contract. Bure derived no immigration benefit from the marriage, which was dissolved the following year. Bohn became a costume designer in the film and television industry.
After being linked to girlfriend Dahn Bryan, a model and actress, early in his NHL career, Bure shared a relationship with tennis star and fellow Russian Anna Kournikova. The two met in 1999 when she was still linked to Bure's former Russian teammate Sergei Fedorov. Bure and Kournikova were reported to have been engaged in 2000 after reporter Andrew Greven took a photo of them together in a Florida restaurant where Bure supposedly asked Kournikova to marry him. As the story made headlines in Russia, where they were both heavily followed in the media as celebrities, Bure and Kournikova both denied any engagement. Kournikova, 10 years younger than Bure, was 18 years old at the time. The following year, Kournikova and Fedorov were married in Moscow, though they soon divorced.
Bure married 23-year-old model Alina Khasanova on October 10, 2009, in Moscow, with 300 guests present. Pravda has reported, however, that the couple, who had known each other for four years, had officially married on October 10, 2008, in Miami. Together they have three children: Pavel Jr., Palina and Anastasia. Pavel Jr. was born on April 23, 2013; Palina was born on July 20, 2015. Their third child, a daughter named Anastasia, was born on 28 December 2018.
Politics
Bure is known to have frequently played ice hockey with Russian president Vladimir Putin, but has denied having any political ambitions himself in an interview with a Swedish newspaper in 2019.
Legal activity
In 2002, Bure sued the Russian newspaper the eXile for publishing an article stating he broke up with Kournikova because she had two vaginas. Although the newspapers' editorial staff claimed the story was a mere joke, the court ruled in favour of Bure in the amount of 500,000 rubles (US$17,770), and ordered a retraction to be printed. Two years later, on December 27, 2004, the Russian cosmetics chain Arbat Prestige published a story in their free promotional paper that Bure had bragged about Kournikova losing her virginity to him. Shortly thereafter, on January 31, 2005, Bure sued Arbat Prestige for 300 million rubles (US$10.65 million) in a court in Moscow. He also demanded the company print a retraction and apology in a future paper. The court ruled in favour of Bure in November 2005. However, the amount was reduced from 300 million to approximately 320,000 rubles.
On October 31, 2006, nearly a year after his retirement, Bure filed another suit after being kicked off a British Airways flight by the pilot, having been mistaken for a rowdy soccer fan. Despite an apology from the airline company in June 2007, Bure took the issue to court, suing British Airways for 20 million rubles. In late-August 2007, a Russian court ruled in favour of Bure in the amount of 67,000 rubles.
Alleged Mafia connections
During Bure's playing career, much speculation surrounded Russian NHL players and their potential ties to the Russian mafia both as victims and associates. As Soviet players began defecting to the NHL, many cases of extortion began surfacing. The Russian mafia was targeting the players' families still living in Russia. Former teammate Alexander Mogilny was a victim of such an extortion attempt in 1994, while Bure was reported to have made payments amounting to several thousand dollars to Russian extortionists in 1993. Three years later, in 1996, American sports network ESPN aired reports alleging Bure was a potential associate of the Russian mafia because of his relationship with friend and business partner Anzor Kikalishvili, known to both Russian and American police as a suspected criminal and possible Russian mob boss. Bure was revealed to hold a position as vice president in the sports company Twenty First Century Association, owned by Kikalishvili, and reportedly believed by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to be a mafia front worth at least US$100 million in illicit funds. While Bure did not deny his business and personal relationships with Kikalishvili, he refuted reports Kikalishvili was involved in any criminal activity.
Speculation resurfaced in 1999, as Bure was included in an investigation aired by the CBC investigative news program The Fifth Estate that made several supposed associations between Soviet NHL players and the Russian mafia. An allegation arose that Bure's former CSKA teammate Viacheslav Fetisov used a company, of which he was president, to launder money for Vyacheslav Ivankov, considered the "Russian godfather" in North America. Bure's relationship with Kikalishvili continued to be questioned. Bure denied Kikalishvili's involvement in any criminal activity, dismissing the allegations as "rumours".
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
Bold indicates led league
International
a does not include 1988 Quebec Esso Cup (U17)b does not include the 1990 Goodwill Games
Awards
Soviet
International
NHL
Vancouver Canucks
Records
Team
Vancouver Canucks' single-season record, most points by a rookie – 60 in 1991–92 (tied with Ivan Hlinka, 1981–82 and Elias Pettersson, 2018–19)
Vancouver Canucks' single-season record, most goals – 60 in 1992–93 and 1993–94
Vancouver Canucks' all-time playoffs record, most goals – 34 (tied with Trevor Linden)
Vancouver Canucks' all-time record, most shorthanded goals – 24
Vancouver Canucks' single-game record, most goals – four versus the Winnipeg Jets on October 12, 1992 (tied with Rosaire Paiement, Bobby Schmautz, Rick Blight, Petri Skriko, Greg Adams, Tony Tanti, Martin Gélinas, Markus Näslund and Daniel Sedin)
Florida Panthers' single-season record, most goals – 59 in 2000–01
International
World Junior Championships all-time record, most goals – 27 in 21 games (1989–1991)
Winter Olympics single-game record, most goals – five (1998; semifinal vs. Finland)
NHL
NHL record, most goals scored in proportion to team – 29.5% of the Florida Panthers' goals in 2000–01.
Transactions
June 9, 1989 – Drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth round, 113th overall, in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft.
October 31, 1991 – Signed by the Vancouver Canucks to a four-year, $3.5 million contract.
June 16, 1994 – Re-signed by the Vancouver Canucks to a five-year, $24.5 million contract.
January 17, 1999 – Traded by the Vancouver Canucks, along with Bret Hedican, Brad Ference and Vancouver's third-round draft choice (Robert Fried) in 2000, to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Ed Jovanovski, Dave Gagner, Mike Brown, Kevin Weekes and Florida's first-round draft choice (Nathan Smith) in 2000.
February 8, 1999 – Signed by the Florida Panthers to a five-year, $47.5 million deal.
March 18, 2002 – Traded by the Florida Panthers, along with Florida's second-round draft choice in 2002 (Lee Falardeau), to the New York Rangers in exchange for Igor Ulanov, Filip Novak, the Rangers' first-round draft choice in 2002 (Eric Nystrom), the Rangers' second-round draft choice in 2002 (Rob Globke) and the Rangers fourth-round draft choice in 2003 (later traded to the Atlanta Thrashers; Atlanta selected Guillaume Desbiens).
See also
List of NHL statistical leaders
List of NHL players with 50-goal seasons
List of NHL players with 100-point seasons
Notable families in the NHL
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
Pavel Bure's Official Web Site
Category:1971 births
Category:Living people
Category:Calder Trophy winners
Category:EV Landshut players
Category:Florida Panthers players
Category:HC CSKA Moscow players
Category:HC Spartak Moscow players
Category:Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Category:Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Category:IIHF Hall of Fame inductees
Category:New York Rangers players
Category:National Hockey League All-Stars
Category:National Hockey League players with retired numbers
Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Russia
Category:Olympic ice hockey players for Russia
Category:Olympic silver medalists for Russia
Category:Ice hockey people from Moscow
Category:Rocket Richard Trophy winners
Category:Russian ice hockey right wingers
Category:Russian people of Swiss descent
Category:Russian expatriate ice hockey people
Category:Russian expatriate sportspeople in Canada
Category:Soviet ice hockey right wingers
Category:Soviet people of Swiss descent
Category:Vancouver Canucks draft picks
Category:Vancouver Canucks players
Category:Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Category:Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Category:Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Pavel
Category:Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism alumni
Category:Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games
Category:Expatriate ice hockey players in Canada
Category:Russian expatriate sportspeople in Germany
Category:Russian expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Category:Expatriate ice hockey players in the United States
Category:Expatriate ice hockey players in Germany | [
{
"text": "Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes bibliography as a word having two senses: one, a list of books for further study or of works consulted by an author (or enumerative bibliography); the other one, applicable for collectors, is \"the study of books as physical objects\" and \"the systematic description of books as objects\" (or descriptive bibliography).\n\nEtymology \nThe word was used by Greek writers in the first three centuries CE to mean the copying of books by hand. In the 12th century, the word started being used for \"the intellectual activity of composing books.\" The 17th century then saw the emergence of the modern meaning, that of description of books. Currently, the field of bibliography has expanded to include studies that consider the book as a material object. Bibliography, in its systematic pursuit of understanding the past and the present through written and printed documents, describes a way and means of extracting information from this material. Bibliographers are interested in comparing versions of texts to each other rather than in interpreting their meaning or assessing their significance.\n\nField of study \nBibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868–1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about \"the science of bibliography.\" However, there have recently been voices claiming that \"the bibliographical paradigm\" is obsolete, and it is not today common in LIS. A defence of the bibliographical paradigm was provided by Hjørland (2007).\n\nThe quantitative study of bibliographies is known as bibliometrics, which is today an influential subfield in LIS and is used for major collection decisions such as the cancellation of big deals, through data analysis tools like Unpaywall Journals.\n\nBranches \nCarter and Barker describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). These two distinct concepts and practices have separate rationales and serve differing purposes. Innovators and originators in the field include W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, Philip Gaskell and G. Thomas Tanselle.\n\nBowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production (3). He refers to descriptive bibliography as the systematic description of a book as a material or physical artefact. Analytical bibliography, the cornerstone of descriptive bibliography, investigates the printing and all physical features of a book that yield evidence establishing a book's history and transmission (Feather 10). It is the preliminary phase of bibliographic description and provides the vocabulary, principles and techniques of analysis that descriptive bibliographers apply and on which they base their descriptive practice.\n\nDescriptive bibliographers follow specific conventions and associated classification in their description. Titles and title pages are transcribed in a quasi-facsimile style and representation. Illustration, typeface, binding, paper, and all physical elements related to identifying a book follow formulaic conventions, as Bowers established in his foundational opus, The Principles of Bibliographic Description. The thought expressed in this book expands substantively on W. W. Greg's groundbreaking theory that argued for the adoption of formal bibliographic principles (Greg 29). Fundamentally, analytical bibliography is concerned with objective, physical analysis and history of a book while descriptive bibliography employs all data that analytical bibliography furnishes and then codifies it with a view to identifying the ideal copy or form of a book that most nearly represents the printer's initial conception and intention in printing.\n\nIn addition to viewing bibliographic study as being composed of four interdependent approaches (enumerative, descriptive, analytical, and textual), Bowers notes two further subcategories of research, namely historical bibliography and aesthetic bibliography. Both historical bibliography, which involves the investigation of printing practices, tools, and related documents, and aesthetic bibliography, which examines the art of designing type and books, are often employed by analytical bibliographers.\n\nD. F. McKenzie extended previous notions of bibliography as set forth by Greg, Bowers, Gaskell and Tanselle. He describes the nature of bibliography as \"the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the processes of their transmission, including their production and reception\" (1999 12). This concept broadens the scope of bibliography to include \"non-book texts\" and an accounting for their material form and structure, as well as textual variations, technical and production processes that bring sociocultural context and effects into play. McKenzie's perspective contextualizes textual objects or artefacts with sociological and technical factors that have an effect on production, transmission and, ultimately, ideal copy (2002 14). Bibliography, generally, concerns the material conditions of books [as well as other texts] how they are designed, edited, printed, circulated, reprinted, collected.\n\nBibliographic works differ in the amount of detail depending on the purpose and can generally be divided into two categories: enumerative bibliography (also called compilative, reference or systematic), which results in an overview of publications in a particular category and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books. In earlier times, bibliography mostly focused on books. Now, both categories of bibliography cover works in other media including audio recordings, motion pictures and videos, graphic objects, databases, CD-ROMs and websites.\n\nEnumerative bibliography \n\nAn enumerative bibliography is a systematic list of books and other works such as journal articles. Bibliographies range from \"works cited\" lists at the end of books and articles, to complete and independent publications. A notable example of a complete, independent publication is Gow's A. E. Housman: A Sketch, Together with a List of His Classical Papers (1936). As separate works, they may be in bound volumes such as those shown on the right, or computerized bibliographic databases. A library catalog, while not referred to as a \"bibliography,\" is bibliographic in nature. Bibliographical works are almost always considered to be tertiary sources.\n\nEnumerative bibliographies are based on a unifying principle such as creator, subject, date, topic or other characteristic. An entry in an enumerative bibliography provides the core elements of a text resource including a title, the creator(s), publication date and place of publication. Belanger (1977) distinguishes an enumerative bibliography from other bibliographic forms such as descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography or textual bibliography in that its function is to record and list, rather than describe a source in detail or with any reference to the source's physical nature, materiality or textual transmission. The enumerative list may be comprehensive or selective. One noted example would be Tanselle's bibliography that exhaustively enumerates topics and sources related to all forms of bibliography. A more common and particular instance of an enumerative bibliography relates to specific sources used or considered in preparing a scholarly paper or academic term paper.\n\nCitation styles vary.\nAn entry for a book in a bibliography usually contains the following elements:\n creator(s)\n title\n place of publication\n publisher or printer\n date of publication\n\nAn entry for a journal or periodical article usually contains:\n creator(s)\n article title\n journal title\n volume\n pages\n date of publication\n\nA bibliography may be arranged by author, topic, or some other scheme. Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument. These descriptions, usually a few sentences long, provide a summary of the source and describe its relevance. Reference management software may be used to keep track of references and generate bibliographies as required.\n\nBibliographies differ from library catalogs by including only relevant items rather than all items present in a particular library. However, the catalogs of some national libraries effectively serve as national bibliographies, as the national libraries own almost all their countries' publications.\n\nDescriptive bibliography \nFredson Bowers described and formulated a standardized practice of descriptive bibliography in his Principles of Bibliographical Description\n(1949). Scholars to this day treat Bowers' scholarly guide as authoritative. In this classic text, Bowers describes the basic function of bibliography as, \"[providing] sufficient data so that a reader may identify the book described, understand the printing, and recognize the precise contents\" (124).\n\nDescriptive bibliographies as scholarly product \nDescriptive bibliographies as a scholarly product usually include information on the following aspect of a given book as a material object:\nFormat and Collation/Pagination Statement—a conventional, symbolic formula that describes the book block in terms of sheets, folds, quires, signatures, and pages\n\nAccording to Bowers (193), the format of a book is usually abbreviated in the collation formula:\nBroadsheet: I° or b.s. or bs.\nFolio: 2° or fol.\nQuarto: 4° or 4to or Q° or Q\nOctavo: 8° or 8vo\nDuodecimo: 12° or 12mo\nSexto-decimo: 16° or 16mo\nTricesimo-secundo: 32° or 32mo\nSexagesimo-quarto: 64° or 64mo\nThe collation, which follows the format, is the statement of the order and size of the gatherings.\nFor example, a quarto that consists of the signed gatherings:\n2 leaves signed A, 4 leaves signed B, 4 leaves signed C, and 2 leaves signed D\nwould be represented in the collation formula:\n4°: A2B-C4D2\nBinding—a description of the binding techniques (generally for books printed after 1800)\nTitle Page Transcription—a transcription of the title page, including rule lines and ornaments\nContents—a listing of the contents (by section) in the book\nPaper—a description of the physical properties of the paper, including production process, an account of chain-line measurements, and a description of watermarks (if present)\nIllustrations—a description of the illustrations found in the book, including printing process (e.g. woodblock, intaglio, etc.), measurements, and locations in the text\nPresswork—miscellaneous details gleaned from the text about its production\nCopies Examined—an enumeration of the copies examined, including those copies' location (i.e. belonging to which library or collector)\n\nAnalytical bibliography \nThis branch of the bibliographic discipline examines the material features of a textual artefact—such as type, ink, paper, imposition, format, impressions and states of a book—to essentially recreate the conditions of its production. Analytical bibliography often uses collateral evidence—such as general printing practices, trends in format, responses and non-responses to design, etc.—to scrutinize the historical conventions and influences underlying the physical appearance of a text. The bibliographer utilizes knowledge gained from the investigation of physical evidence in the form of a descriptive bibliography or textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination and cataloging of a text as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while textual bibliography (or textual criticism) identifies variations—and the aetiology of variations—in a text with a view to determining \"the establishment of the most correct form of [a] text\" (Bowers 498[1]).\n\nBibliographers \n\nA bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. A person who limits such efforts to a specific field or discipline is a subject bibliographer.\"\n\nA bibliographer, in the technical meaning of the word, is anyone who writes about books. But the accepted meaning since at least the 18th century is a person who attempts a comprehensive account—sometimes just a list, sometimes a fuller reckoning—of the books written on a particular subject. In the present, bibliography is no longer a career, generally speaking; bibliographies tend to be written on highly specific subjects and by specialists in the field.\n\nThe term bibliographer is sometimes—in particular subject bibliographer—today used about certain roles performed in libraries and bibliographic databases.\n\nOne of the first bibliographers was Conrad Gessner who sought to list all books printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in Bibliotheca Universalis (1545).\n\nNon-book material \nSystematic lists of media other than books can be referred to with terms formed analogously to bibliography:\n Discography—recorded music\n Filmography—films\n Webography (or webliography)—websites\n Arachniography, a term coined by NASA research historian Andrew J. Butrica, which means a reference list of URLs about a particular subject. It is equivalent to a bibliography in a book. The name derives from arachne in reference to a spider and its web.\n\nSee also \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (in Wikipedia)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Blum, Rudolf. (1980) Bibliographia. An Inquiry in Its Definition and Designations, Dawson, American Library Association.\n Bowers, Fredson. (1995) Principles of Bibliographical Description, Oak Knoll Press.\n Duncan, Paul Shaner. (1973) How to Catalog a Rare Book, 2nd ed., rev., American Library Association.\n \n Gaskell, Philip. (2000) A New Introduction to Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press.\n McKerrow, R. B. (1927) An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford: Clarendon Press\n Schneider, Georg. (1934) Theory and History of Bibliography, New York: Scarecrow Press.\n National Library of Canada, Committee on Bibliography and Information Services for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Guidelines for the Compilation of a Bibliography (National Library of Canada, 1987). N.B.: This is a brief guide to accurately practical bibliography, not a study concerning more precise and systematic bibliography.\n \nRobinson, A. M. Lewin (1966) Systematic Bibliography; rev. ed. London: Clive Bingley\n\nExternal links \n\n Oxford Bibliographies Online, in-depth annotated bibliographies by scholars in selected fields\n Introduction to Bibliography, a comprehensive syllabus by G. Thomas Tanselle\n The Bibliographical Society of America, a resource for information about current work in the field of bibliography\n Studies in Bibliography, the journal of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia\n A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology, (University of Zaragoza) includes thousands of listings on literary, philological and other subjects\n\n \nCategory:Book design\nCategory:Book terminology\nCategory:Textual scholarship",
"title": "Bibliography"
},
{
"text": "Pavel (Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and Macedonian: Павел, Czech, Slovene, Romanian: Pavel, Polish: Paweł, Ukrainian: Павло, Pavlo) is a male given name. It is a Slavic cognate of the name Paul (derived from the Greek Pavlos). Pavel may refer to:\n\nPeople\n\nGiven name\nPavel I of Russia (1754–1801), Emperor of Russia\nPaweł Adamowicz (1965–2019), Polish politician\nPaweł Brożek (born 1983), Polish footballer\nPaweł Cibicki (born 1994), Swedish footballer\nPaweł Deląg (born 1970), Polish actor\nPaweł Fajdek (born 1989), Polish hammer thrower\nPaweł Jasienica (1909–1970), Polish historian, journalist, essayist and soldier\nPaweł Łukaszewski (born 1968), Polish composer\nPaweł Mąciwoda (born 1967), Polish bassist for the German rock band Scorpions\nPaweł Mykietyn (born 1971), Polish composer\nPavel Nedvěd (born 1972), Czech footballer \nPaweł Pawlikowski (born 1957), Polish film director\nPaweł Edmund Strzelecki (1797–1873), Polish explorer, geologist, environmentalist and philanthropist\nPaweł Włodkowic (ca. 1370–1435), Polish scholar, jurist and rector of the Kraków Academy\nPaweł Wszołek (born 1992), Polish footballer\nPaweł Zagumny (born 1997), Polish volleyball player\nPavel (film director), an Indian Bengali film director\n\nSurname\nÁgoston Pável (1886–1946), Hungarian Slovene writer, poet, ethnologist, linguist and historian\nAndrei Pavel (born 1974), Romanian tennis coach and former professional tennis player\nClaudia Pavel (born 1984), Romanian pop singer and dancer also known as Claudia Cream\nElisabeth Pavel (born 1990), Romanian basketball player\nErnst Pavel, Romanian sprint canoeist who competed in the early 1970s\nHarry Pavel (born 1951), German wheelchair curler, 2018 Winter Paralympian\nMarcel Pavel (born 1959), Romanian folk singer\nPavel Pavel (born 1957), Czech engineer and experimental archaeologist\nPetr Pavel (born 1961), president of Czech Republic, former army general\nSzarlota Pawel (1950–2018), Polish comic book artist\n\nFictional characters\nPavel Korchagin, in How the Steel Was Tempered\nPavel Chekov, in Star Trek\nDoctor Leonid Pavel, in The Dark Knight Rises\nPavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov, in The Brothers Karamazov\nFra Pavel, in His Dark Materials\nPavel, in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas\nPavel Morozov, in Metro: Last Light\nPavel, in Grand Theft Auto Online\nPavel, in Epic Seven\nPavel Vlasov in The Mother\n\nSee also\n Paval (disambiguation)\n Pavol\n Pavao (given name)\n Pavle\n\nReferences\n\nCategory:Bulgarian masculine given names\nCategory:Czech masculine given names\nCategory:Russian masculine given names\nCategory:Macedonian masculine given names\nCategory:Romanian masculine given names\nCategory:Romanian-language surnames",
"title": "Pavel"
}
] | [
"During his first season with the New York Rangers after being traded, Pavel Bure scored 12 goals and 20 points in 12 games. He finished the season with 34 goals and 69 points in total, taking into account his performance on both teams. In his first 27 games of the 2002-03 season, he scored 14 goals and 21 points before a knee injury took him out of play. After returning later that season, he played in 39 games and achieved 19 goals and 30 points.",
"The context does not provide information on Pavel Bure's specific position on the New York Rangers team.",
"Pavel Bure was traded from the Florida Panthers to the New York Rangers.",
"The context does not provide information on the details of Pavel Bure's contract when he was traded to the New York Rangers.",
"Yes, Pavel Bure was both ill and injured during his time with the New York Rangers. He suffered from a knee injury in the 2002-03 pre-season and missed the first three games of the regular season due to the injury combined with a case of strep throat. Later in that season, a knee-on-knee collision caused him to have surgery to repair a tear to the meniscus in his left knee. The lingering effects of the knee injury caused him to miss the 2003-04 season entirely, even after undergoing two operations.",
"Pavel Bure missed the entire 2003-04 season due to the lingering effects of his knee injury. The context does not specify how long he was out for the 2002-03 season, but it mentions that he missed the first three games and then had to stop playing again after a knee-on-knee collision in December. After undergoing surgery 10 days later, he returned at some point later in the season to play a total of 39 games.",
"The context does not provide specific information on whether the New York Rangers were concerned about Pavel Bure's injury. However, Bure failed a pre-season physical and was declared medically unable to play. The Rangers also left him unprotected in the NHL's Waiver Draft, where he went unclaimed, suggesting there may have been some concerns related to his injury."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_0 | Taryn Terrell | Taryn Nicole Terrell-Dryden (born December 28, 1985) is an American professional wrestler, ring announcer, referee, model, actress and stunt woman. She is best known for her time with Impact Wrestling, formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under her real name Taryn Terrell and also had short stint in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where she performed under the ring name Tiffany. She is a former TNA Knockouts Champion, and she holds the record for the longest reign with the title at 279 days. During her time in WWE, she trained at WWE's then-developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), and served as the final general manager of the now-defunct ECW. | Knockouts referee and feud with Gail Kim (2012-2013) | On August 16, 2012, Terrell made her debut for TNA, being introduced by the Vice President of the Knockouts Division, Brooke Hogan, as the special guest referee for the TNA Women's Knockout Championship match between Madison Rayne and Miss Tessmacher. Terrell later became the official referee for the Knockouts division. On January 13, 2013, at Genesis, Terrell began a storyline with Gail Kim after making a bad call during a gauntlet match, thus costing Kim's chance to become the number one contender to the Knockouts Championship. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell appeared backstage with Kim, who told Terrell not to make another mistake. Later that night, during Kim's match with Velvet Sky, Kim would argue with Terrell, costing herself the match in the process. On the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell helped Sky defeat Tara, Miss Tessmacher and Kim in a fatal four-way elimination match, with Sky lastly eliminating Kim to win the Knockouts Championship after Kim provoked Terrell into getting involved in the match. On March 10 at Lockdown, towards the end of the Knockouts Championship match, Terrell would attack Kim, again costing her the title. After the match, Terrell was attacked by Kim backstage during an interview. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Kim revealed that Brooke Hogan put Terrell on probation for attacking Kim. In a tag team match between Mickie James and Velvet Sky against Gail Kim and Tara, Terrell would again cost Kim the match by attacking her. On the March 21 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell was terminated as Knockouts referee by Hogan, and was subsequently signed as a TNA Knockout. On the March 28 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell challenged Kim to a match, however the match never started when Kim and Tara attacked Terrell, only to be saved by the Knockouts Champion, Velvet Sky. On the April 4 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell and Sky were defeated by Kim and Tara after the special guest referee Joey Ryan made a fast count on Terrell. Terrell finally faced Kim in a match on the April 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, which Terrell won. On the May 2 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell and Mickie James defeated Kim and Tara. After the match, Kim attacked Terrell. The rivalry between Terrell and Kim culminated in a Last Knockout Standing match on June 2 at Slammiversary XI, which Terrell would win. On the July 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell was defeated by Kim in a ladder match to determine the number one contender to the Knockouts Championship. The following month, Terrell was granted time off from TNA due to her real life pregnancy. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_0_q#0",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_0_q#1",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_0_q#2",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_0_q#3",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_0_q#4",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_0_q#5",
"C_96bdfa822dc04d1ca68cd5918ad7dfdd_0_q#6"
] | [
"Why did she have a feud with Gail Kim?",
"Was Gail a top wrestler during this time?",
"What types of fights did they get into?",
"WHat match did it cost her?",
"Did Terell fight in pairs or more?",
"Did they win?",
"What event happened in 2012 to Terell?"
] | [
0,
2,
0,
0,
0,
2,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
0,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
356
],
[
2277
],
[
684
],
[
940
],
[
840
],
[
940
],
[
0
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Terrell began a storyline with Gail Kim after making a bad call during a gauntlet match, thus costing Kim's chance to become the number one contender"
],
[
"The rivalry between Terrell and Kim culminated in a Last Knockout Standing match on June 2 at Slammiversary XI, which Terrell would win."
],
[
"during Kim's match with Velvet Sky, Kim would argue with Terrell, costing herself the match in the process."
],
[
"Sky lastly eliminating Kim to win the Knockouts Championship after Kim provoked Terrell into getting involved in the match."
],
[
"Terrell helped Sky defeat Tara, Miss Tessmacher and Kim in a fatal four-way elimination match,"
],
[
"Sky lastly eliminating Kim to win the Knockouts Championship after Kim provoked Terrell into getting involved in the match."
],
[
"On August 16, 2012, Terrell made her debut for TNA, being introduced by the Vice President of the Knockouts Division,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
356,
2277,
684,
940,
840,
940,
0
],
"texts": [
"Terrell began a storyline with Gail Kim after making a bad call during a gauntlet match, thus costing Kim's chance to become the number one contender",
"The rivalry between Terrell and Kim culminated in a Last Knockout Standing match on June 2 at Slammiversary XI, which Terrell would win.",
"during Kim's match with Velvet Sky, Kim would argue with Terrell, costing herself the match in the process.",
"Sky lastly eliminating Kim to win the Knockouts Championship after Kim provoked Terrell into getting involved in the match.",
"Terrell helped Sky defeat Tara, Miss Tessmacher and Kim in a fatal four-way elimination match,",
"Sky lastly eliminating Kim to win the Knockouts Championship after Kim provoked Terrell into getting involved in the match.",
"On August 16, 2012, Terrell made her debut for TNA, being introduced by the Vice President of the Knockouts Division,"
]
} | Taryn Nicole Dryden (née Terrell; born December 28, 1985) is an American model, actress, stuntwoman, ring announcer, and a retired professional wrestler.
She is best known for her time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), under her real name, and for her time in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Tiffany. She is a former TNA Knockouts Champion, where her 279-day reign stood as the longest reign in the title's history until 2019. During her time in WWE, she trained at WWE's then-developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), and served as the final general manager of the now-defunct ECW brand. She worked in National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 2021 up until her retirement on November 10, 2022.
Professional wrestling career
World Wrestling Entertainment
Florida Championship Wrestling (2007–2010)
Terrell tried out for the 2007 WWE Diva Search. She made it to the final eight, but was eliminated fourth. In February 2008, WWE signed her to a developmental contract.
Terrell debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), WWE's developmental territory, alongside Beverly Mullins, and they competed in various matches together, including lingerie matches. Soon afterwards, Terrell and Mullins drifted apart, leading to Terrell receiving a larger singles wrestling role as she competed against various other FCW Divas, including Mullins (now renamed to Wesley Holiday), Miss Angela, The Bella Twins, Alicia Fox, and Roucka. Terrell made her FCW television debut when she competed in a twist competition, which ended in a no contest. She and Angela were then used as ring announcers. On the March 11, 2008, episode of FCW TV, Terrell teamed up with Nic Nemeth and Brad Allen to defeat The Puerto Rican Nightmares (Eric Pérez, Eddie Colón and Angela Fong). On the August 2, 2008, episode of FCW TV, Terrell teamed up with The Bella Twins to defeat Alicia Fox, Roucka and Daisy and again on August 9, 2008.
Later on, Terrell, now renamed Tiffany, lost her first FCW televised match in a fatal four-way match including Roucka, Holiday, and Fox. She then teamed with Nikki Bella and Eve Torres on the December 14 episode of FCW TV to defeat Roucka, Holiday, and Fox. Tiffany participated in the tournament to determine the inaugural Queen of FCW, and defeated Holiday in the first round before losing to Fox in the semi-finals. She teamed up with Angela Fong on several occasions, and also competed against Serena Mancini, AJ Lee, and Fox in a four-pack challenge to determine the new number one contender to the Queen of FCW crown, but was unsuccessful.
On July 30, 2009, episode of FCW TV, Tiffany tamed up with Angela Fong and April Lee to defeat Alicia Fox, Roucka and Serena Deeb in a 6-Diva tag team match. On the August 6 episode of FCW TV, Tiffany and Yoshi Tatsu defeated Fox and Ricky Ortiz in a mixed tag team match. Tiffany unsuccessfully challenged the newly crowned Serena Mancini for the Queen of FCW crown and injured her humerus bone, on the September 24 taping of FCW TV. She returned on the February 19, 2010, episode of FCW TV, teaming with Aksana to defeat Courtney Taylor and Liviana in a tag team match.
Brand switches (2008–2010)
On the June 10, 2008, episode of ECW, Terrell made her main roster debut as Tiffany, the on-screen Assistant General Manager under Theodore Long. Tiffany participated in the Halloween costume contest on October 26 at the Cyber Sunday pay-per-view, and was dressed as a nun. Tiffany made her in-ring debut in a 16-Diva tag team match on the 800th episode of Raw teaming up with Mickie James, Candice Michelle, Michelle McCool, Brie Bella, Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres and WWE Hall of Famer Mae Young against Beth Phoenix, Layla, Lena Yada, Jillian Hall, Natalya, Maryse, Victoria and Katie Lea Burchill, which her team lost, despite Tiffany never being tagged into the match.
On the March 30, 2009, episode of Raw, Tiffany competed in an 18-Diva tag team match, which she won for her team by pinning Katie Lea Burchill. On April 5, Tiffany made her WrestleMania debut as she competed in a 25 Diva battle royal at WrestleMania XXV to crown the first-ever "Miss WrestleMania", which was won by Santina Marella. On the April 7 episode of ECW, Tiffany was announced by Theodore Long as the new General Manager of ECW due to Long returning to SmackDown to again become its General Manager. As the new General Manager, her first order was to announce an elimination chase to determine who would face Jack Swagger for the ECW Championship at Backlash, with the participants being Mark Henry, Tommy Dreamer, Christian and Finlay, which Christian would ultimately win. In late June 2009, Tiffany was promoted to full-time General Manager of ECW. However, Tiffany was absent from television due to a storyline car accident with William Regal. In reality, Tiffany had injured her arm in an FCW match. She returned on the October 6 episode of ECW. On the final episode of ECW on February 16, 2010, Tiffany speared Rosa Mendes after she and Zack Ryder interfered in the ECW Championship match.
On the March 5, 2010, episode of SmackDown, Tiffany made her debut for the brand in a backstage segment, being welcomed by Rey Mysterio. On the March 12 episode of SmackDown, Tiffany made her in-ring debut, winning a match against Michelle McCool via disqualification after Vickie Guerrero interfered. Following the match, McCool, Guerrero, and Layla attacked Tiffany, until she was saved by Beth Phoenix. The following week, Tiffany and Phoenix defeated McCool and Layla (collectively known as LayCool) in a tag team match, and again in a rematch on the April 2 episode of SmackDown.
Tiffany then formed an alliance with Kelly Kelly, with the pair being dubbed "The Blondetourage", and they continued to feud with LayCool. On the June 12 of SmackDown!, Tiffany lost her first singles match to Layla after an interference from McCool. On May 21 episode of SmackDown!, Tiffany and Kelly lost to LayCool in a tag team match. On the July 2 episode of SmackDown!, Tiffany managed Kelly where she defeated McCool, and during the match Tiffany stopped Layla from interfering. On the July 10 episode of Superstars, Tiffany and Kelly again lost to LayCool. On the July 16 episode of SmackDown!, Tiffany managed Kelly and Chris Masters where they defeated Layla and Trent Barreta after interference from Rosa Mendes. She also managed Kelly in her WWE Women's Championship match against Layla at Money in the Bank. On July 23 episode of SmackDown!, Theodore Long announced that Tiffany would receive a match for the Women's Championship, which occurred on the July 30 episode of Smackdown, however she failed to capture the championship. She was originally scheduled to fight Layla, however, she instead fought McCool, as the two defended the title under the Freebird rule.
On August 13, 2010, it was reported that WWE had suspended Terrell because of an incident involving her real-life husband, Drew McIntyre. Before she could return to WWE programming, Terrell was released from her contract on November 19, 2010.
Independent circuit (2010–2013)
On December 4, 2010, it was announced that Terrell would make her independent circuit debut in a match against Alissa Flash at the Pro Wrestling Revolution's ChickFight event in San Francisco, California, on February 5, 2011. On January 4, 2011, it was announced that Terrell had pulled out of the show, citing personal reasons. ChickFight later claimed that the promotion could not cater to Terrell's requests that she had made despite already having an agreement with the promotion.
On April 5, 2012, Terrell made her debut for Powerslam Brewsky Brawl, where she teamed up with Jack Jameson to defeat Barbi Hayden and Houston Carson. On April 8, Terrell made appearance at Coastal Wrestling Federation, where she teamed with Sho Funaki in a winning effort, again defeating Hayden and Carson. Earlier in that event, Terrell defeated Jen Alise in singles match. Terrell also appeared at Maryland Championship Wrestling's Bodyslam Autism event on April 27, 2013.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)
Ohio Valley Wrestling (2012–2013)
On November 4, 2012, Terrell made her debut for Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)'s then-developmental branch, at OVW's Saturday Night Special event, being introduced as the special guest referee for the OVW Women's Championship match between Josette Bynum, Taeler Hendrix, and Heidi Lovelace. During the match, Terrell ignited a feud with Hendrix after Terrell cost Hendrix the match, after she put her hands on Terrell. On the November 10 episode of OVW, Terrell was interrupted by Hendrix during an interview, who then provoked Terrell, only to get attacked in return. Later that event, Terrell refereed a tag team match between Lovelace, Jessie Belle against Hendrix and Epiphany.
Terrell made her in-ring debut on the November 17 episode of OVW, where she defeated Heidi Lovelace with Hendrix as special guest referee to win the OVW Women's Championship. On the November 24 episode of OVW, Terrell defeated Scarlett Bordeaux in a non-title match, but was attacked by Hendrix post-match. On the November 28 episode OVW, Terrell attacked Hendrix during an in-ring segment, but was stopped by Bostic. OVW announced that Terrell issued a challenged to Hendrix at OVW's Saturday Night Special with the OVW Women's Championship on the line, with the stipulation that the loser will swim in a pool of "animal feces". At the event on December 1, Terrell lost the Women's Championship to Hendrix. After the match, Hendrix tried to attack Terrell, but she gained a measure of revenge when she moved out the way and Hendrix fell in the pool.
Knockouts referee and feud with Gail Kim (2012–2013)
On August 16, 2012, Terrell made her debut for TNA, being introduced by the Vice President of the Knockouts Division, Brooke Hogan, as the special guest referee for the Impact Women's Knockout Championship match between Madison Rayne and Miss Tessmacher. Terrell later became the official referee for the Knockouts division.
On January 13, 2013, at Genesis, Terrell began a storyline with Gail Kim after making a bad call during a gauntlet match, thus costing Kim's chance to become the number one contender to the Knockouts Championship. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell appeared backstage with Kim, who told Terrell not to make another mistake. Later that night, during Kim's match with Velvet Sky, Kim would argue with Terrell, costing herself the match in the process. On the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell helped Sky defeat Tara, Miss Tessmacher and Kim in a fatal four–way elimination match, with Sky lastly eliminating Kim to win the Knockouts Championship after Kim provoked Terrell into getting involved in the match. On March 10 at Lockdown, towards the end of the Knockouts Championship match, Terrell would attack Kim, again costing her the title. After the match, Terrell was attacked by Kim backstage during an interview. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Kim revealed that Brooke Hogan put Terrell on probation for attacking Kim. In a tag team match between Mickie James and Velvet Sky against Gail Kim and Tara, Terrell would again cost Kim the match by attacking her.
On the March 21 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell was terminated as Knockouts referee by Hogan, and was subsequently signed as an impact Knockout. On the March 28 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell challenged Kim to a match, however the match never started when Kim and Tara attacked Terrell, only to be saved by the Knockouts Champion, Velvet Sky. On the April 4 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell and Sky were defeated by Kim and Tara after the special guest referee Joey Ryan made a fast count on Terrell. Terrell finally faced Kim in a match on the April 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, which Terrell won. On the May 2 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell and Mickie James defeated Kim and Tara. After the match, Kim attacked Terrell. The rivalry between Terrell and Kim culminated in a Last Knockout Standing match on June 2 at Slammiversary XI, which Terrell would win. On the July 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell was defeated by Kim in a ladder match to determine the number one contender to the Knockouts Championship. The following month, Terrell was granted time off from Impact Wrestling due to her real life pregnancy.
Knockouts Champion and departure (2014–2016)
Terrell made her televised return on the June 19, 2014, episode of Impact Wrestling, being welcomed by her former rival Gail Kim and later interrupted by The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky). This led to Terrell's in–ring return, the following week on Impact Wrestling, where Kim and Terrell defeated Love and Sky in a tag team match. Terrell went on to unsuccessfully challenge Kim for the TNA Knockouts Championship on July 24 and on August 14 in a fatal four–way match also involving Love and Sky. After defeating the evil Madison Rayne on August 27 to become the number one contender, Terrell received her title match on the September 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, where she was again unsuccessful. After the match, both Terrell and Kim were attacked by the debuting Havok.
On the November 19 episode of Impact Wrestling, Terrell defeated newly crowned champion Havok and Gail Kim in a three–way match to win the TNA Knockouts Championship for the first time. On January 7, 2015, during Impact Wrestlings debut on Destination America, Terrell successfully defended the championship in a battle royal against the other TNA Knockouts, lastly eliminating Havok. Terrell went on to successfully retain her championship in various matches: on January 30 against Kim and Madison Rayne in a three–way match and against Angelina Love on February 20. After that Terrell started a feud with the recently returned Awesome Kong, after Kong attacked her. This led to a match between the two, on March 6, which Taryn won via disqualification and Kong would continue her attack after the match, with Kim making the save. This led to a three–way match, where Terrell again prevailed. On April 18, Terrell became the new longest reigning TNA Knockouts Champion in history, surpassing Kim's previous record of 210 days.
On the special episode of Impact Wrestling, titled TKO: Night of Knockouts on April 24, Terrell retained her championship against Kong in a no disqualification match after The Dollhouse (Jade and Marti Bell) interfered and attacked Kong, ultimately assisting Terrell in putting Kong through a table as a "receipt" for an earlier attack in which Kong put Terrell through a table. After the match, Terrell transitioned into a villainess for the first time in her wrestling career and joined The Dollhouse as their leader. Terrell retained her championship on the Hardcore Justice episode of Impact Wrestling on May 1, against Brooke, with help from Jade and Marti. In their first match as a team, the following week, The Dollhouse were defeated by Kong and Kim in a three–on–two handicap match. On the May 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, in a steel cage match, Terrell again retained her championship against Kim. At Slammiversary XIII, The Dollhouse were defeated by Kong and Brooke in another three–on–two handicap match. After successfully retaining her championship against Brooke and Kong in a three–way match, Terrell lost the championship to Brooke, on the July 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, after interference from Gail Kim, ending her reign at 279 days. After her loss, Terrell went on a hiatus citing a hand injury, courtesy of Kim but continued to appear in segments on the jumbotron, orchestrating attacks on various Knockouts. During her absence, Rebel joined The Dollhouse. On January 4, 2016, Terrell announced that she had parted ways with the company, describing her departure as a personal decision.
On October 2, 2016, Terrell made an appearance at Bound for Glory alongside Awesome Kong, Christy Hemme, and Chairman Dixie Carter to induct Gail Kim into the TNA Hall of Fame.
Return to Impact Wrestling (2017)
On August 17, 2017, at Destination X, Terrell made her return to the newly rebranded Impact Wrestling, attacking Gail Kim during her GFW Knockouts Championship match against Sienna. On the September 7 episode of Impact!, in her first match back after her one and a half year hiatus, Terrell teamed with Sienna and defeated Kim and Allie in a tag team match. On October 20, 2017, it was announced that Terrell had departed Impact Wrestling.
National Wrestling Alliance (2021–2022)
On March 21, 2021, Terrell made her NWA debut on commentary during the women's match between Thunder Rosa and Kamille. On the June 6, at When Our Shadows Fall, Terrell teamed with Kylie Rae and won their debut match against Thunder Rosa and Melina Perez. With her arrival to NWA, Terrell started managing Jennacide and Paola Blaze. The trio teamed together on August 29 at the pre-show of NWA 73rd Anniversary Show to challenge the NWA World Women's Tag Team Champions The Hex (Allysin Kay and Marti Belle), alongside Lady Frost in a six-woman tag team match, but were unsuccessful.
On February 12, 2022, at NWA PowerrrTrip, Terrell received a title match for the NWA World Women's Championship when she challenged the champion Kamille, but was unsuccessful. On the March 21 episode of Powerrr, as Blaze and Jennacide lost to Women's World Tag Team Champions The Hex in a title match, they were forced to dissolved as a team, due to a stipulation that was made before the match, thus ending Terrell managing the two. Terrell would quickly find an ally in Natalia Markova. On November 10, Terrell confirmed her retirement from professional wrestling and leaving NWA.
Acting career
Terrell made a special appearance on The Showbiz Show with David Spade in 2007. Terrell was featured in a segment on Lopez Tonight on August 4, 2010. She received her start in acting after appearing alongside Will Ferrell in the 2012 comedy film The Campaign. She was later hired as a stunt double for Kayla Ewell in the film The Demented.
Filmography
Personal life
Terrell attended the University of New Orleans, majoring in marketing. Terrell is a co-leader for a volunteer mission group called Hope Children's Home that provides love and time to children that have been neglected, abused, and discarded. Terrell is a founder for a volunteer mission foundation called Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
In 2008, Terrell became a vegan due to animal rights. However, she revealed she was no longer a vegan in 2010.
She is also a convert to Christianity.
Terrell first appeared in Playboy in the special College Girls edition of January 2007. She next appeared in the February/March 2010 issue of the Playboy Lingerie Special Edition. The photos were an accumulation of previous photoshoots that she had done for the magazine prior to signing with WWE, and show her fully naked. She appeared again in Playboy in November 2010, in the special issue Big Boobs, Hot Buns, with the photos having been taken prior to her signing with WWE. Terrell has appeared in an issue of Maxim and on Sky Sports.com.
Terrell previously dated Alfonso Ribeiro in 2008. Terrell became engaged to Drew Galloway, who appears on-screen as wrestler Drew McIntyre, in July 2009. The couple married in Las Vegas in May 2010. On May 24, 2011, Terrell announced that she and Galloway were divorcing.
Terrell gave birth to a girl named Emerson on March 2, 2014. Terrell married professional motorcyclist and stunt man Joseph Dryden in 2015.
Championships and accomplishments
Ohio Valley Wrestling OVW Women's Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' Ranked No. 10 of the best 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2015
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling'''
TNA Knockouts Championship (1 time)
Impact Year End Awards
Knockout of The Year (2014)
References
External links
Taryn Terrell Impact Wrestling Profile
Category:1985 births
Category:Female models from Florida
Category:Actresses from Tampa, Florida
Category:American female professional wrestlers
Category:American film actresses
Category:American stunt performers
Category:American television actresses
Category:Converts to Christianity
Category:Female models from Louisiana
Category:Glamour models
Category:Living people
Category:Sportspeople from New Orleans
Category:Professional wrestlers from Louisiana
Category:Professional wrestling authority figures
Category:Professional wrestling managers and valets
Category:Professional wrestling referees
Category:University of New Orleans alumni
Category:WWE Diva Search contestants
Category:21st-century American women
Category:21st-century female professional wrestlers
Category:TNA/Impact Knockouts World Champions
Category:OVW Women's Champions | [] | [
"The feud between Terrell and Gail Kim started after Terrell made a bad call as a referee during a gauntlet match which cost Kim her chance to become the number one contender to the Knockouts Championship.",
"The context does not provide information on whether Gail was a top wrestler during this time.",
"Terrell and Kim were involved in several types of wrestling matches. These included a gauntlet match, a fatal four-way elimination match, a tag team match, a Last Knockout Standing match, and a ladder match. Some of these matches also included other wrestlers, like Velvet Sky, Tara, and Mickie James. These matches often involved physical altercations, both within the match and outside of it, such as backstage attacks.",
"Terrell's bad call as a referee during a gauntlet match cost Gail Kim her chance to become the number one contender to the Knockouts Championship. Additionally, Terrell physically attacked Kim during a Knockouts Championship match at Lockdown, costing Kim the title. Terrell also cost Kim a tag team match against Mickie James and Velvet Sky by attacking Kim during the match.",
"Yes, Terrell was involved in multiple wrestling matches that included more than two wrestlers. She participated in a tag team match with Mickie James against Gail Kim and Tara. She was also involved in a fatal four-way elimination match with Velvet Sky, Tara, Miss Tessmacher and Gail Kim.",
"In the tag team match where Terrell teamed up with Mickie James against Gail Kim and Tara, Terrell's team won. Also, in the fatal four-way elimination match, Terrell helped Velvet Sky win against Tara, Miss Tessmacher, and Gail Kim. However, in a tag team match where Terrell and Sky were against Kim and Tara, Terrell and Sky were defeated.",
"In 2012, Terrell made her debut for TNA. She was introduced by the Vice President of the Knockouts Division, Brooke Hogan, as the special guest referee for the TNA Women's Knockout Championship match between Madison Rayne and Miss Tessmacher. Following this, Terrell became the official referee for the Knockouts division."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_1 | Chris Christie | Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, former federal prosecutor, and political commentator who served as the 55th Governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. During his governorship, he chaired the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission in 2017. Christie became an ABC News contributor in 2018 after leaving office. Christie was born in Newark and raised in Livingston. | Energy and environment | Christie volunteered for President George H. W. Bush's 1992 re-election campaign in New Jersey, and became close to Bush's state director, Bill Palatucci. Following the campaign, Christie decided to run for office, and moved to Mendham Township. In 1993, Christie launched a primary challenge against the New Jersey Senate Majority Leader, John H. Dorsey. However, Christie's campaign ended after Dorsey successfully challenged the validity of Christie's petition to appear on the ballot. In 1994, Christie was elected as a Republican to the Board of Chosen Freeholders, or legislators, for Morris County, New Jersey, after he and a running mate defeated incumbent freeholders in the party primary. Following the election, the defeated incumbents filed a defamation lawsuit against Christie based on statements made during the primary campaign. Christie had incorrectly stated that the incumbents were under "investigation" for violating certain local laws. The lawsuit was settled out of court, with Christie acknowledging that the prosecutor had actually convened an "inquiry" instead of an "investigation", and apologizing for the error, which he said was unintentional. As freeholder, Christie required the county government to obtain three quotes from qualified firms for all contracts. He led a successful effort to bar county officials from accepting gifts from people and firms doing business with the county. He voted to raise the county's open space tax for land preservation; however, county taxes on the whole were decreased by 6.6% during his tenure. He successfully pushed for the dismissal of an architect hired to design a new jail, saying that the architect was costing taxpayers too much money. The architect then sued Christie for defamation over remarks he made about the dismissal, eventually dropping the suit without explanation. In 1995, Christie announced a bid for a seat in the New Jersey General Assembly; he and attorney Rick Merkt ran as a ticket against incumbent Assemblyman Anthony Bucco and attorney Michael Patrick Carroll in the Republican primary. Christie ran as a pro-choice candidate and supporter of the ban on assault weapons. Bucco and Carroll, the establishment candidates, defeated the up-and-comers by a wide margin. After this loss, Christie's bid for re-nomination to the freeholder board was unlikely, as unhappy Republicans recruited John J. Murphy to run against Christie in 1997. Murphy defeated Christie in the primary. Murphy, who had falsely accused Christie of having the county pay his legal bills in the architect's lawsuit, was sued by Christie after the election. They settled out of court with the Freeholders admitting wrongdoing and apologizing. Christie's career in Morris County politics was over by 1998. In March 2010, Christie signed into law three state pension reform bills, which had passed with bipartisan support. The laws decreased pension benefits for future hires and required public employees to contribute 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health care. The laws prompted a lawsuit by the police and firefighters' unions. In his campaign for governor, Christie opposed any change in pension benefits for firefighters and law enforcement officers, including "current officers, future officers or retirees". He described the pension agreement as "a sacred trust". Later that year, he called for further cuts, including the elimination of cost-of-living adjustments for all current and future retirees. In June 2011, Christie announced a deal with the Democratic leadership of the legislature on a reform of public employee pensions and benefits. The deal raised public employees' pension contributions, mandated the state to make annual payments into the system, increased public employee contributions toward health insurance premiums, and ended collective bargaining for health benefits. The reform is projected to save the state $120 billion over 30 years. In June 2013, Christie signed a $33 billion state budget that makes a record $1.7 billion payment to the state's pension fund and also increases school funding by almost $100 million. The budget resulted from negotiations between Christie and Democratic leaders in the state legislature and was the first that Christie has signed as passed, without vetoing any of its provisions. In May 2014, Christie cut the contributions to New Jersey public workers' pension funds for a 14-month period by nearly $2.5 billion to deal with a revenue shortfall in the state budget of $2.75 billion. The state will instead make a $1.3 billion payment during the period. Christie cited the state constitution's requirement to have a balanced budget for his decision to cut payments to pensions for state workers, and follows Christie's changes to the state's pension formula earlier in 2014 to save $900 million through the end of his term. Christie has stated that he believes that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is too big and is "killing business" with permit delays and indiscriminate fines. He announced that, if elected, the agency would be his first target for government reduction: he would reduce its workforce and strip it of its fish and wildlife oversight. Christie has stated that he intends to simultaneously spur growth in the state's manufacturing sector and increase New Jersey's capability to produce alternative energy. He has proposed a list of policy measures to achieve this, including giving tax credits to businesses that build new wind energy and manufacturing facilities, changing land use rules to allow solar energy on permanently preserved farmland, installing solar farms on closed landfills, setting up a consolidated energy promotion program, and following a five-to-one production to non-production job ratio in the creation of new energy jobs. In August 2010, legislation to encourage the development of wind power in New Jersey was signed by Christie at the Port of Paulsboro. The Offshore Wind Economic Development Act authorized New Jersey Economic Development Authority to provide up to $100 million in tax credits for wind energy facilities. The governor has pledged to ban coal-fired power plants, and to reach 22.5% renewable generation in the state by 2021. On May 26, 2011, Christie announced he would pull the state out of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. This was challenged in court which ruled in March 2014 that Christie had acted illegally in doing so since state regulations do not permit it. His administration is seeking to repeal the rules. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_1_q#0",
"C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_1_q#1",
"C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_1_q#2",
"C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_1_q#3",
"C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_1_q#4",
"C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_1_q#5"
] | [
"what did he do with energy?",
"what did he do about that?",
"did this go into effect?",
"what did he do with environment?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"was he popular?"
] | [
0,
2,
2,
0,
0,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
4876
],
[
5054
],
[
6557
],
[
5228
],
[
5398
],
[
490
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Christie has stated that he believes that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is too big and is \"killing business\" with permit delays and indiscriminate fines."
],
[
"He announced that, if elected, the agency would be his first target for government reduction: he would reduce its workforce and strip it of its fish and wildlife oversight."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Christie has stated that he intends to simultaneously spur growth in the state's manufacturing sector and increase New Jersey's capability to produce alternative energy."
],
[
"He has proposed a list of policy measures to achieve this, including giving tax credits to businesses that build new wind energy and manufacturing facilities,"
],
[
"In 1994, Christie was elected as a Republican to the Board of Chosen Freeholders,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
4876,
5054,
6557,
5228,
5398,
490
],
"texts": [
"Christie has stated that he believes that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is too big and is \"killing business\" with permit delays and indiscriminate fines.",
"He announced that, if elected, the agency would be his first target for government reduction: he would reduce its workforce and strip it of its fish and wildlife oversight.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Christie has stated that he intends to simultaneously spur growth in the state's manufacturing sector and increase New Jersey's capability to produce alternative energy.",
"He has proposed a list of policy measures to achieve this, including giving tax credits to businesses that build new wind energy and manufacturing facilities,",
"In 1994, Christie was elected as a Republican to the Board of Chosen Freeholders,"
]
} | Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018.
Christie, who was born in Newark, New Jersey, was raised in Livingston, New Jersey. After graduating in 1984 from the University of Delaware, he earned a J.D. at Seton Hall University School of Law. A Republican, Christie was elected county freeholder (legislator) for Morris County, New Jersey, serving from 1995 to 1998. By 2002, he had campaigned for Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush; the latter appointed him U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, a position he held from 2002 to 2008.
Christie won the 2009 Republican primary for Governor of New Jersey and defeated Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine in the general election. In his first term, he was credited with cutting spending, capping property tax growth and engaging in recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy. He was re-elected by a wide margin in 2013, defeating State Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono. Christie's second term saw multiple controversies, namely the Fort Lee lane closure and his various absences from the state. He chaired the Republican Governors Association during the 2014 election cycle. His second term expired in 2018 and he registered as a lobbyist in 2020.
On June 30, 2015, he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election. He suspended his candidacy on February 10, 2016, following a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. Later, he endorsed eventual winner Donald Trump and was named head of Trump's transition planning team. Christie was a close ally of Trump during his presidency, but later emerged as a harsh critic of Trump following the January 6 Capitol attack. He is set to announce his second presidential campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election on June 6, 2023.
Early life and education
Christie was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Sondra A. (née Grasso), a telephone receptionist, and Wilbur James "Bill" Christie, a certified public accountant who graduated from Rutgers Business School. His mother was of Italian (Sicilian) ancestry, and his father is of German, Scottish, and Irish descent. Christie's family moved to Livingston, New Jersey, after the 1967 Newark riots, and Christie lived there until he graduated from Livingston High School in 1980. At Livingston, Christie served as class president, played catcher for the baseball team, and was selected as a New Jersey Representative to the United States Senate Youth Program.
Christie's father and mother were Republican and Democratic, respectively. He has credited his Democratic-leaning mother for indirectly making him a Republican by encouraging him to volunteer for the gubernatorial candidate who became his role model, Tom Kean. Christie had become interested in Kean after the politician, then a state legislator, spoke to Christie's junior high school class.
Christie graduated from the University of Delaware in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science; while there, he served as president of the student body. He graduated from Seton Hall University School of Law with a J.D. in 1987. He was admitted to the New Jersey State Bar Association and the Bar of the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, in December 1987. He was awarded honorary doctorate degrees by Rutgers University and Monmouth University in 2010.
Law practice and local politics
Lawyer
In 1987, Christie joined the law firm of Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci of Cranford, New Jersey. In 1993, he was named a partner in the firm. Christie specialized in securities law, appellate practice, election law, and government affairs. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the New Jersey State Bar Association and was a member of the Election Law Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association. From 1999 to 2001, Christie was registered statehouse lobbyist for Dughi and Hewit.
Morris County Freeholder
Christie volunteered for President George H. W. Bush's 1992 re-election campaign in New Jersey and became close to Bush's state director, Bill Palatucci. Following the campaign, Christie decided to run for office and moved to Mendham Township. In 1993, Christie launched a primary challenge against the New Jersey Senate Majority Leader, John H. Dorsey. However, Christie's campaign ended after Dorsey successfully challenged the validity of Christie's petition to appear on the ballot.
In 1994, Christie was elected as a Republican to the Board of County Commissioners, or legislators, for Morris County, New Jersey, after he and a running mate defeated incumbents in the party primary. Following the election, the defeated incumbents filed a defamation lawsuit against Christie based on statements made during the primary campaign. Christie had incorrectly stated that the incumbents were under "investigation" for violating certain local laws. The lawsuit was settled out of court, with Christie acknowledging that the prosecutor had convened an "inquiry" instead of an "investigation", and apologizing for the error, which he said was unintentional.
As a commissioner, Christie required the county government to obtain three quotes from qualified firms for all contracts. He led a successful effort to bar county officials from accepting gifts from people and firms doing business with the county. He voted to raise the county's open space tax for land preservation; however, county taxes, on the whole, were decreased by 6.6% during his tenure. He successfully pushed for the dismissal of an architect hired to design a new jail, saying that the architect was costing taxpayers too much money. The architect then sued Christie for defamation over remarks he made about the dismissal, eventually dropping the suit without explanation.
In 1995, Christie announced a bid for a seat in the New Jersey General Assembly; he and attorney Rick Merkt ran as a ticket against incumbent Assemblyman Anthony Bucco and attorney Michael Patrick Carroll in the Republican primary. Christie ran as a pro-choice candidate and supporter of the ban on assault weapons. Bucco and Carroll, the establishment candidates, defeated the up-and-comers by a wide margin. After this loss, Christie's bid for re-nomination to the freeholder board was unlikely, as unhappy Republicans recruited John J. Murphy to run against Christie in 1997. Murphy defeated Christie in the primary. Murphy, who had falsely accused Christie of having the county pay his legal bills in the architect's lawsuit, was sued by Christie after the election. They settled out of court with the Freeholders admitting wrongdoing and apologizing. Christie's career in Morris County politics was over by 1998.
Lobbyist
When Christie's part-time position as a Chosen Freeholder lapsed, he returned full attention to his law firm Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci. Alongside fellow partner and later, gubernatorial campaign fundraiser Bill Palatucci, Christie's firm opened an office in the state capital, Trenton, devoted mainly to lobbying. Between 1999 and 2001, Christie and Palatucci lobbied on behalf of, among others, GPU Energy for deregulation of New Jersey's electric and gas industry; the Securities Industry Association to block the inclusion of securities fraud under the state's Consumer Fraud Act; Hackensack University Medical Center for state grants; and the University of Phoenix for a New Jersey higher education license. During the 2000 presidential election, Christie was George W. Bush's campaign lawyer for the state of New Jersey.
United States Attorney
Appointment
On December 7, 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Christie the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. During a Republican presidential debate in August 2015, Christie falsely claimed he had been appointed by President Bush on September 10, 2001, and that the 9/11 attacks occurred in his state the next day. Some members of the New Jersey Bar professed disappointment at Christie's lack of experience. At the time, he had never practiced in a federal courtroom before, and had little experience in criminal law. Christie received the overwhelming support of the Republican Party in New Jersey. A spokesperson for Acting Governor Donald DiFrancesco, who selected nominees for the position, said that he received hundreds of letters of support for Christie "from everyone from the Assembly speaker down to the county level, close to every member of the Legislature and every county chairman." Christie was also a top fundraiser for Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. He helped raise $350,000 for Bush, qualifying him as a "Pioneer", and also donated to DiFrancesco. Democrats seized upon the role played by Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, after Christie's law partner, William Palatucci, a Republican political consultant and Bush supporter, boasted that he had selected a United States attorney by forwarding Christie's résumé to Rove. According to New Jersey's senior senator, Bob Torricelli, Christie promised to appoint a "professional" with federal courtroom experience as deputy if confirmed. By Senate tradition, if a state's senior Senator opposes the nomination of a U.S. Attorney, the nomination is effectively dead, but Christie's promise was enough for Torricelli to give the nomination his blessing. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on December 20, 2001, and sworn into office on January 17, 2002.
The brother of Christie's uncle (his aunt's second husband), Tino Fiumara, was an organized crime figure; according to Christie, the FBI presumably knew that when they conducted his background check. Later, Christie recused himself from the case and commented about what he had learned growing up with such a relative: "It just told me that you make bad decisions in life and you wind up paying a price."
Enforcement record
Christie served as U.S. Attorney from January 17, 2002, to December 1, 2008. His office included 137 attorneys, with offices in Newark, Trenton, and Camden. Christie also served on the 17-member Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys for Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales.
Soon after taking office, Christie let it be known that his office would make public corruption a high priority, second only to terrorism. During his six-year tenure, he received praise for his record of convictions in public corruption cases. His office convicted or won guilty pleas from 130 public officials, both Republican and Democratic, at the state, county and local levels. The most notable of these convictions included those of Democratic Hudson County Executive Robert C. Janiszewski in 2002 on bribery charges, Republican Essex County Executive James W. Treffinger in 2003 on corruption charges, former Democratic New Jersey Senate President John A. Lynch Jr., in 2006 on charges of mail fraud and tax evasion, State Senator and former Newark Democratic mayor Sharpe James in 2008 on fraud charges, and Democratic State Senator Wayne R. Bryant in 2008 on charges of bribery, mail fraud, and wire fraud.
In 2005, following an investigation, Christie negotiated a plea agreement with Charles Kushner, under which he pleaded guilty to 18 counts of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. Kushner was sentenced to two years in prison.
Christie negotiated seven deal deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) during his tenure, some of which were controversial. Under agreements like these, corporations avoid prosecution if they promise not just to obey the law or pay for bad acts, but also promise to change personnel, or revamp business practices, or adopt new types of corporate governance. They are typically used in lieu of prosecution when there is evidence of particularly egregious corporate misconduct. Since 2002, these types of agreements have been sharply on the rise among federal prosecutors, with 23 between 2002 and 2005, and 66 between 2006 and 2008. Outside monitors are appointed in about half of all DPAs, to make sure that the corporations comply. In one case, Christie recommended the appointment of The Ashcroft Group, a consulting firm owned by his former boss John Ashcroft, as an outside monitor of Zimmer Holdings—a contract worth as much as $52 million from Zimmer, which was an amount in line with fee structures at that time. In another instance, Christie's office deferred criminal prosecution of pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers in a deal that required the company to dedicate $5 million for a business ethics chair at Seton Hall University School of Law, Christie's alma mater.
Christie defended the appointment of Ashcroft, citing his prominence and legal acumen. And he defended the Seton Hall donation as happenstance given that there was already a business ethics endowed chair at the only other law school in the state.
Still, cases like these led to new rules within the Justice Department, and sparked a congressional hearing on the subject.
Besides doubling the size of the anticorruption unit for New Jersey, Christie also prosecuted other federal crimes. For example, he obtained convictions of brothel owners who kept Mexican teenagers in slavery as prostitutes, convicted 42 gang members of the Double II Set of various crimes including more than 25 murders, and convicted British trader Hemant Lakhani of trying to sell missiles. Despite claims of entrapment, Lakhani was convicted by jury in April 2005 of attempting to provide material support to terrorists, unlawful brokering of foreign defense articles, and attempting to import merchandise into the U.S. by means of false statements, plus two counts of money laundering. He was sentenced to 47 years in prison.
In 2007, Christie prosecuted the planners of the averted 2007 Fort Dix attack plot, which he has frequently mentioned as a career highlight.
During the second term of George W. Bush, a controversy arose about the administration's dismissal of several U.S. attorneys, allegedly for political reasons. When it was revealed that Christie had been on a preliminary version of the hit list, New York Senator Charles Schumer said: "I was shocked when I saw Chris Christie's name on the list last night. It just shows a [Justice] department that has run amok." Pat Meehan, the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, said: "Among his peers, Chris stands out as one of the most admired. If you were to create a list of the U.S. attorneys who have had the greatest impact, Chris would be one of the top two or three names I'd put on it. This defies explanation."
Christie's opponents claimed that he had gotten off the Bush administration's hit list by going after Congressman Robert Menendez; for example, The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote, "Menendez's claims of persecution now seem quite plausible." Christie had issued a subpoena regarding Menendez 65 days before the 2006 Senate election, in which Menendez defeated Republican Thomas Kean Jr. to become New Jersey's junior senator. Christie's biographers (journalists Michael Symons and Bob Ingle) concluded that, "The timing of the Menendez-related subpoena doesn't line up right to support the critics' theory." Christie's aides have said that the subpoena was prompted by a newspaper report about Menendez, which prosecutors feared might imminently lead to destruction of documents and other evidence. The investigation of Menendez continued for years after Christie left office as U.S. Attorney, until Menendez was finally cleared on October 5, 2011.
Governor of New Jersey (2010–2018)
2009 gubernatorial campaign
Christie filed as a candidate for the office of governor on January 8, 2009. Former Governor Thomas Kean helped Christie campaign and raise money. In the primary on June 2, Christie won the Republican nomination with 55% of the vote, defeating opponents Steve Lonegan and Rick Merkt. He then chose Kimberly Guadagno, Monmouth County sheriff, to complete his campaign ticket as a candidate for lieutenant governor. On November 3, Christie defeated Jon Corzine by a margin of 49% to 45%, with 6% of the vote going to independent candidate Chris Daggett.
2013 gubernatorial campaign
In November 2012, Christie filed papers to run for a second term in office. Christie was reelected by a large margin on November 5, 2013, defeating Democratic nominee Barbara Buono. Christie advisors said that Christie sought to win by a large margin to position himself for the presidential primaries and develop a model for other Republican candidates. Christie began building a national fundraising network, aided by the fact that only one other state had a gubernatorial contest in 2013, and those financial resources were intended to support a major outreach effort toward blacks, Hispanics and women. He also ordered a $25 million special election to fill the seat of the deceased Senator Frank Lautenberg. The move was believed to be motivated by a desire to keep Newark Mayor Cory Booker from sharing an election day, 20 days afterward, with Christie, thereby depressing otherwise anticipated black voter turnout that tended to vote Democratic.
Tenure and political positions
Christie took office as Governor of New Jersey on January 19, 2010. He chose not to move his family into Drumthwacket, the governor's official mansion, and instead resided in a private Mendham Township, New Jersey, residence.
Fiscal issues
While campaigning for governor, Christie promised not to raise taxes. He also vowed to lower the state income and business taxes, with the qualification that this might not occur immediately.
As governor, Christie claims his annual budgets did not increase taxes, though he made reductions to tax credits such as the earned income tax credit and property tax relief programs, he would also sign legislation limiting property tax growth to 2% annually. Under Christie, there were no rate increases in the state's top three revenue generators: income tax, sales tax, and corporate tax.
In February 2010, Christie signed an executive order declaring a "state of fiscal emergency" due to the projected $2.2 billion budget deficit for that fiscal year. Following the order, Christie proposed a new budget which eliminated the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate, which had an upkeep of $1.3 million. In late June 2011, Christie utilized New Jersey's line-item veto to eliminate nearly $1 billion from the proposed budget, signing it into law just hours prior to July 1, 2011, the beginning of the state's fiscal year. That same year, Christie signed into law a payroll tax cut authorizing the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development to reduce payroll deduction for most employees from $148 to $61 per year.
On five separate occasions, Christie vetoed legislation pushed by Democrats to implement a millionaire tax. After Democrat Phil Murphy became governor, Democrats backed off the legislation, with New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney stating, "[t]his state is taxed out. If you know anything about New Jersey, they're just weary of the taxes." The tax was eventually passed into law in 2020.
During Christie's tenure, New Jersey's credit rating was downgraded nine times (across Standard & Poor, Fitch Ratings, and Moody's Investors Service), leaving only Illinois with a lower rating among U.S. states. Christie received a B grade in 2012 and in 2014 from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, in their biennial fiscal policy report on America's governors.
Tax credits and incentives
On September 18, 2013, Christie signed legislation to overhaul the state's business tax incentive programs. The legislation reduced the number of tax incentive programs from five to two, raised the caps on tax credits, and allowed smaller companies to qualify. It also increased the credits available for businesses in South Jersey.
Public employee pensions
In March 2010, Christie signed into law three state pension reform bills, which had passed with bipartisan support. The laws decreased pension benefits for future hires and required public employees to contribute 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health care. The laws prompted a lawsuit by the police and firefighters' unions. In his campaign for governor, Christie opposed any change in pension benefits for firefighters and law enforcement officers, including "current officers, future officers or retirees". He described the pension agreement as "a sacred trust".
Later that year, he called for further cuts, including the elimination of cost-of-living adjustments for all current and future retirees. In June 2011, Christie announced a deal with the Democratic leadership of the legislature on a reform of public employee pensions and benefits. The deal raised public employees' pension contributions, mandated the state to make annual payments into the system, increased public employee contributions toward health insurance premiums, and ended collective bargaining for health benefits. The reform is projected to save the state $120 billion over 30 years.
In June 2013, Christie signed a $33 billion state budget that makes a record $1.7 billion payment to the state's pension fund and also increases school funding by almost $100 million. The budget resulted from negotiations between Christie and Democratic leaders in the state legislature and was the first that Christie has signed as passed, without vetoing any of its provisions.
In May 2014, Christie cut the contributions to New Jersey public workers' pension funds for a 14-month period by nearly $2.5 billion to deal with a revenue shortfall in the state budget of $2.75 billion. The state will instead make a $1.3 billion payment during the period. Christie cited the state constitution's requirement to have a balanced budget for his decision to cut payments to pensions for state workers, and follows Christie's changes to the state's pension formula earlier in 2014 to save $900 million through the end of his term.
Legalization of online gambling
In February 2013, online gambling was legalized in New Jersey after the state's Legislature passed Bill A2578, which was later signed into law by Christie. Christie was instrumental in the legalization of online gaming in the state, citing the need for increased state revenue in the years after the 2008 recession. After vetoing previous versions of the bill, Christie signed the latest version into law after ensuring the regulatory framework was in place to safeguard players and create a responsible gaming environment. Christie was also vocal about the offshore gambling market, claiming that states lost billions in tax revenues to offshore, unregulated, and untaxed operators.
In October 2014, Chris signed bill to legalize sports betting in New Jersey.
Education
One of Christie's most controversial school policies was to increase the state's control of school districts. The districts contained relatively-high numbers of underachieving students, people of color, poor people, and members of the Democratic Party. In Newark, Christie hired Chris Cerf to replace Cami Anderson as the state-appointed superintendent of its school district. Under Christie, Cerf overruled the district's locally elected school board;, recent research indicated that the reforms advocated by Christie, Anderson, and Cerf did not improve educational outcomes.
Christie has been accused of under-funding school districts. Reports indicated that Christie's administration did not adhere to the School Funding Reform Act, and illegally withheld funds from districts throughout the state. His 2017 school-funding proposal was described by education researchers as "one of the least equitable in the country". State commissioner of education Chris Cerf defended policies declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of New Jersey, which contradicting basic education research.
Christie, whose children attend Catholic school, supports the state giving tax credits to parents who send their children to private and parochial schools. He also supports school vouchers, which parents of students in failing school districts could use for tuition in private schools or for public schools in communities outside their own. Christie supports merit pay for teachers.
On August 25, 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that $400 million in federal Race to the Top education grants to New Jersey would not be issued due to a clerical error in the state's application by an unidentified mid-level state official. Christie said that the Obama administration had overstepped its authority, and the error was in the administration's failure to communicate with the New Jersey government. It was later learned that the issue had been raised with Bret Schundler, Christie's education commissioner. Christie asked for Schundler's resignation; Schundler initially agreed to resign, but asked to be fired the following morning to claim unemployment benefits. According to Schundler, he told Christie the truth and Christie misstated what actually occurred.
The Christie administration approved 23 new charter schools in January 2011, including New Jersey's first independent school for children with autism. The approvals increased the state's number of charter schools to 96.
On August 6, 2012, Christie signed a law reforming the tenure system for New Jersey public-school teachers. Under the law, teachers would be required to work four years (instead of three) to earn tenure; they would also need to receive positive ratings for two consecutive years. Tenured teachers with poor ratings for two consecutive years would be eligible for dismissal, with the hearing process for appeals related to dismissal of tenured teachers limited to 105 days.
On March 6, 2013, the Christie administration released proposed regulations to overhaul the process of evaluating public-school teachers. Under the proposal, a percentage of teacher evaluations would be based on student improvement in state tests or student-achievement goals set by principals.
In September 2014, Christie signed a partnership with Mexico on a higher-education project to foster economic cooperation. The program would focus on research ventures, cross-border fellowships, student and teacher exchanges, conferences, and other educational opportunities.
Energy and environment
Christie has stated that he believes that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is too big and is "killing business" with permit delays and indiscriminate fines. He announced that, if elected, the agency would be his first target for government reduction: he would reduce its workforce and strip it of its fish and wildlife oversight.
Christie has stated that he intends to simultaneously spur growth in the state's manufacturing sector and increase New Jersey's capability to produce alternative energy. He has proposed a list of policy measures to achieve this, including giving tax credits to businesses that build new wind energy and manufacturing facilities, changing land use rules to allow solar energy on permanently preserved farmland, installing solar farms on closed landfills, setting up a consolidated energy promotion program, and following a five-to-one production to non-production job ratio in the creation of new energy jobs. In August 2010, legislation to encourage the development of wind power in New Jersey was signed by Christie at the Port of Paulsboro. The Offshore Wind Economic Development Act authorized New Jersey Economic Development Authority to provide up to $100 million in tax credits for wind energy facilities. The governor has pledged to ban coal-fired power plants, and to reach 22.5% renewable generation in the state by 2021.
On May 26, 2011, Christie announced he would pull the state out of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. This was challenged in court which ruled in March 2014 that Christie had acted illegally in doing so since state regulations do not permit it. His administration sought to repeal the rules.
Hydraulic fracturing
Christie has rejected permanent bans on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in New Jersey and vetoed measures that would ban the process and disposal of hydraulic fracturing waste in the State. New Jersey has few proven shale reserves and the process is not practiced there. Christie argued that the vetoed Senate Bill (S253) was premature because of an ongoing study to be completed in 2014 and would discriminate against other states, a violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Supporters of legislation have said that hydraulic fracturing waste from Pennsylvania makes its way into New Jersey for treatment, although how much is not clear. They also criticized Christie's legal analysis saying that the Office of Legislative Services has said that the bill is constitutional.
Exxon Mobil environmental contamination lawsuit
Christie's settled a lawsuit with Exxon Mobil by allowing the corporation to pay $225 million in damages for environmental contamination at two sites, less than 3% of the $8.9 billion that the state's lawyers had sought, and extended the compensation to cover other damages not named in the original lawsuit. The settlement was slammed by environmental advocates. David Pringle, state campaign director of Clean Water Action, called it "the biggest corporate subsidy in state history," vowing to overturn it. Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club called this move "a violation of the public trust." The New Jersey State Senate also condemned the deal, with state Senator Raymond Lesniak and others suggesting the decision was Christie's effort to plug his own budget shortfalls at the expense of taxpayers over the long term. ExxonMobil had donated $500,000 to the Republican Governors Association while Christie was chairman, though they have insisted it was unrelated to the ongoing suit. The previous gubernatorial administration, that of Democrat Jon Corzine, had also attempted to settle with Exxon, for $550 million, though this offer was made before a 2009 ruling that strengthened the state's bargaining position.
Farm animal welfare
In June 2013, Christie vetoed S1921, an animal welfare bill introduced by the Humane Society of the United States to prohibit the use of gestation crates on pregnant pigs in the state. The bill had passed in the General Assembly with a vote of 60–5 and the Senate 29–4. A 2013 survey by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. showed 91% of New Jersey voters supported the legislation. An attempt to override the veto did not come to a vote. In October 2014, a similar bill banning gestation crates, S998, was proposed with a vote in the Senate of 32–1 and in the Assembly of 53–13 (with 9 abstentions). While campaigning in Iowa in November, in a conversation with the former president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Christie indicated he would veto the bill. He did so on November 27, 2014. The bill's sponsor, Senator Raymond Lesniak, had vowed to override it.
New Jersey Supreme Court nominations
By tradition since the 1947 state constitution, the seven-member New Jersey Supreme Court maintains a political balance and is composed of four members of either the Democratic Party or Republican Party and three of the other. Christie broke with the tradition in May 2010 when he chose not to renominate Justice John E. Wallace Jr. While on the campaign trail, Christie had said the court "inappropriately encroached on both the executive and legislative function, and that if elected governor, [he] would take steps . . . to bring back an appropriate constitutional balance to the court."
Over the course of his tenure, Christie had been in a major conflict with the New Jersey Legislature over the court's partisan balance. The stand-off between the governor and the New Jersey Senate resulted in longstanding vacancies, with temporarily assigned appellate judges filling in.
Minimum wage and equal pay for women
In January 2013, Christie vetoed a New Jersey Legislature bill that would have raised the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 per hour. The following November, the issue was placed on the ballot as a constitutional amendment referendum, passing with 61% of the vote.
On September 21, 2012, Christie signed Assembly Bill No. 2647 (A-2647) into law that requires employers to post and distribute notice of employees' rights to gender-equal pay, but conditionally vetoed other gender parity bills, requesting revision.
Immigration
Christie emphasizes the need to secure the border, and believes it is premature to discuss legalization of people who came to the United States unlawfully. While serving as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Christie stressed that simply "[b]eing in this country without proper documentation is not a crime," but rather a civil wrong; and that undocumented people are not criminals unless they have re-entered the country after being deported. As such, Christie stated, responsibility for dealing with improperly documented foreign nationals lies with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, not the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Christie has been critical about section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, enacted in 1996, which can be used to grant local law enforcement officers power to perform immigration law enforcement functions.
In state tuition for undocumented immigrants
In December 2013, Christie signed legislation allowing unauthorized immigrants who attend high school for at least three years in New Jersey and graduate to be eligible for the resident rates at state college and universities and community colleges.
Social issues
LGBT rights
As governor, Christie opposed same-sex marriage but voiced support for New Jersey's civil union law, which extended to gay couples the same legal benefits of marriage with regards to state law. Christie indicated in 2009 that he would veto any bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state, saying, "I also believe marriage should be exclusively between one man and one woman.... If a bill legalizing same sex marriage came to my desk as Governor, I would veto it." On February 17, 2012, Christie vetoed a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage in New Jersey. The bill passed by wide but not veto-proof margins in both houses of the legislature. Christie instead proposed that the issue be presented to the voters in a statewide ballot referendum.
The issue was rendered moot shortly thereafter by a state court decision, in which the judge stated New Jersey was "... violating the mandate of Lewis and the New Jersey Constitution's equal protection guarantee". The Christie administration responded by asking the state Supreme Court to grant a stay of the decision pending appeal, which was denied on October 18, 2013, in a 7–0 decision of the court which stated that it could "find no public interest in depriving a group of New Jersey residents of their constitutional right to equal protection while the appeals process unfolds". Three days later Christie withdrew the state's appeal.
Christie believes that homosexuality is innate, having said, "If someone is born that way, it's very difficult to say then that that's a sin." On August 19, 2013, Christie signed a bill outlawing gay conversion therapy for children, making New Jersey the second state to institute such a law. The law was challenged in the courts, with Christie, in his official capacity as governor, named an appellee.
In September 2014, a panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, saying it did not violate free speech or religious rights.
Abortion
Early in his political career, Christie stated in an interview that "I would call myself … a kind of a non-thinking pro-choice person, kind of the default position". In 2009, Christie identified himself as anti-abortion, but stated that he would not use the governor's office to "force that down people's throats", while still expressing support for banning "partial-birth abortion", parental notification, and a 24-hour waiting period. He does support legal access to abortion in cases of rape, incest, or if the woman's life is in danger.
In 2014, campaigning in Alabama for incumbent governor Robert Bentley, Christie stated that he was the first "pro-life governor" elected in New Jersey since Roe v. Wade in 1973. He also stated that he had vetoed funding for Planned Parenthood five times as governor. In March 2015, Christie joined other potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates in endorsing a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Marijuana legalization
Christie opposes legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, believing it to be a "gateway drug" and that tax revenue from the sale of it is "blood money". Christie said that if elected president he would "crack down" and enforce federal law in states that have legalized cannabis. In 2013, Christie signed a bill to more easily allow the use of medical cannabis by children in New Jersey. He opposed other efforts to expand the state's medical cannabis program during his governorship, however.
Vaccination
Christie responded to calls by President Obama to prevent the spread of measles by saying that parents should have a choice. The governor's office said that he "believes vaccines are an important public health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated", but that he was unaware of a free national program to provide new parents with a vaccine checklist.
Gun rights
In December 2010, Christie commuted the seven-year sentence of Brian Aitken, who had been convicted of transporting three guns within the state; as a result, Aitken was released from prison.
Christie has said that each state has the right to determine firearms laws without federal interference. When announcing his candidacy in 2009 he said he supported aggressive enforcement of the state's current gun laws. In 2013, he chose not to defend a legal challenge to a New Jersey law requiring individuals to prove an urgent threat of violence before getting permits to carry handguns. In July 2014, Christie vetoed legislation that would have reduced the allowed legal size of ammunition magazines. Instead he re-wrote it, proposing a new standard for involuntary commitment of people who are not necessarily deemed dangerous "but whose mental illness, if untreated, could deteriorate to the point of harm" as well as other forms of involuntary mental health treatments. Christie had previously vetoed proposed legislation that would bar the state pension fund from investing in companies that manufacture or sell assault firearms for civilian use and a bill to prohibit the sale of .50-caliber rifles to civilians. In July 2015, Christie vetoed a bill passed by the Assembly, 74–0 (six abstentions), and the Senate by a 38–0 (two abstentions) which would require anyone seeking to have their mental health records expunged to purchase a firearm to notify the State Police, their county prosecutor and their local police department when petitioning the court. In October 2015, the New Jersey Senate voted to override Christie's veto.
In January 2018, during his final days as Governor of New Jersey, Christie signed legislation making bump stocks illegal in the state.
Transportation
Christie has raised tolls and fares ("user fees") on the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, Hudson River crossings and NJ Transit buses and trains during his administration to fund projects throughout the state. In 2014, Christie authorized the increase of numerous other fees charged by the state for various licensing and administrative fees.
In 2010, Christie cancelled the Access to the Region's Core project, which would have constructed two new tunnels under the Hudson River and a new terminal station in New York City for NJ Transit commuter trains. Christopher O. Ward advocated for the tunnel on behalf of the Port Authority. Christie cited escalating costs and possible further overruns as the reason for his decision. Proponents of the project said it would have created 6,000 construction jobs per year and 45,000 secondary jobs once complete. After the cancellation, New Jersey had to return $95 million to the federal government, and used $1.8 billion of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey money from the project budget to pay for repairs to the Pulaski Skyway, since the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund that should fund such maintenance was effectively bankrupt. The termination of the project has made the need for increased rail capacity under the Hudson River more urgent, and Amtrak's Gateway Project to bore new tunnels is currently unfunded.
Response to Hurricane Sandy
On December 28, 2012, the U.S. Senate approved $60.4 billion aid package for Hurricane Sandy disaster relief. The House did not vote until the next session on January 3. On January 2, Christie criticized the delay as "selfishness and duplicity" and blamed the House Speaker John Boehner and the rest of the House Republican leadership. A bill for relief was passed in the House on January 15.
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice opened an inquiry into allegations that Christie made state grants of Hurricane Sandy relief funds to New Jersey cities conditional on support for other projects.
Official visit to the Middle East
Continuing the tradition of earlier New Jersey governors since the 1980s, Christie traveled to Israel in April 2012. During the visit, which included meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, Christie commented that "Jerusalem has never been better or freer than under Israeli control." Christie took a helicopter tour of the West Bank and cautioned against Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Jerusalem or the Golan Heights. The official title given to the trip was "Jersey to Jerusalem Trade Mission: Economic Growth, Diplomacy, Observance". The visit to Israel was Christie's first official overseas trip since taking office. From Israel, Christie continued with his family to Jordan, as guests of King Abdullah II.
Public opinion
Christie began his governorship with approval ratings near 50 percent. Christie's approval remained higher than his disapproval until May 2011, when a poll found voters split evenly, with 44 percent approving and 44 percent disapproving. By June 2011, Christie's disapproval ratings were above his approval ratings, with 47 percent of voters disapproving of his governorship, and 44 percent approving. However, a surge in his approval ratings began later that year, and in May 2012 a poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University found that Christie's approval ratings had increased to 56 percent among New Jersey voters, with 33 percent disapproving. After Hurricane Sandy and his response to it, Christie's approval rating surged to 77 percent, the highest during his governorship.
After winning reelection, Christie had an approval rating of 65 percent. However, after the Fort Lee lane closure scandal, Christie's approval declined to 50 percent. In August 2014, his approval rating sat at 49 percent with disapproval estimated at 47 percent. In October, a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll found that 45 percent of voters disapproved of Christie's job performance, compared to 42 percent who approved of it. In the aftermath of his campaign for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, a Rutgers-Eagleton survey found the governor's approval rating had dropped to 26 percent. A similar result was again found by the Institute in September 2016.
In May 2016, the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute found 64 percent of voters disapproved of the job Christie was doing, compared to 29 percent percent who approved. The following month, in June 2016, a Monmouth University Polling Institute survey found that just 27 percent of New Jersey adults approved of Christie's job performance, with 63 percent disapproving. Overall 79 percent of New Jersey adults polled said that Christie was more concerned with his political future than with governing the state.
In January 2017, another Quinnipiac poll found Christie's approval rating had slumped to 17 percent with a 78 percent disapproval rating, making it one of its lowest approval rating for a state governor (both in New Jersey and in the U.S.) in nearly 20 years. By April, another poll suggested that Christie was the least popular governor in the U.S., with a 71 percent disapproval rating.
In June 2017, Quinnipiac found that 15 percent approved of Christie, and 81 percent disapproved. This was the lowest recorded approval rating of a New Jersey governor in history, and the lowest approval rating found by Quinnipiac for any governor in any state in more than two decades. In a response, Christie said he didn't care about approval ratings because he was not running for office.
Controversies
Fort Lee lane closure
From September 9 through September 13, 2013, two of the three traffic lanes in Fort Lee normally open to access the George Washington Bridge and New York City were closed on orders from a senior Christie aide and a Christie administration appointee. The lane closures in the morning rush hour resulted in massive traffic back-ups on the local streets for five days.
One common theory as to why the lanes were closed is that it was political retribution against Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not supporting Christie in the 2013 gubernatorial election. Another possible motive involves a major real estate development project, which was a top priority for Sokolich, that was under way at the Fort Lee bridge access point.
Several of Christie's appointees and aides resigned, and Christie fired others, as investigations into the closures intensified. In a radio interview on February 3, 2014, Christie indicated that he "unequivocally" had no knowledge of, did not approve, and did not authorize plans to close the toll lanes, and stated that he first found out about the traffic jams from a story in The Wall Street Journal after the lanes had been reopened. In an interview on ABC, Christie reiterated that he was shocked by the actions of his former aides, stating that "Sometimes, people do inexplicably stupid things."
Other investigations were conducted by the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, the New Jersey Legislature, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. On September 18, 2014, WNBC reported that unnamed federal sources said the US Attorney investigation had found no evidence that Christie had prior knowledge of or directed the closures. An interim report by the NJ legislative committee investigating the closures was released in December 2014. The committee had been unable to determine if Christie had advance knowledge since it was asked by the US Attorney to postpone interviewing certain key witnesses. At a press conference on May 1, 2015, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman stated that, based upon the evidence that was available, his office would not bring any more charges in the case. However, in September 2016, federal prosecutors in a trial of two New Jersey government officials over their involvement in "Bridgegate" said that a defendant and a witness boasted about their actions to the governor at the time, confirming what Donald Trump had said in December 2015 while opposing Christie for the Republican nomination for the 2016 presidential election.
On October 13, 2016, a complaint of official misconduct that alleges that the governor knew of the closures of access lanes while they were ongoing but failed to act to reopen them was allowed to proceed. In response to the complaint filed by a local citizen, Bergen County Municipal Presiding Judge Roy McGeady said "I'm satisfied that there's probable cause to believe that an event of official misconduct was caused by Governor Christie. I'm going to issue the summons.". In response, Brian Murray, Christie's press secretary, accused Judge McGeady of "violating the law, pure and simple." The Superior Court overruled the probable cause decision and sent the case back to Judge McGeady, and although the Superior Court did not toss the complaint, requested by Gov. Christie's counsel, the court ruled that Judge McGeady's decision not to allow Gov. Christie's lawyers to participate in the original hearing (argue or cross-examine) was made "erroneously". In January 2017, Bergen County prosecutors said they would not seek criminal charges against Christie in connection with the scandal.
On November 4, 2016, a federal jury convicted former top Christie aides Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly of all charges. In March 2017, Baroni was sentenced to two years in prison and Kelly to 18 months in prison. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the convictions on May 7, 2020.
Island Beach State Park incident
In July 2017 during a budget shutdown and partial closing of state government services and facilities, the governor and his family were photographed from an airplane vacationing at Island Beach State Park alone on the beach. The beach which was closed to the public as a result of the shutdown, and Christie commuted to the beach from Trenton via state helicopter while his family was staying at the official governor's residence there. His spokesman said that he didn't "get any sun" because he was wearing a baseball cap at the time of the photo. When asked in an interview about people being upset that he was at the beach when they were unable to visit the beach, Christie responded, "'I'm sorry they're not the governor'".
Open records battles
During his administration's eight years, the governor's office spent more than $1 million fighting New Jersey Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests. On his way out, the governor, in an official letter to the State Archives, dictated how his office's records be handled. This came to light in May 2018, as the State Archives' release of electronic records relating to business by Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, were denied by his personal lawyer; Kushner's real estate company received $33 million in state tax breaks. Open records experts challenged Christie's "disturbing" actions.
Republican Governors Association
In November 2013, Christie was elected chairman of the Republican Governors Association, succeeding Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Christie campaigned extensively on behalf of Republican governors running for re-election. In the first three months of 2014, the RGA raised a record sum for the first quarter of a mid-term election year, and almost doubled the amount raised by the Democratic Governors Association during the same period.
Christie presided over net gains in Republican governorships in the 2014 elections, including for Republican gubernatorial candidates in three largely Democratic states: Bruce Rauner in Illinois, Larry Hogan in Maryland and Charlie Baker in Massachusetts.
Presidential politics
2012 presidential election
There was ongoing speculation that Christie would attempt a run for President of the United States in 2012 by competing in the Republican primaries. In September 2011, a number of press stories cited unnamed sources indicating Christie was reconsidering his decision to stay out of the race. An Associated Press story dated September 30 indicated a decision on whether he would run for president in 2012 would be made "soon". In a late September speech at the Reagan Library, he had again said he was not a candidate for president, but the speech also coincided with his "reconsideration" of the negative decision. The Koch brothers (David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch), Kenneth Langone, and retired General Electric CEO Jack Welch expressed support for a potential Christie candidacy. In October 2011, Christie said that he had reconsidered his decision but had again decided not to run for president, stating at a press conference: "New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me." Christie endorsed Mitt Romney for president a few days later.
Political commentators debated whether Christie's weight would or should affect his viability as a 2012 presidential candidate, either for medical or social reasons. The Obesity Society, a nonprofit scientific group, released a statement asserting, "To suggest that Governor Christie's body weight discounts and discredits his ability to be an effective political candidate is inappropriate, unjust, and wrong."
The New York Post has cited anonymous sources as saying Christie was not willing to give up the governorship to be Romney's running mate because he had doubts about their ability to win. The Romney campaign was reported to have asked him to resign his governorship if he became the vice-presidential nominee because "pay to play" laws restrict campaign contributions from financial corporation executives to governors running for federal office when the companies do business with the governor's state. A memo from the campaign attributed Romney's decision not to choose Christie as his running mate, in part, to unanswered questions during the vetting process regarding a defamation lawsuit following Christie's initial campaign for Morris County Freeholder, a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of Christie's brother, as well as his weight.
Christie gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in August 2012. On October 30, 2012, during a press conference to discuss the impact of Hurricane Sandy, Christie praised the disaster relief efforts of President Barack Obama.
Christie stated he still supported Mitt Romney and was opposed to many of Obama's policies, but thought Obama deserved credit for his help in the disaster relief in New Jersey. Christie faced significant backlash before and after the election from conservative Republicans who accused him of acting to bolster his own personal political standing at the expense of Romney and the party.
In the aftermath of the election, Christie maintained his national profile and continued to clash with conservatives in his party by strongly criticizing House Speaker John Boehner regarding aid for Hurricane Sandy and then the National Rifle Association for their ad that mentioned President Obama's children. Christie was subsequently not invited to speak at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which is largely seen as a stepping-stone for Republicans running for president. The CPAC chair explained that Christie was not invited "for decisions that he made", but that "hopefully next year he's back on the right track and being a conservative."
2016 presidential election
In January 2015, Christie took his first formal step towards a presidential candidacy by forming a political action committee (PAC) in order to raise funds and prepare for a likely 2016 presidential bid. On June 27, 2015, Christie launched his presidential campaign website. He formally announced his candidacy on June 30, 2015.
Christie dropped out of the race on February 10, 2016, after the New Hampshire primary following a poor showing and low poll numbers. He received 7.4% of the overall vote in the New Hampshire primary.
Despite having criticized Donald Trump prior to leaving the race, he endorsed Trump on February 26, 2016. On May 9, 2016, Trump named Christie to head a transition team in the event of a Trump presidency. He soon emerged as a major power with the Trump campaign.
Trump considered Christie as a potential vice-presidential running mate, and he was on the shortlist alongside former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Trump passed over Christie and selected Pence. The subject's transition list for likely candidates for Trump's National Security Adviser did not include Michael Flynn, but rather, Peter Pace and William H. McRaven.
In September 2016, Christie acknowledged that the Fort Lee lane closure scandal, also known as Bridgegate, was a factor in his being denied the nomination. Trump had said earlier that Christie knew about the closures, which Christie denies. Following the release of Trump's tape-recorded comments on an Access Hollywood bus, Christie called Trump's comments "completely indefensible", but also added "I don't think it's the only way you should make a judgment."
After calls for his impeachment as governor and felony convictions in U.S. federal court of high-ranking members of his staff in the Bridgegate scandal, Christie was dropped by Trump as leader of the transition team, in favor of Pence. On the same day, Christie's close associates Richard Bagger and Bill Palatucci were both removed by Trump from the transition team. Former Congressman Mike Rogers, a national security expert on the Trump transition team, was additionally another close associate of Chris Christie who was also removed a few days after Christie's departure.
Christie was considered for a role in the Trump administration, but said he would serve out his term as governor, which ended in January 2018. On December 11, it was reported that Christie turned down offers to become Secretary of Homeland Security and Secretary of Veterans Affairs, because he wanted to be Attorney General. An 18-page report outlining questions and possible concerns about Christie joining the administration was released in June 2019.
2020 presidential election
In 2020, Christie offered to help Trump win re-election. One of his roles was helping the president to prepare for his first debate with challenger Joe Biden on September 29, 2020. He visited the White House repeatedly during the four days preceding the debate. He said the prep sessions involved five or six people in total, none of whom wore facial coverings despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. He added that he tested negative for the virus each time he entered the White House and saw no-one exhibiting symptoms. On October 3 he tested positive and was hospitalized, calling it a precautionary measure. He was released from the hospital on October 10.
2024 presidential election
In December 2020, Christie told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt that he was not ruling out a 2024 presidential bid. In October 2022, Christie appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher where he was asked if he was open to a potential 2024 presidential bid, with Christie responding "sure". On March 16, 2023, Christie announced that he will decide running for president within 45 to 60 days. During this time, Christie voiced his criticism of Florida governor Ron DeSantis and his feud with The Walt Disney Company, claiming it was showing DeSantis's lack of conservative values. Christie visited New Hampshire in late March, claiming it was to see if he's ready to "get into the battle".
On May 31, 2023, Axios reported that Chris Christie planned to announce his 2024 campaign in the June 5th week.
Opioid epidemic efforts
In March 2017, Trump picked Christie to chair the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission, an advisory committee on the opioid epidemic in the United States.
Christie said that New Jersey would be spending $500 million on the epidemic, and in his last few months as governor promoted the Reach NJ Campaign, which included television ads in which he appeared.
In May 2019, Santa Monica, California, tech firm WeRecover announced that Christie had joined their team as Senior Advisor on Strategy and Public Policy. Upon joining Christie said, "As the chairman of the opioid task force, I was honored to shape our federal government's efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. But this isn't a problem government alone can solve. This is the worst epidemic we've ever faced, and we need the kind of innovation that can only come from the private sector. In WeRecover, I've found a team of some of the best and brightest people in tech, fully committed to broadening access to care through data, design and technology."
Post-gubernatorial career
In January 2018, Christie joined ABC News as a regular network contributor. In November 2018, it was reported that he was being considered for the role of United States Attorney General by the Trump Administration, although William Barr was ultimately selected. After meeting with Trump into December 2018, Christie said he did not want to be considered for the job of White House Chief of Staff.
Christie published a book titled Let Me Finish in January 2019. Also that year, he was selected for the Sports Betting Hall of Fame in recognition of his role in New Jersey's successful effort to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, the U.S. federal law banning single-game sports betting outside Nevada.
In May 2020, Christie stated that measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States should be lifted for economic reasons. "Of course, everybody wants to save every life they can – but the question is, towards what end, ultimately? ... Are there ways that we can ... thread the middle here to allow that there are going to be deaths, and there are going to be deaths no matter what?"
Christie registered as a lobbyist in June 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic he was paid $240,000 for lobbying on behalf of a Tennessee-based chain of addiction treatment centers and three New Jersey hospital systems seeking federal funding.
Christie distanced himself from Donald Trump after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In a September 9, 2021 speech at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, Christie implored Republicans to reject their most extreme elements such as QAnon, white supremacists and election fraud conspiracy theorists.
In March 2021, Christie joined the board of directors of the New York Mets front office.
Personal life
In 1986, Christie married Mary Pat Foster, a fellow student at the University of Delaware. After marrying, they shared a studio apartment in Summit, New Jersey. Mary Pat Christie pursued a career in investment banking and eventually worked at the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald; she left the firm in 2001 following the September 11 attacks. Through April 2015 she was a managing director at the Wall Street investment firm Angelo, Gordon & Co.
Christie and Mary Pat have four children: Andrew (b. 1993), Sarah (b. 1996), Patrick (b. 2000) and Bridget (b. 2003). The family resides in Mendham Township.
Christie's hobbies have included coaching Little League, watching the New York Mets, and attending Bruce Springsteen concerts (141 of them). Christie's other favorite sports teams are the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, and Dallas Cowboys. He is a practicing Catholic and member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
Health
In 2011, columnist Eugene Robinson applied the term "extremely obese" to Christie, citing medical guidelines established by the National Institutes of Health. Christie himself was reportedly concerned about his weight and its implications for his health, describing himself as relatively healthy overall. Christie underwent lap-band stomach surgery in February 2013 and disclosed the surgery to the New York Post in May of that year.
On October 3, 2020, Christie tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to the Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey the same day, citing asthma as an underlying health concern. On October 10, Christie was released from the hospital. In his 2021 book, Republican Rescue, Christie revealed that Donald Trump called him while he was being hospitalized, and asked "Are you gonna say you got it from me?"
Bibliography
Let Me Finish, 2019
Republican Rescue, 2021
See also
Electoral history of Chris Christie
References
Further reading
Ingle, Bob and Symons, Michael. Chris Christie: The Inside Story of His Rise to Power. Macmillan, 2012. .
Manzo, Louis Michael. Ruthless Ambition: The Rise and Fall of Chris Christie. Trine Day, 2014. .
Matt Katz. American Governor: Chris Christie's Bridge to Redemption. (2016)
Christie, Chris. Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics (Hachette, 2019)
External links
Official 2016 Presidential Campaign website (last updated February 11, 2016)
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
Category:1962 births
Category:Living people
Category:21st-century American politicians
Category:ABC News personalities
Category:American people of German descent
Category:American people of Irish descent
Category:American people of Scottish descent
Category:American people of Italian descent
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Candidates in the 2016 United States presidential election
Category:Catholics from New Jersey
Category:County commissioners in New Jersey
Category:Republican Party governors of New Jersey
Category:Lawyers from Newark, New Jersey
Category:Livingston High School (New Jersey) alumni
Category:New Jersey lawyers
Category:New York Mets executives
Category:People from Livingston, New Jersey
Category:People from Mendham Township, New Jersey
Category:Politicians from Newark, New Jersey
Category:Seton Hall University School of Law alumni
Category:United States Attorneys for the District of New Jersey
Category:University of Delaware alumni | [] | [
"Christie aimed to increase New Jersey's capability to produce alternative energy and spur growth in the state's manufacturing sector. He proposed giving tax credits to businesses that construct new wind energy and manufacturing facilities, allowing solar energy on permanently preserved farmland, creating solar farms on closed landfills, and setting up a consolidated energy promotion program. In August 2010, he signed legislation to encourage the development of wind power in New Jersey, authorizing the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to provide up to $100 million in tax credits for wind energy facilities. He also pledged to ban coal-fired power plants and to reach 22.5% renewable generation in the state by 2021. However, in May 2011, Christie announced that he would pull the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an act that was later challenged in court as illegal.",
"After the court ruled that Christie's withdrawal from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was illegal, his administration sought to repeal the rules.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Christie's administration's attempt to repeal the rules regarding the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative went into effect.",
"Christie stated that he believes that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is too big and is negatively impacting business with permit delays and indiscriminate fines. He announced that, if elected, he would reduce its workforce and strip the agency of its fish and wildlife oversight. However, while his environmental plans also involved changes to benefit renewable energy, such as adjusting land use rules to allow solar energy on permanently preserved farmland and installing solar farms on closed landfills.",
"In addition to his efforts on environmental and energy policies, this article details Christie's political career, including his time working on President George H. W. Bush's 1992 re-election campaign, his run for local offices in New Jersey, and his work on state pension reform. A significant focus is also given to his experiences with defamation lawsuits, his attempts at cost cutting and fiscal responsibility in county government, his stance on gun control, and his broader intentions for reducing government size and spending. Another interesting element is the controversy and legal disputes surrounding Christie pulling New Jersey out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.\n",
"The text does not provide specific information on Christie's popularity."
] | [
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"no"
] |
C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_0 | Chris Christie | Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, former federal prosecutor, and political commentator who served as the 55th Governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. During his governorship, he chaired the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission in 2017. Christie became an ABC News contributor in 2018 after leaving office. Christie was born in Newark and raised in Livingston. | Homosexuality and same-sex marriage | Christie indicated in 2009 that he would veto any bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state, saying, "I also believe marriage should be exclusively between one man and one woman.... If a bill legalizing same sex marriage came to my desk as Governor, I would veto it." On February 13, 2012, the State Senate passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage by a vote of 24 to 16, and on February 16, the Assembly passed it by a vote of 42 to 33, with three Republicans and one Democrat not voting, and one seat temporarily vacant. In neither house was the bill passed by a veto-proof majority. Governor Christie vetoed the bill the next day and called for a constitutional amendment for same-sex marriage to be presented to the voters as a ballot referendum. He also called for creation of an ombudsman (public advocate) to ensure compliance with the state's existing civil union law. Christie's veto was overturned in a court decision in the Garden State Equality v. Dow case, in which the judge stated New Jersey was "... violating the mandate of Lewis and the New Jersey Constitution's equal protection guarantee". Following the decision, the Christie administration immediately asked the state Supreme Court to grant a stay of the decision pending appeal, which was denied on October 18, 2013, in a 7-0 decision of the court which stated that it could "find no public interest in depriving a group of New Jersey residents of their constitutional right to equal protection while the appeals process unfolds". Three days later Christie withdrew the state's appeal. Christie believes that homosexuality is innate, having said, "If someone is born that way, it's very difficult to say then that that's a sin." On August 19, 2013, Christie signed a bill outlawing gay conversion therapy for children, making New Jersey the second state to institute such a law. The law was challenged in the courts, with Christie, in his official capacity as governor, named an appellee. In September 2014, a panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, saying it did not violate free speech or religious rights. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_0_q#0",
"C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_0_q#1",
"C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_0_q#2",
"C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_0_q#3",
"C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_0_q#4",
"C_4186653601824cda834fc01f25305b3c_0_q#5"
] | [
"What is his stance on same sex marriage?",
"Did he ever do that?",
"Did he veto that bill?",
"Did it happen more than once?",
"Did that decision hold?",
"Did he keep fighting the decision?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
0,
0,
2,
1
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
299
],
[
592
],
[
884
],
[
1145
],
[
1511
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Christie indicated in 2009 that he would veto any bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state,"
],
[
"State Senate passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage by a vote of 24 to 16, and on February 16, the Assembly passed it by a vote of 42 to 33,"
],
[
"Governor Christie vetoed the bill the next day and called for a constitutional amendment for same-sex marriage to be presented to the voters as a ballot referendum."
],
[
"Christie's veto was overturned in a court decision in the Garden State Equality v. Dow case,"
],
[
"Christie administration immediately asked the state Supreme Court to grant a stay of the decision pending appeal, which was denied on October 18, 2013,"
],
[
"Three days later Christie withdrew the state's appeal."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
299,
592,
884,
1145,
1511
],
"texts": [
"Christie indicated in 2009 that he would veto any bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state,",
"State Senate passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage by a vote of 24 to 16, and on February 16, the Assembly passed it by a vote of 42 to 33,",
"Governor Christie vetoed the bill the next day and called for a constitutional amendment for same-sex marriage to be presented to the voters as a ballot referendum.",
"Christie's veto was overturned in a court decision in the Garden State Equality v. Dow case,",
"Christie administration immediately asked the state Supreme Court to grant a stay of the decision pending appeal, which was denied on October 18, 2013,",
"Three days later Christie withdrew the state's appeal."
]
} | Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018.
Christie, who was born in Newark, New Jersey, was raised in Livingston, New Jersey. After graduating in 1984 from the University of Delaware, he earned a J.D. at Seton Hall University School of Law. A Republican, Christie was elected county freeholder (legislator) for Morris County, New Jersey, serving from 1995 to 1998. By 2002, he had campaigned for Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush; the latter appointed him U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, a position he held from 2002 to 2008.
Christie won the 2009 Republican primary for Governor of New Jersey and defeated Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine in the general election. In his first term, he was credited with cutting spending, capping property tax growth and engaging in recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy. He was re-elected by a wide margin in 2013, defeating State Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono. Christie's second term saw multiple controversies, namely the Fort Lee lane closure and his various absences from the state. He chaired the Republican Governors Association during the 2014 election cycle. His second term expired in 2018 and he registered as a lobbyist in 2020.
On June 30, 2015, he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election. He suspended his candidacy on February 10, 2016, following a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. Later, he endorsed eventual winner Donald Trump and was named head of Trump's transition planning team. Christie was a close ally of Trump during his presidency, but later emerged as a harsh critic of Trump following the January 6 Capitol attack. He is set to announce his second presidential campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election on June 6, 2023.
Early life and education
Christie was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Sondra A. (née Grasso), a telephone receptionist, and Wilbur James "Bill" Christie, a certified public accountant who graduated from Rutgers Business School. His mother was of Italian (Sicilian) ancestry, and his father is of German, Scottish, and Irish descent. Christie's family moved to Livingston, New Jersey, after the 1967 Newark riots, and Christie lived there until he graduated from Livingston High School in 1980. At Livingston, Christie served as class president, played catcher for the baseball team, and was selected as a New Jersey Representative to the United States Senate Youth Program.
Christie's father and mother were Republican and Democratic, respectively. He has credited his Democratic-leaning mother for indirectly making him a Republican by encouraging him to volunteer for the gubernatorial candidate who became his role model, Tom Kean. Christie had become interested in Kean after the politician, then a state legislator, spoke to Christie's junior high school class.
Christie graduated from the University of Delaware in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science; while there, he served as president of the student body. He graduated from Seton Hall University School of Law with a J.D. in 1987. He was admitted to the New Jersey State Bar Association and the Bar of the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, in December 1987. He was awarded honorary doctorate degrees by Rutgers University and Monmouth University in 2010.
Law practice and local politics
Lawyer
In 1987, Christie joined the law firm of Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci of Cranford, New Jersey. In 1993, he was named a partner in the firm. Christie specialized in securities law, appellate practice, election law, and government affairs. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the New Jersey State Bar Association and was a member of the Election Law Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association. From 1999 to 2001, Christie was registered statehouse lobbyist for Dughi and Hewit.
Morris County Freeholder
Christie volunteered for President George H. W. Bush's 1992 re-election campaign in New Jersey and became close to Bush's state director, Bill Palatucci. Following the campaign, Christie decided to run for office and moved to Mendham Township. In 1993, Christie launched a primary challenge against the New Jersey Senate Majority Leader, John H. Dorsey. However, Christie's campaign ended after Dorsey successfully challenged the validity of Christie's petition to appear on the ballot.
In 1994, Christie was elected as a Republican to the Board of County Commissioners, or legislators, for Morris County, New Jersey, after he and a running mate defeated incumbents in the party primary. Following the election, the defeated incumbents filed a defamation lawsuit against Christie based on statements made during the primary campaign. Christie had incorrectly stated that the incumbents were under "investigation" for violating certain local laws. The lawsuit was settled out of court, with Christie acknowledging that the prosecutor had convened an "inquiry" instead of an "investigation", and apologizing for the error, which he said was unintentional.
As a commissioner, Christie required the county government to obtain three quotes from qualified firms for all contracts. He led a successful effort to bar county officials from accepting gifts from people and firms doing business with the county. He voted to raise the county's open space tax for land preservation; however, county taxes, on the whole, were decreased by 6.6% during his tenure. He successfully pushed for the dismissal of an architect hired to design a new jail, saying that the architect was costing taxpayers too much money. The architect then sued Christie for defamation over remarks he made about the dismissal, eventually dropping the suit without explanation.
In 1995, Christie announced a bid for a seat in the New Jersey General Assembly; he and attorney Rick Merkt ran as a ticket against incumbent Assemblyman Anthony Bucco and attorney Michael Patrick Carroll in the Republican primary. Christie ran as a pro-choice candidate and supporter of the ban on assault weapons. Bucco and Carroll, the establishment candidates, defeated the up-and-comers by a wide margin. After this loss, Christie's bid for re-nomination to the freeholder board was unlikely, as unhappy Republicans recruited John J. Murphy to run against Christie in 1997. Murphy defeated Christie in the primary. Murphy, who had falsely accused Christie of having the county pay his legal bills in the architect's lawsuit, was sued by Christie after the election. They settled out of court with the Freeholders admitting wrongdoing and apologizing. Christie's career in Morris County politics was over by 1998.
Lobbyist
When Christie's part-time position as a Chosen Freeholder lapsed, he returned full attention to his law firm Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci. Alongside fellow partner and later, gubernatorial campaign fundraiser Bill Palatucci, Christie's firm opened an office in the state capital, Trenton, devoted mainly to lobbying. Between 1999 and 2001, Christie and Palatucci lobbied on behalf of, among others, GPU Energy for deregulation of New Jersey's electric and gas industry; the Securities Industry Association to block the inclusion of securities fraud under the state's Consumer Fraud Act; Hackensack University Medical Center for state grants; and the University of Phoenix for a New Jersey higher education license. During the 2000 presidential election, Christie was George W. Bush's campaign lawyer for the state of New Jersey.
United States Attorney
Appointment
On December 7, 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Christie the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. During a Republican presidential debate in August 2015, Christie falsely claimed he had been appointed by President Bush on September 10, 2001, and that the 9/11 attacks occurred in his state the next day. Some members of the New Jersey Bar professed disappointment at Christie's lack of experience. At the time, he had never practiced in a federal courtroom before, and had little experience in criminal law. Christie received the overwhelming support of the Republican Party in New Jersey. A spokesperson for Acting Governor Donald DiFrancesco, who selected nominees for the position, said that he received hundreds of letters of support for Christie "from everyone from the Assembly speaker down to the county level, close to every member of the Legislature and every county chairman." Christie was also a top fundraiser for Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. He helped raise $350,000 for Bush, qualifying him as a "Pioneer", and also donated to DiFrancesco. Democrats seized upon the role played by Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, after Christie's law partner, William Palatucci, a Republican political consultant and Bush supporter, boasted that he had selected a United States attorney by forwarding Christie's résumé to Rove. According to New Jersey's senior senator, Bob Torricelli, Christie promised to appoint a "professional" with federal courtroom experience as deputy if confirmed. By Senate tradition, if a state's senior Senator opposes the nomination of a U.S. Attorney, the nomination is effectively dead, but Christie's promise was enough for Torricelli to give the nomination his blessing. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on December 20, 2001, and sworn into office on January 17, 2002.
The brother of Christie's uncle (his aunt's second husband), Tino Fiumara, was an organized crime figure; according to Christie, the FBI presumably knew that when they conducted his background check. Later, Christie recused himself from the case and commented about what he had learned growing up with such a relative: "It just told me that you make bad decisions in life and you wind up paying a price."
Enforcement record
Christie served as U.S. Attorney from January 17, 2002, to December 1, 2008. His office included 137 attorneys, with offices in Newark, Trenton, and Camden. Christie also served on the 17-member Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys for Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales.
Soon after taking office, Christie let it be known that his office would make public corruption a high priority, second only to terrorism. During his six-year tenure, he received praise for his record of convictions in public corruption cases. His office convicted or won guilty pleas from 130 public officials, both Republican and Democratic, at the state, county and local levels. The most notable of these convictions included those of Democratic Hudson County Executive Robert C. Janiszewski in 2002 on bribery charges, Republican Essex County Executive James W. Treffinger in 2003 on corruption charges, former Democratic New Jersey Senate President John A. Lynch Jr., in 2006 on charges of mail fraud and tax evasion, State Senator and former Newark Democratic mayor Sharpe James in 2008 on fraud charges, and Democratic State Senator Wayne R. Bryant in 2008 on charges of bribery, mail fraud, and wire fraud.
In 2005, following an investigation, Christie negotiated a plea agreement with Charles Kushner, under which he pleaded guilty to 18 counts of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. Kushner was sentenced to two years in prison.
Christie negotiated seven deal deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) during his tenure, some of which were controversial. Under agreements like these, corporations avoid prosecution if they promise not just to obey the law or pay for bad acts, but also promise to change personnel, or revamp business practices, or adopt new types of corporate governance. They are typically used in lieu of prosecution when there is evidence of particularly egregious corporate misconduct. Since 2002, these types of agreements have been sharply on the rise among federal prosecutors, with 23 between 2002 and 2005, and 66 between 2006 and 2008. Outside monitors are appointed in about half of all DPAs, to make sure that the corporations comply. In one case, Christie recommended the appointment of The Ashcroft Group, a consulting firm owned by his former boss John Ashcroft, as an outside monitor of Zimmer Holdings—a contract worth as much as $52 million from Zimmer, which was an amount in line with fee structures at that time. In another instance, Christie's office deferred criminal prosecution of pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers in a deal that required the company to dedicate $5 million for a business ethics chair at Seton Hall University School of Law, Christie's alma mater.
Christie defended the appointment of Ashcroft, citing his prominence and legal acumen. And he defended the Seton Hall donation as happenstance given that there was already a business ethics endowed chair at the only other law school in the state.
Still, cases like these led to new rules within the Justice Department, and sparked a congressional hearing on the subject.
Besides doubling the size of the anticorruption unit for New Jersey, Christie also prosecuted other federal crimes. For example, he obtained convictions of brothel owners who kept Mexican teenagers in slavery as prostitutes, convicted 42 gang members of the Double II Set of various crimes including more than 25 murders, and convicted British trader Hemant Lakhani of trying to sell missiles. Despite claims of entrapment, Lakhani was convicted by jury in April 2005 of attempting to provide material support to terrorists, unlawful brokering of foreign defense articles, and attempting to import merchandise into the U.S. by means of false statements, plus two counts of money laundering. He was sentenced to 47 years in prison.
In 2007, Christie prosecuted the planners of the averted 2007 Fort Dix attack plot, which he has frequently mentioned as a career highlight.
During the second term of George W. Bush, a controversy arose about the administration's dismissal of several U.S. attorneys, allegedly for political reasons. When it was revealed that Christie had been on a preliminary version of the hit list, New York Senator Charles Schumer said: "I was shocked when I saw Chris Christie's name on the list last night. It just shows a [Justice] department that has run amok." Pat Meehan, the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, said: "Among his peers, Chris stands out as one of the most admired. If you were to create a list of the U.S. attorneys who have had the greatest impact, Chris would be one of the top two or three names I'd put on it. This defies explanation."
Christie's opponents claimed that he had gotten off the Bush administration's hit list by going after Congressman Robert Menendez; for example, The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote, "Menendez's claims of persecution now seem quite plausible." Christie had issued a subpoena regarding Menendez 65 days before the 2006 Senate election, in which Menendez defeated Republican Thomas Kean Jr. to become New Jersey's junior senator. Christie's biographers (journalists Michael Symons and Bob Ingle) concluded that, "The timing of the Menendez-related subpoena doesn't line up right to support the critics' theory." Christie's aides have said that the subpoena was prompted by a newspaper report about Menendez, which prosecutors feared might imminently lead to destruction of documents and other evidence. The investigation of Menendez continued for years after Christie left office as U.S. Attorney, until Menendez was finally cleared on October 5, 2011.
Governor of New Jersey (2010–2018)
2009 gubernatorial campaign
Christie filed as a candidate for the office of governor on January 8, 2009. Former Governor Thomas Kean helped Christie campaign and raise money. In the primary on June 2, Christie won the Republican nomination with 55% of the vote, defeating opponents Steve Lonegan and Rick Merkt. He then chose Kimberly Guadagno, Monmouth County sheriff, to complete his campaign ticket as a candidate for lieutenant governor. On November 3, Christie defeated Jon Corzine by a margin of 49% to 45%, with 6% of the vote going to independent candidate Chris Daggett.
2013 gubernatorial campaign
In November 2012, Christie filed papers to run for a second term in office. Christie was reelected by a large margin on November 5, 2013, defeating Democratic nominee Barbara Buono. Christie advisors said that Christie sought to win by a large margin to position himself for the presidential primaries and develop a model for other Republican candidates. Christie began building a national fundraising network, aided by the fact that only one other state had a gubernatorial contest in 2013, and those financial resources were intended to support a major outreach effort toward blacks, Hispanics and women. He also ordered a $25 million special election to fill the seat of the deceased Senator Frank Lautenberg. The move was believed to be motivated by a desire to keep Newark Mayor Cory Booker from sharing an election day, 20 days afterward, with Christie, thereby depressing otherwise anticipated black voter turnout that tended to vote Democratic.
Tenure and political positions
Christie took office as Governor of New Jersey on January 19, 2010. He chose not to move his family into Drumthwacket, the governor's official mansion, and instead resided in a private Mendham Township, New Jersey, residence.
Fiscal issues
While campaigning for governor, Christie promised not to raise taxes. He also vowed to lower the state income and business taxes, with the qualification that this might not occur immediately.
As governor, Christie claims his annual budgets did not increase taxes, though he made reductions to tax credits such as the earned income tax credit and property tax relief programs, he would also sign legislation limiting property tax growth to 2% annually. Under Christie, there were no rate increases in the state's top three revenue generators: income tax, sales tax, and corporate tax.
In February 2010, Christie signed an executive order declaring a "state of fiscal emergency" due to the projected $2.2 billion budget deficit for that fiscal year. Following the order, Christie proposed a new budget which eliminated the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate, which had an upkeep of $1.3 million. In late June 2011, Christie utilized New Jersey's line-item veto to eliminate nearly $1 billion from the proposed budget, signing it into law just hours prior to July 1, 2011, the beginning of the state's fiscal year. That same year, Christie signed into law a payroll tax cut authorizing the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development to reduce payroll deduction for most employees from $148 to $61 per year.
On five separate occasions, Christie vetoed legislation pushed by Democrats to implement a millionaire tax. After Democrat Phil Murphy became governor, Democrats backed off the legislation, with New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney stating, "[t]his state is taxed out. If you know anything about New Jersey, they're just weary of the taxes." The tax was eventually passed into law in 2020.
During Christie's tenure, New Jersey's credit rating was downgraded nine times (across Standard & Poor, Fitch Ratings, and Moody's Investors Service), leaving only Illinois with a lower rating among U.S. states. Christie received a B grade in 2012 and in 2014 from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, in their biennial fiscal policy report on America's governors.
Tax credits and incentives
On September 18, 2013, Christie signed legislation to overhaul the state's business tax incentive programs. The legislation reduced the number of tax incentive programs from five to two, raised the caps on tax credits, and allowed smaller companies to qualify. It also increased the credits available for businesses in South Jersey.
Public employee pensions
In March 2010, Christie signed into law three state pension reform bills, which had passed with bipartisan support. The laws decreased pension benefits for future hires and required public employees to contribute 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health care. The laws prompted a lawsuit by the police and firefighters' unions. In his campaign for governor, Christie opposed any change in pension benefits for firefighters and law enforcement officers, including "current officers, future officers or retirees". He described the pension agreement as "a sacred trust".
Later that year, he called for further cuts, including the elimination of cost-of-living adjustments for all current and future retirees. In June 2011, Christie announced a deal with the Democratic leadership of the legislature on a reform of public employee pensions and benefits. The deal raised public employees' pension contributions, mandated the state to make annual payments into the system, increased public employee contributions toward health insurance premiums, and ended collective bargaining for health benefits. The reform is projected to save the state $120 billion over 30 years.
In June 2013, Christie signed a $33 billion state budget that makes a record $1.7 billion payment to the state's pension fund and also increases school funding by almost $100 million. The budget resulted from negotiations between Christie and Democratic leaders in the state legislature and was the first that Christie has signed as passed, without vetoing any of its provisions.
In May 2014, Christie cut the contributions to New Jersey public workers' pension funds for a 14-month period by nearly $2.5 billion to deal with a revenue shortfall in the state budget of $2.75 billion. The state will instead make a $1.3 billion payment during the period. Christie cited the state constitution's requirement to have a balanced budget for his decision to cut payments to pensions for state workers, and follows Christie's changes to the state's pension formula earlier in 2014 to save $900 million through the end of his term.
Legalization of online gambling
In February 2013, online gambling was legalized in New Jersey after the state's Legislature passed Bill A2578, which was later signed into law by Christie. Christie was instrumental in the legalization of online gaming in the state, citing the need for increased state revenue in the years after the 2008 recession. After vetoing previous versions of the bill, Christie signed the latest version into law after ensuring the regulatory framework was in place to safeguard players and create a responsible gaming environment. Christie was also vocal about the offshore gambling market, claiming that states lost billions in tax revenues to offshore, unregulated, and untaxed operators.
In October 2014, Chris signed bill to legalize sports betting in New Jersey.
Education
One of Christie's most controversial school policies was to increase the state's control of school districts. The districts contained relatively-high numbers of underachieving students, people of color, poor people, and members of the Democratic Party. In Newark, Christie hired Chris Cerf to replace Cami Anderson as the state-appointed superintendent of its school district. Under Christie, Cerf overruled the district's locally elected school board;, recent research indicated that the reforms advocated by Christie, Anderson, and Cerf did not improve educational outcomes.
Christie has been accused of under-funding school districts. Reports indicated that Christie's administration did not adhere to the School Funding Reform Act, and illegally withheld funds from districts throughout the state. His 2017 school-funding proposal was described by education researchers as "one of the least equitable in the country". State commissioner of education Chris Cerf defended policies declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of New Jersey, which contradicting basic education research.
Christie, whose children attend Catholic school, supports the state giving tax credits to parents who send their children to private and parochial schools. He also supports school vouchers, which parents of students in failing school districts could use for tuition in private schools or for public schools in communities outside their own. Christie supports merit pay for teachers.
On August 25, 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that $400 million in federal Race to the Top education grants to New Jersey would not be issued due to a clerical error in the state's application by an unidentified mid-level state official. Christie said that the Obama administration had overstepped its authority, and the error was in the administration's failure to communicate with the New Jersey government. It was later learned that the issue had been raised with Bret Schundler, Christie's education commissioner. Christie asked for Schundler's resignation; Schundler initially agreed to resign, but asked to be fired the following morning to claim unemployment benefits. According to Schundler, he told Christie the truth and Christie misstated what actually occurred.
The Christie administration approved 23 new charter schools in January 2011, including New Jersey's first independent school for children with autism. The approvals increased the state's number of charter schools to 96.
On August 6, 2012, Christie signed a law reforming the tenure system for New Jersey public-school teachers. Under the law, teachers would be required to work four years (instead of three) to earn tenure; they would also need to receive positive ratings for two consecutive years. Tenured teachers with poor ratings for two consecutive years would be eligible for dismissal, with the hearing process for appeals related to dismissal of tenured teachers limited to 105 days.
On March 6, 2013, the Christie administration released proposed regulations to overhaul the process of evaluating public-school teachers. Under the proposal, a percentage of teacher evaluations would be based on student improvement in state tests or student-achievement goals set by principals.
In September 2014, Christie signed a partnership with Mexico on a higher-education project to foster economic cooperation. The program would focus on research ventures, cross-border fellowships, student and teacher exchanges, conferences, and other educational opportunities.
Energy and environment
Christie has stated that he believes that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is too big and is "killing business" with permit delays and indiscriminate fines. He announced that, if elected, the agency would be his first target for government reduction: he would reduce its workforce and strip it of its fish and wildlife oversight.
Christie has stated that he intends to simultaneously spur growth in the state's manufacturing sector and increase New Jersey's capability to produce alternative energy. He has proposed a list of policy measures to achieve this, including giving tax credits to businesses that build new wind energy and manufacturing facilities, changing land use rules to allow solar energy on permanently preserved farmland, installing solar farms on closed landfills, setting up a consolidated energy promotion program, and following a five-to-one production to non-production job ratio in the creation of new energy jobs. In August 2010, legislation to encourage the development of wind power in New Jersey was signed by Christie at the Port of Paulsboro. The Offshore Wind Economic Development Act authorized New Jersey Economic Development Authority to provide up to $100 million in tax credits for wind energy facilities. The governor has pledged to ban coal-fired power plants, and to reach 22.5% renewable generation in the state by 2021.
On May 26, 2011, Christie announced he would pull the state out of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. This was challenged in court which ruled in March 2014 that Christie had acted illegally in doing so since state regulations do not permit it. His administration sought to repeal the rules.
Hydraulic fracturing
Christie has rejected permanent bans on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in New Jersey and vetoed measures that would ban the process and disposal of hydraulic fracturing waste in the State. New Jersey has few proven shale reserves and the process is not practiced there. Christie argued that the vetoed Senate Bill (S253) was premature because of an ongoing study to be completed in 2014 and would discriminate against other states, a violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Supporters of legislation have said that hydraulic fracturing waste from Pennsylvania makes its way into New Jersey for treatment, although how much is not clear. They also criticized Christie's legal analysis saying that the Office of Legislative Services has said that the bill is constitutional.
Exxon Mobil environmental contamination lawsuit
Christie's settled a lawsuit with Exxon Mobil by allowing the corporation to pay $225 million in damages for environmental contamination at two sites, less than 3% of the $8.9 billion that the state's lawyers had sought, and extended the compensation to cover other damages not named in the original lawsuit. The settlement was slammed by environmental advocates. David Pringle, state campaign director of Clean Water Action, called it "the biggest corporate subsidy in state history," vowing to overturn it. Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club called this move "a violation of the public trust." The New Jersey State Senate also condemned the deal, with state Senator Raymond Lesniak and others suggesting the decision was Christie's effort to plug his own budget shortfalls at the expense of taxpayers over the long term. ExxonMobil had donated $500,000 to the Republican Governors Association while Christie was chairman, though they have insisted it was unrelated to the ongoing suit. The previous gubernatorial administration, that of Democrat Jon Corzine, had also attempted to settle with Exxon, for $550 million, though this offer was made before a 2009 ruling that strengthened the state's bargaining position.
Farm animal welfare
In June 2013, Christie vetoed S1921, an animal welfare bill introduced by the Humane Society of the United States to prohibit the use of gestation crates on pregnant pigs in the state. The bill had passed in the General Assembly with a vote of 60–5 and the Senate 29–4. A 2013 survey by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. showed 91% of New Jersey voters supported the legislation. An attempt to override the veto did not come to a vote. In October 2014, a similar bill banning gestation crates, S998, was proposed with a vote in the Senate of 32–1 and in the Assembly of 53–13 (with 9 abstentions). While campaigning in Iowa in November, in a conversation with the former president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Christie indicated he would veto the bill. He did so on November 27, 2014. The bill's sponsor, Senator Raymond Lesniak, had vowed to override it.
New Jersey Supreme Court nominations
By tradition since the 1947 state constitution, the seven-member New Jersey Supreme Court maintains a political balance and is composed of four members of either the Democratic Party or Republican Party and three of the other. Christie broke with the tradition in May 2010 when he chose not to renominate Justice John E. Wallace Jr. While on the campaign trail, Christie had said the court "inappropriately encroached on both the executive and legislative function, and that if elected governor, [he] would take steps . . . to bring back an appropriate constitutional balance to the court."
Over the course of his tenure, Christie had been in a major conflict with the New Jersey Legislature over the court's partisan balance. The stand-off between the governor and the New Jersey Senate resulted in longstanding vacancies, with temporarily assigned appellate judges filling in.
Minimum wage and equal pay for women
In January 2013, Christie vetoed a New Jersey Legislature bill that would have raised the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 per hour. The following November, the issue was placed on the ballot as a constitutional amendment referendum, passing with 61% of the vote.
On September 21, 2012, Christie signed Assembly Bill No. 2647 (A-2647) into law that requires employers to post and distribute notice of employees' rights to gender-equal pay, but conditionally vetoed other gender parity bills, requesting revision.
Immigration
Christie emphasizes the need to secure the border, and believes it is premature to discuss legalization of people who came to the United States unlawfully. While serving as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Christie stressed that simply "[b]eing in this country without proper documentation is not a crime," but rather a civil wrong; and that undocumented people are not criminals unless they have re-entered the country after being deported. As such, Christie stated, responsibility for dealing with improperly documented foreign nationals lies with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, not the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Christie has been critical about section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, enacted in 1996, which can be used to grant local law enforcement officers power to perform immigration law enforcement functions.
In state tuition for undocumented immigrants
In December 2013, Christie signed legislation allowing unauthorized immigrants who attend high school for at least three years in New Jersey and graduate to be eligible for the resident rates at state college and universities and community colleges.
Social issues
LGBT rights
As governor, Christie opposed same-sex marriage but voiced support for New Jersey's civil union law, which extended to gay couples the same legal benefits of marriage with regards to state law. Christie indicated in 2009 that he would veto any bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state, saying, "I also believe marriage should be exclusively between one man and one woman.... If a bill legalizing same sex marriage came to my desk as Governor, I would veto it." On February 17, 2012, Christie vetoed a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage in New Jersey. The bill passed by wide but not veto-proof margins in both houses of the legislature. Christie instead proposed that the issue be presented to the voters in a statewide ballot referendum.
The issue was rendered moot shortly thereafter by a state court decision, in which the judge stated New Jersey was "... violating the mandate of Lewis and the New Jersey Constitution's equal protection guarantee". The Christie administration responded by asking the state Supreme Court to grant a stay of the decision pending appeal, which was denied on October 18, 2013, in a 7–0 decision of the court which stated that it could "find no public interest in depriving a group of New Jersey residents of their constitutional right to equal protection while the appeals process unfolds". Three days later Christie withdrew the state's appeal.
Christie believes that homosexuality is innate, having said, "If someone is born that way, it's very difficult to say then that that's a sin." On August 19, 2013, Christie signed a bill outlawing gay conversion therapy for children, making New Jersey the second state to institute such a law. The law was challenged in the courts, with Christie, in his official capacity as governor, named an appellee.
In September 2014, a panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, saying it did not violate free speech or religious rights.
Abortion
Early in his political career, Christie stated in an interview that "I would call myself … a kind of a non-thinking pro-choice person, kind of the default position". In 2009, Christie identified himself as anti-abortion, but stated that he would not use the governor's office to "force that down people's throats", while still expressing support for banning "partial-birth abortion", parental notification, and a 24-hour waiting period. He does support legal access to abortion in cases of rape, incest, or if the woman's life is in danger.
In 2014, campaigning in Alabama for incumbent governor Robert Bentley, Christie stated that he was the first "pro-life governor" elected in New Jersey since Roe v. Wade in 1973. He also stated that he had vetoed funding for Planned Parenthood five times as governor. In March 2015, Christie joined other potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates in endorsing a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Marijuana legalization
Christie opposes legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, believing it to be a "gateway drug" and that tax revenue from the sale of it is "blood money". Christie said that if elected president he would "crack down" and enforce federal law in states that have legalized cannabis. In 2013, Christie signed a bill to more easily allow the use of medical cannabis by children in New Jersey. He opposed other efforts to expand the state's medical cannabis program during his governorship, however.
Vaccination
Christie responded to calls by President Obama to prevent the spread of measles by saying that parents should have a choice. The governor's office said that he "believes vaccines are an important public health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated", but that he was unaware of a free national program to provide new parents with a vaccine checklist.
Gun rights
In December 2010, Christie commuted the seven-year sentence of Brian Aitken, who had been convicted of transporting three guns within the state; as a result, Aitken was released from prison.
Christie has said that each state has the right to determine firearms laws without federal interference. When announcing his candidacy in 2009 he said he supported aggressive enforcement of the state's current gun laws. In 2013, he chose not to defend a legal challenge to a New Jersey law requiring individuals to prove an urgent threat of violence before getting permits to carry handguns. In July 2014, Christie vetoed legislation that would have reduced the allowed legal size of ammunition magazines. Instead he re-wrote it, proposing a new standard for involuntary commitment of people who are not necessarily deemed dangerous "but whose mental illness, if untreated, could deteriorate to the point of harm" as well as other forms of involuntary mental health treatments. Christie had previously vetoed proposed legislation that would bar the state pension fund from investing in companies that manufacture or sell assault firearms for civilian use and a bill to prohibit the sale of .50-caliber rifles to civilians. In July 2015, Christie vetoed a bill passed by the Assembly, 74–0 (six abstentions), and the Senate by a 38–0 (two abstentions) which would require anyone seeking to have their mental health records expunged to purchase a firearm to notify the State Police, their county prosecutor and their local police department when petitioning the court. In October 2015, the New Jersey Senate voted to override Christie's veto.
In January 2018, during his final days as Governor of New Jersey, Christie signed legislation making bump stocks illegal in the state.
Transportation
Christie has raised tolls and fares ("user fees") on the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, Hudson River crossings and NJ Transit buses and trains during his administration to fund projects throughout the state. In 2014, Christie authorized the increase of numerous other fees charged by the state for various licensing and administrative fees.
In 2010, Christie cancelled the Access to the Region's Core project, which would have constructed two new tunnels under the Hudson River and a new terminal station in New York City for NJ Transit commuter trains. Christopher O. Ward advocated for the tunnel on behalf of the Port Authority. Christie cited escalating costs and possible further overruns as the reason for his decision. Proponents of the project said it would have created 6,000 construction jobs per year and 45,000 secondary jobs once complete. After the cancellation, New Jersey had to return $95 million to the federal government, and used $1.8 billion of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey money from the project budget to pay for repairs to the Pulaski Skyway, since the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund that should fund such maintenance was effectively bankrupt. The termination of the project has made the need for increased rail capacity under the Hudson River more urgent, and Amtrak's Gateway Project to bore new tunnels is currently unfunded.
Response to Hurricane Sandy
On December 28, 2012, the U.S. Senate approved $60.4 billion aid package for Hurricane Sandy disaster relief. The House did not vote until the next session on January 3. On January 2, Christie criticized the delay as "selfishness and duplicity" and blamed the House Speaker John Boehner and the rest of the House Republican leadership. A bill for relief was passed in the House on January 15.
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice opened an inquiry into allegations that Christie made state grants of Hurricane Sandy relief funds to New Jersey cities conditional on support for other projects.
Official visit to the Middle East
Continuing the tradition of earlier New Jersey governors since the 1980s, Christie traveled to Israel in April 2012. During the visit, which included meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, Christie commented that "Jerusalem has never been better or freer than under Israeli control." Christie took a helicopter tour of the West Bank and cautioned against Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Jerusalem or the Golan Heights. The official title given to the trip was "Jersey to Jerusalem Trade Mission: Economic Growth, Diplomacy, Observance". The visit to Israel was Christie's first official overseas trip since taking office. From Israel, Christie continued with his family to Jordan, as guests of King Abdullah II.
Public opinion
Christie began his governorship with approval ratings near 50 percent. Christie's approval remained higher than his disapproval until May 2011, when a poll found voters split evenly, with 44 percent approving and 44 percent disapproving. By June 2011, Christie's disapproval ratings were above his approval ratings, with 47 percent of voters disapproving of his governorship, and 44 percent approving. However, a surge in his approval ratings began later that year, and in May 2012 a poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University found that Christie's approval ratings had increased to 56 percent among New Jersey voters, with 33 percent disapproving. After Hurricane Sandy and his response to it, Christie's approval rating surged to 77 percent, the highest during his governorship.
After winning reelection, Christie had an approval rating of 65 percent. However, after the Fort Lee lane closure scandal, Christie's approval declined to 50 percent. In August 2014, his approval rating sat at 49 percent with disapproval estimated at 47 percent. In October, a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll found that 45 percent of voters disapproved of Christie's job performance, compared to 42 percent who approved of it. In the aftermath of his campaign for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, a Rutgers-Eagleton survey found the governor's approval rating had dropped to 26 percent. A similar result was again found by the Institute in September 2016.
In May 2016, the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute found 64 percent of voters disapproved of the job Christie was doing, compared to 29 percent percent who approved. The following month, in June 2016, a Monmouth University Polling Institute survey found that just 27 percent of New Jersey adults approved of Christie's job performance, with 63 percent disapproving. Overall 79 percent of New Jersey adults polled said that Christie was more concerned with his political future than with governing the state.
In January 2017, another Quinnipiac poll found Christie's approval rating had slumped to 17 percent with a 78 percent disapproval rating, making it one of its lowest approval rating for a state governor (both in New Jersey and in the U.S.) in nearly 20 years. By April, another poll suggested that Christie was the least popular governor in the U.S., with a 71 percent disapproval rating.
In June 2017, Quinnipiac found that 15 percent approved of Christie, and 81 percent disapproved. This was the lowest recorded approval rating of a New Jersey governor in history, and the lowest approval rating found by Quinnipiac for any governor in any state in more than two decades. In a response, Christie said he didn't care about approval ratings because he was not running for office.
Controversies
Fort Lee lane closure
From September 9 through September 13, 2013, two of the three traffic lanes in Fort Lee normally open to access the George Washington Bridge and New York City were closed on orders from a senior Christie aide and a Christie administration appointee. The lane closures in the morning rush hour resulted in massive traffic back-ups on the local streets for five days.
One common theory as to why the lanes were closed is that it was political retribution against Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not supporting Christie in the 2013 gubernatorial election. Another possible motive involves a major real estate development project, which was a top priority for Sokolich, that was under way at the Fort Lee bridge access point.
Several of Christie's appointees and aides resigned, and Christie fired others, as investigations into the closures intensified. In a radio interview on February 3, 2014, Christie indicated that he "unequivocally" had no knowledge of, did not approve, and did not authorize plans to close the toll lanes, and stated that he first found out about the traffic jams from a story in The Wall Street Journal after the lanes had been reopened. In an interview on ABC, Christie reiterated that he was shocked by the actions of his former aides, stating that "Sometimes, people do inexplicably stupid things."
Other investigations were conducted by the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, the New Jersey Legislature, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. On September 18, 2014, WNBC reported that unnamed federal sources said the US Attorney investigation had found no evidence that Christie had prior knowledge of or directed the closures. An interim report by the NJ legislative committee investigating the closures was released in December 2014. The committee had been unable to determine if Christie had advance knowledge since it was asked by the US Attorney to postpone interviewing certain key witnesses. At a press conference on May 1, 2015, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman stated that, based upon the evidence that was available, his office would not bring any more charges in the case. However, in September 2016, federal prosecutors in a trial of two New Jersey government officials over their involvement in "Bridgegate" said that a defendant and a witness boasted about their actions to the governor at the time, confirming what Donald Trump had said in December 2015 while opposing Christie for the Republican nomination for the 2016 presidential election.
On October 13, 2016, a complaint of official misconduct that alleges that the governor knew of the closures of access lanes while they were ongoing but failed to act to reopen them was allowed to proceed. In response to the complaint filed by a local citizen, Bergen County Municipal Presiding Judge Roy McGeady said "I'm satisfied that there's probable cause to believe that an event of official misconduct was caused by Governor Christie. I'm going to issue the summons.". In response, Brian Murray, Christie's press secretary, accused Judge McGeady of "violating the law, pure and simple." The Superior Court overruled the probable cause decision and sent the case back to Judge McGeady, and although the Superior Court did not toss the complaint, requested by Gov. Christie's counsel, the court ruled that Judge McGeady's decision not to allow Gov. Christie's lawyers to participate in the original hearing (argue or cross-examine) was made "erroneously". In January 2017, Bergen County prosecutors said they would not seek criminal charges against Christie in connection with the scandal.
On November 4, 2016, a federal jury convicted former top Christie aides Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly of all charges. In March 2017, Baroni was sentenced to two years in prison and Kelly to 18 months in prison. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the convictions on May 7, 2020.
Island Beach State Park incident
In July 2017 during a budget shutdown and partial closing of state government services and facilities, the governor and his family were photographed from an airplane vacationing at Island Beach State Park alone on the beach. The beach which was closed to the public as a result of the shutdown, and Christie commuted to the beach from Trenton via state helicopter while his family was staying at the official governor's residence there. His spokesman said that he didn't "get any sun" because he was wearing a baseball cap at the time of the photo. When asked in an interview about people being upset that he was at the beach when they were unable to visit the beach, Christie responded, "'I'm sorry they're not the governor'".
Open records battles
During his administration's eight years, the governor's office spent more than $1 million fighting New Jersey Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests. On his way out, the governor, in an official letter to the State Archives, dictated how his office's records be handled. This came to light in May 2018, as the State Archives' release of electronic records relating to business by Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, were denied by his personal lawyer; Kushner's real estate company received $33 million in state tax breaks. Open records experts challenged Christie's "disturbing" actions.
Republican Governors Association
In November 2013, Christie was elected chairman of the Republican Governors Association, succeeding Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Christie campaigned extensively on behalf of Republican governors running for re-election. In the first three months of 2014, the RGA raised a record sum for the first quarter of a mid-term election year, and almost doubled the amount raised by the Democratic Governors Association during the same period.
Christie presided over net gains in Republican governorships in the 2014 elections, including for Republican gubernatorial candidates in three largely Democratic states: Bruce Rauner in Illinois, Larry Hogan in Maryland and Charlie Baker in Massachusetts.
Presidential politics
2012 presidential election
There was ongoing speculation that Christie would attempt a run for President of the United States in 2012 by competing in the Republican primaries. In September 2011, a number of press stories cited unnamed sources indicating Christie was reconsidering his decision to stay out of the race. An Associated Press story dated September 30 indicated a decision on whether he would run for president in 2012 would be made "soon". In a late September speech at the Reagan Library, he had again said he was not a candidate for president, but the speech also coincided with his "reconsideration" of the negative decision. The Koch brothers (David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch), Kenneth Langone, and retired General Electric CEO Jack Welch expressed support for a potential Christie candidacy. In October 2011, Christie said that he had reconsidered his decision but had again decided not to run for president, stating at a press conference: "New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me." Christie endorsed Mitt Romney for president a few days later.
Political commentators debated whether Christie's weight would or should affect his viability as a 2012 presidential candidate, either for medical or social reasons. The Obesity Society, a nonprofit scientific group, released a statement asserting, "To suggest that Governor Christie's body weight discounts and discredits his ability to be an effective political candidate is inappropriate, unjust, and wrong."
The New York Post has cited anonymous sources as saying Christie was not willing to give up the governorship to be Romney's running mate because he had doubts about their ability to win. The Romney campaign was reported to have asked him to resign his governorship if he became the vice-presidential nominee because "pay to play" laws restrict campaign contributions from financial corporation executives to governors running for federal office when the companies do business with the governor's state. A memo from the campaign attributed Romney's decision not to choose Christie as his running mate, in part, to unanswered questions during the vetting process regarding a defamation lawsuit following Christie's initial campaign for Morris County Freeholder, a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of Christie's brother, as well as his weight.
Christie gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in August 2012. On October 30, 2012, during a press conference to discuss the impact of Hurricane Sandy, Christie praised the disaster relief efforts of President Barack Obama.
Christie stated he still supported Mitt Romney and was opposed to many of Obama's policies, but thought Obama deserved credit for his help in the disaster relief in New Jersey. Christie faced significant backlash before and after the election from conservative Republicans who accused him of acting to bolster his own personal political standing at the expense of Romney and the party.
In the aftermath of the election, Christie maintained his national profile and continued to clash with conservatives in his party by strongly criticizing House Speaker John Boehner regarding aid for Hurricane Sandy and then the National Rifle Association for their ad that mentioned President Obama's children. Christie was subsequently not invited to speak at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which is largely seen as a stepping-stone for Republicans running for president. The CPAC chair explained that Christie was not invited "for decisions that he made", but that "hopefully next year he's back on the right track and being a conservative."
2016 presidential election
In January 2015, Christie took his first formal step towards a presidential candidacy by forming a political action committee (PAC) in order to raise funds and prepare for a likely 2016 presidential bid. On June 27, 2015, Christie launched his presidential campaign website. He formally announced his candidacy on June 30, 2015.
Christie dropped out of the race on February 10, 2016, after the New Hampshire primary following a poor showing and low poll numbers. He received 7.4% of the overall vote in the New Hampshire primary.
Despite having criticized Donald Trump prior to leaving the race, he endorsed Trump on February 26, 2016. On May 9, 2016, Trump named Christie to head a transition team in the event of a Trump presidency. He soon emerged as a major power with the Trump campaign.
Trump considered Christie as a potential vice-presidential running mate, and he was on the shortlist alongside former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Trump passed over Christie and selected Pence. The subject's transition list for likely candidates for Trump's National Security Adviser did not include Michael Flynn, but rather, Peter Pace and William H. McRaven.
In September 2016, Christie acknowledged that the Fort Lee lane closure scandal, also known as Bridgegate, was a factor in his being denied the nomination. Trump had said earlier that Christie knew about the closures, which Christie denies. Following the release of Trump's tape-recorded comments on an Access Hollywood bus, Christie called Trump's comments "completely indefensible", but also added "I don't think it's the only way you should make a judgment."
After calls for his impeachment as governor and felony convictions in U.S. federal court of high-ranking members of his staff in the Bridgegate scandal, Christie was dropped by Trump as leader of the transition team, in favor of Pence. On the same day, Christie's close associates Richard Bagger and Bill Palatucci were both removed by Trump from the transition team. Former Congressman Mike Rogers, a national security expert on the Trump transition team, was additionally another close associate of Chris Christie who was also removed a few days after Christie's departure.
Christie was considered for a role in the Trump administration, but said he would serve out his term as governor, which ended in January 2018. On December 11, it was reported that Christie turned down offers to become Secretary of Homeland Security and Secretary of Veterans Affairs, because he wanted to be Attorney General. An 18-page report outlining questions and possible concerns about Christie joining the administration was released in June 2019.
2020 presidential election
In 2020, Christie offered to help Trump win re-election. One of his roles was helping the president to prepare for his first debate with challenger Joe Biden on September 29, 2020. He visited the White House repeatedly during the four days preceding the debate. He said the prep sessions involved five or six people in total, none of whom wore facial coverings despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. He added that he tested negative for the virus each time he entered the White House and saw no-one exhibiting symptoms. On October 3 he tested positive and was hospitalized, calling it a precautionary measure. He was released from the hospital on October 10.
2024 presidential election
In December 2020, Christie told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt that he was not ruling out a 2024 presidential bid. In October 2022, Christie appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher where he was asked if he was open to a potential 2024 presidential bid, with Christie responding "sure". On March 16, 2023, Christie announced that he will decide running for president within 45 to 60 days. During this time, Christie voiced his criticism of Florida governor Ron DeSantis and his feud with The Walt Disney Company, claiming it was showing DeSantis's lack of conservative values. Christie visited New Hampshire in late March, claiming it was to see if he's ready to "get into the battle".
On May 31, 2023, Axios reported that Chris Christie planned to announce his 2024 campaign in the June 5th week.
Opioid epidemic efforts
In March 2017, Trump picked Christie to chair the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission, an advisory committee on the opioid epidemic in the United States.
Christie said that New Jersey would be spending $500 million on the epidemic, and in his last few months as governor promoted the Reach NJ Campaign, which included television ads in which he appeared.
In May 2019, Santa Monica, California, tech firm WeRecover announced that Christie had joined their team as Senior Advisor on Strategy and Public Policy. Upon joining Christie said, "As the chairman of the opioid task force, I was honored to shape our federal government's efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. But this isn't a problem government alone can solve. This is the worst epidemic we've ever faced, and we need the kind of innovation that can only come from the private sector. In WeRecover, I've found a team of some of the best and brightest people in tech, fully committed to broadening access to care through data, design and technology."
Post-gubernatorial career
In January 2018, Christie joined ABC News as a regular network contributor. In November 2018, it was reported that he was being considered for the role of United States Attorney General by the Trump Administration, although William Barr was ultimately selected. After meeting with Trump into December 2018, Christie said he did not want to be considered for the job of White House Chief of Staff.
Christie published a book titled Let Me Finish in January 2019. Also that year, he was selected for the Sports Betting Hall of Fame in recognition of his role in New Jersey's successful effort to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, the U.S. federal law banning single-game sports betting outside Nevada.
In May 2020, Christie stated that measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States should be lifted for economic reasons. "Of course, everybody wants to save every life they can – but the question is, towards what end, ultimately? ... Are there ways that we can ... thread the middle here to allow that there are going to be deaths, and there are going to be deaths no matter what?"
Christie registered as a lobbyist in June 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic he was paid $240,000 for lobbying on behalf of a Tennessee-based chain of addiction treatment centers and three New Jersey hospital systems seeking federal funding.
Christie distanced himself from Donald Trump after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In a September 9, 2021 speech at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, Christie implored Republicans to reject their most extreme elements such as QAnon, white supremacists and election fraud conspiracy theorists.
In March 2021, Christie joined the board of directors of the New York Mets front office.
Personal life
In 1986, Christie married Mary Pat Foster, a fellow student at the University of Delaware. After marrying, they shared a studio apartment in Summit, New Jersey. Mary Pat Christie pursued a career in investment banking and eventually worked at the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald; she left the firm in 2001 following the September 11 attacks. Through April 2015 she was a managing director at the Wall Street investment firm Angelo, Gordon & Co.
Christie and Mary Pat have four children: Andrew (b. 1993), Sarah (b. 1996), Patrick (b. 2000) and Bridget (b. 2003). The family resides in Mendham Township.
Christie's hobbies have included coaching Little League, watching the New York Mets, and attending Bruce Springsteen concerts (141 of them). Christie's other favorite sports teams are the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, and Dallas Cowboys. He is a practicing Catholic and member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
Health
In 2011, columnist Eugene Robinson applied the term "extremely obese" to Christie, citing medical guidelines established by the National Institutes of Health. Christie himself was reportedly concerned about his weight and its implications for his health, describing himself as relatively healthy overall. Christie underwent lap-band stomach surgery in February 2013 and disclosed the surgery to the New York Post in May of that year.
On October 3, 2020, Christie tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to the Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey the same day, citing asthma as an underlying health concern. On October 10, Christie was released from the hospital. In his 2021 book, Republican Rescue, Christie revealed that Donald Trump called him while he was being hospitalized, and asked "Are you gonna say you got it from me?"
Bibliography
Let Me Finish, 2019
Republican Rescue, 2021
See also
Electoral history of Chris Christie
References
Further reading
Ingle, Bob and Symons, Michael. Chris Christie: The Inside Story of His Rise to Power. Macmillan, 2012. .
Manzo, Louis Michael. Ruthless Ambition: The Rise and Fall of Chris Christie. Trine Day, 2014. .
Matt Katz. American Governor: Chris Christie's Bridge to Redemption. (2016)
Christie, Chris. Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics (Hachette, 2019)
External links
Official 2016 Presidential Campaign website (last updated February 11, 2016)
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
Category:1962 births
Category:Living people
Category:21st-century American politicians
Category:ABC News personalities
Category:American people of German descent
Category:American people of Irish descent
Category:American people of Scottish descent
Category:American people of Italian descent
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Candidates in the 2016 United States presidential election
Category:Catholics from New Jersey
Category:County commissioners in New Jersey
Category:Republican Party governors of New Jersey
Category:Lawyers from Newark, New Jersey
Category:Livingston High School (New Jersey) alumni
Category:New Jersey lawyers
Category:New York Mets executives
Category:People from Livingston, New Jersey
Category:People from Mendham Township, New Jersey
Category:Politicians from Newark, New Jersey
Category:Seton Hall University School of Law alumni
Category:United States Attorneys for the District of New Jersey
Category:University of Delaware alumni | [] | [
"Christie's stance on same-sex marriage is that it should not be legalized. He believes that marriage should be exclusively between one man and one woman. He vetoed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in New Jersey when it came to his desk as governor.",
"Yes, Christie did veto a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage. However, his veto was overturned in a court case named Garden State Equality v. Dow. After his appeal for a stay of the decision was denied, Christie withdrew the state's appeal.",
"Yes, Governor Christie vetoed the bill legalizing same-sex marriage that was passed by the State Senate and the Assembly in 2012. However, his veto was later overturned in a court decision.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Governor Christie vetoed more than one bill legalizing same-sex marriage.",
"No, Christie's decision to veto the same-sex marriage bill did not hold. His veto was overturned in a court decision in the case Garden State Equality v. Dow. After the state Supreme Court denied a stay of the decision requested by Christie's administration, Christie withdrew the state's appeal.",
"No, Christie did not keep fighting the decision. After the New Jersey Supreme Court denied a stay of the decision in a 7-0 ruling, Christie withdrew the state's appeal."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"no",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_0 | Judith Butler | Judith Butler FBA (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics and the fields of third-wave feminist, queer and literary theory. Since 1993, she has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, where she is now Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory. She is also the Hannah Arendt Chair at the European Graduate School. Butler is best known for her books Gender Trouble: | "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution" (1988) | In this essay, Judith Butler proposes her theory of gender performativity, which would be later taken up in 1990 throughout her work, Gender Trouble. She begins by basing her theory of gender performativity on a feminist phenomenological point of view. She suggests that both phenomenology and feminism ground their theories in "lived experience". Further, in comparing phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty and feminist Simone de Beauvoir, Butler argues that both theories view the sexual body as a historical idea or situation; she accepts this notion of a "distinction between sex, as biological facticity, and gender, as the cultural interpretation or signification of that facticity". This combination of theories is essential for founding Butler's view of "theatrical" or performative genders in society. Butler argues that it is more valid to perceive gender as a performance in which an individual agent acts. The performative element of her theory suggests a social audience. For Butler, the "script" of gender performance is effortlessly transmitted generation to generation in the form of socially established "meanings": She states, "gender is not a radical choice... [nor is it] imposed or inscribed upon the individual". Given the social nature of human beings, most actions are witnessed, reproduced, and internalized and thus take on a performative or theatric quality. With Butler's theory, gender is essentially a performative repetition of acts associated with the male or female. Currently, the actions appropriate for men and women have been transmitted to produce a social atmosphere that both maintains and legitimizes a seemingly natural gender binary. Consistently with her acceptance of the body as a historical idea, she suggests that our concept of gender is seen as natural or innate because the body "becomes its gender through a series of acts which are renewed, revised, and consolidated through time". Butler argues that the performance of gender itself creates gender. Additionally, she compares the performativity of gender to the performance of the theater. She brings many similarities, including the idea of each individual functioning as an actor of their gender. However, she also brings into light a critical difference between gender performance in reality and theater performances. She explains how the theater is much less threatening and does not produce the same fear that gender performances often encounter because of the fact that there is a clear distinction from reality within the theater. Butler uses Sigmund Freud's notion of how a person's identity is modeled in terms of the normal. She revises Freud's notion of this concept's applicability to lesbianism, where Freud says that lesbians are modeling their behavior on men, the perceived normal or ideal. She instead says that all gender works in this way of performativity and a representing of an internalized notion of gender norms. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_0_q#0",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_0_q#1",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_0_q#2",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_0_q#3",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_0_q#4",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_0_q#5",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_0_q#6",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_0_q#7"
] | [
"What is Performative Acts and Gender Consitution?",
"How does she compare them?",
"Was her argument well received?",
"What is the difference/",
"What is the result of this?",
"Where did she publish this piece?",
"How does she revise this?",
"Were there any critics?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
1,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
0,
2,
2,
1,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1937
],
[
2096
],
[
2205
],
[
2327
],
[
2545
],
[
2642
],
[
2814
],
[
2945
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Butler argues that the performance of gender itself creates gender. Additionally, she compares the performativity of gender to the performance of the theater."
],
[
"She brings many similarities, including the idea of each individual functioning as an actor of their gender."
],
[
"However, she also brings into light a critical difference between gender performance in reality and theater performances."
],
[
"She explains how the theater is much less threatening and does not produce the same fear that gender performances often encounter"
],
[
"Butler uses Sigmund Freud's notion of how a person's identity is modeled in terms of the normal."
],
[
"She revises Freud's notion of this concept's applicability to lesbianism,"
],
[
"She instead says that all gender works in this way of performativity and a representing of an internalized notion of gender norms."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1937,
2096,
2205,
2327,
2545,
2642,
2814,
2945
],
"texts": [
"Butler argues that the performance of gender itself creates gender. Additionally, she compares the performativity of gender to the performance of the theater.",
"She brings many similarities, including the idea of each individual functioning as an actor of their gender.",
"However, she also brings into light a critical difference between gender performance in reality and theater performances.",
"She explains how the theater is much less threatening and does not produce the same fear that gender performances often encounter",
"Butler uses Sigmund Freud's notion of how a person's identity is modeled in terms of the normal.",
"She revises Freud's notion of this concept's applicability to lesbianism,",
"She instead says that all gender works in this way of performativity and a representing of an internalized notion of gender norms.",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender studies writer whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, where they have served, beginning in 1998, as the Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory. They are also the Hannah Arendt Chair at the European Graduate School (EGS).
Butler is best known for their books Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990) and Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex (1993), in which they challenge conventional notions of gender and develop their theory of gender performativity. This theory has had a major influence on feminist and queer scholarship. Their work is often studied and debated in film studies courses emphasizing gender studies and performativity in discourse.
Butler has spoken on many contemporary political issues, including Israeli politics and in support of LGBT rights.
Early life and education
Judith Butler was born on February 24, 1956, in Cleveland, Ohio, to a family of Hungarian-Jewish and Russian-Jewish descent. Most of their maternal grandmother's family perished in the Holocaust. Butler's parents were practicing Reform Jews. Their mother was raised Orthodox, eventually becoming Conservative and then Reform, while their father was raised Reform. As a child and teenager, Butler attended both Hebrew school and special classes on Jewish ethics, where they received their "first training in philosophy". Butler stated in a 2010 interview with Haaretz that they began the ethics classes at the age of 14 and that they were created as a form of punishment by Butler's Hebrew school's Rabbi because they were "too talkative in class". Butler also claimed to be "thrilled" by the idea of these tutorials, and when asked what they wanted to study in these special sessions, they responded with three questions preoccupying them at the time: "Why was Spinoza excommunicated from the synagogue? Could German Idealism be held accountable for Nazism? And how was one to understand existential theology, including the work of Martin Buber?"
Butler attended Bennington College before transferring to Yale University, where they studied philosophy and received a Bachelor of Arts in 1978 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1984. They spent one academic year at Heidelberg University as a Fulbright Scholar. Butler taught at Wesleyan University, George Washington University, and Johns Hopkins University before joining University of California, Berkeley, in 1993. In 2002, they held the Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. In addition, they joined the department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University as Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Visiting Professor of the Humanities in the spring semesters of 2012, 2013 and 2014 with the option of remaining as full-time faculty.
Butler serves on the editorial or advisory board of several academic journals, including Janus Unbound: Journal of Critical Studies, JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Politics and Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.
Overview of major works
Performative Acts and Gender Constitution (1988)
In the essay "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory" Judith Butler proposes that gender is performative. Because gender identity is established through behavior, there is a possibility to construct different genders via different behaviors.
Gender Trouble (1990)
Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity was first published in 1990, selling over 100,000 copies internationally, in multiple languages. Gender Trouble discusses the works of Sigmund Freud, Simone de Beauvoir, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Lacan, Luce Irigaray, Monique Wittig, Jacques Derrida, and Michel Foucault.
Butler offers a critique of the terms gender and sex as they have been used by feminists. Butler argues that feminism made a mistake in trying to make "women" a discrete, ahistorical group with common characteristics. Butler writes that this approach reinforces the binary view of gender relations. Butler believes that feminists should not try to define "women" and they also believe that feminists should "focus on providing an account of how power functions and shapes our understandings of womanhood not only in the society at large but also within the feminist movement." Finally, Butler aims to break the supposed links between sex and gender so that gender and desire can be "flexible, free floating and not caused by other stable factors". The idea of identity as free and flexible and gender as a performance, not an essence, has been one of the foundations of queer theory.
Imitation and Gender Insubordination (1991)
Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories is a collection of writings of gay and lesbian social theorists. Butler's contribution argues that no transparent revelation is afforded by using the terms "gay" or "lesbian" yet there is a political imperative to do so. Butler employs "the concepts of play/performance, drag, and imitation" to describe the formation of gender and sexuality as continually created subjectivities always at risk of dissolution from non-performance."
Bodies That Matter (1993)
Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex" seeks to clear up readings and supposed misreadings of performativity that view the enactment of sex/gender as a daily choice. Butler emphasizes the role of repetition in performativity, making use of Derrida's theory of iterability, which is a form of citationality:
Performativity cannot be understood outside of a process of iterability, a regularized and constrained repetition of norms. And this repetition is not performed by a subject; this repetition is what enables a subject and constitutes the temporal condition for the subject. This iterability implies that 'performance' is not a singular 'act' or event, but a ritualized production, a ritual reiterated under and through constraint, under and through the force of prohibition and taboo, with the threat of ostracism and even death controlling and compelling the shape of the production, but not, I will insist, determining it fully in advance.
Excitable Speech (1997)
In Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative, Butler surveys the problems of hate speech and censorship. They argue that censorship is difficult to evaluate, and that in some cases it may be useful or even necessary, while in others it may be worse than tolerance.
Butler argues that hate speech exists retrospectively, only after being declared such by state authorities. In this way, the state reserves for itself the power to define hate speech and, conversely, the limits of acceptable discourse. In this connection, Butler criticizes feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon's argument against pornography for its unquestioning acceptance of the state's power to censor.
Deploying Foucault's argument from the first volume of The History of Sexuality, Butler claims that any attempt at censorship, legal or otherwise, necessarily propagates the very language it seeks to forbid. As Foucault argues, for example, the strict sexual mores of 19th-century Western Europe did nothing but amplify the discourse of sexuality they sought to control. Extending this argument using Derrida and Lacan, Butler claims that censorship is primitive to language, and that the linguistic "I" is a mere effect of an originary censorship. In this way, Butler questions the possibility of any genuinely oppositional discourse; "If speech depends upon censorship, then the principle that one might seek to oppose is at once the formative principle of oppositional speech".
Precarious Life (2004)
Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence opens a new line in Judith Butler's work that has had a great impact on their subsequent thought, especially on books like Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable? (2009) or Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly (2015), as well as on other contemporary thinkers. In this book, Butler deals with issues of precarity, vulnerability, grief and contemporary political violence in the face of the War on terror and the realities of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and similar detention centers. Drawing on Foucault, they characterize the form of power at work in these places of "indefinite detention" as a convergence of sovereignty and governmentality. The "state of exception" deployed here is in fact more complex than the one pointed out by Agamben in his Homo Sacer, since the government is in a more ambiguous relation to law —it may comply with it or suspend it, depending on its interests, and this is itself a tool of the state to produce its own sovereignty. Butler also points towards problems in international law treatises like the Geneva Conventions. In practice, these only protect people who belong to (or act in the name of) a recognized state, and therefore are helpless in situations of abuse toward stateless people, people who do not enjoy a recognized citizenship or people who are labelled "terrorists", and therefore understood as acting on their own behalf as irrational "killing machines" that need to be held captive due to their "dangerousness".
Butler also writes here on vulnerability and precariousness as intrinsic to the human condition. This is due to our inevitable interdependency from other precarious subjects, who are never really "complete" or autonomous but instead always "dispossessed" on the Other. This is manifested in shared experiences like grief and loss, that can form the basis for a recognition of our shared human (vulnerable) condition. However, not every loss can be mourned in the same way, and in fact not every life can be conceived of as such (as situated in a condition common to ours). Through a critical engagement with Levinas, they will explore how certain representations prevent lives from being considered worthy of being lived or taken into account, precluding the mourning of certain Others, and with that the recognition of them and their losses as equally human. This preoccupation with the dignifying or dehumanizing role of practices of framing and representations will constitute one of the central elements of Frames of War (2009).
Undoing Gender (2004)
Undoing Gender collects Butler's reflections on gender, sex, sexuality, psychoanalysis and the medical treatment of intersex people for a more general readership than many of their other books. Butler revisits and refines their notion of performativity and focuses on the question of undoing "restrictively normative conceptions of sexual and gendered life".
Butler discusses how gender is performed without one being conscious of it, but says that it does not mean this performativity is "automatic or mechanical". They argue that we have desires that do not originate from our personhood, but rather, from social norms. The writer also debates our notions of "human" and "less-than-human" and how these culturally imposed ideas can keep one from having a "viable life" as the biggest concerns are usually about whether a person will be accepted if their desires differ from normality. Butler states that one may feel the need of being recognized in order to live, but that at the same time, the conditions to be recognized make life "unlivable". The writer proposes an interrogation of such conditions so that people who resist them may have more possibilities of living.
In Butler's discussion of intersex issues and people, Butler addresses the case of David Reimer, a person whose sex was medically reassigned from male to female after a botched circumcision at eight months of age. Reimer was "made" female by doctors, but later in life identified as "really" male, married and became a stepfather to his wife's three children, and went on to tell his story in As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl, which he wrote with John Colapinto. Reimer died by suicide in 2004.
Giving an Account of Oneself (2005)
In Giving an Account of Oneself, Butler develops an ethics based on the opacity of the subject to itself; in other words, the limits of self-knowledge. Primarily borrowing from Theodor Adorno, Michel Foucault, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean Laplanche, Adriana Cavarero and Emmanuel Levinas, Butler develops a theory of the formation of the subject. Butler theorizes the subject in relation to the social – a community of others and their norms – which is beyond the control of the subject it forms, as precisely the very condition of that subject's formation, the resources by which the subject becomes recognizably human, a grammatical "I", in the first place.
Butler accepts the claim that if the subject is opaque to itself the limitations of its free ethical responsibility and obligations are due to the limits of narrative, presuppositions of language and projection.
Instead Butler argues for an ethics based precisely on the limits of self-knowledge as the limits of responsibility itself. Any concept of responsibility which demands the full transparency of the self to itself, an entirely accountable self, necessarily does violence to the opacity which marks the constitution of the self it addresses. The scene of address by which responsibility is enabled is always already a relation between subjects who are variably opaque to themselves and to each other. The ethics that Butler envisions is therefore one in which the responsible self knows the limits of its knowing, recognizes the limits of its capacity to give an account of itself to others, and respects those limits as symptomatically human. To take seriously one's opacity to oneself in ethical deliberation means then to critically interrogate the social world in which one comes to be human in the first place and which remains precisely that which one cannot know about oneself. In this way, Butler locates social and political critique at the core of ethical practice.
Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly (2015)
In Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, Butler discusses the power of public gatherings, considering what they signify and how they work. They use this framework to analyze the power and possibilities of protests, such as the Black Lives Matter protests regarding the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in 2014.
The Force of Nonviolence (2020)
In The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind, Butler connects the ideologies of nonviolence and the political struggle for social equality. They review the traditional understanding of "nonviolence," stating that it "is often misunderstood as a passive practice that emanates from a calm region of the soul, or as an individualist ethical relation to existing forms of power." Instead of this understanding, Butler argues that "nonviolence is an ethical position found in the midst of the political field."
Reception
Butler's work has been influential in feminist and queer theory, cultural studies, and continental philosophy. Yet their contribution to a range of other disciplines—such as psychoanalysis, literary, film, and performance studies as well as visual arts—has also been significant. Their theory of gender performativity as well as their conception of "critically queer" have not only transformed understandings of gender and queer identity in the academic world, but have shaped and mobilized various kinds of political activism, particularly queer activism, across the globe. "Doing gender" as a theory has also gained additional attention through its resonance with Butler's thesis that gender is a "performance".(Butler, 1) Butler's work has also entered into contemporary debates on the teaching of gender, gay parenting, and the depathologization of transgender people.
Some academics and political activists see in Butler a departure from the sex/gender dichotomy and a non-essentialist conception of gender—along with an insistence that power helps form the subject—which purportedly brought new insights to feminist and queer praxis, thought, and studies. Darin Barney of McGill University wrote that:
In 1998, Denis Dutton's journal Philosophy and Literature awarded Butler first prize in its fourth annual "Bad Writing Competition", which set out to "celebrate bad writing from the most stylistically lamentable passages found in scholarly books and articles."
Some critics have accused Butler of elitism due to their difficult prose style, while others claim that Butler reduces gender to "discourse" or promotes a form of gender . Susan Bordo, for example, has argued that Butler reduces gender to language and has contended that the body is a major part of gender, in opposition to Butler's conception of gender as performative. A particularly vocal critic has been feminist Martha Nussbaum, who has argued that Butler misreads J. L. Austin's idea of performative utterance, makes erroneous legal claims, forecloses an essential site of resistance by repudiating pre-cultural agency, and provides no "normative theory of social justice and human dignity." Finally, Nancy Fraser's critique of Butler was part of a famous exchange between the two theorists. Fraser has suggested that Butler's focus on performativity distances them from "everyday ways of talking and thinking about ourselves. ... Why should we use such a self-distancing idiom?" Butler responded to criticisms in the preface to the 1999-edition Gender Trouble by asking whether there is "a value to be derived from...experiences of linguistic difficulty."
More recently, several critics — such as semiotician Viviane Namaste
— have criticised Judith Butler's Undoing Gender for under-emphasizing the intersectional aspects of gender-based violence. For example, Timothy Laurie notes that Butler's use of phrases like "gender politics" and "gender violence" in relation to assaults on transgender individuals in the United States can "[scour] a landscape filled with class and labour relations, racialised urban stratification, and complex interactions between sexual identity, sexual practices and sex work", and produce instead "a clean surface on which struggles over 'the human' are imagined to play out".
German feminist Alice Schwarzer speaks of Butler's "radical intellectual games" that would not change how society classifies and treats a woman; thus, by eliminating female and male identity Butler would have abolished the discourse about sexism in the queer community. Schwarzer also accuses Butler of remaining silent about the oppression of women and homosexuals in the Islamic world, while readily exercising their right to same-sex-marriage in the United States; instead, Butler would sweepingly defend Islam, including Islamism, from critics.
EGS philosophy professor Geoffrey Bennington, translator for many of Derrida's books, criticised Butler's introduction to the 1997 translation of Derrida's 1967 Of Grammatology.
Non-academic
Before a 2017 democracy conference in Brazil, Butler was burnt "in effigy".
Bruno Perreau has written that Butler was literally depicted as an "antichrist", both because of their gender and their Jewish identity, the fear of minority politics and critical studies being expressed through fantasies of a corrupted body.
Political activism
Much of Butler's early political activism centered around queer and feminist issues, and they served, for a period of time, as the chair of the board of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Over the years, Butler has been particularly active in the gay and lesbian rights, feminist, and anti-war movements. They have also written and spoken out on issues ranging from affirmative action and gay marriage to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay. More recently, Butler has been active in the Occupy movement and has publicly expressed support for a version of the 2005 BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaign against Israel.
They emphasize that Israel does not, and should not, be taken to represent all Jews or Jewish opinion. Butler has criticized some forms of Zionism for weaponizing the victimhood role. Butler states that this weaponization can result in widespread misuse of the accusation "antisemitism", which may in fact trivialize the accusation's gravity and weight.
On September 7, 2006, Butler participated in a faculty-organized teach-in against the 2006 Lebanon War at the University of California, Berkeley. Another widely publicized moment occurred in June 2010, when Butler refused the Civil Courage Award (Zivilcouragepreis) of the Christopher Street Day (CSD) Parade in Berlin, Germany at the award ceremony. They cited racist comments on the part of organizers and a general failure of CSD organizations to distance themselves from racism in general and from anti-Muslim excuses for war more specifically. Criticizing the event's commercialism, Butler went on to name several groups that they commended as stronger opponents of "homophobia, transphobia, sexism, racism, and militarism".
In October 2011, Butler attended Occupy Wall Street and, in reference to calls for clarification of the protesters' demands, they said:
People have asked, so what are the demands? What are the demands all of these people are making? Either they say there are no demands and that leaves your critics confused, or they say that the demands for social equality and economic justice are impossible demands. And the impossible demands, they say, are just not practical. If hope is an impossible demand, then we demand the impossible – that the right to shelter, food and employment are impossible demands, then we demand the impossible. If it is impossible to demand that those who profit from the recession redistribute their wealth and cease their greed, then yes, we demand the impossible.
Butler is an executive member of FFIPP – Educational Network for Human Rights in Israel/Palestine. They are also a member of the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace. In mainstream US politics, they expressed support for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Adorno Prize affair
When Butler received the 2012 Adorno Prize, the prize committee came under attack from Israel's Ambassador to Germany Yakov Hadas-Handelsman; the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's office in Jerusalem, Efraim Zuroff; and the German Central Council of Jews. They were upset at Butler's selection because of Butler's remarks about Israel and specifically Butler's "calls for a boycott against Israel". Butler responded saying that "[Butler] did not take attacks from German Jewish leaders personally". Rather, they wrote, the attacks are "directed against everyone who is critical against Israel and its current policies".
In a letter to the Mondoweiss website, Butler asserted that they developed strong ethical views on the basis of Jewish philosophical thought and that it is "blatantly untrue, absurd, and painful for anyone to argue that those who formulate a criticism of the State of Israel is anti-Semitic or, if Jewish, self-hating".
Comments on Hamas and Hezbollah
Butler was criticized for statements they had made about Hamas and Hezbollah. Butler was accused of describing them as "social movements that are progressive, that are on the Left, that are part of a global Left." They were accused of defending "Hezbollah and Hamas as progressive organizations" and supporting their tactics.
Butler responded to these criticisms by stating that their remarks on Hamas and Hezbollah were taken completely out of context and, in so doing, their established views on non-violence were contradicted and misrepresented. Butler describes the origin of their remarks on Hamas and Hezbollah in the following way:
I was asked by a member of an academic audience a few years ago whether I thought Hamas and Hezbollah belonged to "the global left" and I replied with two points. My first point was merely descriptive: those political organizations define themselves as anti-imperialist, and anti-imperialism is one characteristic of the global left, so on that basis one could describe them as part of the global left. My second point was then critical: as with any group on the left, one has to decide whether one is for that group or against that group, and one needs to critically evaluate their stand.
Comments on Black Lives Matter
In a January 2015 interview with George Yancy of The New York Times, Butler discussed the Black Lives Matter movement. They said:
What is implied by this statement [Black Lives Matter], a statement that should be obviously true, but apparently is not? If black lives do not matter, then they are not really regarded as lives, since a life is supposed to matter. So what we see is that some lives matter more than others, that some lives matter so much that they need to be protected at all costs, and that other lives matter less, or not at all. And when that becomes the situation, then the lives that do not matter so much, or do not matter at all, can be killed or lost, can be exposed to conditions of destitution, and there is no concern, or even worse, that is regarded as the way it is supposed to be...When people engage in concerted actions across racial lines to build communities based on equality, to defend the rights of those who are disproportionately imperiled to have a chance to live without the fear of dying quite suddenly at the hands of the police. There are many ways to do this, in the street, the office, the home, and in the media. Only through such an ever-growing cross-racial struggle against racism can we begin to achieve a sense of all the lives that really do matter.
The dialogue draws heavily on their 2004 book Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence.
Avital Ronell sexual harassment case
On May 11, 2018, Butler led a group of scholars in writing a letter to New York University following the sexual harassment suit filed by a former NYU graduate student against his advisor Avital Ronell. The signatories acknowledged not having had access to the confidential findings of the investigation that followed the Title IX complaint against Ronell. Nonetheless, they accused the complainant of waging a "malicious campaign" against Ronell. The signatories also wrote that the presumed "malicious intention has animated and sustained this legal nightmare" for a highly regarded scholar. "If she were to be terminated or relieved of her duties, the injustice would be widely recognized and opposed." Butler, the chief signatory, invoked their title as President Elect of the Modern Language Association. James J. Marino, a professor at Cleveland State University and a member of the MLA, started a petition to demand Butler's resignation or removal from their post. He argued that "Protesting against one instance of punishment is only a means to the larger end of preserving senior faculty's privilege of impunity. ... [Butler] was standing up for an old, corrupt, and long-standing way of doing business. The time for doing business that way is over. We should never look back." Some three months later, Butler apologized to the MLA for the letter. "I acknowledged that I should not have allowed the MLA affiliation to go forward with my name," Butler wrote to the Chronicle of Higher Education. "I expressed regret to the MLA officers and staff, and my colleagues accepted my apology. I extend that same apology to MLA members."
Comments on the anti-gender movement and trans-exclusionary radical feminism
Butler said in 2020 that trans-exclusionary radical feminism is "a fringe movement that is seeking to speak in the name of the mainstream, and that our responsibility is to refuse to let that happen." In 2021, drawing from Umberto Eco who understood "fascism" as "a beehive of contradictions", they noted that the term fascism "describes" the "anti-gender ideology". They cautioned self-declared feminists from allying with anti-gender movements in targeting trans, non-binary, and genderqueer people. Butler also explored the issue in a 2019 paper in which they argued that "the confusion of discourses is part of what constitutes the fascist structure and appeal of at least some of these [anti-gender] movements. One can oppose gender as a cultural import from the North at the same time that one can see that very opposition as a social movement against further colonization of the South. The result is not a turn to the Left, but an embrace of ethno-nationalism."
The Guardian interview
On September 7, 2021, The Guardian published an interview of Butler by Jules Gleeson that included Butler's view of trans-exclusionary feminists. In response to a question about the Wi Spa controversy, The Press Gazette stated that Butler in the Guardian article stated that "The anti-gender ideology is one of the dominant strains of fascism in our times." Within a few hours of publication, three paragraphs including this statement were removed, with a note explaining "This article was edited on 7 September 2021 to reflect developments which occurred after the interview took place."
The Guardian was then accused of censoring Judith Butler for having compared TERFs to fascists. British writer Roz Kaveney called it "a truly shocking moment of bigoted dishonesty", while British transgender activist and writer Juno Dawson, among others, observed that The Guardian had inadvertently triggered the Streisand effect, in which an attempt to censor yields the unintended consequence of increasing awareness of a topic. The next day, The Guardian acknowledged "a failure in our editorial standards".
Personal life
Butler is a lesbian, legally non-binary, and, as of 2020, said they use both they/them and she/her pronouns but prefer to use "they" pronouns. Butler indicated that they were "never at home" with being assigned female at birth.
They live in Berkeley with their partner Wendy Brown and son, Isaac.
Selected honors and awards
Butler has had a visiting appointment at Birkbeck, University of London (2009–).
1999: Guggenheim Fellowship
2001: David R Kessler Award for LGBTQ Studies, CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies
2007: Elected to the American Philosophical Society
2008: Mellon Award for their exemplary contributions to scholarship in the humanities
2010: "25 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World", Utne Reader
2012: Theodor W. Adorno Award
2013: Doctorate of Letters, honoris causa, University of St. Andrews
2013: Doctorate of Letters, honoris causa, McGill University
2014: Doctorate of Letters, honoris causa, University of Fribourg
2014: Named one of PinkNews's top 11 Jewish gay and lesbian icons
2015: Elected as a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy
2018: Doctorate of Letters, honoris causa, University of Belgrade
2018: Butler delivered the Gifford Lectures with their series entitled 'My Life, Your Life: Equality and the Philosophy of Non-Violence'
2019: Elected as Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Publications
Butler's books have been translated into numerous languages; Gender Trouble has been translated into twenty-seven languages. They have co-authored and edited over a dozen volumes—most recently, Dispossession: The Performative in the Political (2013), coauthored with Athena Athanasiou. Over the years Butler has also published many influential essays, interviews, and public presentations. Butler is considered by many to be "one of the most influential voices in contemporary political theory," and the most widely read and influential gender studies academic in the world.
The following is a partial list of Butler's publications.
Books
[Their doctoral dissertation.]
Book chapters
A collection of essays on the work of Avital Ronell.
Details.
Notes
References
Further reading
Burgos, Elvira. (2008). Qué cuenta como una vida. La pregunta por la libertad en Judith Butler. Madrid: Antonio Machado.
Chambers, Samuel A. and Carver, Terrell. (2008). Judith Butler and Political Theory: Troubling Politics. New York: Routledge.
Cheah, Pheng. (1996). "Mattering". Diacritics, 26 (1), pp. 108–139.
Kirby, Vicki. (2006). Judith Butler: Live Theory. London: Continuum.
Eldred, Michael. (2008). [http://www.arte-fact.org/mtphysfm.html 'Metaphysics of Feminism: A Critical Note on Judith Butler's Gender Trouble'''].
Halsema, Annemie; Kwastek, Katja; van den Oever, Roel (eds.). (2021). Bodies That Still Matter. Resonances of the Work of Judith Butler. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Pdf. Considers performativity from a linguistic perspective.
López, Silvia. (2019). Los cuerpos que importan en Judith Butler. Madrid: Dos Bigotes.
Perreau, Bruno. (2004). Queer Theory: The French Response, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Salih, Sarah. (2004). The Judith Butler Reader. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell.
Salih, Sarah. (2002). Routledge Critical Thinkers: Judith Butler. New York: Routledge.
Schippers, Birgit. (2014). The Political Philosophy of Judith Butler. New York: Routledge.
Thiem, Annika. (2008). Unbecoming Subjects: Judith Butler, Moral Philosophy, and Critical Responsibility.'' New York: Fordham University Press.
External links
Biography – University of California, Berkeley
approach the notion of affinity through a discussion of "Disruptive Kinship," co-sponsored by Villa Gillet and the School of Writing at The New School for Public Engagement.
Interview of Judith Butler about their new book "Frames of War" on New Statesman
Review of "Giving an Account of Oneself. Ethical Violence and Responsibility", by Judith Butler, Barcelona Metropolis Autumn 2010.
"Dictionary of Literary Biography on Judith P. Butler (page 3)"
Interview with Judith Butler about politics, economy, control societies, gender and identity (2011)
Category:1956 births
Category:20th-century American educators
Category:20th-century American essayists
Category:20th-century American philosophers
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:20th-century American LGBT people
Category:21st-century American educators
Category:21st-century American essayists
Category:21st-century American philosophers
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:21st-century American LGBT people
Category:American Ashkenazi Jews
Category:American democratic socialists
Category:American ethicists
Category:American feminist writers
Category:American lesbian writers
Category:American literary critics
Category:American media critics
Category:American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Category:American political philosophers
Category:American social commentators
Category:American women philosophers
Category:American women sociologists
Category:Anti-Zionism in the United States
Category:Bennington College alumni
Category:Columbia University faculty
Category:Continental philosophers
Category:Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy
Category:Critical theorists
Category:Critics of religions
Category:Environmental philosophers
Category:Epistemologists
Category:Academic staff of European Graduate School
Category:Feminist philosophers
Category:Feminist studies scholars
Category:Feminist theorists
Category:Framing theorists
Category:Gender studies academics
Category:Jewish American academics
Category:Jewish anti-Zionism in the United States
Category:Jewish ethicists
Category:Jewish feminists
Category:Jewish philosophers
Category:Jewish socialists
Category:Jewish women writers
Category:Jews and Judaism in Cleveland
Category:Lesbian academics
Category:Lesbian feminists
Category:Lesbian Jews
Category:LGBT and Judaism
Category:LGBT people from Ohio
Category:LGBT philosophers
Category:Literacy and society theorists
Category:Literary theorists
Category:Literature educators
Category:Living people
Category:Mass media theorists
Category:Metaphysicians
Category:Metaphysics writers
Category:Ontologists
Category:Palestinian solidarity activists
Category:Phenomenologists
Category:Philosophers from Ohio
Category:Philosophers of art
Category:Philosophers of culture
Category:Philosophers of education
Category:Philosophers of history
Category:Philosophers of Judaism
Category:Philosophers of literature
Category:Philosophers of mind
Category:Philosophers of psychology
Category:Philosophers of science
Category:Philosophers of sexuality
Category:Philosophers of social science
Category:Political philosophers
Category:Post-Zionists
Category:Postmodern feminists
Category:Queer theorists
Category:Social philosophers
Category:Sociologists of art
Category:Theorists on Western civilization
Category:Transfeminists
Category:Transgender studies academics
Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty
Category:Wesleyan University faculty
Category:American women literary critics
Category:Writers about activism and social change
Category:Writers from Cleveland
Category:Writers from Shaker Heights, Ohio
Category:Yale College alumni
Category:Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Category:Presidents of the Modern Language Association
Category:American non-binary writers
Category:American Jewish anti-racism activists
fi:Sara Heinämaa | [] | [
"Performative Acts and Gender Constitution, as given in the essay by Judith Butler, is the theory that gender isn't something one is, but something one does. It proposes that gender is a performance in which an individual acts, with most actions being witnessed, reproduced, and internalized, hence taking on a performative or theatrical quality. The \"theatrical\" genders in society are founded on the distinction between sex, as biological facticity, and gender, as the cultural interpretation of that facticity. This performance of gender, according to Butler, is what creates gender. Just like in theater, individuals function as actors of their gender; however, unlike theater, there isn't a clear distinction from reality, making gender performance more threatening. Furthermore, she argues that our concept of gender is seen as natural because the body \"becomes its gender through a series of acts which are renewed, revised, and consolidated through time\".",
"Butler compares the performativity of gender to the performance of theater. In both, each individual functions as an actor. In terms of gender, individuals act out roles associated with being male or female, based on socially established meanings. However, she points out a critical difference: theater performance is less threatening than gender performance, because there is a clear distinction from reality within the theater that does not exist with gender performance. This means that gender performances often encounter more fear and anxiety as there is little to no room for detachment from these roles in reality, unlike in theater where the role ends when you step off the stage.",
"The text does not provide information on how Judith Butler's argument on gender performativity was received.",
"Judith Butler points out a critical difference between gender performance in reality and theater performances. In a theater performance, the individual can detach themselves from their role once the performance ends – there is a clear distinction from reality. However, in the case of gender performance, there is no such detachment and hence, it carries more weight, fear, and anxiety. This lack of distinction from reality in the everyday performance of gender can make it more threatening compared to the clear delineation that exists in a theater performance.",
"According to Judith Butler, the result of this ongoing gender performance in reality, without any detachment, is that it sustains and legitimizes the seemingly innate gender binary in society. She argues that gender becomes perceived as something natural or innate because the body \"becomes its gender through a series of acts which are renewed, revised, and consolidated through time\". In other words, the continuous performance of gender in reality contributes to the perception that gender is a natural embodiment rather than a socially constructed performance.",
"The text does not provide information on where Judith Butler's essay on gender performativity was published.",
"Judith Butler revises Sigmund Freud's notion of a person's identity being modeled based on what is perceived as normal. Particularly, Butler revises Freud's concept as it applies to lesbianism. Freud suggested that lesbians model their behavior on that of men, who he considered as the normal or ideal. However, Butler counters this idea by suggesting that all gender works in this way of performativity and everyone is representing an internalized notion of gender norms, not just those who identify as lesbian. Butler's revision thus expands Freud's notion to all gender performances, not just specific categories.",
"The text does not provide information on whether there were any critics to Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_1 | Judith Butler | Judith Butler FBA (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics and the fields of third-wave feminist, queer and literary theory. Since 1993, she has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, where she is now Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory. She is also the Hannah Arendt Chair at the European Graduate School. Butler is best known for her books Gender Trouble: | Early life and education | Judith Butler was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to a family of Hungarian-Jewish and Russian-Jewish descent. Most of her maternal grandmother's family perished in the Holocaust. As a child and teenager, she attended both Hebrew school and special classes on Jewish ethics, where she received her "first training in philosophy". Butler stated in a 2010 interview with Haaretz that she began the ethics classes at the age of 14 and that they were created as a form of punishment by her Hebrew school's Rabbi because she was "too talkative in class". Butler also stated that she was "thrilled" by the idea of these tutorials, and when asked what she wanted to study in these special sessions, she responded with three questions preoccupying her at the time: "Why was Spinoza excommunicated from the synagogue? Could German Idealism be held accountable for Nazism? And how was one to understand existential theology, including the work of Martin Buber?" Butler attended Bennington College and then Yale University where she studied philosophy, receiving her B.A. in 1978 and her Ph.D. in 1984. She spent one academic year at Heidelberg University as a Fulbright-Scholar. She taught at Wesleyan University, George Washington University, and Johns Hopkins University before joining University of California, Berkeley, in 1993. In 2002 she held the Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. In addition, she joined the department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University as Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Visiting Professor of the Humanities in the spring semesters of 2012, 2013 and 2014 with the option of remaining as full-time faculty. Butler serves on the editorial board or advisory board of academic journals including JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Politics and Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_1_q#0",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_1_q#1",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_1_q#2",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_1_q#3",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_1_q#4",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_1_q#5",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_1_q#6",
"C_d9b9c91dd063459692c2b13e18d4a5e6_1_q#7"
] | [
"Where did Butler study?",
"Where did she go to college?",
"When did she graduate from Bennington?",
"Did she go on to graduate school?",
"When did she graduate from Yale?",
"Did she receive any achievements in school?",
"What else did she do during this time?",
"What did she teach at these schools?"
] | [
0,
0,
2,
2,
2,
1,
2,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
0,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
197
],
[
961
],
[
1035
],
[
984
],
[
1066
],
[
1085
],
[
1162
],
[
1410
]
],
"texts": [
[
"she attended both Hebrew school and special classes on Jewish ethics,"
],
[
"Bennington College"
],
[
"receiving her B.A. in 1978"
],
[
"then Yale University"
],
[
"her Ph.D. in 1984."
],
[
"She spent one academic year at Heidelberg University as a Fulbright-Scholar."
],
[
"She taught at Wesleyan University, George Washington University, and Johns Hopkins University"
],
[
"she joined the department of English and Comparative Literature"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
197,
961,
1035,
984,
1066,
1085,
1162,
1410
],
"texts": [
"she attended both Hebrew school and special classes on Jewish ethics,",
"Bennington College",
"receiving her B.A. in 1978",
"then Yale University",
"her Ph.D. in 1984.",
"She spent one academic year at Heidelberg University as a Fulbright-Scholar.",
"She taught at Wesleyan University, George Washington University, and Johns Hopkins University",
"she joined the department of English and Comparative Literature"
]
} | Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender studies writer whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, where they have served, beginning in 1998, as the Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory. They are also the Hannah Arendt Chair at the European Graduate School (EGS).
Butler is best known for their books Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990) and Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex (1993), in which they challenge conventional notions of gender and develop their theory of gender performativity. This theory has had a major influence on feminist and queer scholarship. Their work is often studied and debated in film studies courses emphasizing gender studies and performativity in discourse.
Butler has spoken on many contemporary political issues, including Israeli politics and in support of LGBT rights.
Early life and education
Judith Butler was born on February 24, 1956, in Cleveland, Ohio, to a family of Hungarian-Jewish and Russian-Jewish descent. Most of their maternal grandmother's family perished in the Holocaust. Butler's parents were practicing Reform Jews. Their mother was raised Orthodox, eventually becoming Conservative and then Reform, while their father was raised Reform. As a child and teenager, Butler attended both Hebrew school and special classes on Jewish ethics, where they received their "first training in philosophy". Butler stated in a 2010 interview with Haaretz that they began the ethics classes at the age of 14 and that they were created as a form of punishment by Butler's Hebrew school's Rabbi because they were "too talkative in class". Butler also claimed to be "thrilled" by the idea of these tutorials, and when asked what they wanted to study in these special sessions, they responded with three questions preoccupying them at the time: "Why was Spinoza excommunicated from the synagogue? Could German Idealism be held accountable for Nazism? And how was one to understand existential theology, including the work of Martin Buber?"
Butler attended Bennington College before transferring to Yale University, where they studied philosophy and received a Bachelor of Arts in 1978 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1984. They spent one academic year at Heidelberg University as a Fulbright Scholar. Butler taught at Wesleyan University, George Washington University, and Johns Hopkins University before joining University of California, Berkeley, in 1993. In 2002, they held the Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. In addition, they joined the department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University as Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Visiting Professor of the Humanities in the spring semesters of 2012, 2013 and 2014 with the option of remaining as full-time faculty.
Butler serves on the editorial or advisory board of several academic journals, including Janus Unbound: Journal of Critical Studies, JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Politics and Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.
Overview of major works
Performative Acts and Gender Constitution (1988)
In the essay "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory" Judith Butler proposes that gender is performative. Because gender identity is established through behavior, there is a possibility to construct different genders via different behaviors.
Gender Trouble (1990)
Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity was first published in 1990, selling over 100,000 copies internationally, in multiple languages. Gender Trouble discusses the works of Sigmund Freud, Simone de Beauvoir, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Lacan, Luce Irigaray, Monique Wittig, Jacques Derrida, and Michel Foucault.
Butler offers a critique of the terms gender and sex as they have been used by feminists. Butler argues that feminism made a mistake in trying to make "women" a discrete, ahistorical group with common characteristics. Butler writes that this approach reinforces the binary view of gender relations. Butler believes that feminists should not try to define "women" and they also believe that feminists should "focus on providing an account of how power functions and shapes our understandings of womanhood not only in the society at large but also within the feminist movement." Finally, Butler aims to break the supposed links between sex and gender so that gender and desire can be "flexible, free floating and not caused by other stable factors". The idea of identity as free and flexible and gender as a performance, not an essence, has been one of the foundations of queer theory.
Imitation and Gender Insubordination (1991)
Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories is a collection of writings of gay and lesbian social theorists. Butler's contribution argues that no transparent revelation is afforded by using the terms "gay" or "lesbian" yet there is a political imperative to do so. Butler employs "the concepts of play/performance, drag, and imitation" to describe the formation of gender and sexuality as continually created subjectivities always at risk of dissolution from non-performance."
Bodies That Matter (1993)
Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex" seeks to clear up readings and supposed misreadings of performativity that view the enactment of sex/gender as a daily choice. Butler emphasizes the role of repetition in performativity, making use of Derrida's theory of iterability, which is a form of citationality:
Performativity cannot be understood outside of a process of iterability, a regularized and constrained repetition of norms. And this repetition is not performed by a subject; this repetition is what enables a subject and constitutes the temporal condition for the subject. This iterability implies that 'performance' is not a singular 'act' or event, but a ritualized production, a ritual reiterated under and through constraint, under and through the force of prohibition and taboo, with the threat of ostracism and even death controlling and compelling the shape of the production, but not, I will insist, determining it fully in advance.
Excitable Speech (1997)
In Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative, Butler surveys the problems of hate speech and censorship. They argue that censorship is difficult to evaluate, and that in some cases it may be useful or even necessary, while in others it may be worse than tolerance.
Butler argues that hate speech exists retrospectively, only after being declared such by state authorities. In this way, the state reserves for itself the power to define hate speech and, conversely, the limits of acceptable discourse. In this connection, Butler criticizes feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon's argument against pornography for its unquestioning acceptance of the state's power to censor.
Deploying Foucault's argument from the first volume of The History of Sexuality, Butler claims that any attempt at censorship, legal or otherwise, necessarily propagates the very language it seeks to forbid. As Foucault argues, for example, the strict sexual mores of 19th-century Western Europe did nothing but amplify the discourse of sexuality they sought to control. Extending this argument using Derrida and Lacan, Butler claims that censorship is primitive to language, and that the linguistic "I" is a mere effect of an originary censorship. In this way, Butler questions the possibility of any genuinely oppositional discourse; "If speech depends upon censorship, then the principle that one might seek to oppose is at once the formative principle of oppositional speech".
Precarious Life (2004)
Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence opens a new line in Judith Butler's work that has had a great impact on their subsequent thought, especially on books like Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable? (2009) or Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly (2015), as well as on other contemporary thinkers. In this book, Butler deals with issues of precarity, vulnerability, grief and contemporary political violence in the face of the War on terror and the realities of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and similar detention centers. Drawing on Foucault, they characterize the form of power at work in these places of "indefinite detention" as a convergence of sovereignty and governmentality. The "state of exception" deployed here is in fact more complex than the one pointed out by Agamben in his Homo Sacer, since the government is in a more ambiguous relation to law —it may comply with it or suspend it, depending on its interests, and this is itself a tool of the state to produce its own sovereignty. Butler also points towards problems in international law treatises like the Geneva Conventions. In practice, these only protect people who belong to (or act in the name of) a recognized state, and therefore are helpless in situations of abuse toward stateless people, people who do not enjoy a recognized citizenship or people who are labelled "terrorists", and therefore understood as acting on their own behalf as irrational "killing machines" that need to be held captive due to their "dangerousness".
Butler also writes here on vulnerability and precariousness as intrinsic to the human condition. This is due to our inevitable interdependency from other precarious subjects, who are never really "complete" or autonomous but instead always "dispossessed" on the Other. This is manifested in shared experiences like grief and loss, that can form the basis for a recognition of our shared human (vulnerable) condition. However, not every loss can be mourned in the same way, and in fact not every life can be conceived of as such (as situated in a condition common to ours). Through a critical engagement with Levinas, they will explore how certain representations prevent lives from being considered worthy of being lived or taken into account, precluding the mourning of certain Others, and with that the recognition of them and their losses as equally human. This preoccupation with the dignifying or dehumanizing role of practices of framing and representations will constitute one of the central elements of Frames of War (2009).
Undoing Gender (2004)
Undoing Gender collects Butler's reflections on gender, sex, sexuality, psychoanalysis and the medical treatment of intersex people for a more general readership than many of their other books. Butler revisits and refines their notion of performativity and focuses on the question of undoing "restrictively normative conceptions of sexual and gendered life".
Butler discusses how gender is performed without one being conscious of it, but says that it does not mean this performativity is "automatic or mechanical". They argue that we have desires that do not originate from our personhood, but rather, from social norms. The writer also debates our notions of "human" and "less-than-human" and how these culturally imposed ideas can keep one from having a "viable life" as the biggest concerns are usually about whether a person will be accepted if their desires differ from normality. Butler states that one may feel the need of being recognized in order to live, but that at the same time, the conditions to be recognized make life "unlivable". The writer proposes an interrogation of such conditions so that people who resist them may have more possibilities of living.
In Butler's discussion of intersex issues and people, Butler addresses the case of David Reimer, a person whose sex was medically reassigned from male to female after a botched circumcision at eight months of age. Reimer was "made" female by doctors, but later in life identified as "really" male, married and became a stepfather to his wife's three children, and went on to tell his story in As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl, which he wrote with John Colapinto. Reimer died by suicide in 2004.
Giving an Account of Oneself (2005)
In Giving an Account of Oneself, Butler develops an ethics based on the opacity of the subject to itself; in other words, the limits of self-knowledge. Primarily borrowing from Theodor Adorno, Michel Foucault, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean Laplanche, Adriana Cavarero and Emmanuel Levinas, Butler develops a theory of the formation of the subject. Butler theorizes the subject in relation to the social – a community of others and their norms – which is beyond the control of the subject it forms, as precisely the very condition of that subject's formation, the resources by which the subject becomes recognizably human, a grammatical "I", in the first place.
Butler accepts the claim that if the subject is opaque to itself the limitations of its free ethical responsibility and obligations are due to the limits of narrative, presuppositions of language and projection.
Instead Butler argues for an ethics based precisely on the limits of self-knowledge as the limits of responsibility itself. Any concept of responsibility which demands the full transparency of the self to itself, an entirely accountable self, necessarily does violence to the opacity which marks the constitution of the self it addresses. The scene of address by which responsibility is enabled is always already a relation between subjects who are variably opaque to themselves and to each other. The ethics that Butler envisions is therefore one in which the responsible self knows the limits of its knowing, recognizes the limits of its capacity to give an account of itself to others, and respects those limits as symptomatically human. To take seriously one's opacity to oneself in ethical deliberation means then to critically interrogate the social world in which one comes to be human in the first place and which remains precisely that which one cannot know about oneself. In this way, Butler locates social and political critique at the core of ethical practice.
Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly (2015)
In Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, Butler discusses the power of public gatherings, considering what they signify and how they work. They use this framework to analyze the power and possibilities of protests, such as the Black Lives Matter protests regarding the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in 2014.
The Force of Nonviolence (2020)
In The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind, Butler connects the ideologies of nonviolence and the political struggle for social equality. They review the traditional understanding of "nonviolence," stating that it "is often misunderstood as a passive practice that emanates from a calm region of the soul, or as an individualist ethical relation to existing forms of power." Instead of this understanding, Butler argues that "nonviolence is an ethical position found in the midst of the political field."
Reception
Butler's work has been influential in feminist and queer theory, cultural studies, and continental philosophy. Yet their contribution to a range of other disciplines—such as psychoanalysis, literary, film, and performance studies as well as visual arts—has also been significant. Their theory of gender performativity as well as their conception of "critically queer" have not only transformed understandings of gender and queer identity in the academic world, but have shaped and mobilized various kinds of political activism, particularly queer activism, across the globe. "Doing gender" as a theory has also gained additional attention through its resonance with Butler's thesis that gender is a "performance".(Butler, 1) Butler's work has also entered into contemporary debates on the teaching of gender, gay parenting, and the depathologization of transgender people.
Some academics and political activists see in Butler a departure from the sex/gender dichotomy and a non-essentialist conception of gender—along with an insistence that power helps form the subject—which purportedly brought new insights to feminist and queer praxis, thought, and studies. Darin Barney of McGill University wrote that:
In 1998, Denis Dutton's journal Philosophy and Literature awarded Butler first prize in its fourth annual "Bad Writing Competition", which set out to "celebrate bad writing from the most stylistically lamentable passages found in scholarly books and articles."
Some critics have accused Butler of elitism due to their difficult prose style, while others claim that Butler reduces gender to "discourse" or promotes a form of gender . Susan Bordo, for example, has argued that Butler reduces gender to language and has contended that the body is a major part of gender, in opposition to Butler's conception of gender as performative. A particularly vocal critic has been feminist Martha Nussbaum, who has argued that Butler misreads J. L. Austin's idea of performative utterance, makes erroneous legal claims, forecloses an essential site of resistance by repudiating pre-cultural agency, and provides no "normative theory of social justice and human dignity." Finally, Nancy Fraser's critique of Butler was part of a famous exchange between the two theorists. Fraser has suggested that Butler's focus on performativity distances them from "everyday ways of talking and thinking about ourselves. ... Why should we use such a self-distancing idiom?" Butler responded to criticisms in the preface to the 1999-edition Gender Trouble by asking whether there is "a value to be derived from...experiences of linguistic difficulty."
More recently, several critics — such as semiotician Viviane Namaste
— have criticised Judith Butler's Undoing Gender for under-emphasizing the intersectional aspects of gender-based violence. For example, Timothy Laurie notes that Butler's use of phrases like "gender politics" and "gender violence" in relation to assaults on transgender individuals in the United States can "[scour] a landscape filled with class and labour relations, racialised urban stratification, and complex interactions between sexual identity, sexual practices and sex work", and produce instead "a clean surface on which struggles over 'the human' are imagined to play out".
German feminist Alice Schwarzer speaks of Butler's "radical intellectual games" that would not change how society classifies and treats a woman; thus, by eliminating female and male identity Butler would have abolished the discourse about sexism in the queer community. Schwarzer also accuses Butler of remaining silent about the oppression of women and homosexuals in the Islamic world, while readily exercising their right to same-sex-marriage in the United States; instead, Butler would sweepingly defend Islam, including Islamism, from critics.
EGS philosophy professor Geoffrey Bennington, translator for many of Derrida's books, criticised Butler's introduction to the 1997 translation of Derrida's 1967 Of Grammatology.
Non-academic
Before a 2017 democracy conference in Brazil, Butler was burnt "in effigy".
Bruno Perreau has written that Butler was literally depicted as an "antichrist", both because of their gender and their Jewish identity, the fear of minority politics and critical studies being expressed through fantasies of a corrupted body.
Political activism
Much of Butler's early political activism centered around queer and feminist issues, and they served, for a period of time, as the chair of the board of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Over the years, Butler has been particularly active in the gay and lesbian rights, feminist, and anti-war movements. They have also written and spoken out on issues ranging from affirmative action and gay marriage to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay. More recently, Butler has been active in the Occupy movement and has publicly expressed support for a version of the 2005 BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaign against Israel.
They emphasize that Israel does not, and should not, be taken to represent all Jews or Jewish opinion. Butler has criticized some forms of Zionism for weaponizing the victimhood role. Butler states that this weaponization can result in widespread misuse of the accusation "antisemitism", which may in fact trivialize the accusation's gravity and weight.
On September 7, 2006, Butler participated in a faculty-organized teach-in against the 2006 Lebanon War at the University of California, Berkeley. Another widely publicized moment occurred in June 2010, when Butler refused the Civil Courage Award (Zivilcouragepreis) of the Christopher Street Day (CSD) Parade in Berlin, Germany at the award ceremony. They cited racist comments on the part of organizers and a general failure of CSD organizations to distance themselves from racism in general and from anti-Muslim excuses for war more specifically. Criticizing the event's commercialism, Butler went on to name several groups that they commended as stronger opponents of "homophobia, transphobia, sexism, racism, and militarism".
In October 2011, Butler attended Occupy Wall Street and, in reference to calls for clarification of the protesters' demands, they said:
People have asked, so what are the demands? What are the demands all of these people are making? Either they say there are no demands and that leaves your critics confused, or they say that the demands for social equality and economic justice are impossible demands. And the impossible demands, they say, are just not practical. If hope is an impossible demand, then we demand the impossible – that the right to shelter, food and employment are impossible demands, then we demand the impossible. If it is impossible to demand that those who profit from the recession redistribute their wealth and cease their greed, then yes, we demand the impossible.
Butler is an executive member of FFIPP – Educational Network for Human Rights in Israel/Palestine. They are also a member of the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace. In mainstream US politics, they expressed support for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Adorno Prize affair
When Butler received the 2012 Adorno Prize, the prize committee came under attack from Israel's Ambassador to Germany Yakov Hadas-Handelsman; the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's office in Jerusalem, Efraim Zuroff; and the German Central Council of Jews. They were upset at Butler's selection because of Butler's remarks about Israel and specifically Butler's "calls for a boycott against Israel". Butler responded saying that "[Butler] did not take attacks from German Jewish leaders personally". Rather, they wrote, the attacks are "directed against everyone who is critical against Israel and its current policies".
In a letter to the Mondoweiss website, Butler asserted that they developed strong ethical views on the basis of Jewish philosophical thought and that it is "blatantly untrue, absurd, and painful for anyone to argue that those who formulate a criticism of the State of Israel is anti-Semitic or, if Jewish, self-hating".
Comments on Hamas and Hezbollah
Butler was criticized for statements they had made about Hamas and Hezbollah. Butler was accused of describing them as "social movements that are progressive, that are on the Left, that are part of a global Left." They were accused of defending "Hezbollah and Hamas as progressive organizations" and supporting their tactics.
Butler responded to these criticisms by stating that their remarks on Hamas and Hezbollah were taken completely out of context and, in so doing, their established views on non-violence were contradicted and misrepresented. Butler describes the origin of their remarks on Hamas and Hezbollah in the following way:
I was asked by a member of an academic audience a few years ago whether I thought Hamas and Hezbollah belonged to "the global left" and I replied with two points. My first point was merely descriptive: those political organizations define themselves as anti-imperialist, and anti-imperialism is one characteristic of the global left, so on that basis one could describe them as part of the global left. My second point was then critical: as with any group on the left, one has to decide whether one is for that group or against that group, and one needs to critically evaluate their stand.
Comments on Black Lives Matter
In a January 2015 interview with George Yancy of The New York Times, Butler discussed the Black Lives Matter movement. They said:
What is implied by this statement [Black Lives Matter], a statement that should be obviously true, but apparently is not? If black lives do not matter, then they are not really regarded as lives, since a life is supposed to matter. So what we see is that some lives matter more than others, that some lives matter so much that they need to be protected at all costs, and that other lives matter less, or not at all. And when that becomes the situation, then the lives that do not matter so much, or do not matter at all, can be killed or lost, can be exposed to conditions of destitution, and there is no concern, or even worse, that is regarded as the way it is supposed to be...When people engage in concerted actions across racial lines to build communities based on equality, to defend the rights of those who are disproportionately imperiled to have a chance to live without the fear of dying quite suddenly at the hands of the police. There are many ways to do this, in the street, the office, the home, and in the media. Only through such an ever-growing cross-racial struggle against racism can we begin to achieve a sense of all the lives that really do matter.
The dialogue draws heavily on their 2004 book Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence.
Avital Ronell sexual harassment case
On May 11, 2018, Butler led a group of scholars in writing a letter to New York University following the sexual harassment suit filed by a former NYU graduate student against his advisor Avital Ronell. The signatories acknowledged not having had access to the confidential findings of the investigation that followed the Title IX complaint against Ronell. Nonetheless, they accused the complainant of waging a "malicious campaign" against Ronell. The signatories also wrote that the presumed "malicious intention has animated and sustained this legal nightmare" for a highly regarded scholar. "If she were to be terminated or relieved of her duties, the injustice would be widely recognized and opposed." Butler, the chief signatory, invoked their title as President Elect of the Modern Language Association. James J. Marino, a professor at Cleveland State University and a member of the MLA, started a petition to demand Butler's resignation or removal from their post. He argued that "Protesting against one instance of punishment is only a means to the larger end of preserving senior faculty's privilege of impunity. ... [Butler] was standing up for an old, corrupt, and long-standing way of doing business. The time for doing business that way is over. We should never look back." Some three months later, Butler apologized to the MLA for the letter. "I acknowledged that I should not have allowed the MLA affiliation to go forward with my name," Butler wrote to the Chronicle of Higher Education. "I expressed regret to the MLA officers and staff, and my colleagues accepted my apology. I extend that same apology to MLA members."
Comments on the anti-gender movement and trans-exclusionary radical feminism
Butler said in 2020 that trans-exclusionary radical feminism is "a fringe movement that is seeking to speak in the name of the mainstream, and that our responsibility is to refuse to let that happen." In 2021, drawing from Umberto Eco who understood "fascism" as "a beehive of contradictions", they noted that the term fascism "describes" the "anti-gender ideology". They cautioned self-declared feminists from allying with anti-gender movements in targeting trans, non-binary, and genderqueer people. Butler also explored the issue in a 2019 paper in which they argued that "the confusion of discourses is part of what constitutes the fascist structure and appeal of at least some of these [anti-gender] movements. One can oppose gender as a cultural import from the North at the same time that one can see that very opposition as a social movement against further colonization of the South. The result is not a turn to the Left, but an embrace of ethno-nationalism."
The Guardian interview
On September 7, 2021, The Guardian published an interview of Butler by Jules Gleeson that included Butler's view of trans-exclusionary feminists. In response to a question about the Wi Spa controversy, The Press Gazette stated that Butler in the Guardian article stated that "The anti-gender ideology is one of the dominant strains of fascism in our times." Within a few hours of publication, three paragraphs including this statement were removed, with a note explaining "This article was edited on 7 September 2021 to reflect developments which occurred after the interview took place."
The Guardian was then accused of censoring Judith Butler for having compared TERFs to fascists. British writer Roz Kaveney called it "a truly shocking moment of bigoted dishonesty", while British transgender activist and writer Juno Dawson, among others, observed that The Guardian had inadvertently triggered the Streisand effect, in which an attempt to censor yields the unintended consequence of increasing awareness of a topic. The next day, The Guardian acknowledged "a failure in our editorial standards".
Personal life
Butler is a lesbian, legally non-binary, and, as of 2020, said they use both they/them and she/her pronouns but prefer to use "they" pronouns. Butler indicated that they were "never at home" with being assigned female at birth.
They live in Berkeley with their partner Wendy Brown and son, Isaac.
Selected honors and awards
Butler has had a visiting appointment at Birkbeck, University of London (2009–).
1999: Guggenheim Fellowship
2001: David R Kessler Award for LGBTQ Studies, CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies
2007: Elected to the American Philosophical Society
2008: Mellon Award for their exemplary contributions to scholarship in the humanities
2010: "25 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World", Utne Reader
2012: Theodor W. Adorno Award
2013: Doctorate of Letters, honoris causa, University of St. Andrews
2013: Doctorate of Letters, honoris causa, McGill University
2014: Doctorate of Letters, honoris causa, University of Fribourg
2014: Named one of PinkNews's top 11 Jewish gay and lesbian icons
2015: Elected as a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy
2018: Doctorate of Letters, honoris causa, University of Belgrade
2018: Butler delivered the Gifford Lectures with their series entitled 'My Life, Your Life: Equality and the Philosophy of Non-Violence'
2019: Elected as Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Publications
Butler's books have been translated into numerous languages; Gender Trouble has been translated into twenty-seven languages. They have co-authored and edited over a dozen volumes—most recently, Dispossession: The Performative in the Political (2013), coauthored with Athena Athanasiou. Over the years Butler has also published many influential essays, interviews, and public presentations. Butler is considered by many to be "one of the most influential voices in contemporary political theory," and the most widely read and influential gender studies academic in the world.
The following is a partial list of Butler's publications.
Books
[Their doctoral dissertation.]
Book chapters
A collection of essays on the work of Avital Ronell.
Details.
Notes
References
Further reading
Burgos, Elvira. (2008). Qué cuenta como una vida. La pregunta por la libertad en Judith Butler. Madrid: Antonio Machado.
Chambers, Samuel A. and Carver, Terrell. (2008). Judith Butler and Political Theory: Troubling Politics. New York: Routledge.
Cheah, Pheng. (1996). "Mattering". Diacritics, 26 (1), pp. 108–139.
Kirby, Vicki. (2006). Judith Butler: Live Theory. London: Continuum.
Eldred, Michael. (2008). [http://www.arte-fact.org/mtphysfm.html 'Metaphysics of Feminism: A Critical Note on Judith Butler's Gender Trouble'''].
Halsema, Annemie; Kwastek, Katja; van den Oever, Roel (eds.). (2021). Bodies That Still Matter. Resonances of the Work of Judith Butler. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Pdf. Considers performativity from a linguistic perspective.
López, Silvia. (2019). Los cuerpos que importan en Judith Butler. Madrid: Dos Bigotes.
Perreau, Bruno. (2004). Queer Theory: The French Response, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Salih, Sarah. (2004). The Judith Butler Reader. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell.
Salih, Sarah. (2002). Routledge Critical Thinkers: Judith Butler. New York: Routledge.
Schippers, Birgit. (2014). The Political Philosophy of Judith Butler. New York: Routledge.
Thiem, Annika. (2008). Unbecoming Subjects: Judith Butler, Moral Philosophy, and Critical Responsibility.'' New York: Fordham University Press.
External links
Biography – University of California, Berkeley
approach the notion of affinity through a discussion of "Disruptive Kinship," co-sponsored by Villa Gillet and the School of Writing at The New School for Public Engagement.
Interview of Judith Butler about their new book "Frames of War" on New Statesman
Review of "Giving an Account of Oneself. Ethical Violence and Responsibility", by Judith Butler, Barcelona Metropolis Autumn 2010.
"Dictionary of Literary Biography on Judith P. Butler (page 3)"
Interview with Judith Butler about politics, economy, control societies, gender and identity (2011)
Category:1956 births
Category:20th-century American educators
Category:20th-century American essayists
Category:20th-century American philosophers
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:20th-century American LGBT people
Category:21st-century American educators
Category:21st-century American essayists
Category:21st-century American philosophers
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:21st-century American LGBT people
Category:American Ashkenazi Jews
Category:American democratic socialists
Category:American ethicists
Category:American feminist writers
Category:American lesbian writers
Category:American literary critics
Category:American media critics
Category:American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Category:American political philosophers
Category:American social commentators
Category:American women philosophers
Category:American women sociologists
Category:Anti-Zionism in the United States
Category:Bennington College alumni
Category:Columbia University faculty
Category:Continental philosophers
Category:Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy
Category:Critical theorists
Category:Critics of religions
Category:Environmental philosophers
Category:Epistemologists
Category:Academic staff of European Graduate School
Category:Feminist philosophers
Category:Feminist studies scholars
Category:Feminist theorists
Category:Framing theorists
Category:Gender studies academics
Category:Jewish American academics
Category:Jewish anti-Zionism in the United States
Category:Jewish ethicists
Category:Jewish feminists
Category:Jewish philosophers
Category:Jewish socialists
Category:Jewish women writers
Category:Jews and Judaism in Cleveland
Category:Lesbian academics
Category:Lesbian feminists
Category:Lesbian Jews
Category:LGBT and Judaism
Category:LGBT people from Ohio
Category:LGBT philosophers
Category:Literacy and society theorists
Category:Literary theorists
Category:Literature educators
Category:Living people
Category:Mass media theorists
Category:Metaphysicians
Category:Metaphysics writers
Category:Ontologists
Category:Palestinian solidarity activists
Category:Phenomenologists
Category:Philosophers from Ohio
Category:Philosophers of art
Category:Philosophers of culture
Category:Philosophers of education
Category:Philosophers of history
Category:Philosophers of Judaism
Category:Philosophers of literature
Category:Philosophers of mind
Category:Philosophers of psychology
Category:Philosophers of science
Category:Philosophers of sexuality
Category:Philosophers of social science
Category:Political philosophers
Category:Post-Zionists
Category:Postmodern feminists
Category:Queer theorists
Category:Social philosophers
Category:Sociologists of art
Category:Theorists on Western civilization
Category:Transfeminists
Category:Transgender studies academics
Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty
Category:Wesleyan University faculty
Category:American women literary critics
Category:Writers about activism and social change
Category:Writers from Cleveland
Category:Writers from Shaker Heights, Ohio
Category:Yale College alumni
Category:Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Category:Presidents of the Modern Language Association
Category:American non-binary writers
Category:American Jewish anti-racism activists
fi:Sara Heinämaa | [] | null | null |
C_246c9a6ff2684689808f8dccf4c15b25_1 | Kim Chiu | Kimberly Sue Yap Chiu (born April 19, 1990), commonly known as Kim Chiu, is a Chinese Filipino actress, singer and television host in the Philippines. Chiu first starred in the television series, Sana Maulit Muli (2007) which won her the year's Most Promising Female Star at GMMSF. This followed by a string of successful projects and leading roles in dramas such as the Philippine adaptation of My Girl (2008), action-melodramas Tayong Dalawa (2009), Kung Tayo'y Magkakalayo (2010), rom-com My Binondo Girl (2011-2012), family drama Ina, Kapatid, Anak (2012-2013) and period drama Ikaw Lamang (2014). | 2006-2008: Career beginnings | Chiu gained prominence by winning the reality series Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition. For the show, Chiu left her hometown of Cebu City and moved to Manila. She, along with the rest of the housemates entered the Big Brother house on April 23, 2006. After 42 days in the Big Brother house, she was named the Teen Big Winner with 626,562 votes (41.4% of the total votes) at the Aliw Theatre inside the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex in Pasay City. She was the only housemate who was never nominated for eviction. After winning, Chiu became part of Star Magic. She and her on-screen partner Gerald Anderson became regulars in ASAP XV and appeared together in several ABS-CBN shows Love Spell, comedy sitcom Aalog-Alog and in the film First Day High. In 2007, Chiu starred in the primetime TV series entitled Sana Maulit Muli alongside Anderson which was released to significant acclaim. That year, she was nominated and eventually won the 38th Guillermo Mendoza Box Office Awards as Most Promising Female Star and Best New Female TV Personality (for Sana Maulit Muli) at the 21st PMPC Star Awards. Sana Maulit Muli was later released in Taiwan under the PTS network, under the title Chances. Chiu then launched her debut album Gwa Ai Di (Wo Ai Ni ; Minnan, "I Love You") under Star Records, which included the single Crazy Love. It reached a Gold Record status. Gaining much recognition for her acting roles, she then starred in the movie I've Fallen For You under Star Cinema and continually appeared in numerous advertisements. In 2008, Chiu was cast in the Philippine adaptation of the South Korean TV series My Girl. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_246c9a6ff2684689808f8dccf4c15b25_1_q#0",
"C_246c9a6ff2684689808f8dccf4c15b25_1_q#1",
"C_246c9a6ff2684689808f8dccf4c15b25_1_q#2",
"C_246c9a6ff2684689808f8dccf4c15b25_1_q#3",
"C_246c9a6ff2684689808f8dccf4c15b25_1_q#4",
"C_246c9a6ff2684689808f8dccf4c15b25_1_q#5",
"C_246c9a6ff2684689808f8dccf4c15b25_1_q#6",
"C_246c9a6ff2684689808f8dccf4c15b25_1_q#7",
"C_246c9a6ff2684689808f8dccf4c15b25_1_q#8"
] | [
"How was she discovered?",
"What was her first job in her career?",
"What shows was she on?",
"Was there any one tv performance that led to her big break?",
"Did she receive any tv awards?",
"What made her want to be an actress?",
"Any other interesting information?",
"Did her album place on the charts?",
"What were the singles on the album?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
524
],
[
648
],
[
761
],
[
942
],
[
1634
],
[
1204
],
[
1341
],
[
1303
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Chiu gained prominence by winning the reality series Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition."
],
[
"After winning, Chiu became part of Star Magic. She and her on-screen partner Gerald Anderson became regulars in ASAP XV and appeared together in several ABS-CBN shows"
],
[
"appeared together in several ABS-CBN shows Love Spell, comedy sitcom Aalog-Alog and in the film First Day High."
],
[
"In 2007, Chiu starred in the primetime TV series entitled Sana Maulit Muli alongside Anderson which was released to significant acclaim."
],
[
"won the 38th Guillermo Mendoza Box Office Awards as Most Promising Female Star and Best New Female TV Personality"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Chiu then launched her debut album Gwa Ai Di (Wo Ai Ni ; Minnan, \"I Love You\") under Star Records,"
],
[
"It reached a Gold Record status."
],
[
"which included the single Crazy Love."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
524,
648,
761,
942,
1634,
1204,
1341,
1303
],
"texts": [
"Chiu gained prominence by winning the reality series Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition.",
"After winning, Chiu became part of Star Magic. She and her on-screen partner Gerald Anderson became regulars in ASAP XV and appeared together in several ABS-CBN shows",
"appeared together in several ABS-CBN shows Love Spell, comedy sitcom Aalog-Alog and in the film First Day High.",
"In 2007, Chiu starred in the primetime TV series entitled Sana Maulit Muli alongside Anderson which was released to significant acclaim.",
"won the 38th Guillermo Mendoza Box Office Awards as Most Promising Female Star and Best New Female TV Personality",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Chiu then launched her debut album Gwa Ai Di (Wo Ai Ni ; Minnan, \"I Love You\") under Star Records,",
"It reached a Gold Record status.",
"which included the single Crazy Love."
]
} | Kimberly Sue Yap Chiu (; born April 19, 1990), professionally known as Kim Chiu, is a Filipino actress, model, host, singer, dancer, and vlogger. She is currently managed by Star Magic, ABS-CBN's home-based talent agency.
Recognized as one of the royalties of Philippine show business, Chiu is popularly referred to as the "Multimedia Idol" for her acting prowess and influence. Ever since her showbiz debut after winning the first teen edition of Pinoy Big Brother, she has already accumulated 15 blockbuster hit films, 39 top-rating series, 21 chart-topping songs and a plethora of endorsements and recognitions. Forbes Asia hailed her as one of social media's most influential celebrities in Asia Pacific.
As one of the defining movie stars of her generation, her films has altogether grossed over ₱1.1 billion in local cinema, becoming one of the highest grossing actors of the 2010s decade. Chiu's biggest film to date is Bride For Rent with ₱326 million domestic gross, becoming one of the highest grossing Philippine films in history. She is a recipient of a FAMAS Award, hailed as one of the TV Queens at the Turn of the Millennium at the PMPC Star Awards for Television and has been inducted at the Eastwood City Walk of Fame.
Career
2006–2008: Career beginnings
Chiu gained prominence when she won the top prize in the reality series Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition. For the show, Chiu left her hometown of Cebu City and moved to Manila. She, along with the rest of the housemates entered the Big Brother house on April 23, 2006. After 42 days in the Big Brother house, she was named the Teen Big Winner with 626,562 votes (41.4% of the total votes) at the Aliw Theatre inside the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex in Pasay. She was the only housemate who was never nominated for eviction.
After winning, Chiu became part of Star Magic.
She and her on-screen partner Gerald Anderson became regulars in ASAP XV and appeared together in several ABS-CBN shows Love Spell, comedy sitcom Aalog-Alog and in the film First Day High.
In 2007, Chiu starred in the primetime TV series entitled Sana Maulit Muli alongside Anderson which was released to significant acclaim. That year, she was nominated and eventually won the 38th Guillermo Mendoza Box Office Awards as Most Promising Female Star and Best New Female TV Personality (for Sana Maulit Muli) at the 21st PMPC Star Awards. Sana Maulit Muli was later released in Taiwan under the PTS network, under the title Chances.
Chiu then launched her debut album "Gwa Ai Di" (Hokkien ) under Star Records, which included the single Crazy Love. It reached a Gold Record status.
Gaining much recognition for her acting roles, she then starred in the movie I've Fallen For You under Star Cinema and continually appeared in numerous advertisements. In 2008, Chiu was cast in the Philippine adaptation of the South Korean TV series My Girl.
2009–2011: Breakthrough
In 2009, Chiu secured her name as a top actress in the highly acclaimed TV series entitled Tayong Dalawa. She garnered several acting awards for her portrayal of Audrey, a woman who is loved by two military men.
Her movie I Love You, Goodbye became part of Star Cinema's official entry to the 2009 Metro Manila Film Festival. It was Chiu's first role as a villain and her first film to hit P100 million mark, with her receiving several nominations under different award-giving bodies including PMPC, 12th Gawad PASADO Awards and the 34th MMFF for Best Supporting Actress.
In 2010, she then starred in the romance film Paano Na Kaya, released nationally and internationally. She also starred in the well-received primetime drama, Kung Tayo'y Magkakalayo, the highest rating teleserye of 2010 in the Philippines. In October 2010, Chiu and Anderson teamed up for the last consecutive time in the film Till My Heartaches End. In the midst of movie promotions, it was reported that the long-time couple (known as Kimerald) had split, yet the reason for the breakup was not discussed.
She top-billed in a weekly musical anthology series Your Song, as a sub-series for the 12th season called Your Song Presents: Kim. It ran for four months and led her to pair up with Sam Milby, Jake Cuenca, Pokwang, Derek Ramsay, Enrique Gil and Vice Ganda. In 2011, Chiu starred in romantic-comedy television series titled My Binondo Girl alongside Xian Lim, Matteo Guidicelli, and Jolo Revilla.
2012–present: Movies and critical success
In 2012, Chiu starred in a horror film with Vilma Santos entitled The Healing. She played a woman who is cured of glomerulonephritis through a healer but must suffer a curse. From this film, she received a number of Best Supporting Actress nominations from almost all of the film award-giving bodies, missing only the Gawad Urian and The Young Critics' Circle.
Chiu also returned to melodrama acting via Ina, Kapatid, Anak, alongside Xian Lim, Maja Salvador and Enchong Dee. After the teleserye ended with an average TV rating of 30.3% via Kantar Media/TNS, it was awarded Best Teleserye of the Year at Philippine's 2013 Yahoo Awards and was aired internationally as Her Mother's Daughter, released in foreign territories including MIPTV in France and at DISCOP West Asia in Turkey. Her portrayal also earned her an award for Best TV Drama Actress. She reunited in a movie with Anderson titled 24/7 in Love, Star Magic's ensemble film in view of the agency's 20th anniversary.
She starred in a film adaption of Ramon Bautista's novel co-starring Xian Lim, Bakit Hindi Ka Crush Ng Crush Mo?, released on July 17, 2013. Her performance received positive feedback and critics praise in view of her first comedic role on the big screen.
In January 2014, Chiu cemented her commercial draw with the romantic-comedy movie entitled Bride for Rent. Chiu plays Rocky, a poor woman who agrees to marry for money. As Star Cinema's first movie offering of 2014, the film met both critical and commercial success, earning more than P21.2 million pesos in its opening day and broke the P200 million pesos mark on its 8th day. The film established Chiu as one of the country's biggest stars having both a successful film and television career. Having grossed P325 million, it is the sixth highest grossing Filipino film of all time, the second highest grossing Filipino romantic comedy movie of all-time, third highest grossing non-MMFF film of all-time and also the highest-grossing January-released film of all time in the country.
After the success of her two films, Chiu returned to television in the 2014 period drama, Ikaw Lamang. The series co-stars Coco Martin, Julia Montes, Jake Cuenca and KC Concepcion and dealt with social class, politics, and forbidden love. It held the first and second place viewer rating in its time slot and was awarded Best Primetime Drama Series at the 28th PMPC Star Awards for Television. This followed with the romantic comedy film, Past Tense and a portrayal as Mulan for Walt Disney Asia's 12 Days of Princess campaign.
In 2015, she appeared as one of five mistresses (alongside veterans Kris Aquino, Claudine Barretto, Iza Calzado) in the high-profile film, Etiquette for Mistresses. She recorded the Cebuano songs "Duyog" and "Labyu Langga" for the film's soundtrack. She also top-billed in the rom-com, All You Need Is Pag-Ibig, which is Star Cinema's official entry to the 2015 MMFF.
In 2016, she starred on the hit Philippine romantic drama, The Story of Us. Her performance as Tin Manalo gave her another Best Actress Awards from 6th EdukCircle Awards, 6th OFW Parangal Awards and Guillermo Mendoza. Also, on the last quarter of 2016, Kimerald loveteam was announced to set back on television via a triathlon soap opera television series Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin for the celebration of their 10th anniversary in show business.
In May 2017, Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin premiered on ABS-CBN's PrimeTanghali noontime block replacing Langit Lupa. The show debuted at Number 1 in its time slot, and consistently ranked ahead of its competition during its nine-month run.
In November 2017, she appears in the horror movie, The Ghost Bride which was also her first solo outing as an actress. She plays the role of Mayen Lim who is the main protagonist, her character is torn between living a normal though difficult life or accepting a strange business proposal called the Ghost Wedding in exchange for wealth and a comfortable life for her loved ones. She is also accompanied by Matteo Guidicelli, Alice Dixson, Christian Bables and Cacai Bautista in this said movie project which was set to show on theatres on All Saints' Day. The movie became a critical and commercial success garnering over P100m, making Kim a certified horror Queen and The Horror Princess of Philippine movies .
In April 2018, she appears in the Filipino horror-comedy film Da One That Ghost Away directed by Tony Y. Reyes together with Ryan Bang, Enzo Pineda and the duo of Maymay Entrata and Edward Barber. The movie grossed over P8 million on its opening day and over P70 million in its entire theatrical run.
In December 2018, her movie One Great Love became Regal Film's official entry to the 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival. It was Chiu's first time Venturing into an adult, steamy oriented role and also working with both Dennis Trillo and JC de Vera. She received nomination on the 44th annual MMFF Awards for Best Actress. She also won the Film Actress of the Year in the 50th GMMSF Box-Office Entertainment Awards for her performance in the film One Great Love. The movie garnered over P50 million in its MMFF theatrical run.
In 2020, her song "Bawal Lumabas (The Classroom Song)" became the most disliked song in WISH 107.5's YouTube Channel having reportedly received 404k dislikes and 78k likes within 14 hours. The song was based from a viral edit made by DJ Squammy from her statement about the ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy.
Personal life
Chiu is the fourth of five children to William Chiu, a Chinese businessman from Mindoro and Louella (née Yap; 1963–2013), a Philippine Sangley native who migrated from Dinagat Islands to Surigao del Sur, Philippines. She is fluent in Cebuano, Tagalog, and English, with her Waray, Hokkien, and Mandarin Chinese at a beginner level only.
Since her parents' separation in 1998, Kim had a dysfunctional relationship with both of her parents. She and her siblings were raised by their paternal grandmother and, as children, frequently moved residences in the Philippine Visayas; locating in Tacloban, Leyte, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Mindoro and back to Cebu City until 2006. In 2013, she reconciled with her father "after five years of estrangement" while visiting his second partner and half-siblings in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. A month later in June, her biological mother, Louella, fell into a coma. Following a week of hospitalization, Louella died on June 23, 2013, due to brain aneurysm. In a eulogy dedicated to her mother, she debunked rumors of animosity over her mother's child abandonment and expressed: "An angel guides me in my decisions in life. For me, that is finally my mom."
Chiu dated co-star Gerald Anderson from 2006 to 2010.
Chiu began dating fellow Star Magic artist and leading man, Xian Lim in 2012, which was confirmed in a 2013 episode of Kris TV. They acknowledged they were "exclusively dating". On November 15, 2018, Kim Chiu confirmed she was still in a relationship with Lim during her interview on Tonight with Boy Abunda.
On March 4, 2020, Chiu was traveling along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City on her way to a taping of her series Love Thy Woman when two unidentified gunmen, riding-in-tandem on a motorcycle, fired six gunshots at her van. Chiu and her companions were unharmed. Investigators examine the shooting as a possible case of mistaken identity. Chiu later revealed on social media that, a day after the incident, a person claiming to have been the actual target called one of her bosses to apologize.
Philanthropy and education
Chiu uses her media influence to promote various causes. She began partnership with GSK for yearly asthma awareness campaigns, Win Against Asthma, after battling asthma as a child. Chiu has since participated in disaster relief organizations such as Philippine National Red Cross and Sagip Kapamilya. She joined the PETA campaign Free Mali along with Xian Lim. Chiu made a video plea for Mali, asking that she be moved to a sanctuary for the sake of her well-being. In August 2012, she and Lim spearheaded a relief operation in Marikina. Chiu was heavily involved with relief efforts for Typhoon Yolanda via Red Cross, which had affected parts of her hometown. Aside from giving food and water, she also held week-long clothes auctions to raise money for Typhoon victims.
By 2013, it was also revealed that the actress was involved with regularly funding Isla Pulo, an impoverished community of 1,000 inhabitants in Manila Bay, Philippines.
As one of Philippines highest paid endorsers, Chiu addressed the ongoing Pork Barrel tax scandal and the government's alleged misuse of the PDAF in a press conference on August 28, 2013, noting the amount of tax celebrities like herself pay to the government: "The money isn't a joke [...] we pay so much tax and we don't know where it's going." The Bureau of Internal Revenue confirmed Chiu as 131st top taxpayer in the country with ₱9.3M in income taxes in 2013.
In 2015, Chiu passed the UPCAT and enrolled in University of the Philippines's UPOU program for business courses.
Filmography
Television
Films
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
Singles from OST Albums
Mine "(Sana Maulit Muli)"
Pusong Lito "(My Girl)"
Sabihin Mo Na w/ "Gerald Anderson"" (My Girl)"
Crazy Love ""Chinese Version"" "(My Girl)"
My Only Hope "(My Only Hope)"
Others
Kering Keri "(Rejoice TV Commercial)"
Whisper, I Love You "(Close Up MV)"
Softly "(Kim Chiu, YouTube)"
Bawal Lumabas "(Kim Chiu, YouTube)" - An allusion to 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic and ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy
Music videos
Awards and honors
Performance
Personality
References
External links
Category:1990 births
Category:Living people
Category:Actresses from Cebu
Category:Actresses from Leyte (province)
Category:Big Brother (franchise) winners
Category:Filipino actors of Chinese descent
Category:Filipino child actresses
Category:Filipino child singers
Category:Filipino female models
Category:Filipino film actresses
Category:Filipino people of Chinese descent
Category:Filipino television actresses
Category:Filipino Roman Catholics
Category:People from Cebu City
Category:Pinoy Big Brother contestants
Category:Star Magic
Category:ABS-CBN personalities
Category:Star Music artists
Category:Visayan people
Category:21st-century Filipino women singers
Category:Filipino television variety show hosts
Category:Cebuano people
Category:Filipino women comedians | [] | [
"Chiu gained prominence by winning the reality series Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition.",
"Her first job in her career was participating in the reality series Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition.",
"Chiu was on several shows including Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition, ASAP XV, Love Spell, Aalog-Alog, and the primetime TV series, Sana Maulit Muli. She was also cast in the Philippine adaptation of the South Korean TV series My Girl.",
"Yes, her big break came from winning the reality series Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition.\n",
"Yes, she won the 38th Guillermo Mendoza Box Office Awards as Most Promising Female Star and Best New Female TV Personality for Sana Maulit Muli at the 21st PMPC Star Awards.",
"The text does not provide information on what made Chiu want to become an actress.",
"Chiu released an album titled Gwa Ai Di (I Love You) under Star Records, which reached Gold Record status. She also starred in a movie called I've Fallen For You under Star Cinema. Sana Maulit Muli, a show in which she starred, was released in Taiwan under the title Chances.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Chiu's album placed on the charts, but it did reach Gold Record status.",
"The text only mentions one single from the album, titled \"Crazy Love.\""
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_1 | Ron \Pigpen\" McKernan" | Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 - March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American singer and musician. He was a founding member of the San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972. McKernan grew up heavily influenced by African-American music, particularly the blues, and enjoyed listening to his father's collection of records and taught himself how to play harmonica and piano. He began socializing around the San Francisco Bay Area, becoming friends with Jerry Garcia. | Grateful Dead | Along with Garcia and second guitarist Bob Weir, McKernan was a participant in the predecessor groups leading to the formation of the Grateful Dead, beginning with the Zodiacs and Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. Drummer Bill Kreutzmann was added and the band evolved into the Warlocks. Around 1965, McKernan urged the rest of the Warlocks to switch to electric instruments. Bassist Phil Lesh joined soon after, and they became the Grateful Dead. The group were keen to involve McKernan in the band, as he was the group's original leader and was considered the best singer and frontman. The Dead's early sets centered around blues and R&B covers chosen by McKernan. By the end of 1966, Garcia had improved his musical skills and wanted to assert himself more as a leader and musical director, changing the band's direction and reducing McKernan's contributions. In 1967, drummer Mickey Hart joined the Grateful Dead, followed by classically trained keyboardist Tom Constanten in 1968, further changing the group's style. Constanten often replaced McKernan on keyboards in the studio, as McKernan found it difficult to adapt to the new material that Garcia and Lesh composed for the band. In October 1968, McKernan and Weir were nearly fired from the band after Garcia and Lesh believed their playing was holding the band back from lengthy and experimental jamming. Garcia delegated the task of firing them to Rock Scully, who said that McKernan "took it hard." Weir promised to improve, but McKernan was more stubborn. According to Garcia biographer Blair Jackson, McKernan missed three Dead shows before vowing not to "be lazy" any more and rejoining, while Kreutzmann objected to replacing McKernan and said the event never happened. Following his discharge from the United States Air Force in November 1968, Constanten officially joined the band, having only worked in the studio while on leave up to that point. Road manager Jon McIntire commented that "Pigpen was relegated to the congas at that point and it was really humiliating and he was really hurt, but he couldn't show it, couldn't talk about it." He began to take Hammond organ lessons and learned how to use the various drawbars and controls. After Constanten's departure in January 1970 over musical and lifestyle differences, McKernan nominally resumed keyboard duties. He contributed instrumentation to only two tracks (Hammond organ on "Black Peter" and harmonica on "Easy Wind", the latter as lead vocalist) on Workingman's Dead (1970), the band's breakthrough studio release. On the follow-up album American Beauty, keyboard parts were handled by Garcia and Lesh, along with session musicians Howard Wales and Ned Lagin. The 1971 live album Grateful Dead featured three overdubbed organ parts from Merl Saunders in addition to McKernan's contributions on "Big Railroad Blues", "The Other One", and "Me & Bobby McGee". While Garcia expressed frustration at McKernan's missed rehearsals and his inability to keep up with new material, Lesh was more forgiving, opining that "it was okay for Pigpen to lay out... we kept wanting Pigpen to be there because he was 'one of us.'" CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_1_q#0",
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_1_q#1",
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_1_q#2",
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_1_q#3",
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_1_q#4",
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_1_q#5"
] | [
"What was special about the grateful dead?",
"what happened in 1966?",
"leader of what?",
"how did he change the direction",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"why were they nearly fired?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
593
],
[
675
],
[
777
],
[
853
],
[
1193
],
[
1268
]
],
"texts": [
[
"The Dead's early sets centered around blues and R&B covers chosen by McKernan. By the end of 1966,"
],
[
"the end of 1966, Garcia had improved his musical skills and wanted to assert himself more as a leader and musical director,"
],
[
"and musical director, changing the band's direction and reducing McKernan's contributions."
],
[
"contributions. In 1967, drummer Mickey Hart joined the Grateful Dead, followed by classically trained keyboardist Tom Constanten in 1968,"
],
[
"In October 1968, McKernan and Weir were nearly fired from the band"
],
[
"Garcia and Lesh believed their playing was holding the band back from lengthy and experimental jamming."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
593,
675,
777,
853,
1193,
1268
],
"texts": [
"The Dead's early sets centered around blues and R&B covers chosen by McKernan. By the end of 1966,",
"the end of 1966, Garcia had improved his musical skills and wanted to assert himself more as a leader and musical director,",
"and musical director, changing the band's direction and reducing McKernan's contributions.",
"contributions. In 1967, drummer Mickey Hart joined the Grateful Dead, followed by classically trained keyboardist Tom Constanten in 1968,",
" In October 1968, McKernan and Weir were nearly fired from the band",
"Garcia and Lesh believed their playing was holding the band back from lengthy and experimental jamming."
]
} | null | [] | [
"The Grateful Dead was a band that evolved over time, starting with blues and R&B covers under the initial leadership of McKernan, before shifting towards more experimental jamming influenced by Garcia. They had several line-up changes, including the addition of a second drummer and a classically trained keyboardist, Constanten. The band also saw contributions from session musicians and other band members, beyond the traditional roles. Despite these changes and internal conflicts, members of the band were keen on keeping McKernan as they considered him \"one of us\".",
"By the end of 1966, Garcia had improved his musical skills and wanted to assert himself more as a leader and musical director of the Grateful Dead. This changed the band's direction and reduced McKernan's contributions to the music.",
"Garcia wanted to assert himself more as a leader and musical director of the band Grateful Dead.",
"The context does not provide specific details on how Garcia changed the direction of the Grateful Dead. It is only mentioned that his increased assertiveness as a leader and musical director led to a change in the band's direction and a reduction in McKernan's contributions.",
"The context outlines several interesting aspects of the Grateful Dead. The evolution of the band, from their founding to their various transformations, such as the switch to electric instruments and the later addition of experimental jamming, is a fascinating storyline. Another key point is the interpersonal dynamics within the band - from McKernan being the original leader and then his role changing as other members joined, to the near termination of McKernan and Weir's involvement in the band, and finally to how the band members valued McKernan's presence despite his struggles to keep up with the new musical direction. Also, the incorporation of session musicians like Howard Wales and Ned Lagin, and Merl Saunders who overdubbed organ parts, add interesting layers to the band’s musical journey.",
"McKernan and Weir were nearly fired from the Grateful Dead because Garcia and Lesh believed their playing was holding the band back from lengthy and experimental jamming."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"no",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_0 | Ron \Pigpen\" McKernan" | Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 - March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American singer and musician. He was a founding member of the San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972. McKernan grew up heavily influenced by African-American music, particularly the blues, and enjoyed listening to his father's collection of records and taught himself how to play harmonica and piano. He began socializing around the San Francisco Bay Area, becoming friends with Jerry Garcia. | Personal life | McKernan was close friends with American singer-songwriter Janis Joplin due to common musical influences and lifestyles, particularly a shared love of alcohol over other drugs; a poster from the early 1970s showed them together at 710 Ashbury. Joplin joined McKernan on stage at the Fillmore West on June 7, 1969, with the Grateful Dead to sing his signature "Turn On Your Love Light," reprising this duet on July 16, 1970, at the Euphoria Ballroom in San Rafael, California. He developed a close friendship with fellow keyboardist Tom Constanten based on their mutual aversion to psychedelics and eventually served as best man at Constanten's first wedding. While his bandmates and friends were using cannabis, LSD, and other hallucinogenic drugs, McKernan preferred alcoholic beverages such as Thunderbird and Southern Comfort. Ironically, McKernan was arrested and fined after the cannabis bust on November 9, 1967, at 710 Ashbury Street, the Dead's communal home, even though he did not use the drug. The event was covered in the first issue of Rolling Stone, where the reporter noted McKernan had a substantial rifle collection and McKernan's picture appeared on a contemporary report in the San Francisco Chronicle. Because neither took illegal drugs, McKernan and Constanten were the only members of the band not arrested on the January 31, 1970, bust that inspired the lyrics of the band's song "Truckin'". In the early years of the Grateful Dead, McKernan was easily recognisable by his biker image, making him a minor celebrity. In 1969, the band's record company, Warner Bros., ran a "Pigpen Look-Alike Contest". CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_0_q#0",
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_0_q#1",
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_0_q#2",
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_0_q#3",
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_0_q#4",
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_0_q#5",
"C_d12c63824d724f908e4c7e8e66b6c146_0_q#6"
] | [
"what year was he born",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"What happen with the keyboardist",
"When did he get married",
"What happen in his personal life",
"What was his biker image",
"Who won"
] | [
1,
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
1
] | [
2,
0,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1626
],
[
477
],
[
599
],
[
1626
],
[
1417
],
[
1541
],
[
1626
]
],
"texts": [
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"He developed a close friendship with fellow keyboardist Tom Constanten based on their mutual aversion to psychedelics and"
],
[
"eventually served as best man at Constanten's first wedding."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"In the early years of the Grateful Dead, McKernan was easily recognisable by his biker image, making him a minor celebrity."
],
[
"In 1969, the band's record company, Warner Bros., ran a \"Pigpen Look-Alike Contest\"."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1626,
477,
599,
1626,
1417,
1541,
1626
],
"texts": [
"CANNOTANSWER",
"He developed a close friendship with fellow keyboardist Tom Constanten based on their mutual aversion to psychedelics and",
"eventually served as best man at Constanten's first wedding.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"In the early years of the Grateful Dead, McKernan was easily recognisable by his biker image, making him a minor celebrity.",
"In 1969, the band's record company, Warner Bros., ran a \"Pigpen Look-Alike Contest\".",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | null | [] | [
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Yes, the article mentions several interesting aspects. For instance, it provides information about McKernan's personal friendships, such as his close friendship with Janis Joplin and keyboardist Tom Constanten. It also mentions their shared performances on stage and their common lifestyles, particularly their mutual preference for alcohol over psychedelics. Another interesting point is that although McKernan didn't use cannabis, he was arrested and fined during a cannabis bust, which was highlighted by the media. Despite the majority of his bandmates using illegal substances, his abstention and consequent non-arrest during a significant drug bust is noteworthy. The article also mentions his recognisable biker image in the early years of the Grateful Dead which led to a minor celebrity status, even inspiring a look-alike contest by the band's record company.",
"The keyboardist Tom Constanten developed a close friendship with McKernan, as they both had a mutual aversion to psychedelic drugs. McKernan even served as the best man at Constanten's first wedding. Because neither of them took illegal drugs, they were the only members of the band not arrested on the January 31, 1970 bust that inspired the lyrics of the band's song \"Truckin'\".",
"The text does not provide information on when McKernan got married.",
"Based on the provided text, we understand that McKernan had close friendships with Janis Joplin due to shared musical influences, lifestyles, and a preference for alcohol over other drugs. He also established a close friendship with fellow keyboardist Tom Constanten on the basis of their mutual aversion to psychedelics. Despite his bandmates and friends commonly using cannabis, LSD, and other hallucinogenic drugs, McKernan preferred alcoholic beverages. However, he was arrested and fined during a cannabis bust at the Grateful Dead's communal home, even though he did not use the drug. Because neither took illegal drugs, McKernan and Constanten were the only members of the band not involved in a subsequent drug bust in 1970.",
"The text does not offer specifics on what McKernan's \"biker image\" entailed. However, it does mention that this image made him easily recognisable and a minor celebrity in the early years of the Grateful Dead.",
"The text does not provide information on who won the \"Pigpen Look-Alike Contest\"."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_a5fc3bc92b8649a1a58167e416382127_1 | Joy Division | Joy Division were an English post-punk band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band consisted of singer-songwriter Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bass player Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The band was formed by Sumner and Hook after attending a 4 June 1976 Sex Pistols concert at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. While Joy Division's early recordings were heavily influenced by early punk, they evolved a unique sound, aided by producer Martin Hannett, which earned their reputation as pioneers of the post-punk movement. | Formation | On 20 July 1976, childhood friends Sumner and Hook separately attended a Sex Pistols show at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall. Both were was inspired by the Pistol's performance. The following day Hook borrowed PS35 from his mother to buy a bass guitar. Sumner said that he felt that they "destroyed the myth of being a pop star, of a musician being some kind of god that you had to worship". They formed a band with Terry Mason, who had also attended the gig. Sumner bought a guitar, and Mason a drum kit. They invited schoolfriend Martin Gresty to join as vocalist, but he turned them down after getting a job at a local factory. An advertisement was placed in the Virgin Records shop in Manchester for a vocalist. Ian Curtis, who knew them from earlier gigs, responded and was hired without audition. Sumner said that he "knew he was all right to get on with and that's what we based the whole group on. If we liked someone, they were in". Buzzcocks manager Richard Boon and frontman Pete Shelley have both been credited with suggesting the band name "Stiff Kittens", but settled on "Warsaw" shortly before their first gig, referencing David Bowie's song "Warszawa". Warsaw debuted on 29 May 1977 at the Electric Circus, supporting the Buzzcocks, Penetration and John Cooper Clarke. They received immediate national exposure due to reviews of the gig in the NME by Paul Morley and in Sounds by Ian Wood. Tony Tabac played drums that night after joining the band two days earlier. Mason was soon made the band's manager and Tabac was replaced on drums in June 1977 by Steve Brotherdale, who also played in the punk band Panik. During his tenure with Warsaw, Brotherdale tried to get Curtis to leave the band and join Panik and even got Curtis to audition for the band. In July 1977, Warsaw recorded a set of five demo tracks at Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham. Uneasy with Brotherdale's aggressive personality, the band fired him soon after the demo sessions. Driving home from the studio, they pulled over and asked Brotherdale to check on a flat tyre; when he got out of the car, they sped off. In August 1977, the band placed an advertisement in a music shop window seeking a replacement drummer. Stephen Morris, who had attended the same school as Curtis, was the sole respondent. Deborah Curtis, Ian's wife, stated that Morris "fitted perfectly" with the other men, and that with his addition Warsaw became a "complete 'family'". To avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, the band renamed themselves Joy Division in early 1978, borrowing their new name from the sexual slavery wing of a Nazi concentration camp mentioned in the 1955 novel House of Dolls. In December, the group recorded what became their debut EP, An Ideal for Living, at Pennine Sound Studio and played their final gig as Warsaw on New Year's Eve at The Swinging Apple in Liverpool. Billed as Warsaw to ensure an audience, the band played their first gig as Joy Division on 25 January 1978 at Pip's Disco in Manchester. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_a5fc3bc92b8649a1a58167e416382127_1_q#0",
"C_a5fc3bc92b8649a1a58167e416382127_1_q#1",
"C_a5fc3bc92b8649a1a58167e416382127_1_q#2",
"C_a5fc3bc92b8649a1a58167e416382127_1_q#3",
"C_a5fc3bc92b8649a1a58167e416382127_1_q#4"
] | [
"when did the formation happen?",
"Where did it happen?",
"What awards did they win?",
"Any interesting information?",
"When did they play as Joy Division?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
85
],
[
2620
],
[
2879
],
[
2970
]
],
"texts": [
[
"On 20 July 1976,"
],
[
"show at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall. Both were was inspired by the Pistol's performance."
],
[
"concentration camp mentioned in the 1955 novel House of Dolls. In December, the group recorded what became their"
],
[
"Billed as Warsaw to ensure an audience, the band played their first gig as Joy Division"
],
[
"25 January 1978"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
85,
2620,
2879,
2970
],
"texts": [
"On 20 July 1976,",
"show at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall. Both were was inspired by the Pistol's performance.",
"concentration camp mentioned in the 1955 novel House of Dolls. In December, the group recorded what became their",
"Billed as Warsaw to ensure an audience, the band played their first gig as Joy Division",
"25 January 1978"
]
} | Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, lead guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.
Sumner and Hook formed the band after attending a June 1976 Sex Pistols concert. While Joy Division's first recordings were heavily influenced by early punk, they soon developed a sparse sound and style that made them one of the pioneering groups of the post-punk movement. Their self-released 1978 debut EP An Ideal for Living drew the attention of the Manchester television personality Tony Wilson, who signed them to his independent label Factory Records. Their debut album Unknown Pleasures, recorded with producer Martin Hannett, was released in 1979.
Frontman Curtis struggled with personal problems including a failing marriage, depression, and epilepsy. As the band's popularity grew, Curtis's health condition made it increasingly difficult for him to perform; he occasionally experienced seizures on stage. He died by suicide on the eve of what would have been the band's first North American tour in May 1980, aged 23. Joy Division's second and final album, Closer, was released two months later; it and the single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" became their highest-charting releases.
Between July and October 1980 the remaining members regrouped under the name New Order. They were successful throughout the next decade, blending post-punk with electronic and dance music influences. In 2023, both Joy Division and New Order were nominated as one act for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
History
Formation
On 4 June 1976, childhood friends Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook separately attended a Sex Pistols show at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall. Both were inspired by the Pistols' performance. Sumner said that he felt the Pistols "destroyed the myth of being a pop star, of a musician being some kind of god that you had to worship". The following day Hook borrowed £35 from his mother to buy a bass guitar. They formed a band with Terry Mason, who had also attended the gig; Sumner bought a guitar, and Mason a drum kit. After their schoolfriend Martin Gresty declined an invitation to join as vocalist after getting a job at a factory, the band placed an advertisement for a vocalist in the Manchester Virgin Records shop. Ian Curtis, who knew them from earlier gigs, responded and was hired without audition. Sumner said that he "knew he was all right to get on with and that's what we based the whole group on. If we liked someone, they were in."
Buzzcocks manager Richard Boon and frontman Pete Shelley have both been credited with suggesting the band name "Stiff Kittens", but the band settled on "Warsaw" shortly before their first gig, a reference to David Bowie's song "Warszawa". Warsaw debuted on 29 May 1977 at the Electric Circus, supporting the Buzzcocks, Penetration and John Cooper Clarke. Tony Tabac played drums that night after joining the band two days earlier. Reviews in the NME by Paul Morley and in Sounds by Ian Wood brought them immediate national exposure. Mason became the band's manager and Tabac was replaced on drums in June 1977 by Steve Brotherdale, who also played in the punk band the Panik. Brotherdale tried to get Curtis to leave the band and join the Panik, and even had Curtis audition. On 18 July 1977, Warsaw recorded five demo tracks at Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham. Uneasy with Brotherdale's aggressive personality, the band fired him soon after the sessions. Driving home from the studio, they pulled over and asked Brotherdale to check on a flat tyre; when he got out of the car, they drove off.
In August 1977, Warsaw placed an advertisement in a music shop window seeking a replacement drummer. Stephen Morris, who had attended the same school as Curtis, was the sole respondent. Deborah Curtis, Ian's wife, stated that Morris "fitted perfectly" with the band, and that with his addition Warsaw became a "complete 'family. To avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, the band renamed themselves Joy Division in early 1978, borrowing the name from the sexual slavery wing of a Nazi concentration camp mentioned in the 1955 novel House of Dolls. On 14 December, the group recorded their debut EP, An Ideal for Living, at Pennine Sound Studio and played their final gig as Warsaw on New Year's Eve at the Swinging Apple in Liverpool. Billed as Warsaw to ensure an audience, the band played their first gig as Joy Division on 25 January 1978 at Pip's Disco in Manchester.
Early releases
Joy Division were approached by RCA Records to record a cover of Nolan "N.F." Porter's "Keep on Keepin' On" at a Manchester recording studio. The band spent late March and April 1978 writing and rehearsing material. During the Stiff/Chiswick Challenge concert at Manchester's Rafters club on 14 April, they caught the attention of TV music presenter Tony Wilson and manager Rob Gretton. Curtis berated Wilson for not putting the group on his Granada Television show So It Goes; Wilson responded that Joy Division would be the next band he would showcase on TV. Gretton, the venue's resident DJ, was so impressed by the band's performance that he convinced them to take him on as their manager. Gretton, whose "dogged determination" was later credited for much of the band's public success, contributed the business skills to provide Joy Division with a better foundation for creativity. Joy Division spent the first week of May 1978 recording at Manchester's Arrow Studios. The band were unhappy with the Grapevine Records head John Anderson's insistence on adding synthesiser into the mix to soften the sound, and asked to be dropped from the contract with RCA.
Joy Division made their recorded debut in June 1978 when the band self-released An Ideal for Living, and two weeks later their track "At a Later Date" was featured on the compilation album Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus (which had been recorded live in October 1977). In the Melody Maker review, Chris Brazier said that it "has the familiar rough-hewn nature of home-produced records, but they're no mere drone-vendors—there are a lot of good ideas here, and they could be a very interesting band by now, seven months on". The packaging of An Ideal for Living—which featured a drawing of a Hitler Youth member on the cover—coupled with the nature of the band's name fuelled speculation about their political affiliations. While Hook and Sumner later said they were intrigued by fascism at the time, Morris believed that the group's dalliance with Nazi imagery came from a desire to keep memories of the sacrifices of their parents and grandparents during World War II alive. He argued that accusations of neo-Nazi sympathies merely provoked the band "to keep on doing it, because that's the kind of people we are".
On 20 September 1978, Joy Division made their television debut performing "Shadowplay" on So It Goes, with an introduction by Wilson. In October, Joy Division contributed two tracks recorded with producer Martin Hannett to the compilation double-7" EP A Factory Sample, the first release by Tony Wilson's record label, Factory Records. In the NME review of the EP, Paul Morley praised the band as "the missing link" between Elvis Presley and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Joy Division joined Factory's roster, after buying themselves out of the RCA deal. Gretton was made a label partner to represent the interests of the band. On 27 December, during the drive home from gig at the Hope and Anchor in London, Curtis had his first recognised severe epileptic seizure and was hospitalised. Meanwhile, Joy Division's career progressed, and Curtis appeared on the 13 January 1979 cover of NME. That month the band recorded their session for BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel. According to Deborah Curtis, "Sandwiched in between these two important landmarks was the realisation that Ian's illness was something we would have to learn to accommodate".
Unknown Pleasures and breakthrough
Joy Division's debut album, Unknown Pleasures, was recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, in April 1979. Producer Martin Hannett significantly altered their live sound, a fact that greatly displeased the band at the time; however, in 2006, Hook said that in retrospect Hannett had done a good job and "created the Joy Division sound". The album cover was designed by Peter Saville, who went on to provide artwork for future Joy Division and New Order releases.
Unknown Pleasures was released in June and sold through its initial pressing of 10,000 copies. Wilson said the success turned the indie label into a true business and a "revolutionary force" that operated outside of the major record label system. Reviewing the album for Melody Maker, writer Jon Savage described the album as an "opaque manifesto" and declared it "one of the best, white, English, debut LPs of the year".
Joy Division performed on Granada TV again on 20 July 1979, and made their only nationwide TV appearance on 15 September on BBC2's Something Else. They supported the Buzzcocks in a 24-venue UK tour that began that October, which allowed the band to quit their regular jobs. The non-album single "Transmission" was released in November. Joy Division's burgeoning success drew a devoted following who were stereotyped as "intense young men dressed in grey overcoats".
Closer and Curtis's health problems
Joy Division toured Europe in January 1980. Although the schedule was demanding, Curtis experienced only two grand mal seizures, both in the final two months of the tour. That March, the band recorded their second album, Closer, with Hannett at London's Britannia Row Studios. That month they released the "Licht und Blindheit" single, with "Atmosphere" as the A-side and "Dead Souls" as the B-side, on the French independent label Sordide Sentimental.
A lack of sleep and long hours destabilised Curtis's epilepsy, and his seizures became almost uncontrollable. He often had seizures during performances, which some audience members believed were part of the performance. The seizures left him feeling ashamed and depressed, and the band became increasingly worried about Curtis's condition. On 7 April 1980, Curtis attempted suicide by overdosing on his anti-seizure medication, phenobarbitone. The following evening, Joy Division were scheduled to play a gig at the Derby Hall in Bury. Curtis was too ill to perform, so at Gretton's insistence the band played a combined set with Alan Hempsall of Crispy Ambulance and Simon Topping of A Certain Ratio singing on the first few songs. When Topping came back towards the end of the set, some audience members threw bottles at the stage. Curtis's ill health led to the cancellation of several other gigs that April. Joy Division's final live performance was held at the University of Birmingham's High Hall on 2 May, and included their only performance of "Ceremony", one of the last songs written by Curtis.
Hannett's production has been widely praised. However, as with Unknown Pleasures, both Hook and Sumner were unhappy with the production. Hook said that when he heard the final mix of "Atrocity Exhibition" he was disappointed that the abrasiveness had been toned down. He wrote; "I was like, head in hands, 'Oh fucking hell, it's happening again ... Martin had fucking melted the guitar with his Marshall Time Waster. Made it sound like someone strangling a cat and, to my mind, absolutely killed the song. I was so annoyed with him and went in and gave him a piece of my mind but he just turned round and told me to fuck off."
Curtis's suicide and aftermath
Joy Division were scheduled to commence their first US/Canada tour in May 1980. Curtis had expressed enthusiasm about the tour, but his relationship with his wife, Deborah, was under strain; Deborah was excluded from the band's inner circle, and Curtis was having an affair with Belgian journalist and music promoter Annik Honoré, whom he met on tour in Europe in 1979. He was also anxious about how American audiences would react to his epilepsy.
The evening before the band were due to depart for America, Curtis returned to his Macclesfield home to talk to Deborah. He asked her to drop an impending divorce suit, and asked her to leave him alone in the house until he caught a train to Manchester the following morning. Early on 18 May 1980, having spent the night watching the Werner Herzog film Stroszek and listening to Iggy Pop's 1977 album The Idiot, Curtis hanged himself in his kitchen. Deborah discovered his body later that day when she returned.
The suicide shocked the band and their management. In 2005, Wilson said: "I think all of us made the mistake of not thinking his suicide was going to happen ... We all completely underestimated the danger. We didn't take it seriously. That's how stupid we were." Music critic Simon Reynolds said Curtis's suicide "made for instant myth". Jon Savage's obituary said that "now no one will remember what his work with Joy Division was like when he was alive; it will be perceived as tragic rather than courageous". In June 1980, Joy Division's single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was released, which hit number thirteen on the UK Singles Chart. In July 1980, Closer was released, and peaked at number six on the UK Albums Chart. NME reviewer Charles Shaar Murray wrote, "Closer is as magnificent a memorial (for 'Joy Division' as much as for Ian Curtis) as any post-Presley popular musician could have."
Morris said that even without Curtis's death, it is unlikely that Joy Division would have endured. The members had made a pact long before Curtis's death that, should any member leave, the remaining members would change the band name. The band re-formed as New Order, with Sumner on vocals; they later recruited Morris's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert as keyboardist and second guitarist. Gilbert had befriended the band and played guitar at a Joy Division performance when Curtis had been unable to play.
New Order's debut single, "Ceremony" (1981), was formed from the last two songs written with Curtis. New Order struggled in their early years to escape the shadow of Joy Division, but went on to achieve far greater commercial success with a different, more upbeat and dance-orientated sound.
Various Joy Division outtakes and live material have been released. Still, featuring live tracks and rare recordings, was issued in 1981. Factory issued the Substance compilation in 1988, including several out-of-print singles. Permanent was released in 1995 by London Records, which had acquired the Joy Division catalogue after Factory's 1992 bankruptcy. The comprehensive box set Heart and Soul was released in 1997.
Musical style
Sound
Joy Division took time to develop their style and quickly evolved from their punk roots. Their sound during their early inception as Warsaw was described as fairly generic and "undistinguished punk-inflected hard-rock". Critic Simon Reynolds observed how the band's originality only "really became apparent as the songs got slower", and their music took on a "sparse" quality. According to Reynolds, "Hook's bass carried the melody, Bernard Sumner's guitar left gaps rather than filling up the group's sound with dense riffage and Steve Morris's drums seemed to circle the rim of a crater." According to music critic Jon Savage, "Joy Division were not punk but they were directly inspired by its energy". In 1994 Sumner said the band's characteristic sound "came out naturally: I'm more rhythm and chords, and Hooky was melody. He used to play high lead bass because I liked my guitar to sound distorted, and the amplifier I had would only work when it was at full volume. When Hooky played low, he couldn't hear himself. Steve has his own style which is different to other drummers. To me, a drummer in the band is the clock, but Steve wouldn't be the clock, because he's passive: he would follow the rhythm of the band, which gave us our own edge." By Closer, Curtis had adopted a low baritone voice, drawing comparisons to Jim Morrison of the Doors (one of Curtis's favourite bands).
Sumner largely acted as the band's director, a role he continued in New Order. While Sumner was the group's primary guitarist, Curtis played the instrument on a few recorded songs and during a few shows. Curtis hated playing guitar, but the band insisted he do so. Sumner said, "He played in quite a bizarre way and that to us was interesting, because no one else would play like Ian". During the recording sessions for Closer, Sumner began using self-built synthesisers and Hook used a six-string bass for more melody.
Producer Martin Hannett "dedicated himself to capturing and intensifying Joy Division's eerie spatiality". Hannett believed punk rock was sonically conservative because of its refusal to use studio technology to create sonic space. The producer instead aimed to create a more expansive sound on the group's records. Hannett said, "[Joy Division] were a gift to a producer, because they didn't have a clue. They didn't argue". Hannett demanded clean and clear "sound separation" not only for individual instruments, but even for individual pieces of Morris's drumkit. Morris recalled, "Typically on tracks he considered to be potential singles, he'd get me to play each drum on its own to avoid any bleed-through of sound". Music journalist Richard Cook noted that Hannett's role was "crucial". There are "devices of distance" in his production and "the sound is an illusion of physicality".
Lyrics
Curtis was the band's sole lyricist. He typically composed his lyrics in a notebook, independently of the eventual music to evolve. The music itself was largely written by Sumner and Hook as the group jammed during rehearsals. Curtis's imagery and word choice often referenced "coldness, pressure, darkness, crisis, failure, collapse, loss of control". In 1979, NME journalist Paul Rambali wrote, "The themes of Joy Division's music are sorrowful, painful and sometimes deeply sad." Music journalist Jon Savage wrote that "Curtis's great lyrical achievement was to capture the underlying reality of a society in turmoil, and to make it both universal and personal," while noting that "the lyrics reflected, in mood and approach, his interest in romantic and science-fiction literature." Critic Robert Palmer wrote that William S. Burroughs and J. G. Ballard were "obvious influences" to Curtis, and Morris also remembered the singer reading T. S. Eliot. Deborah Curtis also remembered Curtis reading works by writers such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Franz Kafka, and Hermann Hesse.
Curtis was unwilling to explain the meaning behind his lyrics and Joy Division releases were absent of any lyric sheets. He told the fanzine Printed Noise, "We haven't got a message really; the lyrics are open to interpretation. They're multidimensional. You can read into them what you like." The other Joy Division members have said that at the time, they paid little attention to the contents of Curtis's lyrics. In a 1987 interview with Option, Morris said that they "just thought the songs were sort of sympathetic and more uplifting than depressing. But everyone's got their own opinion." Deborah Curtis recalled that only with the release of Closer did many who were close to the singer realise "[h]is intentions and feelings were all there within the lyrics". The surviving members regret not seeing the warning signs in Curtis's lyrics. Morris said that "it was only after Ian died that we sat down and listened to the lyrics...you'd find yourself thinking, 'Oh my God, I missed this one'. Because I'd look at Ian's lyrics and think how clever he was putting himself in the position of someone else. I never believed he was writing about himself. Looking back, how could I have been so bleedin' stupid? Of course he was writing about himself. But I didn't go in and grab him and ask, 'What's up?' I have to live with that".
Live performances
In contrast to the relatively polished sound of their studio recordings, Joy Division typically played loudly and aggressively during live performances. The band were especially unhappy with Hannett's mix of Unknown Pleasures, which reduced the abrasiveness of their live sound for a more cerebral and ghostly sound. According to Sumner "the music was loud and heavy, and we felt that Martin had toned it down, especially with the guitars".
The group did not typically interact with the audience during concerts. According to Paul Morley, "During a Joy Division set, outside of the songs, you'll be lucky to hear more than two or three words. Hello and goodbye. No introductions, no promotion." Curtis would often perform what became known as his "'dead fly' dance", as if imitating a seizure; his arms would "start flying in [a] semicircular, hypnotic curve". Simon Reynolds noted that Curtis's dancing style was reminiscent of an epileptic seizure, and that he was dancing in the manner for some months before he was diagnosed with epilepsy.
Curtis' diagnosis made live performances difficult for the band. Sumner later reflected in 2007, "We didn't have flashing lights, but sometimes a particular drum beat would do something to him. He'd go off in a trance for a bit, then he'd lose it and have an epileptic fit. We'd have to stop the show and carry him off to the dressing room where he'd cry his eyes out because this appalling thing had just happened to him."
Influences
Sumner wrote that Curtis was inspired by artists such as the Doors, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Kraftwerk, the Velvet Underground and Neu!. Hook has also related that Curtis was particularly influenced by Iggy Pop's chaotic stage persona. The group were inspired by Kraftwerk's "marriage between humans and machines", and the inventiveness of their electronic music. Joy Division played Trans-Europe Express through the PA before they went on stage, "to get a momentum". Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" elaborated with Brian Eno, influenced them; the "cold austerity" of the synthesisers on the b-sides of Heroes and Low albums, was a "music looking at the future". Morris cited the "unique style" of Velvet Underground's Maureen Tucker and the motorik drum beats, from Neu! and Can. Morris also credited Siouxsie and the Banshees because their "first drummer Kenny Morris played mostly toms" and "the sound of cymbals was forbidden". Hook said that "Siouxsie and the Banshees were one of our big influences... The way the guitarist and the drummer played was a really unusual way of playing". Hook drew inspiration from the style of bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel and his early material with the Stranglers; he also credited Carol Kaye and her musical basslines on early 1970s work of the Temptations. Sumner mentioned "the raw, nasty, unpolished edge" in the guitars of the Rolling Stones, the simple riff of "Vicious" on Lou Reed's Transformer, and Neil Young. His musical horizon went up a notch with Jimi Hendrix, he realised "it wasn't about little catchy tunes ... it was what you could do sonically with a guitar."
Legacy
Despite their short career, Joy Division have exerted a wide-reaching influence and achieved widespread critical acclaim. John Bush of AllMusic argues that Joy Division "became the first band in the post-punk movement by ... emphasizing not anger and energy but mood and expression, pointing ahead to the rise of melancholy alternative music in the '80s."
Joy Division have influenced many bands, including their contemporaries the Cure and U2. Later acts that cite inspiration from Joy Division include among others Bloc Party, Editors, Interpol, the Proclaimers, and Soundgarden. In 1980, U2 singer Bono said that Joy Division were "one of the most important bands of the last four or five years". Rapper Danny Brown named his album Atrocity Exhibition after the Joy Division song, whose title was partially inspired by the 1970 J. G. Ballard collection of condensed novels of the same name. In 2005 both New Order and Joy Division were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.
The band's dark and gloomy sound, which Martin Hannett described in 1979 as "dancing music with Gothic overtones", presaged the gothic rock genre. While the term "gothic" originally described a "doomy atmosphere" in music of the late 1970s, the term was soon applied to specific bands like Bauhaus that followed in the wake of Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Standard musical fixtures of early gothic rock bands included "high-pitched post-Joy Division basslines usurp[ing] the melodic role" and "vocals that were either near operatic and Teutonic or deep, droning alloys of Jim Morrison and Ian Curtis."
Joy Division have been dramatised in two biopics. 24 Hour Party People (2002) is a fictionalised account of Factory Records in which members of the band appear as supporting characters. Tony Wilson said of the film, "It's all true, it's all not true. It's not a fucking documentary," and that he favoured the "myth" over the truth. The 2007 film Control, directed by Anton Corbijn, is a biography of Ian Curtis (portrayed by Sam Riley) that uses Deborah Curtis's biography of her late husband, Touching from a Distance (1995), as its basis. Control had its international premiere on the opening night of Director's Fortnight at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, where it was critically well received. That year Grant Gee directed the band documentary Joy Division.
Band members
Ian Curtis – lead vocals, guitar, melodica (1976–1980; his death)
Bernard Sumner – lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, bass (1976–1980)
Peter Hook – bass, backing vocals, guitar (1976–1980)
Terry Mason – drums (1976–1977)
Tony Tabac – drums (1977)
Steve Brotherdale – drums (1977)
Stephen Morris – drums, percussion (1977–1980)
Timeline
Discography
Unknown Pleasures (1979)
Closer (1980)
References
Works cited
Further reading
External links
Category:1976 establishments in England
Category:1980 disestablishments in England
Category:English gothic rock groups
Category:English post-punk music groups
Category:English new wave musical groups
Category:Enigma Records artists
Category:Factory Records artists
Category:Music in Salford
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1980
Category:Musical groups established in 1976
Category:Musical groups from Greater Manchester
Category:Musical quartets
Category:New Order (band)
Category:Second British Invasion artists
Category:Qwest Records artists
Category:Virgin Records artists | [] | [
"The formation of the band happened after Sumner and Hook attended a Sex Pistols show on 20 July 1976.",
"The formation of the band happened in Manchester.",
"The context does not provide information on any awards that the band won.",
"One interesting information is the way the band dealt with their drummer, Steve Brotherdale, whom they found to have an aggressive personality. After recording a set of demo tracks with him, they fired him by asking him to check on a flat tyre and sped off when he got out of the car.",
"The band played their first gig as Joy Division on 25 January 1978 at Pip's Disco in Manchester."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_a5fc3bc92b8649a1a58167e416382127_0 | Joy Division | Joy Division were an English post-punk band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band consisted of singer-songwriter Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bass player Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The band was formed by Sumner and Hook after attending a 4 June 1976 Sex Pistols concert at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. While Joy Division's early recordings were heavily influenced by early punk, they evolved a unique sound, aided by producer Martin Hannett, which earned their reputation as pioneers of the post-punk movement. | Closer | Joy Division toured Continental Europe in January 1980. Although the schedule was difficult and demanding, Curtis experienced only two grand mal seizures, both in the final two months of the tour. That March, the band recorded their second album, Closer with Hannett again producing at London's Britannia Row Studios. That month they released the "Licht und Blindheit" single, with "Atmosphere" as the A side and "Dead Souls" as the B side, on the French independent label Sordide Sentimental. A lack of sleep and long hours committed to the bands' activities destabilised Curtis's epilepsy, and resultingly, his seizures became almost uncontrollable. Curtis would often experience seizures during live performances, which would leave him feeling both ashamed and depressed. As the band worried about their singer, some audience members thought his seizures and behaviour were simply part of the show. On 7 April, Curtis attempted suicide by overdosing on his anti-seizure medication; phenobarbitone. The following evening, Joy Division were scheduled to play a gig at the Derby Hall in Bury. Curtis was too ill to perform, so at Rob Gretton's insistence, the band played a combined set with Alan Hempsall of Crispy Ambulance and Simon Topping of A Certain Ratio singing on the first few songs, with Curtis singing for part of the set. When Topping came back towards the end of the srt, some audience members threw bottles at the stage. Curtis's ill health lead to the cancellation of several other gigs that April. Joy Division's final live performance was held at the University of Birmingham's High Hall on 2 May, and included their only performance of "Ceremony", one of the last songs written by Curtis and later recorded by New Order as their first single. Hannett's production has been widely praised. However, as with Unknown Pleasures, both Hook and Sumner were unhappy with the production. Hook said that when he heard the final mix of "Atrocity Exhibition" he was disappointed that the abrasiveness had been toned down. He wrote; "I was like, head in hands, 'Oh fucking hell, it's happening again. Unknown Pleasures number two...Martin [Hannett] had fucking melted the guitar with his Marshall Time Waster. Made it sound like someone strangling a cat and, to my mind, absolutely killed the song. I was so annoyed with him and went in and gave him a piece of my mind but he just turned round and told me to fuck off". CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_a5fc3bc92b8649a1a58167e416382127_0_q#0",
"C_a5fc3bc92b8649a1a58167e416382127_0_q#1",
"C_a5fc3bc92b8649a1a58167e416382127_0_q#2",
"C_a5fc3bc92b8649a1a58167e416382127_0_q#3",
"C_a5fc3bc92b8649a1a58167e416382127_0_q#4"
] | [
"What is closer",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"What else happen with his sickness",
"How did the other members feel",
"Did they go on tour"
] | [
1,
0,
0,
2,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
163
],
[
495
],
[
653
],
[
779
],
[
0
]
],
"texts": [
[
"the final two months of the tour. That March, the band recorded their second album, Closer"
],
[
"A lack of sleep and long hours committed to the bands' activities destabilised Curtis's epilepsy, and resultingly, his seizures became almost uncontrollable."
],
[
"Curtis would often experience seizures during live performances, which would leave him feeling both ashamed and depressed."
],
[
"the band worried about their singer,"
],
[
"Joy Division toured Continental Europe in January 1980."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
163,
495,
653,
779,
0
],
"texts": [
"the final two months of the tour. That March, the band recorded their second album, Closer",
"A lack of sleep and long hours committed to the bands' activities destabilised Curtis's epilepsy, and resultingly, his seizures became almost uncontrollable.",
"Curtis would often experience seizures during live performances, which would leave him feeling both ashamed and depressed.",
"the band worried about their singer,",
"Joy Division toured Continental Europe in January 1980."
]
} | Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, lead guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.
Sumner and Hook formed the band after attending a June 1976 Sex Pistols concert. While Joy Division's first recordings were heavily influenced by early punk, they soon developed a sparse sound and style that made them one of the pioneering groups of the post-punk movement. Their self-released 1978 debut EP An Ideal for Living drew the attention of the Manchester television personality Tony Wilson, who signed them to his independent label Factory Records. Their debut album Unknown Pleasures, recorded with producer Martin Hannett, was released in 1979.
Frontman Curtis struggled with personal problems including a failing marriage, depression, and epilepsy. As the band's popularity grew, Curtis's health condition made it increasingly difficult for him to perform; he occasionally experienced seizures on stage. He died by suicide on the eve of what would have been the band's first North American tour in May 1980, aged 23. Joy Division's second and final album, Closer, was released two months later; it and the single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" became their highest-charting releases.
Between July and October 1980 the remaining members regrouped under the name New Order. They were successful throughout the next decade, blending post-punk with electronic and dance music influences. In 2023, both Joy Division and New Order were nominated as one act for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
History
Formation
On 4 June 1976, childhood friends Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook separately attended a Sex Pistols show at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall. Both were inspired by the Pistols' performance. Sumner said that he felt the Pistols "destroyed the myth of being a pop star, of a musician being some kind of god that you had to worship". The following day Hook borrowed £35 from his mother to buy a bass guitar. They formed a band with Terry Mason, who had also attended the gig; Sumner bought a guitar, and Mason a drum kit. After their schoolfriend Martin Gresty declined an invitation to join as vocalist after getting a job at a factory, the band placed an advertisement for a vocalist in the Manchester Virgin Records shop. Ian Curtis, who knew them from earlier gigs, responded and was hired without audition. Sumner said that he "knew he was all right to get on with and that's what we based the whole group on. If we liked someone, they were in."
Buzzcocks manager Richard Boon and frontman Pete Shelley have both been credited with suggesting the band name "Stiff Kittens", but the band settled on "Warsaw" shortly before their first gig, a reference to David Bowie's song "Warszawa". Warsaw debuted on 29 May 1977 at the Electric Circus, supporting the Buzzcocks, Penetration and John Cooper Clarke. Tony Tabac played drums that night after joining the band two days earlier. Reviews in the NME by Paul Morley and in Sounds by Ian Wood brought them immediate national exposure. Mason became the band's manager and Tabac was replaced on drums in June 1977 by Steve Brotherdale, who also played in the punk band the Panik. Brotherdale tried to get Curtis to leave the band and join the Panik, and even had Curtis audition. On 18 July 1977, Warsaw recorded five demo tracks at Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham. Uneasy with Brotherdale's aggressive personality, the band fired him soon after the sessions. Driving home from the studio, they pulled over and asked Brotherdale to check on a flat tyre; when he got out of the car, they drove off.
In August 1977, Warsaw placed an advertisement in a music shop window seeking a replacement drummer. Stephen Morris, who had attended the same school as Curtis, was the sole respondent. Deborah Curtis, Ian's wife, stated that Morris "fitted perfectly" with the band, and that with his addition Warsaw became a "complete 'family. To avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, the band renamed themselves Joy Division in early 1978, borrowing the name from the sexual slavery wing of a Nazi concentration camp mentioned in the 1955 novel House of Dolls. On 14 December, the group recorded their debut EP, An Ideal for Living, at Pennine Sound Studio and played their final gig as Warsaw on New Year's Eve at the Swinging Apple in Liverpool. Billed as Warsaw to ensure an audience, the band played their first gig as Joy Division on 25 January 1978 at Pip's Disco in Manchester.
Early releases
Joy Division were approached by RCA Records to record a cover of Nolan "N.F." Porter's "Keep on Keepin' On" at a Manchester recording studio. The band spent late March and April 1978 writing and rehearsing material. During the Stiff/Chiswick Challenge concert at Manchester's Rafters club on 14 April, they caught the attention of TV music presenter Tony Wilson and manager Rob Gretton. Curtis berated Wilson for not putting the group on his Granada Television show So It Goes; Wilson responded that Joy Division would be the next band he would showcase on TV. Gretton, the venue's resident DJ, was so impressed by the band's performance that he convinced them to take him on as their manager. Gretton, whose "dogged determination" was later credited for much of the band's public success, contributed the business skills to provide Joy Division with a better foundation for creativity. Joy Division spent the first week of May 1978 recording at Manchester's Arrow Studios. The band were unhappy with the Grapevine Records head John Anderson's insistence on adding synthesiser into the mix to soften the sound, and asked to be dropped from the contract with RCA.
Joy Division made their recorded debut in June 1978 when the band self-released An Ideal for Living, and two weeks later their track "At a Later Date" was featured on the compilation album Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus (which had been recorded live in October 1977). In the Melody Maker review, Chris Brazier said that it "has the familiar rough-hewn nature of home-produced records, but they're no mere drone-vendors—there are a lot of good ideas here, and they could be a very interesting band by now, seven months on". The packaging of An Ideal for Living—which featured a drawing of a Hitler Youth member on the cover—coupled with the nature of the band's name fuelled speculation about their political affiliations. While Hook and Sumner later said they were intrigued by fascism at the time, Morris believed that the group's dalliance with Nazi imagery came from a desire to keep memories of the sacrifices of their parents and grandparents during World War II alive. He argued that accusations of neo-Nazi sympathies merely provoked the band "to keep on doing it, because that's the kind of people we are".
On 20 September 1978, Joy Division made their television debut performing "Shadowplay" on So It Goes, with an introduction by Wilson. In October, Joy Division contributed two tracks recorded with producer Martin Hannett to the compilation double-7" EP A Factory Sample, the first release by Tony Wilson's record label, Factory Records. In the NME review of the EP, Paul Morley praised the band as "the missing link" between Elvis Presley and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Joy Division joined Factory's roster, after buying themselves out of the RCA deal. Gretton was made a label partner to represent the interests of the band. On 27 December, during the drive home from gig at the Hope and Anchor in London, Curtis had his first recognised severe epileptic seizure and was hospitalised. Meanwhile, Joy Division's career progressed, and Curtis appeared on the 13 January 1979 cover of NME. That month the band recorded their session for BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel. According to Deborah Curtis, "Sandwiched in between these two important landmarks was the realisation that Ian's illness was something we would have to learn to accommodate".
Unknown Pleasures and breakthrough
Joy Division's debut album, Unknown Pleasures, was recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, in April 1979. Producer Martin Hannett significantly altered their live sound, a fact that greatly displeased the band at the time; however, in 2006, Hook said that in retrospect Hannett had done a good job and "created the Joy Division sound". The album cover was designed by Peter Saville, who went on to provide artwork for future Joy Division and New Order releases.
Unknown Pleasures was released in June and sold through its initial pressing of 10,000 copies. Wilson said the success turned the indie label into a true business and a "revolutionary force" that operated outside of the major record label system. Reviewing the album for Melody Maker, writer Jon Savage described the album as an "opaque manifesto" and declared it "one of the best, white, English, debut LPs of the year".
Joy Division performed on Granada TV again on 20 July 1979, and made their only nationwide TV appearance on 15 September on BBC2's Something Else. They supported the Buzzcocks in a 24-venue UK tour that began that October, which allowed the band to quit their regular jobs. The non-album single "Transmission" was released in November. Joy Division's burgeoning success drew a devoted following who were stereotyped as "intense young men dressed in grey overcoats".
Closer and Curtis's health problems
Joy Division toured Europe in January 1980. Although the schedule was demanding, Curtis experienced only two grand mal seizures, both in the final two months of the tour. That March, the band recorded their second album, Closer, with Hannett at London's Britannia Row Studios. That month they released the "Licht und Blindheit" single, with "Atmosphere" as the A-side and "Dead Souls" as the B-side, on the French independent label Sordide Sentimental.
A lack of sleep and long hours destabilised Curtis's epilepsy, and his seizures became almost uncontrollable. He often had seizures during performances, which some audience members believed were part of the performance. The seizures left him feeling ashamed and depressed, and the band became increasingly worried about Curtis's condition. On 7 April 1980, Curtis attempted suicide by overdosing on his anti-seizure medication, phenobarbitone. The following evening, Joy Division were scheduled to play a gig at the Derby Hall in Bury. Curtis was too ill to perform, so at Gretton's insistence the band played a combined set with Alan Hempsall of Crispy Ambulance and Simon Topping of A Certain Ratio singing on the first few songs. When Topping came back towards the end of the set, some audience members threw bottles at the stage. Curtis's ill health led to the cancellation of several other gigs that April. Joy Division's final live performance was held at the University of Birmingham's High Hall on 2 May, and included their only performance of "Ceremony", one of the last songs written by Curtis.
Hannett's production has been widely praised. However, as with Unknown Pleasures, both Hook and Sumner were unhappy with the production. Hook said that when he heard the final mix of "Atrocity Exhibition" he was disappointed that the abrasiveness had been toned down. He wrote; "I was like, head in hands, 'Oh fucking hell, it's happening again ... Martin had fucking melted the guitar with his Marshall Time Waster. Made it sound like someone strangling a cat and, to my mind, absolutely killed the song. I was so annoyed with him and went in and gave him a piece of my mind but he just turned round and told me to fuck off."
Curtis's suicide and aftermath
Joy Division were scheduled to commence their first US/Canada tour in May 1980. Curtis had expressed enthusiasm about the tour, but his relationship with his wife, Deborah, was under strain; Deborah was excluded from the band's inner circle, and Curtis was having an affair with Belgian journalist and music promoter Annik Honoré, whom he met on tour in Europe in 1979. He was also anxious about how American audiences would react to his epilepsy.
The evening before the band were due to depart for America, Curtis returned to his Macclesfield home to talk to Deborah. He asked her to drop an impending divorce suit, and asked her to leave him alone in the house until he caught a train to Manchester the following morning. Early on 18 May 1980, having spent the night watching the Werner Herzog film Stroszek and listening to Iggy Pop's 1977 album The Idiot, Curtis hanged himself in his kitchen. Deborah discovered his body later that day when she returned.
The suicide shocked the band and their management. In 2005, Wilson said: "I think all of us made the mistake of not thinking his suicide was going to happen ... We all completely underestimated the danger. We didn't take it seriously. That's how stupid we were." Music critic Simon Reynolds said Curtis's suicide "made for instant myth". Jon Savage's obituary said that "now no one will remember what his work with Joy Division was like when he was alive; it will be perceived as tragic rather than courageous". In June 1980, Joy Division's single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was released, which hit number thirteen on the UK Singles Chart. In July 1980, Closer was released, and peaked at number six on the UK Albums Chart. NME reviewer Charles Shaar Murray wrote, "Closer is as magnificent a memorial (for 'Joy Division' as much as for Ian Curtis) as any post-Presley popular musician could have."
Morris said that even without Curtis's death, it is unlikely that Joy Division would have endured. The members had made a pact long before Curtis's death that, should any member leave, the remaining members would change the band name. The band re-formed as New Order, with Sumner on vocals; they later recruited Morris's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert as keyboardist and second guitarist. Gilbert had befriended the band and played guitar at a Joy Division performance when Curtis had been unable to play.
New Order's debut single, "Ceremony" (1981), was formed from the last two songs written with Curtis. New Order struggled in their early years to escape the shadow of Joy Division, but went on to achieve far greater commercial success with a different, more upbeat and dance-orientated sound.
Various Joy Division outtakes and live material have been released. Still, featuring live tracks and rare recordings, was issued in 1981. Factory issued the Substance compilation in 1988, including several out-of-print singles. Permanent was released in 1995 by London Records, which had acquired the Joy Division catalogue after Factory's 1992 bankruptcy. The comprehensive box set Heart and Soul was released in 1997.
Musical style
Sound
Joy Division took time to develop their style and quickly evolved from their punk roots. Their sound during their early inception as Warsaw was described as fairly generic and "undistinguished punk-inflected hard-rock". Critic Simon Reynolds observed how the band's originality only "really became apparent as the songs got slower", and their music took on a "sparse" quality. According to Reynolds, "Hook's bass carried the melody, Bernard Sumner's guitar left gaps rather than filling up the group's sound with dense riffage and Steve Morris's drums seemed to circle the rim of a crater." According to music critic Jon Savage, "Joy Division were not punk but they were directly inspired by its energy". In 1994 Sumner said the band's characteristic sound "came out naturally: I'm more rhythm and chords, and Hooky was melody. He used to play high lead bass because I liked my guitar to sound distorted, and the amplifier I had would only work when it was at full volume. When Hooky played low, he couldn't hear himself. Steve has his own style which is different to other drummers. To me, a drummer in the band is the clock, but Steve wouldn't be the clock, because he's passive: he would follow the rhythm of the band, which gave us our own edge." By Closer, Curtis had adopted a low baritone voice, drawing comparisons to Jim Morrison of the Doors (one of Curtis's favourite bands).
Sumner largely acted as the band's director, a role he continued in New Order. While Sumner was the group's primary guitarist, Curtis played the instrument on a few recorded songs and during a few shows. Curtis hated playing guitar, but the band insisted he do so. Sumner said, "He played in quite a bizarre way and that to us was interesting, because no one else would play like Ian". During the recording sessions for Closer, Sumner began using self-built synthesisers and Hook used a six-string bass for more melody.
Producer Martin Hannett "dedicated himself to capturing and intensifying Joy Division's eerie spatiality". Hannett believed punk rock was sonically conservative because of its refusal to use studio technology to create sonic space. The producer instead aimed to create a more expansive sound on the group's records. Hannett said, "[Joy Division] were a gift to a producer, because they didn't have a clue. They didn't argue". Hannett demanded clean and clear "sound separation" not only for individual instruments, but even for individual pieces of Morris's drumkit. Morris recalled, "Typically on tracks he considered to be potential singles, he'd get me to play each drum on its own to avoid any bleed-through of sound". Music journalist Richard Cook noted that Hannett's role was "crucial". There are "devices of distance" in his production and "the sound is an illusion of physicality".
Lyrics
Curtis was the band's sole lyricist. He typically composed his lyrics in a notebook, independently of the eventual music to evolve. The music itself was largely written by Sumner and Hook as the group jammed during rehearsals. Curtis's imagery and word choice often referenced "coldness, pressure, darkness, crisis, failure, collapse, loss of control". In 1979, NME journalist Paul Rambali wrote, "The themes of Joy Division's music are sorrowful, painful and sometimes deeply sad." Music journalist Jon Savage wrote that "Curtis's great lyrical achievement was to capture the underlying reality of a society in turmoil, and to make it both universal and personal," while noting that "the lyrics reflected, in mood and approach, his interest in romantic and science-fiction literature." Critic Robert Palmer wrote that William S. Burroughs and J. G. Ballard were "obvious influences" to Curtis, and Morris also remembered the singer reading T. S. Eliot. Deborah Curtis also remembered Curtis reading works by writers such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Franz Kafka, and Hermann Hesse.
Curtis was unwilling to explain the meaning behind his lyrics and Joy Division releases were absent of any lyric sheets. He told the fanzine Printed Noise, "We haven't got a message really; the lyrics are open to interpretation. They're multidimensional. You can read into them what you like." The other Joy Division members have said that at the time, they paid little attention to the contents of Curtis's lyrics. In a 1987 interview with Option, Morris said that they "just thought the songs were sort of sympathetic and more uplifting than depressing. But everyone's got their own opinion." Deborah Curtis recalled that only with the release of Closer did many who were close to the singer realise "[h]is intentions and feelings were all there within the lyrics". The surviving members regret not seeing the warning signs in Curtis's lyrics. Morris said that "it was only after Ian died that we sat down and listened to the lyrics...you'd find yourself thinking, 'Oh my God, I missed this one'. Because I'd look at Ian's lyrics and think how clever he was putting himself in the position of someone else. I never believed he was writing about himself. Looking back, how could I have been so bleedin' stupid? Of course he was writing about himself. But I didn't go in and grab him and ask, 'What's up?' I have to live with that".
Live performances
In contrast to the relatively polished sound of their studio recordings, Joy Division typically played loudly and aggressively during live performances. The band were especially unhappy with Hannett's mix of Unknown Pleasures, which reduced the abrasiveness of their live sound for a more cerebral and ghostly sound. According to Sumner "the music was loud and heavy, and we felt that Martin had toned it down, especially with the guitars".
The group did not typically interact with the audience during concerts. According to Paul Morley, "During a Joy Division set, outside of the songs, you'll be lucky to hear more than two or three words. Hello and goodbye. No introductions, no promotion." Curtis would often perform what became known as his "'dead fly' dance", as if imitating a seizure; his arms would "start flying in [a] semicircular, hypnotic curve". Simon Reynolds noted that Curtis's dancing style was reminiscent of an epileptic seizure, and that he was dancing in the manner for some months before he was diagnosed with epilepsy.
Curtis' diagnosis made live performances difficult for the band. Sumner later reflected in 2007, "We didn't have flashing lights, but sometimes a particular drum beat would do something to him. He'd go off in a trance for a bit, then he'd lose it and have an epileptic fit. We'd have to stop the show and carry him off to the dressing room where he'd cry his eyes out because this appalling thing had just happened to him."
Influences
Sumner wrote that Curtis was inspired by artists such as the Doors, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Kraftwerk, the Velvet Underground and Neu!. Hook has also related that Curtis was particularly influenced by Iggy Pop's chaotic stage persona. The group were inspired by Kraftwerk's "marriage between humans and machines", and the inventiveness of their electronic music. Joy Division played Trans-Europe Express through the PA before they went on stage, "to get a momentum". Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" elaborated with Brian Eno, influenced them; the "cold austerity" of the synthesisers on the b-sides of Heroes and Low albums, was a "music looking at the future". Morris cited the "unique style" of Velvet Underground's Maureen Tucker and the motorik drum beats, from Neu! and Can. Morris also credited Siouxsie and the Banshees because their "first drummer Kenny Morris played mostly toms" and "the sound of cymbals was forbidden". Hook said that "Siouxsie and the Banshees were one of our big influences... The way the guitarist and the drummer played was a really unusual way of playing". Hook drew inspiration from the style of bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel and his early material with the Stranglers; he also credited Carol Kaye and her musical basslines on early 1970s work of the Temptations. Sumner mentioned "the raw, nasty, unpolished edge" in the guitars of the Rolling Stones, the simple riff of "Vicious" on Lou Reed's Transformer, and Neil Young. His musical horizon went up a notch with Jimi Hendrix, he realised "it wasn't about little catchy tunes ... it was what you could do sonically with a guitar."
Legacy
Despite their short career, Joy Division have exerted a wide-reaching influence and achieved widespread critical acclaim. John Bush of AllMusic argues that Joy Division "became the first band in the post-punk movement by ... emphasizing not anger and energy but mood and expression, pointing ahead to the rise of melancholy alternative music in the '80s."
Joy Division have influenced many bands, including their contemporaries the Cure and U2. Later acts that cite inspiration from Joy Division include among others Bloc Party, Editors, Interpol, the Proclaimers, and Soundgarden. In 1980, U2 singer Bono said that Joy Division were "one of the most important bands of the last four or five years". Rapper Danny Brown named his album Atrocity Exhibition after the Joy Division song, whose title was partially inspired by the 1970 J. G. Ballard collection of condensed novels of the same name. In 2005 both New Order and Joy Division were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.
The band's dark and gloomy sound, which Martin Hannett described in 1979 as "dancing music with Gothic overtones", presaged the gothic rock genre. While the term "gothic" originally described a "doomy atmosphere" in music of the late 1970s, the term was soon applied to specific bands like Bauhaus that followed in the wake of Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Standard musical fixtures of early gothic rock bands included "high-pitched post-Joy Division basslines usurp[ing] the melodic role" and "vocals that were either near operatic and Teutonic or deep, droning alloys of Jim Morrison and Ian Curtis."
Joy Division have been dramatised in two biopics. 24 Hour Party People (2002) is a fictionalised account of Factory Records in which members of the band appear as supporting characters. Tony Wilson said of the film, "It's all true, it's all not true. It's not a fucking documentary," and that he favoured the "myth" over the truth. The 2007 film Control, directed by Anton Corbijn, is a biography of Ian Curtis (portrayed by Sam Riley) that uses Deborah Curtis's biography of her late husband, Touching from a Distance (1995), as its basis. Control had its international premiere on the opening night of Director's Fortnight at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, where it was critically well received. That year Grant Gee directed the band documentary Joy Division.
Band members
Ian Curtis – lead vocals, guitar, melodica (1976–1980; his death)
Bernard Sumner – lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, bass (1976–1980)
Peter Hook – bass, backing vocals, guitar (1976–1980)
Terry Mason – drums (1976–1977)
Tony Tabac – drums (1977)
Steve Brotherdale – drums (1977)
Stephen Morris – drums, percussion (1977–1980)
Timeline
Discography
Unknown Pleasures (1979)
Closer (1980)
References
Works cited
Further reading
External links
Category:1976 establishments in England
Category:1980 disestablishments in England
Category:English gothic rock groups
Category:English post-punk music groups
Category:English new wave musical groups
Category:Enigma Records artists
Category:Factory Records artists
Category:Music in Salford
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1980
Category:Musical groups established in 1976
Category:Musical groups from Greater Manchester
Category:Musical quartets
Category:New Order (band)
Category:Second British Invasion artists
Category:Qwest Records artists
Category:Virgin Records artists | [] | [
"\"Closer\" is the second album recorded by Joy Division in March 1980 at London's Britannia Row Studios.",
"The article also details the health struggles of Joy Division's singer, Curtis, who had epilepsy and experienced seizures which sometimes happened during live performances. His health destabilized due to lack of sleep and the demanding schedule of the band. On 7 April, Curtis attempted suicide by overdosing on his anti-seizure medication. Despite his illness, the band continued to perform, with substitutes filling in for Curtis when he couldn't perform. They played their final live performance on 2 May at the University of Birmingham's High Hall. There is also a mention of conflict between the band and producer Martin Hannett over the final mix of the song \"Atrocity Exhibition,\" which the band felt had been toned down too much.",
"Curtis's epilepsy worsened due to a lack of sleep and the long hours committed to the band's activities, causing his seizures to become almost uncontrollable. He often experienced seizures during live performances, which left him feeling ashamed and depressed. His health problems led to the cancellation of several gigs. On 7 April, Curtis attempted suicide by overdosing on his epilepsy medication, phenobarbitone.",
"The article suggests that the other band members were concerned about Curtis's health as his seizures became almost uncontrollable. However, it is also mentioned that there was conflict between the band members and their producer Hannett, especially regarding the final mix of the song \"Atrocity Exhibition\". Specifically, Hook was displeased, stating that Hannett had toned down the abrasiveness of the song, making the guitar sound like someone strangling a cat, which Hook felt ruined the song.",
"Yes, Joy Division went on a tour of Continental Europe in January 1980. However, several gigs were cancelled in April due to Curtis's ill health."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1 | Frenzal Rhomb | Frenzal Rhomb is an Australian punk rock band that formed in 1992, with Jason Whalley on lead vocals and rhythm guitar during this entire period. In 1996, Lindsay McDougall joined the line-up on lead guitar and backing vocals. Three of the group's albums have entered the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart: A Man's Not a Camel (1999), | 2004: Political protest, Jackie O | During 2003, Frenzal Rhomb's McDougall organised Rock Against Howard, a compilation album, by various Australian musicians as a protest against incumbent Prime Minister John Howard's government. It was released in August 2004, before the October federal election, when Howard's coalition was re-elected. In July 2004, radio station 2Day FM presenter Jackie O was to MC at the Bassinthegrass festival in Darwin. Jackie allegedly arrived late, causing Frenzal Rhomb to cut their setlist short by several songs. She attempted to speak with the audience. In protest, McDougall began playing AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" over her voice. Jackie was upset that she was unable to finish her announcement to the audience. Whalley later accused her and other music industry personalities of pushing original Australian bands aside to make way for short-term marketable acts such as Australian Idol and Popstars contestants. Jackie and her co-presenter, Kyle Sandilands, called Whalley on air during their next breakfast show. Whalley apologised for offending Jackie, but stood by his claims regarding the music industry. The conversation became heated as Sandilands told Whalley "Your songs being played on this network or the Triple M network... it's just not going to happen now"; to which Whalley argued that Frenzal Rhomb were almost never played on the Austereo network anyway. During the conversation, Sandilands told Whalley that he was bitter and sad. When Whalley pointed out that Sandilands is in a position to promote new Australian music but doesn't, Sandilands countered that Frenzal Rhomb is not played on the network "because it's pretty much shit". While Sandilands agreed that shows like Popstars and Australian Idol are interested in making "a quick buck", he also asserted that he doesn't "care about Australian Idol or Popstars". Sandilands argued that Whalley should not "pick fights with people that are female in the Northern Territory". Sandilands asserted that if he himself were present, "it would have been on for young and old". Whalley argued that gender was irrelevant to the issue, and in response to Sandilands' threat of violence asked Jackie if she was aware that her security guard had threatened a band technician with violence. Sandilands said he endorsed the threat of violence. Sandilands argued to Whalley that he has to "get over it" when Whalley recommended that radio DJs should promote original Australian music. In reply, Sandilands insinuated that Frenzal Rhomb, and bands in general, suffer from a lack of support because they are not "putting [their] stuff in front of the right people". ABC Television's Media Watch covered the exchange and presenter David Marr raised concerns about the interview: "Kyle and Jackie O are also part of a new generation of radio thugs". Patrick Joyce, general manager of Austereo in Sydney, responded to Sandilands' threats of black listing and violence, "Music content is decided by the programming directors based on research of the market... Austereo does not approve of threats being made to anyone... We have fully canvassed these issues with Kyle". CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1_q#0",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1_q#1",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1_q#2",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1_q#3",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1_q#4",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1_q#5",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1_q#6",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1_q#7",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1_q#8",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1_q#9",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1_q#10",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_1_q#11"
] | [
"what political protest did they participate in?",
"why did they protest?",
"what is the name of the album?",
"what occurred in 2004?",
"what songs did they play?",
"was the festival successful?",
"who is Jackie O?",
"Is Jackie a woman or man?",
"what type of host is she?",
"doe sshe have other hosts?",
"what show was that?",
"was there any controversary?"
] | [
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
128
],
[
72
],
[
3125
],
[
308
],
[
596
],
[
3125
],
[
2743
],
[
911
],
[
911
],
[
2679
],
[
2477
],
[
3125
]
],
"texts": [
[
"protest against incumbent Prime Minister John Howard's government."
],
[
"compilation album, by various Australian musicians as a protest against incumbent Prime Minister John Howard's government."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"July 2004, radio station 2Day FM presenter Jackie O was to MC at the Bassinthegrass festival in Darwin."
],
[
"\"Thunderstruck\""
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"and Jackie O are also part of a new generation of radio thugs\"."
],
[
"Jackie and her co-presenter,"
],
[
"Jackie and her co-presenter, Kyle Sandilands, called Whalley on air during their next breakfast show."
],
[
"presenter David Marr"
],
[
"that Frenzal Rhomb, and bands in general, suffer from a lack of support because they are not \"putting [their]"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
128,
72,
3125,
308,
596,
3125,
2743,
911,
911,
2679,
2477,
3125
],
"texts": [
"protest against incumbent Prime Minister John Howard's government.",
"compilation album, by various Australian musicians as a protest against incumbent Prime Minister John Howard's government.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"July 2004, radio station 2Day FM presenter Jackie O was to MC at the Bassinthegrass festival in Darwin.",
"\"Thunderstruck\"",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"and Jackie O are also part of a new generation of radio thugs\".",
"Jackie and her co-presenter,",
"Jackie and her co-presenter, Kyle Sandilands, called Whalley on air during their next breakfast show.",
"presenter David Marr",
"that Frenzal Rhomb, and bands in general, suffer from a lack of support because they are not \"putting [their]",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Frenzal Rhomb are an Australian punk rock band that formed in 1992 in Sydney. Three of the group's albums have entered the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart: A Man's Not a Camel (1999), Hi-Vis High Tea (2017) and Smoko at the Pet Food Factory (2011). Hi-Vis High Tea reached 9th position in the charts. The group has supported Australian tours by The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX, and Blink-182. Frenzal Rhomb have also toured in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, South Africa, Israel and Taiwan. The band has undergone several line-up changes, with lead vocalist Jason Whalley serving as the band's sole constant member.
History
1992–1995: Formation to Coughing Up a Storm
Frenzal Rhomb formed in 1992 in the Sydney suburb of Newtown with Alexis 'Lex' Feltham on bass guitar and Jason Whalley on vocals. Feltham and Whalley had been school mates at St Ives High School in St Ives. Whalley had commenced a Bachelor of Arts course in philosophy at Sydney University when he formed Frenzal Rhomb as a punk rock band. The band was formed to take part in a battle of the bands and at that stage was not seen as a permanent project. The name came from Fresnel rhomb, which is a prism-like device invented by the 19th century French engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel.
By 1993, the group's line-up was Feltham, Whalley, Ben Costello on guitar and Karl Perske on drums. They played at the Sydney iteration of the Big Day Out in January.
In March 1994, the band issued a seven-track EP, Dick Sandwich. Its cover had "a graphic drawing of the offending flaccid appendage draped over a sesame seed bun with lashings of bloody sauce." Posters with a similar image that advertised the group had them banned at some venues. National youth radio station Triple J criticised the group as being immature and told them to "grow up". The EP was described as having "good songs but it sounds like it was recorded under a doona" and had the group banned from some radio stations and retail outlets. One of its tracks, "I Wish I Was as Credible as Roger Climpson" (aka "Roger"), attracted attention of its subject, Roger Climpson – a Seven News anchor on TV – who posed with the group for a photo. The E.P also features fan favourites "Chemotherapy", and a cover of the TV series theme "Home And Away". The E.P featured an alternate cover depicting rabbits on the flipside of the liftout to appease record stores or people who may have been offended by the original artwork. In October of that year, they released a single, "Sorry About the Ruse", on their own label, How Much Did I Fucking Pay For This Records? The group were the local support act on the Australian leg of separate tours by United States punk rockers Bad Religion, The Offspring, and Blink-182.
In March 1995, Frenzal Rhomb released their first studio album, Coughing Up a Storm, on Shock Records' sub-label Shagpile Records. Perske was replaced by Nat Nykyruj on drums before the album appeared. The album features live fan favourite "Genius". In October 1997, it was retitled Once a Jolly Swagman Always a Jolly Swagman and issued with additional tracks by the US label Liberation Records. In mid-1995, the group supported NOFX on their national tour. Fat Mike, a member of NOFX, was also the owner of Fat Wreck Chords, and he signed the band to his label, which released the 4 Litres EP in the US.
1996–2000: Not So Tough Now to A Man's Not a Camel
In July 1996, Frenzal Rhomb released their second album, Not So Tough Now, which was produced by Tony Cohen (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, TISM, Dave Graney), Kalju Tonuma (Nick Barker, The Mavis's) and Frenzal Rhomb. Just after its appearance, Costello was replaced by Lindsay McDougall on lead guitar and backing vocals – Costello left to attend university and become an animal rights activist. In November, the group issued a CD EP, Punch in the Face and, in January 1997, performed at Big Day Out. Late that year they toured the US supporting Blink-182.
In September 1997, their third LP, Meet the Family, was released, which reached the top 40 on the ARIA Albums Chart and became their first certified gold album by ARIA. It spawned three singles, "Mr Charisma" (June), "There's Your Dad" (September), and "Mum Changed the Locks" (April 1998). In April, Gordon "Gordy" Forman replaced Nykyruj on drums, and they toured Australia with US ska band Blue Meanies. Frenzal Rhomb were the head-liners for the Australian leg of the 1998 Vans Warped Tour and they were recruited for the US edition. A 1998 version of Meet the Family contained a bonus disc, Mongrel, that was recorded live on this US leg.
In March 1999, they released their next album, A Man's Not a Camel, which was produced by Eddie Ashworth and was supported by a nationwide tour. As from November 2011, it remains Frenzal Rhomb's highest charting album, reaching No. 11. It spawned their highest charting single, "You Are Not My Friend" (August), which reached No. 49. Allmusic's album reviewer Mike DaRonco felt "the first two songs are great in that catchy, playful pop-punk sort of way, but the rest ... fall under the trap of having all their tracks sounding like one big, long song". The album also features fan favourites "We're Going Out Tonight" and "Never Had So Much Fun".
At the ARIA Music Awards of 1999 in October, the group performed "Never Had So Much Fun". In 2019 Dan Condon of Double J described this as one of "7 great performances from the history of the ARIA Awards." According to the band's website, US gigs were dropped after Whalley suffered a heart attack in late 1999 and the group spent the first few months of 2000 inactive. Whalley later denied that he had had a heart attack with "a lot of things on our Web site are greatly exaggerated. There was also a thing about my having trench rot, the World War I disease, but that's not true either".
2000–2003: Shut Your Mouth to Sans Souci
In November 2000, Frenzal Rhomb returned with the album Shut Your Mouth, released on Epic Records in Australia, an offshoot of Sony. RockZone's Samuel Barker liked some tracks as "a fine template for a pop punk album" however "the majority just falls into the same formula of most punk today. It's not bad, just overplayed". The album peaked in the top 40. After six months, Sony dropped the band in mid-2001 and they signed with Epitaph Records in Australia.
In April 2002, Feltham left the group, which provided many stories about why he left, including one that he was fired after thinking that the group should incorporate synth and keyboard work. The last song he recorded with the band was a cover of Midnight Oil's "The Dead Heart" for the 2001 tribute album Power & The Passion: A Tribute to Midnight Oil. After holding auditions in Sydney, Tom Crease was announced as the new bass guitarist.
In April 2003, the band released Sans Souci, which appeared in the top 50. Jo-Ann Greene of Allmusic liked the group's outlook: "they're not bitter, just snotty about it all, as all good punks should be. And Rhomb are four of the best ... their latest set of frenzied, funny, pitiless attacks upon an uncaring planet." The initial version of the album included a bonus DVD of five tracks with live footage and music videos.
2004: Political protest, Jackie O
During 2003, Frenzal Rhomb's McDougall organised Rock Against Howard, a compilation album, by various Australian musicians as a protest against incumbent Prime Minister John Howard's government. It was released in August 2004, before the October federal election, when Howard's coalition was re-elected.
In July 2004, radio station 2Day FM presenter Jackie O was to MC at the Bassinthegrass festival in Darwin. Jackie allegedly arrived late, causing Frenzal Rhomb to cut their setlist short by several songs. She attempted to speak with the audience. In protest, McDougall began playing AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" over her voice. Jackie was upset that she was unable to finish her announcement to the audience. Whalley later accused her and other music industry personalities of pushing original Australian bands aside to make way for short-term marketable acts such as Australian Idol and Popstars contestants.
Jackie and her co-presenter, Kyle Sandilands, called Whalley on air during their next breakfast show. Whalley apologised for offending Jackie, but stood by his claims regarding the music industry. The conversation became heated as Sandilands told Whalley "Your songs being played on this network or the Triple M network... it's just not going to happen now"; to which Whalley argued that Frenzal Rhomb were almost never played on the Austereo network anyway. During the conversation, Sandilands told Whalley that he was bitter and sad. When Whalley pointed out that Sandilands is in a position to promote new Australian music but doesn't, Sandilands countered that Frenzal Rhomb is not played on the network "because it's pretty much shit". While Sandilands agreed that shows like Popstars and Australian Idol are interested in making "a quick buck", he also asserted that he doesn't "care about Australian Idol or Popstars".
Sandilands argued that Whalley should not "pick fights with people that are female in the Northern Territory". Sandilands asserted that if he himself were present, "it would have been on for young and old". Whalley argued that gender was irrelevant to the issue, and in response to Sandilands' threat of violence asked Jackie if she was aware that her security guard had threatened a band technician with violence. Sandilands said he endorsed the threat of violence. Sandilands argued to Whalley that he has to "get over it" when Whalley recommended that radio DJs should promote original Australian music. In reply, Sandilands insinuated that Frenzal Rhomb, and bands in general, suffer from a lack of support because they are not "putting [their] stuff in front of the right people".
ABC Television's Media Watch covered the exchange and presenter David Marr raised concerns about the interview: "Kyle and Jackie O are also part of a new generation of radio thugs". Patrick Joyce, general manager of Austereo in Sydney, responded to Sandilands' threats of black listing and violence, "Music content is decided by the programming directors based on research of the market... Austereo does not approve of threats being made to anyone... We have fully canvassed these issues with Kyle".
2005–2009: Jay and the Doctor and Forever Malcolm Young
Frenzal Rhomb's Whalley and McDougall worked as Jay and the Doctor on Triple J's breakfast show from January 2005 through to November 2007. Prior to their employment at Triple J, the group's music had been banned after they had earlier criticised the station on air for playing the "same 40 songs". In 2004, they were asked to perform occasional late night shifts and request segments, which developed into the breakfast show slot. Their format includes banter where they provide "quips, one-liners, slagging off each other, other bands, other breakfast announcers, listeners, Triple J, Australian Idol and St Ives. It's verbal ping pong but more discursive."
The band released Forever Malcolm Young in October 2006 – the title is a conflated reference to the 2005 song "Forever Young" by Youth Group and the name of AC/DC's guitarist, Malcolm Young – which peaked in the top 40. It provided a minor radio hit with the title track. Some controversy was expressed over the profanity in the title and lyrics of "Johnny Ramone was in a Fucking Good Band, but He Was a Cunt" (see Johnny Ramone, Ramones). Whalley's attitude to profanity and obscenity is "I often get amazed how offended people get by language, especially in Australia when its nothing you wouldn't hear in your local office or schoolyard. But we do make a point of shaking things up". Australian rock music journalist Ed Nimmervoll described them "[their] history is littered with legendary stories, perhaps true, perhaps exaggerations, but stories which fuel and match their song and album titles. Their songs are often profane, likely to poke fun at someone including themselves, hint at a social conscience, and inside all the tough talk and body jokes be hopelessly romantic."
National touring followed the album's release, along with the announcement that from November 2007 Whalley would be leaving both Frenzal Rhomb and his job at Triple J to go on a world trip with his girlfriend. Some later copies of Forever Malcolm Young contained a bonus DVD covering the band's tours from 2002 up until 2005. It is titled Sucking All Over the World. Gordy Forman plays in the Melbourne hardcore band Mindsnare. McDougall continued as The Doctor at Triple J, initially with Robbie Buck and Marieke Hardy; and, from January 2010, he has hosted the afternoon show Drive with The Doctor. By April 2009, Frenzal Rhomb were performing The Boys Are Back in Town tour with 1990s punk group Nancy Vandal as their support act.
2010–2017: Smoko at the Pet Food Factory and We Lived Like Kings...
In December 2010, Frenzal Rhomb embarked on the No Sleep Til Festival which featured punk and metal bands: Megadeth, Descendents, NOFX, Gwar and Dropkick Murphys. Frenzal Rhomb played a new song entitled "Bird Attack". In Brisbane, on the last stop of the tour, Whalley and Crease joined Descendents on-stage with other bands' singers – Al Barr (Dropkick Murphys), Fat Mike (NOFX), Matt Skiba and Derek Grant (Alkaline Trio), and Jason Allen (Descendents' road manager) – to perform "Everything Sux".
Frenzal Rhomb recorded their next album, Smoko at the Pet Food Factory in Colorado with Bill Stevenson (drummer for Descendents) producing. It was released on 19 August 2011 on Shock Records, which peaked at No. 14. The group toured Australia with Teenage Bottlerocket in September in support of the album.
In June 2012, the album 'Not So Tough Now' was certified gold by the Australia Record Industry Association, 16 years after its release.
Lead singer Jay Whalley announced on 26 February 2013 that the group was forced to cancel its recent tour after surgeons discovered and removed a pig tapeworm egg from his brain.
Drummer Gordy Foreman broke his arm in multiple places after stage diving during a performance in Perth in 2015 and spent about 18 months recovering. The band continued to play live with Kye Smith (of Local Resident Failure) filling in on drums. Smith had previously paid tribute to Frenzal Rhomb as part of his "5 Minute Drum Chronology" series on YouTube.
To celebrate the band's 25th anniversary Frenzal Rhomb toured Australia in 2016. Fans were offered the opportunity to select songs in the set list by voting for their favourite songs on the band's Facebook page. The band also released a best-of album, entitled We Lived Like Kings, We Did Anything We Wanted, on 19 August.
2017–2023: Hi-Vis High Tea
Frenzal Rhomb's ninth studio album, Hi-Vis High Tea, was released on 26 May 2017 on CD, LP (vinyl) and digital download. It was once again recorded in The Blasting Room by Bill Stevenson. The album's first single, "Cunt Act," was released on the same day; as well as a national run of dates with Totally Unicorn.
After 17 years, Tom Crease departed the band in mid-2019 due to ongoing hearing problems. He was replaced by Michael "Dal" Dallinger, formerly of Newcastle punk band Local Resident Failure – coincidentally, a band named after a Frenzal Rhomb song. The band then performed at the 2020 Hotter Than Hell festival, which ended up being their last shows for over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The band made their live return at Melbourne's 170 Russell on April 23, 2021. A national tour followed in May, including performances at the festivals Full Tilt and Spring Loaded.
2023–present: The Cup of Pestilence
In late 2022, the band confirmed that they were at work on an album. On 15 February 2023, the band announced their tenth studio album, The Cup of Pestilence, which was released on 7 April. The announcement came with the release of its opening track and lead single, "Where Drug Dealers Take Their Kids". On 22 March 2023, Frenzal Rhomb released their second and last song from the album and single, "Thought It Was Yoga But It Was Ketamine".
Controversy
The group has generated controversy for profanity in cover art, song titles and lyrics; for the behaviour of members, on and off stage.
In July 2004, radio 2Day FM hosts Jackie O and Kyle Sandilands (themselves no strangers to controversy) threatened the band with "black-listing" from the Austereo network after a festival performance in Darwin, Australia in a tit for tat. The band had played AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" over the top of Jackie O's effort to explain her late appearance to the audience as the delay caused a further cut into the band's set time.
Band members
Current members
Jason "Jay" Whalley – lead vocals, occasional guitar (1992–present)
Lindsay "The Doctor" McDougall – guitar, backing vocals (1996–present)
Gordon "Gordy" Forman – drums (1998–present, hiatus 2015–2016)
Michael "Dal" Dallinger (AKA Dal Failure) – bass, backing vocals (2019–present)
Former members
Alexis "Lex" Feltham – bass, backing vocals (1992–2002)
Ben Costello – guitar (1992–1996)
Bruce Braybrooke – drums (1992–1993)
Karl Perske – drums (1993–1995)
Nat Nykyruj – drums (1995–1998)
Tom Crease – bass, backing vocals (2002–2019)
Former touring musicians
Kye Smith – drums (2015–2016, occasional fill-in gigs)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Coughing up a Storm (1995)
Not So Tough Now (1996)
Meet the Family (1997)
A Man's Not a Camel (1999)
Shut Your Mouth (2000)
Sans Souci (2003)
Forever Malcolm Young (2006)
Smoko at the Pet Food Factory (2011)
Hi-Vis High Tea (2017)
The Cup of Pestilence (2023)
Awards and nominations
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.
!
|-
|rowspan="2"|1999
| "You Are Not My Friend"
| ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist - Single
|
|rowspan="2"|
|-
| A Man's Not a Camel
| ARIA Award for Best Rock Album
|
|-
|2000
| "Never Had So Much Fun"
| ARIA Award for Best Pop Release
|
|
|-
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Official Facebook
Fat Wreck Chords
Official website, 2001 archived by PANDORA on 29 August 2001.
30 years of Frenzal Rhomb - J Files special on Double J from June 2022
Frenzal Rhomb's singer Jason Whalley and guitarist Lindsay McDougall perform at Big Day Out, Melbourne, Victoria, 2005. A photo by Martin Philbey at Digital Collections by National Library of Australia
Frenzal Rhomb website
Category:Australian punk rock groups
Category:Fat Wreck Chords artists
Category:Epitaph Records artists
Category:Musical groups established in 1992
Category:Musical groups from Sydney | [
{
"text": "Specific may refer to:\n\n Specificity (disambiguation)\n Specific, a cure or therapy for a specific illness\n\nLaw \n Specific deterrence, focussed on an individual\n Specific finding, intermediate verdict used by a jury in determining the final verdict\n Specific jurisdiction over an out-of-state party, specific to cases that have a substantial connection to the party's in-state activity\n Order of specific performance, court order to perform a specific act\n\nEconomics, finance, and accounting\n Asset specificity, the extent to which the investments made to support a particular transaction have a higher value to that transaction than they would have if they were redeployed for any other purpose\n Specific identification (inventories), summing purchase costs of all inventory items\n Specific rate duty, duty paid at a specific amount per unit\n Specific risk, risk that affects a very small number of assets\n\nPsychology \n Domain specificity, theory that many aspects of cognition are supported by specialized, presumably evolutionarily specified, learning devices\n Specific developmental disorder, disorders in which development is delayed in one specific area or areas, and in which basically all other areas of development are not affected\n Specific learning disability\n Specific phobia, phobia of a specific thing or situation\n Specific social phobia, triggered only by specific social situations\n\nBiology \n pertaining to a species\n Specific name (botany), species name of a plant\n Specific name (zoology), species name of an animal\n Specific appetite, drive to eat foods with specific flavors or other characteristics\n Specific granule, secretory vesicle in granulocytes\n Specific immunity, to a particular pathogen\n Specific Pathogen Free, of a laboratory animal guaranteed free of particular (i.e., specific and named) pathogens\n\nOther fields \n A specific quantity generally means a physical quantity normalized \"per unit\" of something (often mass).\n SPECIFIC, The Sustainable Product Engineering Centre for Innovative Functional Industrial Coatings\n Specific creation, creationism as opposed to evolution\n Specific interval, shortest possible clockwise distance between pitch classes on the chromatic circle\n Specific integral, in calculus, eliminates the constant of integration\n Specific Physical Preparedness, being prepared for the movements in a specific physical activity (usually a sport)\n\nSee also \n Species (disambiguation)\n Specification (disambiguation)\n Specialty (disambiguation)\n Site-specific (disambiguation)\n Language for specific purposes, has been primarily used to refer to two areas within applied linguistics",
"title": "Specific"
}
] | null | null |
C_2952226d329a48e8a36db18ff5230291_1 | Rem Koolhaas | Remment Lucas "Rem" Koolhaas (Dutch pronunciation: [rem ko:lha:s]; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Koolhaas studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Koolhaas is the founding partner of OMA, and of its research-oriented counterpart AMO based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In 2005, he co-founded Volume Magazine together with Mark Wigley and Ole Bouman. | Project on the city | Koolhaas's next landmark publications were a product of his position as professor at Harvard University, in the Design school's "Project on the City"; firstly the 720-page Mutations, followed by The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping (2002) and The Great Leap Forward (2002). All three books involved Koolhaas's students analysing what others would regard as "non-cities", sprawling conglomerates such as Lagos in Nigeria, west Africa, which the authors argue are highly functional despite a lack of infrastructure. The authors also examine the influence of shopping habits and the recent rapid growth of cities in China. Critics of the books have criticised Koolhaas for being cynical - as if Western capitalism and globalization demolish all cultural identity - highlighted in the notion expounded in the books that "In the end, there will be little else for us to do but shop". However, such cynicism can alternatively be read as a "realism" about the transformation of cultural life, where airports and even museums (due to finance problems) rely just as much on operating gift shops. When it comes to transforming these observations into practice, Koolhaas mobilizes what he regards as the omnipotent forces of urbanism into unique design forms and connections organised along the lines of present-day society. Koolhaas continuously incorporates his observations of the contemporary city within his design activities: calling such a condition the 'culture of congestion'. Again, shopping is examined for "intellectual comfort", whilst the unregulated taste and densification of Chinese cities is analysed according to "performance", a criterion involving variables with debatable credibility: density, newness, shape, size, money etc. For example, in his design for the new CCTV headquarters in Beijing (2009), Koolhaas did not opt for the stereotypical skyscraper, often used to symbolise and landmark such government enterprises, but instead designed a series of volumes which not only tie together the numerous departments onto the nebulous site, but also introduced routes (again, the concept of cross-programming) for the general public through the site, allowing them some degree of access to the production procedure. Through his ruthlessly raw approach, Koolhaas hopes to extract the architect from the anxiety of a dead profession and resurrect a contemporary interpretation of the sublime, however fleeting it may be. In 2003, Content, a 544-page magazine-style book designed by &&& Creative and published by Koolhaas, gives an overview of the last decade of OMA projects including his designs for the Prada shops, the Seattle Public Library, a plan to save Cambridge from Harvard by rechanneling the Charles River, Lagos' future as Earth's third-biggest city, as well as interviews with Martha Stewart and Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_2952226d329a48e8a36db18ff5230291_1_q#0",
"C_2952226d329a48e8a36db18ff5230291_1_q#1",
"C_2952226d329a48e8a36db18ff5230291_1_q#2",
"C_2952226d329a48e8a36db18ff5230291_1_q#3",
"C_2952226d329a48e8a36db18ff5230291_1_q#4"
] | [
"What good did the EU do for their country?",
"What kind of projects was proposed in the city?",
"How successful was the 720-page and what greatness came after?",
"What was the 720 about?",
"What did the great leap forward consist of?"
] | [
1,
0,
2,
1,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
2868
],
[
151
],
[
151
],
[
163
],
[
281
]
],
"texts": [
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"firstly the 720-page Mutations,"
],
[
"firstly the 720-page Mutations, followed by The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping (2002) and The Great Leap Forward (2002)."
],
[
"720-page"
],
[
"All three books involved Koolhaas's students analysing what others would regard as \"non-cities\","
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
2868,
151,
151,
163,
281
],
"texts": [
"CANNOTANSWER",
"firstly the 720-page Mutations,",
"firstly the 720-page Mutations, followed by The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping (2002) and The Great Leap Forward (2002).",
"720-page",
"All three books involved Koolhaas's students analysing what others would regard as \"non-cities\","
]
} | Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a representative of Deconstructivism and is the author of Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan.
He is seen by some as one of the significant architectural thinkers and urbanists of his generation, by others as a self-important iconoclast. In 2000, Rem Koolhaas won the Pritzker Prize. In 2008, Time put him in their top 100 of The World's Most Influential People. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2014.
Early life and career
Remment Koolhaas was born on 17 November 1944 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, to Anton Koolhaas (1912–1992) and Selinde Pietertje Roosenburg (born 1920). His father was a novelist, critic, and screenwriter. His maternal grandfather, Dirk Roosenburg (1887–1962), was a modernist architect who worked for Hendrik Petrus Berlage, before opening his own practice. Rem Koolhaas has a brother, Thomas, and a sister, Annabel. His paternal cousin was the architect and urban planner Teun Koolhaas (1940–2007). The family lived consecutively in Rotterdam (until 1946), Amsterdam (1946–1952), Jakarta (1952–1955), and Amsterdam (from 1955).
His father strongly supported the Indonesian cause for autonomy from the colonial Dutch in his writing. When the war of independence was won, he was invited over to run a cultural programme for three years and the family moved to Jakarta in 1952. "It was a very important age for me," Koolhaas recalls "and I really lived as an Asian."
In 1969, Koolhaas co-wrote The White Slave, a Dutch film noir, and later wrote an unproduced script for American soft-porn king Russ Meyer.
He was a journalist in 1963 at age 19 for the Haagse Post before starting studies in architecture in 1968 at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, followed, in 1972, by further studies with Oswald Mathias Ungers at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, followed by studies at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York City.
Koolhaas first came to public and critical attention with OMA (The Office for Metropolitan Architecture), the office he founded in 1975 together with architects Elia Zenghelis, Zoe Zenghelis and (Koolhaas's wife) Madelon Vriesendorp in London. They were later joined by one of Koolhaas's students, Zaha Hadid – who would soon go on to achieve success in her own right. An early work which would mark their difference from the then dominant postmodern classicism of the late 1970s, was their contribution to the Venice Biennale of 1980, curated by Italian architect Paolo Portoghesi, titled "Presence of the Past". Each architect had to design a stage-like "frontage" to a Potemkin-type internal street; the façades by , Frank Gehry and OMA were the only ones that did not employ Post-Modern architecture motifs or historical references.
Other early critically received (yet unbuilt) projects included the Parc de la Villette, Paris (1982) and the residence for the Prime Minister of Ireland (1979), as well as the Kunsthal in Rotterdam (1992). These schemes would attempt to put into practice many of the findings Koolhaas made in his book Delirious New York (1978), which was written while he was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York, directed by Peter Eisenman.
Architectural theory
Delirious New York
Koolhaas's book Delirious New York set the pace for his career. Koolhaas analyzes the "chance-like" nature of city life: "The City is an addictive machine from which there is no escape" "Rem Koolhaas...defined the city as a collection of 'red hot spots'." (Anna Klingmann). As Koolhaas himself has acknowledged, this approach had already been evident in the Japanese Metabolist Movement in the 1960s and early 1970s.
A key aspect of architecture that Koolhaas interrogates is the "Program": with the rise of modernism in the 20th century the "Program" became the key theme of architectural design. The notion of the Program involves "an act to edit function and human activities" as the pretext of architectural design: epitomised in the maxim form follows function, first popularised by architect Louis Sullivan at the beginning of the 20th century. The notion was first questioned in Delirious New York, in his analysis of high-rise architecture in Manhattan. An early design method derived from such thinking was "cross-programming", introducing unexpected functions in room programmes, such as running tracks in skyscrapers. More recently, Koolhaas unsuccessfully proposed the inclusion of hospital units for the homeless into the Seattle Public Library project (2003).
Project on the city
Koolhaas' next publications were a by-product of his position as professor at Harvard University, in the Design school's "Project on the City"; firstly the 720-page Mutations, followed by The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping (2002) and The Great Leap Forward (2002).
All three books published student work analysing what others would regard as "non-cities", sprawling conglomerates such as Lagos in Nigeria, west Africa, which the authors argue are highly functional despite a lack of infrastructure. The authors also examine the influence of shopping habits and the recent rapid growth of cities in China. Critics of the books have criticised Koolhaas for being cynical, – as if Western capitalism and globalization demolish all cultural identity – highlighted in the notion expounded in the books that "In the end, there will be little else for us to do but shop". Perhaps such caustic cynicism can be read as a "realism" about the transformation of cultural life, where airports and even museums (due to finance problems) rely just as much on operating gift shops. It does, however, demonstrate one of the architect's characteristic devices for deflecting criticism: attack the client or subject of study after completing the work.
When it comes to transforming these observations into practice, Koolhaas mobilizes what he regards as the omnipotent forces of urbanism into unique design forms and connections organised along the lines of present-day society. Koolhaas continuously incorporates his observations of the contemporary city within his design activities: calling such a condition the ‘culture of congestion’. Again, shopping is examined for "intellectual comfort", whilst the unregulated taste and densification of Chinese cities is analysed according to "performance", a criterion involving variables with debatable credibility: density, newness, shape, size, money etc.
In 2003, Content, a 544-page magazine-style book designed by &&& Creative and published by Koolhaas, gives an overview of the last decade of OMA projects including his designs for the Prada shops, the Seattle Public Library, a plan to save Cambridge from Harvard by rechanneling the Charles River, Lagos' future as Earth's third-biggest city, as well as interviews with Martha Stewart and Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.
Volume Magazine
In 2005, Rem Koolhaas co-founded Volume Magazine together with Mark Wigley and Ole Bouman. Volume Magazine – the collaborative project by Archis (Amsterdam), AMO and C-lab (Columbia University NY) – is a dynamic experimental think tank devoted to the process of spatial and cultural reflexivity. It goes beyond architecture's definition of ‘making buildings’ and reaches out for global views on architecture and design, broader attitudes to social structures, and creating environments to live in. The magazine stands for a journalism which detects and anticipates, is proactive and even pre-emptive – a journalism which uncovers potentialities, rather than covering done deals.
Buildings and projects
In the late nineties he worked on the design for the new headquarters for Universal.
Indeed, online marketing and propaganda has been a hallmark of OMA's rise in the current century. It has also led to pointed criticism, such as the critique by New York Magazine critic Justin Davidson, who found the 2020 Guggenheim exhibition Countryside, the Future "mildly amusing if it weren’t such terrible waste — of attention, of gallery square footage, of resources, talent, and expertise. Bored with being an architect and building things, Koolhaas lets his fingertips graze important topics, genuine insights, and actual lives. He treats them all as ironic bric-a-brac, meaningless souvenirs of his meanderings through a fragile world. How frustrating that the Guggenheim couldn’t force a little more intellectual rigor on this romp."
Architecture, fashion, and theatre
With his Prada projects, Koolhaas ventured into providing architecture for the fleeting world of fashion and with celebrity-studded cachet: not unlike Garnier's Opera, the central space of Koolhaas' Beverly Hills Prada store is occupied by a massive central staircase, ostensibly displaying select wares, but mainly the shoppers themselves. The notion of selling a brand rather than marketing clothes was further emphasised in the Prada store on Broadway in Manhattan, New York, which had previously been owned by the Guggenheim: the museum signs were not removed during the outfitting of the new store, as if emphasizing the premises as a cultural institution. The Broadway Prada store opened in December 2001, cost €32 million to build, and has 2,300 square meters of retail space.
21st Century Projects
Probably the most costly and celebrated OMA projects of the new century were the massive Central China Television Headquarters Building in Beijing, China, and the new building for the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the equivalent of the NASDAQ in China.
In his design for the new CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2009), Koolhaas did not opt for the stereotypical skyscraper, often used to symbolise and landmark such government enterprises; he patented a "horizontal skyscraper" in the U.S. The building, popularly called "The Big Pants" by Beijing residents, was designed as a series of volumes which attempt to tie together the numerous departments onto the nebulous site, but also introduce routes (again, the concept of cross-programming) for the general public through the site, allowing them some degree of access to the production procedure. An unfortunate incident that highlighted the folly of the circulation scheme (no effective fire egress for people on the upper floors), was the construction fire that nearly destroyed the building and a nearby hotel in 2009.
In February 2020, his exhibition Countryside,The Future opened at the Guggenheim in New York City. The exhibition closed within a month, after New York City closed all its major art institutions in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Personal life
Koolhaas was previously married to Madelon Vriesendorp, an artist who is the mother of his two children, Charlie, a photographer, and Tomas, a filmmaker. Koolhaas divorced Vriesendorp in 2012. He has known his current partner Petra Blaisse, an interior and landscape designer, since 1986.
Selected projects
Villa dall’Ava, (Saint-Cloud, 1991)
Nexus World Housing (Fukuoka, 1991)
Kunsthal (Rotterdam, 1992)
Euralille (Lille, 1994)
Educatorium (Utrecht, 1995)
Maison à Bordeaux (Bordeaux, 1998)
Embassy of the Netherlands (Berlin, 2003)
McCormick Tribune Campus Center (Chicago, 2003)
Seoul National University Museum of Art (Seoul, 2005)
Seattle Central Library (Seattle, 2005)
Casa da Música (Porto, 2005)
Dee and Charles Wyly Theater (Dallas, 2009)
CCTV Headquarters, (Beijing, 2012)
De Rotterdam (Rotterdam, 2013)
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art (Moscow, 2014)
Qatar National Library (Doha, 2017)
Taipei Performing Arts Center (Taipei, 2022)
Bibliography
Project Japan. Metabolism Talks... (2011) (with Hans Ulrich Obrist)
Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan (1978)
S,M,L,XL (1995)
Serpentine Gallery: 24 Hour Interview Marathon (2007) Living Vivre Leben (1998)Content (2004)
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2006''; Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, Germany 2008
Gallery
See also
Contemporary architecture
World Architecture Survey
List of architects
Koolhaas Houselife
References
External links
Office for Metropolitan Architecture
OMA official Facebook page (updated daily)
OMA official Vimeo channel
OMA portfolio on Archello.com
Rem Koolhaas at Harvard University
Urgency 2007: Rem Koolhaas and Peter Eisenman lectures, Canadian Centre for Architecture, 8 June 2007
Rem Koolhaas in conversation with Mirko Zardini and Giovanna Borasi, Rotterdam, 26 August 2015, for the exhibition The Other Architect, Canadian Centre for Architecture
On Starchitecture
Koolhaas at Harvard's Ecological Urbanism
Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architect (2008 Feature Documentary)
Rem Koolhaas lecture "Russia for Beginners" at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art: September 15th, 2014
Rem Koolhaas on Empty Canon
Category:1944 births
Category:20th-century Dutch architects
Category:21st-century Dutch architects
Category:Architectural theoreticians
Category:Urban theorists
Category:Deconstructivism
Category:Postmodern architecture
Category:Dutch non-fiction writers
Category:Living people
Category:Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning alumni
Category:Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty
Category:Dutch urban planners
Category:Architects from Rotterdam
Category:Pritzker Architecture Prize winners
Category:Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal
Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour
Category:Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale
Category:Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture
Category:Honorary Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society
Category:Compasso d'Oro Award recipients | [
{
"text": "Contemporary architecture is the architecture of the 21st century. No single style is dominant. Contemporary architects work in several different styles, from postmodernism, high-tech architecture and new interpretations of traditional architecture to highly conceptual forms and designs, resembling sculpture on an enormous scale. Some of these styles and approaches make use of very advanced technology and modern building materials, such as tube structures which allow construction of buildings that are taller, lighter and stronger than those in the 20th century, while others prioritize the use of natural and ecological materials like stone, wood and lime. One technology that is common to all forms of contemporary architecture is the use of new techniques of computer-aided design, which allow buildings to be designed and modeled on computers in three dimensions, and constructed with more precision and speed.\n\nContemporary buildings and styles vary greatly. Some feature concrete structures wrapped in glass or aluminium screens, very asymmetric facades, and cantilevered sections which hang over the street. Skyscrapers twist, or break into crystal-like facets. Facades are designed to shimmer or change color at different times of day.\n\nWhereas the major monuments of modern architecture in the 20th century were mostly concentrated in the United States and western Europe, contemporary architecture is global; important new buildings have been built in China, Russia, Latin America, and particularly in Arab states of the Persian Gulf; the Burj Khalifa in Dubai was the tallest building in the world in 2019, and the Shanghai Tower in China was the second-tallest.\n\nAdditionally, in the late 20th century, New Classical Architecture, a traditionalist response to modernist architecture, emerged, continuing into the 21st century. The 21st century saw the emergence of multiple organizations dedicated to the promotion of local and/or traditional architecture. Examples include the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism (INTBAU), the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA), the Driehaus Architecture Prize, and the Complementary architecture movement. New traditional architects include Michael Graves, Léon Krier, Yasmeen Lari, Robert Stern and Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil.\n\nMost of the landmarks of contemporary architecture are the works of a small group of architects who work on an international scale. Many were designed by architects already famous in the late 20th century, including Mario Botta, Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Norman Foster, Ieoh Ming Pei and Renzo Piano, while others are the work of a new generation born during or after World War II, including Zaha Hadid, Santiago Calatrava, Daniel Libeskind, Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Rem Koolhaas, and Shigeru Ban. Other projects are the work of collectives of several architects, such as UNStudio and SANAA, or large multinational agencies such as Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with thirty associate architects and large teams of engineers and designers, and Gensler, with 5,000 employees in 16 countries.\n\nMuseums\n\nSome of the most striking and innovative works of contemporary architecture are art museums, which are often examples of sculptural architecture, and are the signature works of major architects. The Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Its structure includes a movable, wing-like brise soleil that opens up for a wingspan of during the day, folding over the tall, arched structure at night or during bad weather.\n\nThe Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (2005), was designed by the Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron, who designed the Tate Modern museum in London, and who won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the most prestigious award in architecture, in 2001. It updates and provides a contrast to the austere earlier Modernist structure designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes by adding a five-story tower clad in panels of delicately sculpted gray aluminum, which change color with the changing light, connecting by a wide glass gallery leading to the older building. It also harmonizes with two stone churches opposite.\n\nThe Polish-born American architect Daniel Libeskind (born 1946) is one of the most prolific of contemporary museum architects; He was an academic before he began designing buildings and was one of the early proponents of the architectural theory of Deconstructivism. The exterior of his Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, England (2002), has an exterior which resembles, depending upon the light and time of day, huge and broken pieces of earth or armor plates, and is said to symbolize the destruction of war. In 2006 Libeskind finished the Hamilton Building of the Denver Art Museum in Denver Colorado, composed of twenty sloping planes, none of them parallel or perpendicular, covered with 230,000 square feet of titanium panels. Inside, the walls of the galleries are all different, sloping and asymmetric. Libeskind completed another striking museum, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (2007), also known as \"The Crystal,\" a building whose form, resembles a shattered crystal. Libeskind's museums have been both admired and attacked by critics. While admiring many features of the Denver Art Museum, The New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff wrote that \"In a building of canted walls and asymmetrical rooms—tortured geometries generated purely by formal considerations — it is virtually impossible to enjoy the art.\"\n\nThe De Young Museum in San Francisco was designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. It opened in 2005, replacing an older structure that was badly damaged in an earthquake in 1989. The new museum was designed to blend with the park's natural landscape and resist strong earthquakes. The building can move up to on ball-bearing sliding plates and viscous fluid dampers that absorb kinetic energy.\n\nThe Zentrum Paul Klee by Renzo Piano is an art museum near Berne Switzerland located next to an autoroute in the Swiss countryside. The museum blends into the landscape by taking three rolling hills made of steel and glass. One building houses the gallery (which is almost entirely underground to preserve the fragile drawings of Klee from the effects of sunlight). At the same time, the other two \"hills\" contain an education center and administrative offices.\n\nThe Centre Pompidou-Metz, in Metz, France, (2010), a branch of the Centre Pompidou museum of modern art in Paris, was designed by Shigeru Ban, a Japanese architect who won the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 2014. The roof is the most dramatic feature of the building; it is a wide hexagon with a surface area of , composed of sixteen kilometers of glued laminated timber, that intersect to form hexagonal wooden units resembling the cane-work pattern of a Chinese hat. The roof's geometry is irregular, featuring curves and counter-curves over the entire building, particularly the three exhibition galleries. The entire wooden structure is covered with a white fiberglass membrane, and a coating of teflon protects from direct sunlight and allows light to pass through.\n\nThe Louis Vuitton Foundation by Frank Gehry (2014) is the gallery of contemporary art located adjacent to the Bois de Boulogne in Paris was opened in October 2014. Gehry described his architecture as inspired by the glass Grand Palais of the 1900 Paris Exposition and by the enormous glass greenhouses of the Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil near the park, built by Jean-Camille Formigé in 1894–95. Gehry had to work within strict height and volume restrictions, which required any part of the building over two stories to be made of glass. The building is low because of the height limits, sited in an artificial lake with water cascading beneath the building. The interior gallery structures are covered in a white fiber-reinforced concrete called Ductal. Similar in concept to Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall, the building is wrapped in curving glass panels resembling sails inflated by the wind. The glass \"Sails\" are made of 3,584 laminated glass panels, each one a different shape, specially curved for its place in the design. Inside the sails is a cluster of two-story towers containing 11 galleries of different sizes, with flower garden terraces, and rooftop spaces for displays.\n\nThe new Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City by Renzo Piano (2015) took a very different approach from the sculptural museums of Frank Gehry. The Whitney has an industrial-looking facade and blends into the neighborhood. Michael Kimmelman, the architecture critic of The New York Times called the building a \"mishmash of styles\" but noted its similarity to Piano's Centre Pompidou in Paris, in the way that it mixed with the public spaces around it. \"Unlike so much big-name architecture,\" Kimmelman wrote, \"it's not some weirdly shaped trophy building into which all the practical stuff of a working museum must be fitted.\"\n\nThe San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is actually two buildings by different architects fit together; an earlier (1995) five-story postmodernist structure by the Swiss architect Mario Botta, to which has been joined a much larger ten-story white gallery by the Norwegian-based firm of Snøhetta (2016). The expanded building includes a green living wall of native plants in San Francisco; a free ground-floor gallery with tall glass walls that will place art on view to passersby and glass skylights that flood the upper floors of offices (though not the galleries) with light. The facades clad are with lightweight panels made of Fibre-Reinforced Plastic. The critical reaction to the building was mixed. Roberta Smith of The New York Times said the building set a new standard for museums and wrote: \"The new building’s rippling, sloping facade, rife with subtle curves and bulges, establishes a brilliant alternative to the straight-edged boxes of traditional modernism and the rebellion against them initiated by Frank Gehry, with his computer-inspired acrobatics.\" On the other hand, the critic of The Guardian of London compared the facade of the building to \"a gigantic meringue with a hint of Ikea.\"\n\nConcert halls\n\nSantiago Calatrava designed the Auditorio de Tenerife he concert hall of Tenerife, the major city of the Canary Islands. with a shell-like wing of reinforced concrete.\nThe shell touches the ground at only two points.\n\nThe Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (2003) is one of the major works by California architect Frank Gehry The exterior is stainless steel, formed like the sails of sailboats. The interior is in the Vineyard style, with the audience surrounding the stage. Gehry designed the dramatic array of pipes of the organ to complement the exterior style of the building.\n\nThe Casa da Musica in Porto, Portugal, by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas (2005) is unique among concert halls in having two walls made entirely of glass. Nicolai Ouroussoff, architecture critic from The New York Times, wrote \"The building's chiseled concrete form, resting on a carpet of polished stone, suggests a bomb about to explode. He declared that in its originality it was one of the most important concert halls built in the last 100 years\". ranking with the Walt Disney Concert Hall, in Los Angeles, and the Berliner Philharmonie.\n\nThe interior of the Copenhagen Opera House by Henning Larsen (2005) has an oak floor and maple walls to enhance hat acoustics. The royal box of the Queen, usually placed in the back, is next to stage.\n\nThe Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tennessee, by David M. Schwarz & Earl Swensson (2006), is an example of Neo-Classical architecture, borrowed literally from Roman and Greek models. It complements another Nashville landmark, a full-scale replica of the Parthenon.\n\nThe Philharmonie de Paris by French architect Jean Nouvel opened in 2015. The concert hall is at La Villette, in a park at the edge of Paris devoted to museums, a music school and other cultural institutions, where its unusual shape blends with the late 20th-century modern architecture. The exterior of the building takes the form of glittering irregular cliff cut by horizontal fins which reveal ar amp leading upwards The exterior is clad in thousands of small pieces of aluminum in three different colors, from white to gray to black. A path leads up the ramp to the top of building to a terrace with a dramatic view of the peripheric highway around the city. view of the neighborhood. The hall, like the Disney Hall in Los Angeles, has Vineyard style seating, with the audience surrounding the main stage. The seating can be re-arranged in different styles depending upon the type of music performed. When it opened, the architectural critic of the London Guardian compared it to a space ship that had crash-landed on the outskirts of the city.\n\nThe Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, Germany, by Herzog & de Meuron, which was inaugurated in January 2017, is the tallest inhabited building in the city, with a height of . The glass concert hall, which has 2100 seats in Vineyard style, is perched atop a former warehouse. One side of the concert hall building contains a hotel, while the structure on the other side above the concert hall contains forty five apartments. The concert hall in the middle is isolated from the sound of the other parts of the building by an \"eggshell\" of plaster and paper panels and insulation resembling feather pillows.\n\nSkyscrapers\n\nThe skyscraper (usually defined as a building over 40 stories high) first appeared in Chicago in the 1890s, and was largely an American style in the mid 20th century, but in the 21st century skyscrapers were found in almost every large city on every continent. A new construction technology, the framed tube structure, was first developed in the United States in 1963 by structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skimore, Owings and Merrill, which permitted the construction of super-tall buildings, which needed fewer interior walls, had more window space, and could better resist lateral forces, such as strong winds.\n\nThe Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates is the tallest structure in the world, standing at . Construction of the Burj Khalifa began in 2004, with the exterior completed 5 years later in 2009. The primary structure is reinforced concrete. Burj Khalifa was designed by Adrian Smith, then of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). He also was lead architect on the Jin Mao Tower, Pearl River Tower, and Trump International Hotel & Tower.\n\nAdrian Smith and his own firm are the architects for the building which, in 2020, meant to replace the Burj-Khalifa as the tallest building in the world. The Jeddah Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is planned to be 1,008 meters, or (3,307 ft) tall, which will make it the tallest building in the world, and the first building to be more than one kilometer in height. Construction began in 2013, and the project is scheduled to be completed in 2020.\n\nAfter the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in the September 11 terrorist attacks, a new trade center was designed, with the main tower designed by David Childs of SOM. One World Trade Center, opened in 2015, is tall, making it the tallest building in the western hemisphere.\n\nIn London, one of the most notable contemporary landmarks is 30 St Mary Axe, popularly known as \"The Gherkin\", designed by Norman Foster (2004). It replaced the London Millennium Tower – a much taller project that Foster earlier had proposed for the same site, which would have been the tallest building in Europe, but was so tall that it interfered with the flight pattern for Heathrow Airport. The steel framework of the Gherkin is integrated into the glass facade.\n\nThe tallest building in Moscow is the Federation Tower, designed by the Russian architect Sergei Tchoban with Peter Schweger. Completed in 2017, with a height 373 meters, it surpassed Mercury City Tower, another skyscraper in Moscow, when it was built as the tallest building in Europe.\n\nThe tallest building in China as of 2015 is the Shanghai Tower by the U.S. architectural and design firm of Gensler. It is tall, with 127 floors, making it in 2016 the second-tallest building in the world. It also features the fastest elevators, which reach a speed of .\n\nMost skyscrapers are designed to express modernity; the most notable exception is the Abraj Al Bait, a complex of seven skyscraper hotels build by the government of Saudi Arabia to house pilgrims coming the holy shrine of Mecca. The centerpiece of the group is the Makkah Palace Clock Tower Hotel, with a gothic revival tower; it was the fourth-tallest building in the world in 2016, high.\n\nResidential buildings\n\nA tendency in contemporary residential architecture, particularly in the rebuilding of older neighborhoods in large cities, is the luxury condominium tower, with very expensive apartments for sale designed by \"starchitects\", that is, internationally famous architects. These buildings frequently have little relationship with the architecture of their neighborhood, but stand like signature works of their architects.\n\nDaniel Libeskind (born 1946), was born in Poland and studied, taught and practiced architecture in the United States. In 2016 he was professor of architecture at UCLA in Los Angeles, He is known as much for his writings as his architecture; he was a founder of the movement called Deconstructivism. Best known for his museums, he also constructed a notable complex of residential apartment buildings in Singapore (2011) and The Ascent at Roebling's Bridge a 22-story apartment building in Covington, Kentucky (2008). The name of the latter is taken from the Roebling Suspension Bridge nearby on the Ohio River, but the structure of the building of luxury condominiums is extremely contemporary, sloping upward like the bridge cables to a peak, with a sharp edge and leaning slightly outward as the building rises.\n\nOne cheerful feature of contemporary residential architecture is color; Bernard Tschumi uses colored ceramic tiles on facades as well as unusual forms to make his buildings stand out. One example is the Blue Condominium in New York City (2007).\n\nAnother contemporary tendency is the conversion of industrial buildings into mixed residential communities. An example is the Gasometer in Vienna, a group of four massive brick gas production towers constructed at the end of the 19th century. They have been transformed into a mixed residential, office and commercial complex, completed between 1999 and 2001. Some residences are located inside the towers, and others are in new buildings attached to them. The upper floors are devoted to housing units the middle floors to offices, and the ground floors to entertainment and shopping malls. with sky bridges connecting the shopping mall levels. Each tower was built by a prominent architect the participants were Jean Nouvel, Coop Himmelblau, Manfred Wehldorn and Wilhelm Holzbauer. The historic exterior walls of the towers were preserved.\n\nThe Isbjerget, Danish for \"iceberg\", in Aarhus, Denmark (2013), is a group of four buildings with 210 apartments, both rented and owned, for residents with a range of incomes, located on the waterfront of a former industrial port in Denmark. The complex was designed by the Danish firms CEBRA and JDS Architects, French architect Louis Paillard and the Dutch firm SeARCH, and was financed by the Danish pension fund. The buildings are designed so that all the units, even those in the back, have a view of sea. The design and color of the buildings is inspired by icebergs. The buildings are clad in white terrazzo and have balconies made of blue glass.\n\nReligious architecture\n\nSurprisingly few contemporary churches were built between 2000 and 2017. Church architects, with a few exceptions, rarely showed the same freedom of expression as architects of museums, concert halls and other large buildings. The new cathedral for the City of Los Angeles California, was designed in a postmodern style by the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo. The previous cathedral had been serious damaged by an earthquake in 1995; the new building was specially designed to resist similar shocks.\n\nThe Northern Lights Cathedral, by the Denmark-based international firm of Schmidt, Hammer and Lassen, is located in Alta, Norway, one of northernmost cities in the world. Their other important works include the National Library of Denmark in Copenhagen.\n\nThe Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir is a Hindu Temple in Vrindivan, in Uttar Pradesh state in India, which was under construction at the end of 2016. The architects are InGenious Studio Pvt. Ltd. of Gurgaon and Quintessence Design Studio of Noida, in India. The entrance is in the traditional Nagara style of Indian architecture, while the tower is contemporary, with a glass facade up to the 70th floor. It is scheduled for completion in 2019. When completed, at or 70 floors) it will be the tallest religious structure in the world.\n\nOne of the most unusual contemporary churches is St. Jude's Anglican Cathedral in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, the northernmost and least populous region of Canada. The church is built in the shape of an igloo, and serves the Inuktitut-speaking population of the region.\n\nAnother unusual contemporary church is the Cardboard Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. It replaced the city's main cathedral, damaged by the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The cathedral, which seats seven hundred persons, rises above the altar. Materials used include -diameter cardboard tubes, timber and steel. The roof is of polycarbon, with eight shipping containers forming the walls. \"coated with waterproof polyurethane and flame retardants\" with two-inch gaps between them so that light can filter inside.\n\nStadiums\n\nThe Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron designed the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, completed in 2005. It seats 75,000 spectators. The structure is wrapped in 2,874 ETFE-foil air panels that are kept inflated with dry air; each panel can be independently illuminated red, white, or blue. When illuminated, the stadium is visible from the Austrian Alps, fifty miles (80 kilometers) away.\n\nAmong the most prestigious projects and best-known projects in contemporary architecture are the stadiums for the Olympic Games, whose architects are chosen by highly publicized international competitions. The Beijing National Stadium, built for the 2008 Games and popularly known as the Bird's Nest because of its intricate exterior framework, was designed by the Swiss firm of Herzog & de Meuron, with Chinese architect Li Xinggang. It was designed to seat 91,000 spectators, and when constructed had a retractable roof, since removed. Like many contemporary buildings, it is actually two structures; a concrete bowl in which the spectators sit, surrounded at distance of fifty feet by a glass and steel framework. The exterior \"Bird's nest\" design was inspired by the pattern of Chinese ceramics. The stadium when completed was the largest enclosed space in the world, and was also the largest steel structure, with 26 kilometers of unwrapped steel.\n\nThe National Stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan by Japanese architect Toyo Ito (2009), is the form of a dragon. Its other distinctive feature is the array of solar panels that cover almost all of the exterior, providing most of the energy needed by the complex.\n\nGovernment buildings\n\nGovernment buildings, once almost universally serious and sober looking, usually in variations of the school of neoclassical architecture, began to appear in more sculptural and even whimsical forms. One of the most dramatic examples was the London City Hall by Norman Foster (2002), the headquarters of the Greater London Authority. The unusual egg-like building design was intended to reduce the amount of exposed wall and to save energy, though the results have not entirely met expectations. One unusual feature is a helical stairway that spirals from the lobby up to the top of the building.\n\nSome new government buildings, such as the Parliament House, Valletta, Malta by Renzo Piano (2015) created controversy because of the contrast between their style and the historic architecture around them.\n\nMost new government buildings attempt to express solidity and seriousness; an exception is the Port Authority (Havenhuis) in Antwerp, Belgium by Zaha Hadid (2016), where a ship-like structure of glass and steel on a white concrete perch seems to have landed atop the old port building constructed in 1922. The faceted glass structure also resembles a diamond, a symbol of Antwerp's role as the major market of diamonds in Europe. It was one of the last works of Hadid, who died in 2016.\n\nUniversity buildings\n\nThe Dr Chau Chak Wing Building is a Business School building of the University of Technology Sydney in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, designed by Frank Gehry and completed in 2015. It is the first building in Australia designed by Gehry. The building's façade, made of 320,000 custom designed bricks, was described by one critic as the \"squashed brown paper bag\". Frank Gehry responded, \"Maybe it's a brown paper bag, but it's flexible on the inside, there's a lot of room for changes or movement.\"\n\nThe Siamese Twins Towers\" at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago, Chile are by the Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena (born 1967), completed in 2013. Aravena was the winner of the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize.\n\nLibraries\n\nThe Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt, by the Norwegian firm of Snøhetta (2002), attempts to recreate, in modern form, the famous Alexandria Library of antiquity. The building, by the edge of the Mediterranean, has shelf space for eight million books, and a main reading room covering on eleven cascading levels. plus galleries for expositions and a planetarium. The main reading room is covered by a 32-meter-high glass-panelled roof, tilted out toward the sea like a sundial, and measuring some 160 m in diameter. The walls are of gray Aswan granite, carved with characters from 120 different human scripts.\n\nThe Seattle Central Library by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas (2006) features a glass and steel wrapping around a stack of platforms. One unusual feature is a ramp with continuous bookshelves spiraling upward four floors.\n\nMalls and retail stores\n\nThe shopping malls are the elephants of commercial architecture, massive structures which combine retail stores, food outlets, and entertainment under a single roof. The largest in area (though not in retail space, since much of the mall is devoted to entertainment and public space) and perhaps most extravagant is the Dubai Mall in the United Arab Emirates, designed by DP Architects of Singapore and opened in (2008), which features, in addition to shops and restaurants, a gigantic walk-through aquarium and underwater zoo, plus a huge ice skating rink, and, just outside, the highest fountain and tallest building in the world.\n\nIn competition with shopping malls are downtown department stores and shops of individual designer brands. These buildings are traditionally designed to attract attention and to express the modernity of the products they sell. A notable example is the Selfridge's Department Store in Birmingham, England, a department store designed by the firm of Future Systems, founded in 1979 by Jan Kaplický (1937–2009). The department store exterior is composed of undulating concrete in convex and concave forms, entirely covered with gleaming blue and white ceramic tiles.\n\nDesigner brand shops try make their logo visible and to set themselves apart from department stores. One notable example is the Louis Vuitton store in the Ginza district of Tokyo, with a new facade designed by Japanese studio of Jun Aoki and Associates with a patterned and perforated shell based on the brand's logo.\n\nAirports, railway stations and transport hubs\n\nBeijing Capital International Airport has been one of the fast-growing airports in the world. The new Terminal Three was designed by Norman Foster to handle the increased number of passengers coming for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The terminal is the second largest in the world, after the Dulles Airport terminal near Washington, DC, and in 2008 was the sixth largest building in the world. The flat-roofed building looks like part of the runway from above.\n\nThe World Trade Center Transportation Hub is a station constructed beneath fountain and plaza honoring the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks in 2001 in New York City, It was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and opened in 2016. The above-ground structure, called the Oculus, has been compared to a bird about to take flight, and leads passengers down to the train station below the plaza. Michael Kimmelman, the architecture critic of The New York Times praised the soaring upward view inside the Oculus, but condemned what he called the buildings cost (the most expensive railroad station ever built) \"scale, monotony of materials and color, preening formalism and disregard for the gritty urban fabric.\"\n\nBridges \n\nSeveral of the most prominent contemporary architects, including Norman Foster, Santiago Calatrava, Zaha Hadid, have turned their attention to designing bridges. One of the most remarkable examples of contemporary architecture and engineering is the Millau Viaduct in southern France, designed by architect Norman Foster and structural engineer Michel Virlogeux. The Millau Viaduct crosses the valley of the River Tarn and is part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Béziers and Montpellier. It was formally inaugurated on 14 December 2004. It is the tallest bridge in the world with one mast's summit at above the base of the structure.\n\nThe British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid constructed the Bridge Pavilion in Zaragoza. Spain for an international exposition there in 2008. The bridge, which also served as an exposition hall, is constructed of concrete reinforced with an external layer of fiberglass in different shades of gray. Since the event closed, the bridge has been used to host expositions and shows.\n\nSome smaller new bridges also offer simple but very innovative designs. The Gateshead Millennium Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, (2004) designed by Michel Virlogeux, to enable pedestrians and cyclists to cross the Tyne River, tilts to one side to permit boats to pass beneath.\n\nEco-architecture\n\nA growing tendency in the 21st century is eco-architecture, also termed sustainable architecture; buildings with features which conserve heat and energy, and sometimes produce their own energy through solar cells and windmills, and use solar heat to generate solar hot water. They also may be built with their own wastewater treatment and sometimes rainwater harvesting Some buildings integrate gardens green walls and green roofs into their structures. Other features of eco-architecture include the use of wood and recycled materials. There are several green building certification programs, the best-known of which is the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED rating, which measure the environmental impact of buildings.\n\nMany urban skyscrapers such as 30 Saint Mary Axe in London use a double skin of glass to conserve energy. The double skin and curved shape of the building creates differences in air pressure which help keep the building cooler in summer and warmer in winter, reducing the need for air conditioning.\n\nBedZED, designed by British architect Bill Dunster, is an entire community of eighty-two homes in Hackbridge, near London, built according to eco-architecture principles. Houses face south to take advantage of sunlight and have triple-glazed windows for insulation, a significant portion of the energy comes from solar panels, rainwater is collected and reused, and automobiles are discouraged. BedZED successfully reduced electricity usage by 45 percent and hot water usage by 81 percent of the borough average in 2010, though a successful system for producing heat by burning wood chips proved elusive and difficult.\n\nThe CaixaForum Madrid is a museum and cultural center in Paseo del Prado 36, Madrid, by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, built between 2001 and 2007, is an example of both green architecture and recycling. The main structure is an abandoned brick electric power station, with new floors constructed on top. The new floors are encased in oxidized cast iron, which has a rusty red color as the brick of the old power station below it. The building next to it features a green wall designed by French botanist Patrick Blanc. The red of the top floors contrast with the plants on the wall, while the green wall harmonizes with the botanical garden next door to the cultural center.\n\nUnusual materials are sometimes recycled for use in eco-architecture; they include denim from old blue jeans for insulation, and panels made from paper flakes, baked earth, flax, sisal, or coconut, and particularly fast-growing bamboo. Lumber and stone from demolished buildings are often reclaimed and reused for flooring, while hardware, windows and other details from older buildings are reused.\n\nTopics in contemporary architecture\n\nBlobitecture\nCritical Regionalism\nComplementary architecture\nComputer aided design\nConceptual architecture\nDigital architecture\nDigital morphogenesis\nDeconstructivism\nFuturist architecture\nHigh-tech architecture\nIndustrial chic\nModern architecture\nNeomodern architecture\nNeo-futurism\nNeohistorism\nNew Classical Architecture\nNew Urbanism\nNovelty architecture\nPostmodern architecture\nSustainable architecture\n\nSee also\n\nEuropean Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, biennial prize by the European Union\nDriehaus Architecture Prize, sometimes nicknamed the anti-Pritzker, established in 2003\nMathematics and architecture\nWorld Architecture Festival, annual awards for recently completed buildings\nWorld Architecture Survey, most important works since 1980 according to a survey of 52 architects and critics\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography and Further reading\n\nExternal links\n\nRndrd - a website documenting un-built 20th century architectural concept art\nArchArticulate a website documenting architectural project\n\nCategory:Architectural styles\nCategory:House styles\nArchitecture",
"title": "Contemporary architecture"
},
{
"text": "The World Architecture Survey was conducted in 2010 by Vanity Fair, to determine the most important works of contemporary architecture. 52 leading architects, teachers, and critics, including several Pritzker Prize winners and deans of major architecture schools were asked for their opinion.\n\nThe survey asked two questions:\nWhat are the five most important buildings, bridges, or monuments constructed since 1980?\nWhat is the greatest work of architecture thus far in the 21st century?\n\nWhile the range of responses was very broad, more than half of the experts surveyed named the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao by Frank Gehry as one of the most important works since 1980. The Beijing National Stadium (Bird’s Nest stadium) in Beijing by Herzog and de Meuron was the building most often cited, by seven respondents, as the most significant structure of the 21st century so far. Counted by architect, works by Frank Gehry received the most votes, followed by those of Rem Koolhaas. The result of the survey led Vanity Fair to label Gehry as \"the most important architect of our age\".\n\nResults\n\nMost important works since 1980\nThe respondents named a total of 132 different structures when asked to indicate the five most important buildings, monuments, and bridges completed since 1980. The top 21 were:\n Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (completed 1997) in Bilbao, Spain by Frank Gehry (28 votes)\n Menil Collection (1987) in Houston, Texas by Renzo Piano (10 votes)\n Thermal Baths of Vals (1996) in Vals, Switzerland by Peter Zumthor (9 votes)\n Hong Kong Shanghai Bank (HSBC) Building (1985) in Hong Kong by Norman Foster (7 votes)\n Tied (6 votes):\nSeattle Central Library (2004) in Seattle by Rem Koolhaas \nSendai Mediatheque (2001) in Sendai, Japan by Toyo Ito\nNeue Staatsgalerie (1984) in Stuttgart, Germany by James Stirling\nChurch of the Light (1989) in Osaka, Japan by Tadao Ando\n Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1982) in Washington, D.C. by Maya Lin (5 votes)\n Tied (4 votes):\nMillau Viaduct (2004) in France by Norman Foster\nJewish Museum, Berlin (1998) in Berlin by Daniel Libeskind\n Tied (3 votes):\nLloyd’s Building (1984) in London by Richard Rogers\nBeijing National Stadium (2008) in Beijing by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron\nCCTV Building (under construction ) in Beijing by Rem Koolhaas\nCasa da Musica (2005) in Porto, Portugal by Rem Koolhaas\nCartier Foundation (1994) in Paris by Jean Nouvel\nBMW Welt (2007) in Munich by COOP Himmelblau\nAddition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum (2007) in Kansas City, Missouri by Steven Holl\nCooper Union building (2009) in New York by Thom Mayne\nParc de la Villette (1984) in Paris by Bernard Tschumi\nYokohama International Passenger Terminal (2002) at Ōsanbashi Pier in Yokohama, Japan by Foreign Office Architects\nSaint-Pierre church, Firminy (2006) in Firminy, France by Le Corbusier (2 votes)\n\nMost significant work of the 21st century\nThe buildings most often named as the greatest work of architecture thus far in the 21st century were:\nBeijing National Stadium by Herzog and de Meuron (7 votes)\nSaint-Pierre, Firminy by Le Corbusier (4 votes)\nSeattle Central Library by Rem Koolhaas (3 votes)\nCCTV Headquarters by Rem Koolhaas (2 votes)\n Tied with one vote each: Sendai Mediatheque (Toyo Ito), Millau Viaduct (Norman Foster), Casa da Musica (Rem Koolhaas), Cartier Foundation (Jean Nouvel), BMW Welt (COOP Himmelblau)\n\nCriticism\nWriting for the Chicago Tribune, Blair Kamin criticized the \"self-aggrandizing\" survey for not including any green buildings. In response, Lance Hosey of Architect magazine conducted an alternate survey of leading green building experts and found that no buildings appeared on both lists, suggesting that standards of \"good design\" and \"green design\" are misaligned. Commentators also noted that several of the architects surveyed (but not Gehry) \"perhaps took the magazine’s title a little too seriously\" and voted for their own buildings.\n\nParticipants\nThe following people replied to the survey:\n\n Stan Allen\n Tadao Ando\n George Baird\n Deborah Berke\n David Chipperfield\n Neil Denari\n Hank Dittmar\n Roger Duffy\n Peter Eisenman\n Martin Filler\n Norman Foster\n Kenneth B. Frampton\n Frank Gehry\n\n Richard Gluckman\n Paul Goldberger\n Michael Graves\n Zaha Hadid\n Hugh Hardy\n Steven Holl\n Hans Hollein\n Michael Holzer\n Michael Jemtrud\n Charles Jencks\n Leon Krier\n Daniel Libeskind\n Thom Mayne\n\n Richard Meier\n José Rafael Moneo\n Eric Owen Moss\n Mohsen Mostafavi\n Victoria Newhouse\n Jean Nouvel\n Richard Olcott\n John Pawson\n Cesar Pelli\n James Stewart Polshek\n Christian de Portzamparc\n Antoine Predock\n Wolf D. Prix\n\n Jaquelin T. Robertson\n Richard Rogers\n Joseph Rykwert\n Ricardo Scofidio\n Annabelle Selldorf\n Robert Siegel\n John Silber\n Brett Steele\n Bernard Tschumi\n Ben van Berkel\n Anthony Vidler\n Rafael Viñoly\n Tod Williams and Billie Tsien\n\nSee also\n Architectural icon\n\nReferences\n\nCategory:Architecture lists\nCategory:Vanity Fair (magazine)\nCategory:2010",
"title": "World Architecture Survey"
},
{
"text": "The following is a list of notable architects – well-known individuals with a large body of published work or notable structures, which point to an article in the English Wikipedia.\n\nEarly architects\n\nAa (Middle Kingdom), Egyptian\nAmenhotep, son of Hapu (14th c. BC), Egyptian\nAnthemius of Tralles (c. 474 – 533–558), Greek\nApollodorus of Damascus (2nd c. AD), Damascus\nAristobulus of Cassandreia (c. 375 – 301 BC), Greek\nCallicrates (mid-5th c. BC), Greek\nHermodorus of Salamis (fl. 146–102 BC), Cypriot\nHippodamus of Miletus (498–408 BC), Greek\nIctinus (fl. mid-5th c. BC), Greek\nImhotep (fl. late 27th c. BC), Egyptian\nIneni (18th Dynasty of Egypt), Egyptian\nIsidore of Miletus (6th c. AD), Byzantine Greek\nMarcus Agrippa (63–12 BC), Roman\nMnesicles (mid-5th c. BC), Athenian\nRabirius (1st–2nd cc. AD), Roman\nSenemut (18th Dynasty of Egypt), Egyptian\nVitruvius (c. 80–70 BC – post–15 BC), Roman\nYu Hao (喻皓, fl 970), Chinese\n\nNarasimhavarman II (695-729 CE), South India\nPerumthachan(9th c.AD), South India\n\n12th-century architects\n\nAbbot Suger (c. 1081–1151), French\nWilliam the Englishman (1174 – c. 1214), English\nWilliam of Sens (died 1180), French\n\n13th-century architects\n\nArnolfo di Cambio (c. 1240–1300/1310), Italian\nVillard de Honnecourt (fl. 13th c.), French\nRobert de Luzarches (fl. late 12th – early 13th c.), French\nJean d'Orbais (c. 1175–1231), French\nRadovan (fl. 13th c.), Croatian\n\n14th-century architects\n\nFilippo Calendario (died 1355), Venetian\nJacopo Celega (died pre–1386), Italian\nTaddeo Gaddi (c. 1290–1366), Florentine\nGiotto di Bondone (c. 1267–1337), Florentine\nAnđeo Lovrov Zadranin (fl. mid–14th c.), Croatian\nJuraj Lovrov Zadranin (fl. 14th c.), Croatian\nHeinrich Parler (c. 1310–1371), German\nJohann Parler (c. 1359–1405/6), Bohemian\nPeter Parler (c. 1333–1399), Bohemian\nWenzel Parler (c. 1360–1404), Bohemian\n\n15th-century architects\n\nLeon Battista Alberti (1404–1472), Italian\nAndrea Alessi (1425–1505), Dalmatian\nMarko Andrijić (c. 1470 – post-1507), Dalmatian\nDonato Bramante (1444–1514), Italian\nFilippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446), Italian\nMauro Codussi (1440–1504), Italian/Venetian\nAristotele Fioravanti (c. 1415 or 1420 – c. 1486), Italian/Russian \nNiccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino (1418–1506), Italian/Dalmatian\nJuan Guas (c. 1430/1433 – c. 1496), Spanish\nLuciano Laurana (c. 1420–1479), Venetian\nAnnibale Maggi detto Da Bassano (fl. 1490s), Venetian\nPaskoje Miličević (c. 1440–1516), Croatian\nMichelozzo Michelozzi (1396–1472), Italian\nBernardo Rossellino (1409–1464), Italian\nGiorgio da Sebenico (c. 1410–1473), Venetian\nJacob van Thienen (fl. early 15th c.), Flemish\nLeonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian\n\n16th-century architects\n\nAntonio Abbondi (fl. early 16th c.), Italian\nGaleazzo Alessi (1512–1572), Italian\nBartolomeo Ammanati (1511–1592), Italian\n Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), Italian\nGirolamo Cassar (c. 1520 – c. 1592), Maltese\nVittorio Cassar (c. 1550 – c. 1609), Maltese\nGuglielmo dei Grigi (1485–1550), Italian\nNikolaus Gromann (1500–1566), German\nJuan de Herrera (1530–1597), Spanish\nAdam Kraft (1460–1509), German\nFrancesco Laparelli (1521–1570), Italian\nPirro Ligorio (1512–1583), Italian\nPhilibert de l'Orme (1514–1570), French\nGiovanni Magenta (1565–1635), Italian\nHans Hendrik van Paesschen (c. 1510–1582), Flemish\nAndrea Palladio (1508–1580), Italian\nAntonio da Sangallo the Elder (c. 1453–1534), Italian\nAntonio da Sangallo the Younger (1484–1546), Italian\nMichele Sammicheli (1484–1559), Venetian\nRaffaello Santi (Raphael) (1483–1520), Italian\nVincenzo Scamozzi (1548–1616), Italian\nSebastiano Serlio (1475–1554), Italian\nKoca Mimar Sinan Agha (1489–1588), Ottoman Armenian\nFriedrich Sustris (1540–1599), Italian/Dutch\nLambert Sustris (1518–1584), Dutch\nPellegrino Tibaldi (1527–1596), Italian\nGiorgio Vasari (1511–1574), Italian\nGiacomo Barozzi da Vignola (1507–1573), Italian\nPostnik Yakovlev (fl. mid-16th c.), Russian\n\n17th-century architects\n\nGian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680), Italian\nFrancesco Borromini (1599–1667), Italian\nUstad Ahmad Lahauri (fl. 17th c.), Indian\nJacob van Campen (1596–1657), Dutch\nPietro da Cortona (1596 or 1597–1669), Italian\nJan Zygmunt Deybel (c. 1685–1752), German\nJohann Dientzenhofer (1663–1726), German\nLeonhard Dientzenhofer (1660–1707), German\nTumas Dingli (1591–1666), Maltese\nLéopold Durand (1666–1746), French\nPietro Paolo Floriani (1585–1638), Italian\nLorenzo Gafà (1639–1703), Maltese\nGuarino Guarini (1624–1683), Italian\nJules Hardouin-Mansart (1646–1708), French\nElias Holl (1573–1646), German\nInigo Jones (1573–1652), English\nLouis Le Vau (1612–1670), French\nBaldassarre Longhena (1598–1682), Italian\nCarlo Maderno (1556–1629), Italian\nFrançois Mansart (1598–1666), French\nJohann Arnold Nering (c.1659?–1695), German\nFrancesco Antonio Picchiatti (1619–1694), Italian\nMatthäus Daniel Pöppelmann (1662–1736), German\nCarlo Rainaldi (1611–1691), Italian\nAndreas Schlüter (c.1659–1714), German\nNicodemus Tessin the Younger (1654–1728), Swedish\nJohn Webb (1611–1672), English\nElizabeth Mytton Wilbraham (1632–1705), English\nChristopher Wren (1632–1723), English\n\n18th-century architects\n\nRobert Adam (1728–1792), Scottish\nWilliam Adam (1689–1748), Scottish\nCosmas Damian Asam (1686–1739), German\nEgid Quirin Asam (1692–1750), German\nJoseph Bonomi the Elder (1739–1808), Italian\nÉtienne-Louis Boullée (1728–1799)\nWilliam Buckland (1734–1774), English/American\nColen Campbell (1676–1729), Scottish\nJohn Carr of York (1723–1807), English\nRichard Cassels (1690–1751), German\nWilliam Chambers (1723–1796), Swedish/Scottish\nFrançois de Cuvilliés (1695–1768), Netherlandish/German\nChristoph Dientzenhofer (1655–1722), German\nKilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer (1689–1751), German\nLaurent-Benoît Dewez (1731–1812), Netherlandish\nJohn Douglas (c. 1709–1788), Scottish\nNicolai Eigtved (1701–1754), Danish\nJohann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656–1723), Austrian\nJohann Michael Fischer (1692–1766), German\nPierre François Léonard Fontaine (1762–1853), French\nAnge-Jacques Gabriel (1698–1782), French\nAlessandro Galilei (1691–1737), Italian\nJohn Gwynn (1713–1786), English\nAbraham Hargrave (1755–1808), English/Irish\nPeter Harrison (1716–1775), American\nNicholas Hawksmoor (1661–1736), English\nJohann Lukas von Hildebrandt (1668–1745), Austrian\nJames Hoban (1755–1831), Irish/American\nJohn Hutchison, Scottish\nThomas Ivory (1709–1779), English\nNicolas-Henri Jardin (1720–1799), French (in Denmark)\nThomas Jefferson (1743–1826), American\nRichard Jupp (1728–1799), English\nFilippo Juvarra (1678–1736), Italian\nWilliam Kent (1685–1748), English\nBenjamin Latrobe (1764–1820), English/American\nClaude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736–1806), French\nGiacomo Leoni (1686–1746), Italian\nJoseph Christian Lillie (1760–1827), Danish\nJohann Friedrich Ludwig (João Frederico Ludovice) (1673–1752), German\nGiorgio Massari (1687–1766), Italian\nJosef Munggenast (1680–1741), Austrian\nRobert Mylne (1733–1811), Scottish\nIvan Fyodorovich Michurin (1700–1763), Russian\nBalthasar Neumann (c. 1687–1733), German\nMateus Vicente de Oliveira (1706–86), Portuguese\nGiovanni Paolo Pannini (1691–1765), Italian\nEdward Lovett Pearce (1699–1733), Irish\nCharles Percier (1764–1838), French\nGiuseppe Piermarini (1734–1808), Italian\nPaolo Posi (1708–1776), Italian\nJakob Prandtauer (1660–1726), Austrian\nGiacomo Quarenghi (1744–1817), Italian/Russian\nJoseph-Jacques Ramée (1764–1842), Italian\nBartolomeo Rastrelli (1700–1771), Italian/Russian\nCharles Ribart (fl. 1776–1783), French\nAntonio Rinaldi (c. 1710–1794), Italian\nNicola Salvi (1697–1751), Italian\nThomas Sandby (1721–1798), English\nJan Blažej Santini-Aichel (1677–1723), Austrian/Czech\nMichael Searles (1750–1813), English\nJacques-Germain Soufflot (1713–1780), French\nManuel Caetano de Sousa (1738–1802), Portuguese\nWilliam Thornton (1759–1828), English/American\nLauritz de Thurah (1706–1759), Danish\nMary Townley (1753–1839), English\nDomenico Trezzini (1670–1734), Swiss/Italian\nJohn Vanbrugh (1664–1726), English\nLuigi Vanvitelli (1700–1773), Italian\nBernardo Vittone (1704–1770), Italian\nJohn Wood, the Elder (1704–1754), English\nJohn Wood, the Younger (1728–1782), English\nJames Wyatt (1746–1813), English\nDominikus Zimmermann (1685–1766), German\n\n19th-century architects\n\nA–M\n\nDankmar Adler (1844–1900), American\nFrank Shaver Allen (1860–1934), American\nHenry Austin (1804–1891), American\nAlphonse Balat (1819–1895), Belgian\nWilliam Swinden Barber (1832–1908), English\nSir Charles Barry (1795–1860), English\nCharles Barry, Jr. (1823–1900), English\nEdward Middleton Barry (1830–1880), English\nFrédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834–1904), French\nCarlo Bassi (1807–1856), Italian\nAsher Benjamin (1773–1845), American\nHendrik Beyaert (1823–1894), Belgian\nCharles Bickel (1852–1921), American\nJoseph Blick (1867–1947), American\nEdward Blore (1787–1879), English\nCamillo Boito (1836–1914), Italian\nIgnatius Bonomi (1787–1870), English\nFerdinando Bonsignore (1760–1843), Italian\nR. Newton Brezee (1851–1929), American\nGridley James Fox Bryant (1816–1899), American\nDavid Bryce (1803–1876), Scottish\nAleksandar Bugarski (1835–1891), Serbian\nCharles Bulfinch (1763–1844), American\nWilliam Burges (1827–1881), English\nWilliam Burn (1789–1870), Scottish\nDecimus Burton (1800–1881), English\nJ. Cleaveland Cady (1837–1919), American\nCarrère and Hastings (1885–1929), American\nCesar Castellani (died 1905), Maltese\nBasil Champneys (1842–1935), English\nEdward Clark (1822–1902), American\nAdolf Cluss (1825–1905), American\nS. N. Cooke (1882–1964), English\nLewis Cubitt (1799–1883), English\nThomas Cubitt (1788–1855), English\nPierre Cuypers (1827–1921), Dutch\nAlexander Jackson Davis (1803–1892), American\nGeorge Devey (1820–1886), English\nJohn Dobson (1787–1865), English\nThomas Leverton Donaldson (1795–1885), English\nHenry Engelbert (1826–1901), American\nKolyu Ficheto (1800–1881), Bulgarian\nGeorge A. Frederick (1842–1924), American\nWatson Fothergill (1841–1928), English\nJames Fowler (1828–1892), English\nThomas Fuller (1823–1898), Canadian\nFrank Furness (1839–1912), American\nCharles Garnier (1825–1898), French\nFriedrich von Gärtner (1791–1847), German\nEdward William Godwin (1833–1886), English\nGeorge Enoch Grayson (1833–1912), English\nSamuel Hannaford (1835–1911), American\nTheophil Hansen (1813–1891), Danish/Austrian\nPhilip Hardwick (1792–1870), English\nPhilip Charles Hardwick (1822–1892), English\nWilliam Alexander Harvey (1874–1951), English\nThomas Hastings (1860–1929), American\nVictor Horta (1861–1947), Belgian\nArpan Shah (1975), Indian\nWilliam Hosking FSA (1800–1861), English\nHeinrich Hübsch (1795–1863), German\nSamuel Huckel (1858–1917), American\nRichard Hunt (1827–1895), American\nBenno Janssen (1874–1964), American\nGiuseppe Jappelli (1783–1852), Italian\nWilliam LeBaron Jenney (1832–1907), American\nSir Horace Jones (1819–1887), English\nEmilijan Josimović (1823–1897), Serbian\nAbdallah Khan (fl. 1810–1850), Persian\nLeo von Klenze (1784–1864), German\nJohn A. B. Koch (1845–1928), Australian\nHenri Labrouste (1801–1875), French\nBarthelemy Lafon (1769–1820), American\nRichard Lane (1795–1880), English\nBenjamin Henry Latrobe (1764–1820), American\nRobert Lawson (1833–1902), New Zealander\nCharles F. Lembke (1865–1925), American\nJoseph Christian Lillie (1760–1827), Danish\nAlexander Wadsworth Longfellow, Jr. (1854–1934), American\nSara Losh (1785–1853), English\nRichard Lucae (1829–1879), German\nCharles-François Mandar (1757–1844), French\nCharles Follen McKim (1847–1909), American\nSamuel McIntire (1757–1811), American\nEnrico Marconi (1792–1863), Italian\nLeandro Marconi (1834–1919), Polish\nOskar Marmorek (1863–1909), Austro-Hungarian\nFrederick Marrable (1819–1872), English\nRobert Mills (1781–1855), American\nJosef Mocker (1835–1899), Bohemian\nAuguste de Montferrand (1786–1858), French\nJulia Morgan (1872–1957), American\nWilliam Morris (1834–1906), English\nAlfred B. Mullett (1834–1890), American\n\nN–Z\n\nJohn Nash (1752–1835), English\nAtanasije Nikolić (1803–1882), Serbian\nJoseph Maria Olbrich (1867–1908), Austrian\nFrederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903), American\nFrederick J. Osterling (1865–1934), American\nEdward Graham Paley (1823–1895), English\nAlexander Parris (1780–1852), American\nJoseph Paxton (1803–1865), English\nJohn Wornham Penfold (1828–1909), English\nSir James Pennethorne, English\nFrancis Penrose (1817–1903), English\nFriedrich Ludwig Persius (1803–1845), German\nFrancis Petre (1847–1918), New Zealand\nAlbert Pretzinger (b. 1863, death date unknown), American\nWill Price (1855–1916), American\nAugustus Pugin (1812–1852), English\nE. W. Pugin (1834–1875), English\nPeter Paul Pugin (1851–1904), English\nJoseph-Jacques Ramée (1764–1842), French\nCharles Reed (1814–1859), English\nCharles Reeves (1815–1866), English\nJames Renwick, Jr. (1818–1895), American\nHenry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886), American\nThomas Rickman (1776–1841), English\nEduard Riedel (1813–1885), German\nAntonio Rivas Mercado (1853–1927), Mexican\nRobert S. Roeschlaub (1843–1923), American\nIsaiah Rogers (1800–1869), American\nJohn Root (1850–1891), American\nCarlo Rossi (1775–1849), Italian/Russian\nArchimedes Russell (1840–1915), American\nOctave van Rysselberghe (1855–1929), Belgian\nJohn Holloway Sanders (1825–1884), English\nFrederick C. Sauer (1860–1942), German/American\nGeorge Gilbert Scott (1811–1878), English\nGeorge Gilbert Scott Jr. (1839–1897), English\nKarl Friedrich Schinkel (1781–1841), German\nGottfried Semper (1803–1879), German\nEdmund Sharpe (1809–1877), English\nJoseph Lyman Silsbee (1848–1913), American\nJacob Snyder (1823–1890), American\nJohn Soane (1848–1913), American\nAugust Soller (1805–1853), German \nVasily P. Stasov (1769–1848), Russian\nJ. J. Stevenson (1831–1908), Scottish\nHeinrich Strack (1805–1880), German\nGeorge Edmund Street (1824–1881), English\nWilliam Strickland (1788–1854), American\nFriedrich August Stüler (1800–1865), German\nLouis Sullivan (1856–1924), American\nHenry Tanner (1849–1935), English\nThomas Alexander Tefft (1826–1859), American\nThomas Telford (1757–1834), Scottish\nSamuel Sanders Teulon (1812–1873), English\nConstantine Andreyevich Ton (1794–1881), Russian\nClair Tisseur (1827–1896), French\nIthiel Town (1784–1844), American\nSilvanus Trevail (1851–1903), English\nWilliam Tubby (1858–1944), American\nRichard Upjohn (1802–1878), English/American\nCalvert Vaux (1824–1925), English/American\nEugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879), French\nOtto Wagner (1841–1918), Austrian\nThomas U. Walter (1804–1887), American\nAlfred Waterhouse (1830–1905), English\nGeorge Webster (1797–1864), English\nJohn Dodsley Webster (1840–1913), English\nStanford White (1853–1906), American\nWilliam Wilkins (1778–1839), English\nFrederick Clarke Withers (1828–1901), English/American \nWilliam Halsey Wood (1855–1897), American\nThomas Worthington (1826–1909), English\nThomas Henry Wyatt (1807–1880), Irish/English\nEdward Alexander Wyon (1842–1872), English\nAmmi B. Young (1798–1874), American\nNikola Živković (1792–1870), Serbian\n\n20th-century architects\n\nA–C\n\nAlvar Aalto (1898–1976), Finland\nMax Abramovitz (1908–2004), US\nDavid Adler (1882–1949), US\nGerard Pieter Adolfs (1898–1968), Dutch East Indies\nCharles N. Agree (1897–1982), Detroit, Michigan, US\nWalter W. Ahlschlager (1887–1965), US\nFranco Albini (1905–1977), Italy\nChristopher Alexander (born 1936), Austria\nTadao Ando (born 1941), Japan\nPaul Andreu (1938–2018), France\nEdmund Anscombe (1874–1948), New Zealand\nMilan Antonović (1850–1929)\nSiah Armajani (1939–2020), Iran\nRaul de Armas (born 1941), Cuba\nJoão Batista Vilanova Artigas (1915–1985), Brazil\nHisham N. Ashkouri (born 1948), US\nCharles Herbert Aslin (1893–1959), UK\nGunnar Asplund (1885–1940), Sweden\nIan Athfield (1940–2015), New Zealand\nFritz Auer (born 1933), Germany\nGae Aulenti (1927–2012), Italy\nCarlo Aymonino (1926–2010), Italy\nRafiq Azam, Bangladesh\nLaurie Baker (1917–2007), UK/India\nSixto Durán Ballén (1921–2016), US\nLina Bo Bardi (1914–1992), Italy/Brazil\nEdward Larrabee Barnes (1915–2004), US\nHoward R. Barr (1910–2002), US\nLuis Barragán (1902–1988), Mexico\nFred Bassetti (1917–2013), US\nGarry Baverstock (born 1949), Australia\nGeoffrey Bawa (1919–2003), Sri Lanka\nIsobel Hogg Kerr Beattie (1900–1970), UK\nWelton Becket (1902–1969), US\nClaud Beelman (1883–1963), US\nAdolf Behne (1885–1948), Germany\nPeter Behrens (1868–1940), Germany\nPietro Belluschi (1899–1994), US\nHendrik Petrus Berlage (1856–1934), Netherlands\nMordechai Benshemesh (1911–1993), Australia\nAntonio Bilbao La Vieja (1892–1980), Argentina\nTitus de Bobula (1878–1961)\nRicardo Bofill (born 1939), Spain\nOriol Bohigas (born 1925), Spain\nGottfried Böhm (1920–2021), Germany\nJ. Max Bond, Jr. (1935–2009), US\nDariush Borbor (born 1934), Iran\nMario Botta (born 1943), Switzerland\nClaude Fayette Bragdon (1866–1946), US\nC.A. \"Peter\" Bransgrove (1914–1966), Tanganyika/Tanzania\nMarcel Breuer (1902–1981), Hungary\nHalldóra Briem (1913–1993), Iceland\nGordon Bunshaft (1909–1990), US\nJohn Burgee (born 1933), US\nDaniel Burnham (1846–1912), US\nSantiago Calatrava (born 1951), Spain\nPeter Calthorpe (born 1949), US\nAlberto Campo Baeza (born 1946), Spain\nSir Hugh Casson (1910–1999), UK\nJames Chapman-Taylor (1958–1978), UK/New Zealand\nEthel Charles (1871–1962), UK\nJorge Ferreira Chaves (1920–1982), Portugal\nAnn R. Chaintreuil (born 1947), United States\nSerge Chermayeff (1900–1996), Chechnya/UK\nDavid Chipperfield (born 1953), UK\nWells Coates (1895–1958), UK/Canada\nJosep Antoni Coderch (1913–1984), Spain\nCharles A. Cofield (born -), US\nColeman Coker (born 1951), US\nMary Colter (1869–1958), US\nPeter Cook (born 1936), UK\nIsadore (Issie) Coop (1926–2003), Canada \nLe Corbusier (1887–1965), Switzerland/France\nErnest Cormier (1885–1980), Canada\nCharles Correa (1930–2015), India\nLúcio Costa (1902–1998), Brazil\nRalph Adams Cram (1863–1942), US\nCharles Howard Crane (1885–1952), US\nPaul Philippe Cret (1876–1945), France, US\nLouis Curtiss (1865–1924), US\nKirtland Cutter (1860–1939), US\n\nD–G\n\nJustus Dahinden (1925–2020), Switzerland\nKarl Damschen (born 1942), Germany\nRaimondo Tommaso D'Aronco (1857–1932), Italy\nMiša David (1942–2000), Yugoslavia\nGiancarlo De Carlo (1919–2005), Italy\nFrederic Joseph DeLongchamps (1882–1969), US\nFrançois Deslaugiers (1934–2009), France\nJack Diamond (born 1932), South Africa/Canada\nFilipe Oliveira Dias (1963–2014), Portugal\nTheo van Doesburg (1883–1931), Netherlands\nB. V. Doshi (born 1927), India\nAlden B. Dow (1904–1983), US\nJane Drew (1911–1996), UK\nAndrés Duany (born 1949), US\nMax Dudler (born 1949), Switzerland/Germany\nMichael Middleton Dwyer (born 1954), US\nWillem Marinus Dudok (1884–1974), Netherlands\nArthur Dyson (born 1940), US\nH. Kempton Dyson (1880–1944), UK\nCharles Eames (1907–1978), US\nRay Eames (1912–1988), US\nJohn Eberson (1875–1964), Romania/USA\nPeter Eisenman (born 1932), US\nGeorge Grant Elmslie (1869–1952), US\nRichard England (born 1937), Malta\nArthur Erickson (1924–2009), Canada\nRaymond Erith (1904–1973), US\nAldo van Eyck (1918–1999), Netherlands\nHassan Fathy (1900–1989), Egypt\nSverre Fehn (1924–2009), Norway\nArthur Fehr (1904–1969), US\nHermann Finsterlin (1887–1973), Germany\nTheodor Fischer (1862–1938), Germany\nHarold H. Fisher (1901–2005), US\nKay Fisker (1893–1965), Denmark\nO'Neil Ford (1905–1982), US\nMohammad Foyez Ullah (born 1967), Bangladesh\nNorman Foster (born 1935), UK\nYona Friedman (1923–2020), Hungary/France\nMaxwell Fry (1899–1987), UK\nBuckminster Fuller (1895–1983), US\nIgnazio Gardella (1905–1999), Italy\nAntoni Gaudí (1852–1926), Spain\nGiuli Gegelia (born 1942), Georgia\nFrank Gehry (born 1929), Canada/USA\nHaralamb H. Georgescu (1908–1977), Romania/USA\nHeydar Ghiai (1922–1985), Iran\nCass Gilbert (1859–1934), US\nMoisei Ginzburg (1892–1946), Belarus/USSR\nRomaldo Giurgola (1920–2016), Italy/USA/Australia\nHansjörg Göritz (born 1959), Germany\nBruce Goff (1904–1982), US\nErnő Goldfinger (1902–1987), Hungary/UK\nTeodoro Gonzalez de Leon (1926–2016), Mexico\nBertram Goodhue (1869–1924), US\nFerdinand Gottlieb (1919–2007), Germany/USA\nNoemí Goytia (born 1936), Argentina\nGiorgio Grassi (born 1935), Italy\nMichael Graves (1934–2015), US\nCharles Sumner Greene (1868–1957), US \nHenry Mather Greene (1870–1954), US\nJules Gregory (1920–1985), US\nVittorio Gregotti (1927–2020), Italy\nWalter Burley Griffin (1876–1937), US\nSir Nicholas Grimshaw (born 1939), UK\nWalter Gropius (1883–1969), Germany\nVictor Gruen (1903–1980), Austria\nHector Guimard (1867–1942), France\n\nH–K\n\nCharles Haertling (1928–1984), US \nWilliam John Hale (1862–1929), UK\nRobert Bell Hamilton (1892–1948), Australia\nHalfdan M. Hanson (1884–1952), US\nBashirul Haq (1942–2020), Bangladesh\nHugo Häring (1882–1958), Germany\nDavid M. Harper (born 1953), US\nWallace Harrison (1895–1981), US\nFrancis R. Heakes (1858–1930), Canada\nJohn Hejduk (1929–2000), US\nHerman Hertzberger (born 1932), Netherlands\nHeinz Hess (1922–1992), Germany\nFernando Higueras (1930–2008), Spain\nLudwig Hilberseimer (1885–1967), German\nHerbert Hirche (1910–2002), Germany\nHarold Frank Hoar (1907–1976), UK\nFlorence Fulton Hobson (1881–1978), Ireland\nCharles Holden (1875–1960), UK\nHans Hollein (1934–2014), Austria\nRaymond Hood (1881–1934), US\nSir Michael Hopkins (born 1935), UK, 1994 RIBA Gold Medal winner\nVictor Horta (1861–1947), Belgium\nEdith Hughes (1888–1971), UK\nA. R. Hye (1919–2008), Pakistan\nFriedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000), Austria\nWilbur R. Ingalls, Jr. (1923–1997), US\nMuzharul Islam (1923–2012), Bangladesh\nArata Isozaki (born 1931), Japan\nArne Jacobsen (1902–1971), Denmark\nHugh Newell Jacobsen (born 1929), US\nHelmut Jahn (1940–2021), Germany/US\nPeter Janesch (born 1953), Hungary\nBenno Janssen (1874–1964), US\nPierre Jeanneret (1896–1967), Switzerland\nPeder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint (1853–1930), Denmark\nJon Jerde (1940–2015), US\nPhilip Johnson (1906–2005), US\nClarence H. Johnston, Sr. (1859–1936), US\nE. Fay Jones (1921–2004), US\nJosep Maria Jujol (1879–1949), Spain\nRyszard Jurkowski (born 1945), Poland\nAlbert Kahn (1869–1942), US\nFazlur Rahman Khan (1929–1982), Bangladesh\nLouis Kahn (1901/1902–1974), US\nMaxwell M. Kalman (1906–2009), Canada\nMariam Kamara (born 1979), Niger\nLouis Kamper (1861–1953), US\nJan Kaplický (1937–2009), Czech/UK\nKatayama Tōkuma (1854–1917), Japan\nOskar Kaufmann (1873–1956), Hungary\nKendrick Bangs Kellogg (born 1934), US\nRaymond M. Kennedy (1891–1976), US\nHugh T. Keyes (1888–1963), US\nNader Khalili (1936–2008), US\nEdward Killingsworth (1917–2004), US\nCharles Klauder (1872–1938), US\nGeorge Klenzendorff (1883–?), US\nMichel de Klerk (1884–1923), Netherlands\nRalph Knott (1878–1929), UK\nAustin Eldon Knowlton (1909–2003), US\nCarl Koch (1912–1998), US\nHans Kollhoff (born 1946), Germany\nMusa Konsulova (1921-2019), USSR, Ukraine\nRem Koolhaas (born 1944), Netherlands\nKároly Kós (1883–1977), Hungary\nJohannes Krahn (1908–1974), Germany\nPiet Kramer (1881–1961), Netherlands\nLéon Krier (born 1946), Luxembourg\nKisho Kurokawa (1934–2007), Japan\nEdgar-Johan Kuusik (1888–1974), Estonia\nIvan Sergeyevich Kuznetsov (1867–1942), Russia\n\nL–M\n\nThomas W. Lamb (1871–1942), US\nG. Albert Lansburgh (1876–1969), US\nEve Laron OAM (1931–2009), Australia\nHenning Larsen (1925–2013), Denmark\nSir Denys Lasdun (1914–2001), UK\nVilhelm Lauritzen (1894–1984), Denmark\nJohn Lautner (1911–1994), US\nRicardo Legorreta (1931–2011), Mexico\nWilliam Lescaze (1896–1969), US\nJan Letzel (1880–1925), Czechoslovakia\nAmanda Levete (born 1955), UK\nSigurd Lewerentz (1885–1975), Sweden\nLiang Sicheng (1901–1972), China\nAdalberto Libera (1903–1963), Italy\nDaniel Libeskind (born 1946), Poland/USA\nJoão Filgueiras Lima (1931–2014), Brazil\nMaya Lin (born 1959), US\nEl Lissitzky (1890–1941), Russia\nGordon W. Lloyd (1832–1905), US\nLeandro Locsin (1928–1994), Philippines\nElmar Lohk (1901–1963), Estonia\nAdolf Loos (1870–1933), Austria/Czechoslovakia\nBerthold Lubetkin (1901–1990), UK/USSR\nBill Lucas (1924–2001), Australia\nHans Luckhardt (1890–1954), Germany\nWassili Luckhardt (1889–1972), Germany\nOwen Luder (born 1928), UK\nEdwin Lutyens (1869–1944), UK\nIvar Lykke (born 1941), Norway\nGeorge Washington Maher (1864–1926), US\nFumihiko Maki (born 1928), Japan\nCharles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928), UK\nImre Makovecz (1935–2011), Hungary\nRobert Mallet-Stevens (1886–1945), France\nAngelo Mangiarotti (1921–2012), Italy\nGeorge R. Mann (1856–1939), US\nRobert Matthew (1906–1975), UK\nGeorge D. Mason (1856–1948), US\nEdward Maufe (1883–1974), UK\nBernard Maybeck (1862–1957), US\nWayne McAllister (1907–2000), US\nRaymond McGrath (1903–1977), UK/Ireland\nRoy Mason (1938–1996), US\nFrançois Massau, Belgium \nRichard Meier (born 1934), US\nKonstantin Melnikov (1890–1974), USSR\nErich Mendelsohn (1887–1953), Germany\nPaulo Mendes da Rocha (1928–2021), Brazil\nHenry Mercer (1856–1930), US\nGeoffrey Harley Mewton (1905–1998), Australia\nJohan van der Mey (1878–1949), Netherlands\nHannes Meyer (1889–1954), Switzerland\nGiovanni Michelucci (1891–1990), Italy\nLudwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969), Germany/USA\nAndrés Mignucci (born 1957), Puerto Rico\nVlado Milunić (born 1941), Czech Republic\nJames Rupert Miller (1869–1946), US\nDom Mintoff (1916–2012), Malta\nF. A. Minuth, American, New York City\nHadi Mirmiran (1945–2006), Iran\nEnric Miralles (1955–2000), Spain\nAntonio Miró Montilla (born 1937), Puerto Rico\nSamuel Mockbee (1944–2001)\nErik Møller (1909–2002)\nRafael Moneo (born 1937), Spain\nRoger Montgomery (1925–2003), US\nAdolfo Moran (born 1953), Spain\nRiccardo Morandi (1902–1989), Italy\nLuigi Moretti (1907–1973), Italy\nArthur Cotton Moore (born 1935), US\nCharles Willard Moore (1925–1993), US\nLester S. Moore (1871–1924), US\nJulia Morgan (1872–1957), US\nRaymond Moriyama (born 1929), Canada\nEric Owen Moss (born 1943), US\nMichel Mossessian (born 1959), France/UK\nFrederick Augustus Muhlenberg (1887–1980), US\nGlenn Murcutt (born 1936), Australia\nC. F. Møller (1898–1988), Denmark\nBarton Myers (born 1934), Canada\n\nN–R\n\nRobert Natus (1890–1950)\nPier Luigi Nervi (1891–1979), Italy\nPeter Newell (1916–2010), Australia\nRichard Neutra (1892–1970)\nNgo Viet Thu (1926–2000), Vietnam\nOscar Niemeyer (1907–2012)\nEnamul Karim Nirjhar (born 1962), Bangladesh\nOscar Nitzchke (1900–1991)\nPercy Erskine Nobbs (1875–1964)\nSamuel Tilden Norton (1877–1959)\nEllice Nosworthy (1897–1972), Australia\nJean Nouvel (born 1945)\nMartin Nyrop (1849–1921), Denmark\nGyo Obata (1923–2022)\nSamuel Oghale Oboh (born 1971) Canada / Nigeria\nJohn J. O'Malley (1915–1970), US\nYafes Osman (born 1946), Bangladesh\nFrei Otto (1925–2015)\nJ.J.P. Oud (1890–1963)\nFélix Candela Outeriño (1910–1997), Spain/Mexico\nPaul Paget (1901–1985)\nHenry (Harry) Paley (1859–1946)\nMustapha Khalid Palash (born 1963), Bangladesh\nMihály (Michael) Párkányi (1924–1991) Hungary\nJohn and Donald Parkinson (1861–1945)\nJohn Pawson (born 1949)\nArthur Peabody (1858–1942)\nI. M. Pei (1917–2019)\nCésar Pelli (1926–2019)\nHubert Petschnigg (1913–1997)\nFrits Peutz (1896–1974)\nTimothy L. Pflueger (1892–1946)\nRenzo Piano (born 1937), Italy\nStjepan Planić (1900–1980)\nJože Plečnik (1872–1957)\nHans Poelzig (1869–1936)\nGino Pollini (1903–1991), Italy\nJames Polshek (born 1930)\nDonald Perry Polsky (born 1928)\nGio Ponti (1891–1979)\nJohn Russell Pope (1874–1937)\nJohn Portman (1924–2017)\nChristian de Portzamparc (born 1944), France\nGeorge B. Post (1837–1913), US\nFernand Pouillon (1912-1986), France\nHenry Price (1867–1944)\nAlain Provost (born 1938)\nFreeman A. Pretzinger\nWilliam Gray Purcell (1880–1965), US\nC. W. Rapp (1860–1926), US\nGeorge L. Rapp (1878–1941), US\nIsaac Rapp (1854–1933), US\nRalph Rapson (1914–2008)\nSteen Eiler Rasmussen (1898–1990)\nAntonin Raymond (1888–1976), Japan/USA\nAffonso Eduardo Reidy (1909–1964), Brazil\nSir Charles Herbert Reilly (1874–1948)\nSir Albert Richardson (1880–1964)\nGerrit Rietveld (1888–1964)\nIsabel Roberts (1871–1955), US\nHarry G. Robinson III (born 1942)\nKevin Roche (1922–2019)\nErnesto Nathan Rogers (1909–1969)\nRichard Rogers (1933–2021)\nMario Romañach (1917–1984), Havana, Cuba\nAldo Rossi (1931–1997), Italy\nWirt C. Rowland (1878–1946)\nPaul Rudolph (1918–1997)\nRobert Tor Russell (1888–1972)\n\nS–Z\n\nEero Saarinen (1910–1961), Finland\nEliel Saarinen (1873–1950), Finland\nEugen Sacharias (1906–2002)\nMoshe Safdie (born 1938)\nPaul Saintenoy (1862–1952)\nRogelio Salmona (1929–2007), Spain-Colombia\nGuðjón Samúelsson (1887–1950), Iceland\nJoão Santa-Rita (born 1960)\nCarlos A. Santos-Viola (1912–1994)\nLouis Sauer (born 1928)\nCarlo Scarpa (1906–1978)\nHans Scharoun (1893–1972)\nRudolf Schindler (1887–1953)\nElisabeth Scott (1898–1972), UK\nFrederic Schwartz (1951–2014)\nPaul Schmitthenner (1884–1972)\nAlexey Shchusev (1873–1949)\nMargarete Schütte-Lihotzky (1897–2000)\nGiles Gilbert Scott (1880–1960)\nHarry Seidler (1923–2006)\nRichard Seifert (1910–2001)\nJoseph Lluís Sert (1902–1983)\nH. Craig Severance (1879–1941)\nHooshang Seyhoun (1920–2014), Iran\nRichard Sheppard (1910-1982)\nVladimir Shukhov (1853–1939)\nClaudio Silvestrin (born 1954)\nScott Simons (born 1952), US\nAlvaro Siza (born 1933), Portugal\nHoward Dwight Smith (1886–1958)\nGeorge Washington Smith (1876–1930)\nAlison Smithson (1928–1993)\nPeter Smithson (1923–2003)\nCharles B. J. Snyder (1860–1945), US\nPaolo Soleri (1919–2013), Italy\nAlejandro de la Sota (1913–1996)\nEduardo Souto de Moura (born 1952), Portugal\nAlbert Speer (1905–1981)\nBasil Spence (1907–1976)\nJohann Otto von Spreckelsen (1929–1987)\nSheila Sri Prakash (born 1955), India\nWilliam L. Steele (1875–1949), US\nAndrew Steiner (1908–2009), Czechoslovak-American\nRudolf Steiner (1861–1925)\nJoseph Allen Stein (1912–2001), US, India\nRobert A.M. Stern (born 1939)\nJohn Calvin Stevens (1855–1940), US\nSir James Stirling (1926–1992)\nEdward Durrell Stone (1902–1978)\nJames Strutt (1924–2008), Canada\nJoseph Sunlight (1889–1978)\nRoger Taillibert (1926–2019)\nBenedetta Tagliabue (born 1963), Italy, co-founder of EMBT \nAlexander Tamanyan (1878–1936), Armenia\nKenzo Tange (1913–2005)\nBruno Taut (1880–1938)\nMax Taut (1884–1967)\nGiuseppe Terragni (1904–1943)\nQuinlan Terry (born 1937)\nHeinrich Tessenow (1876–1950), German\nBenjamin C. Thompson (1918–2002)\nEdmund von Trompowsky (1851–1919), Latvia \nHorace Trumbauer (1868–1938)\nBernard Tschumi (born 1944)\nGilbert Stanley Underwood (1890–1960)\nJørn Utzon (1918–2008), Denmark\nVann Molyvann (1926–2017), Cambodia\nFrançois Valentiny (born 1953), Luxembourg\nWilliam van Alen (1883–1954)\nHenry Van de Velde (1863–1957)\nHenri van Dievoet (1869–1931)\nAntoine Varlet (1893–1940)\nRobert Venturi (1925–2018)\nMiguel Vila Luna (1943–2005), Dominican Republic\nCarlos Raúl Villanueva (1900–1975)\nRafael Viñoly (born 1944)\nRoland Wank (1898–1970)\nPaul Waterhouse (1861–1924), UK\nCarlo Weber (1934–2014)\nW. H. Weeks (1864–1936)\nCarl Westman (1866–1936)\nPaul Williams (1894–1980)\nClough Williams-Ellis (1883–1978)\nJan Wils (1891–1972)\nGeorge J. Wimberly (1914–1996)\nJames Wines (born 1932), US\nGeoffrey Wooding (1954–2010)\nLebbeus Woods (1940–2012), US\nFrank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), US\nMarcellus E. Wright Sr. (1881–1962), US\nMinoru Yamasaki (1912–1986)\nF. R. S. Yorke (1906–1962), UK\nJean-François Zevaco (1916–2003)\nMilan Zloković (1898–1965)\nPeter Zumthor (born 1943), Switzerland\n\n21st-century architects\n\nA–M\n\nAdolfo Moran\nAlexandre Chan\nAndy Martin (architect) (born 1963)\nAntonio Citterio (born 1950), Italy\nArif Hasan (born 1943), Pakistan\nAtsushi Kitagawara (born 1951), Japan\nBasil Al Bayati (born 1946), UK\nBernard Khoury (born in 1969), Lebanon\nBjarke Ingels (born 1974), Denmark\nCantarutti Robby (born 1966), Italy\nCarol Ross Barney (born 1949), US\nChristina Cho, Australia\nChristoph Ingenhoven (born 1960), Germany\nChristopher Charles Benninger (born 1942), India\nCraig W. Hartman\nDaniel Libeskind (born 1946, Poland), US\nDavid Adjaye (born 1966), Tanzania\nDavid M. Harper (born 1953)\nDavid Randall Hertz (born 1960), US\nDominique Gauzin-Müller (born 1960), France\nDy Proeung, Cambodia\nEric Corey Freed\nErick van Egeraat (born 1956), Netherlands\nEugene Pandala (born 1954), India\nGreg Lynn\nGregory Henriquez\nGünay Erdem (born 1978, Bulgaria), Turkey\nHafeez Contractor (born 1950), India\nH. R. Hiegel\nHidetsugu Aneha (born 1957), Japan\nHossein Amanat (born 1942), Iran\nIvan Harbour (born 1962), UK\nJames Garrison (born 1963), US\nJeanne Gang (born 1964), US\nJimenez Lai \nJing Liu\nJun'ya Ishigami (born 1974), Japan\nKamel Mahadin (born 1954), Jordan\nKazuyo Sejima (born 1956), Japan\nKees Christiaanse (born 1953), Netherlands\nKeith Griffiths (born 1954), UK\nKengo Kuma\nKevin Kennon\nLise Anne Couture (born 1959), Canada\nMarco Casagrande (born 1971), Finland\nMariam Kamara (born 1979), Niger\nMassimiliano Fuksas, Italy\nMaya Lin, US\nMichael Middleton Dwyer, US\nMichael Green, Canada\nMichel Abboud (born 1977), Lebanon\nNabil Gholam (born 1962), Lebanon\nNorman Foster, (born 1935), UK\nOdile Decq, (born 1955), France\nOlajumoke Adenowo (born 1968), Nigeria\nPeter Eisenman (born 1932), United States\nPeter Exley, US\nPouya Khazaeli (born 1975), Iran\nRafiq Azam, Bangladesh\nRem Koolhaas (born 1944), Netherlands\nRoger Duffy\nRon Arad (born 1951), Israel\nShashi Prabhu (born 1944), India\nSunita Kohli (born 1946), India\nSean Godsell (born 1960), Australia\nShigeru Ban (born 1957), Japan\nSir Terry Farrell, UK\nSou Fujimoto (born 1971), Japan\nStefano Boeri, Italy\nStephan Braunfels (born 1950), Germany\nSteven Holl (born 1947), US \nSue Courtenay, Belize\nSunay Erdem (born 1971, Bulgaria), Turkey\nTatiana Bilbao, Mexico\nT.J. Gottesdiener\nTerence Conran (1931–2020, United Kingdom)\nThom Mayne\nThomas Doerr (born 1964), US\nThomas Herzog\nTom Kundig\nTony Fretton (born 1945), UK\nToshiko Mori, Japan\nToyo Ito (born 1941), Japan\nWiel Arets (born 1955), Netherlands\nWilliam McDonough\nZaha Hadid (1950–2016), UK\n\nN-Z\n\nFlorent Nédélec\nEnamul Karim Nirjhar\nSamuel Oghale Oboh (born 1971), Canada / Nigeria\nLiz Ogbu\nNeri Oxman\nSatyendra Pakhale (born 1967), India\nMustapha Khalid Palash\nBimal Patel (born 1961), India\nThomas Phifer\nRenzo Piano, Italy\nDimitris Potiropoulos\nAntoine Predock\nJoshua Prince-Ramus\nPhilippe Rahm\nRichard Rogers, UK\nFernando Romero, Mexico \nLawrence Scarpa\nKazuyo Sejima (born 1956), Japan\nAdrian Smith\nGalia Solomonoff\nSheila Sri Prakash (born 1955), India\nPaul Steelman (born 1955), US\nMarshall Strabala\nSergei Tchoban (born 1962), Russian-born architect\nJack Travis (born 1952), US\nVictor Vechersky (born 1958), Ukraine\nRoss Wimer\nWang Shu (born 1963), China\nJörg Stollmann, Germany\nWilfried van Winden (born 1955)\nGert Wingårdh (born 1951), Sweden\nJun Xia, China\nKen Yeang (born 1948), Malaysia\n\nMythological/fictional architects\nSeveral architects occur in worldwide mythology, including Daedalus, builder of the Labyrinth, in Greek myth. In the Bible, Nimrod is considered the creator of the Tower of Babel, and King Solomon built Solomon's Temple with the assistance of the architect Hiram. In Hinduism, the palaces of the gods were built by the architect and artisan Vivasvat. Moreover, Indian epic Mahabharata cites amazing work by architect 'Maya.'\n\nArchitects also occur in modern fiction. Examples include Howard Roark, protagonist in Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead; Bloody Stupid Johnson, a parody of Capability Brown who appears in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels; and Slartibartfast, designer of planets in Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Basil Al Bayati's novel The Age of Metaphors on the theme of Metaphoric Architecture is also replete with fictional architects. The main characters of Sa'ad, Shiymaa and Sa'im are all architects, as are a number of others who appear throughout the book.\n\nMany films have included central characters who are architects, including Henry Fonda's character \"Juror 8\" (Davis) in 12 Angry Men (1957), Charles Bronson's character in Death Wish (1974), John Cassavetes' character in Tempest (1982), Wesley Snipes' character in \"Jungle Fever\" (1991), Christopher Lloyd's character in Suburban Commando (1991), Tom Hanks' character in Sleepless in Seattle (1993), David Strathairn's character in The River Wild (1994), Michael J. Fox's character in The Frighteners (1996), Michael Keaton's character in White Noise (2005) and Jeremy Irons' character in High-Rise (2015).\n\nIn television, Mike Brady, father of The Brady Bunch, is an architect; as is Wilbur Post, owner of Mister Ed; Ted Mosby, from How I Met Your Mother; and David Vincent from The Invaders. Adam Cartwright of Bonanza was an architectural engineer with a university education who designed the sprawling familial ranch-house on the Ponderosa Ranch. The character George Costanza pretends to be an architect named \"Art Vandelay\" in Seinfeld. Architect Halvard Solness is the protagonist of Henrick Ibsen's 1892 play The Master Builder.\n\nLists of architects by country\n\nSee also\n\nList of architects of supertall buildings\nList of architectural historians\nList of architecture firms\nList of women architects\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\nJames Steele (1997), Architecture Today, Phaidon Press.\n\nExternal links\nFamous architects\nThe Historyscoper - architects\nFamous Architects In Pakistan\n\n \nCategory:Lists of people by occupation",
"title": "List of architects"
},
{
"text": "Koolhaas Houselife is a documentary film directed by Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine.\n\nReception\nNicolai Ouroussoff, in The New York Times, praised this film, which elevated its makers to the status of \"cult figures in the European architecture world\".\n\nPublished Dvd-Books\n Koolhaas Houselife, 2008, .\n Koolhaas Houselife, 2013, .\n\nSee also\nRem Koolhaas\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Ada Luise Huxtable, « Ingenious and Demanding », The Wall Street Journal, 2009-09-30 \n Patricia Zohn, « Culture Zohn: Life in the Koolhaas », The Huffington Post, 2010-07-30 .\n\nExternal links\n\n Archdaily 40 Best Architecture Docs\n\nCategory:2008 films\nCategory:Italian documentary films\nCategory:2008 documentary films\nCategory:Documentary films about architecture\nCategory:Rem Koolhaas",
"title": "Koolhaas Houselife"
}
] | [
"The context does not provide information on what good the EU did for their country.",
"The context does not provide specific information on what kind of projects were proposed in the city. However, it mentions Koolhaas's design for a new CCTV headquarters in Beijing which was a series of volumes tying together various departments as opposed to a traditional skyscraper. The design also introduced public routes through the site, giving the public some degree of access to the production procedure.",
"The context does not provide information on the success of the 720-page book, Mutations, by Koolhaas or any greatness that came after it.",
"The context does not provide specific information about what the 720-page book, \"Mutations\", by Koolhaas is about.",
"The context does not provide specific information about what the book \"The Great Leap Forward\" by Koolhaas consists of. However, it is mentioned as part of his work under Harvard University's \"Project on the City\" which involved the analysis of what are referred to as \"non-cities\", such as the sprawling conglomerate of Lagos in Nigeria, and the changing realities of cities due to consumer behavior and rapid growth."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_0 | Sarah Geronimo | Sarah Geronimo (born July 25, 1988), is a Filipino singer, actress, and television personality. Her contributions to music along with her film and television work has made her a local figure in popular culture of the 2000s to 2010s in the Philippines. Born and raised in Santa Cruz, Manila, Geronimo started a career in music at the age of 14 after winning the television singing contest Star for a Night. She then signed with music label Viva Records and rose to fame with the release of her debut album Popstar | 2011-2012: Catch Me, I'm in Love, Sarah G. Live! and concerts | In February 2011, she had a Valentine concert with Martin Nievera titled "What Love Is" at the Araneta Coliseum. Geronimo worked with Gerald Anderson in the film collaboration of Star Cinema and Viva Films entitled Catch Me, I'm in Love which was shown on March 23, 2011 in theaters nationwide and shown as a summer release in the Philippines. Raymond Lo, U.S. correspondent for The Philippine Star said: In November 2011, Geronimo made a movie again with Gerald Anderson in Won't Last A Day Without You which earned P20 Million on its opening day. Geronimo signed an exclusive one-year contract with ABS-CBN, it states her future projects and commitments such as having a weekly solo show, an extension as a performer in ASAP Rocks, and a movie with John Lloyd Cruz for the third time. Also this year, Geronimo is declared as the Princess of Philippine Movies by the Guillermo Mendoza Box Office Awards for her movie, Catch Me, I'm In Love together with Gerald Anderson. Geronimo had her solo weekly musical-variety show every Sunday night titled Sarah G. Live! and her movie with John Lloyd Cruz is in production. In July 2012, Geronimo staged her fifth major solo concert in the "Big Dome" entitled 24/SG. In November 2012, Geronimo was chosen as the "Bayanihan Ambassadress" of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In December 2012, Geronimo won a string of awards one of which is the Best Asian Artist Award (Philippines) at the recently concluded Mnet Asian Music Awards. Geronimo also bagged major awards in Awit Awards, Aliw Awards and PMPC Star Awards for Music. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_0_q#0",
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_0_q#1",
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_0_q#2",
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_0_q#3",
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_0_q#4",
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_0_q#5",
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_0_q#6"
] | [
"What was Catch Me, I'm In Love?",
"Did the film do well?",
"What did she do in the film?",
"When did Catch Me, I'm In Love get released?",
"What was Sarah G Live?",
"What concerts did she perform in this time period?",
"How did the concert do?"
] | [
0,
1,
1,
1,
1,
0,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
157
],
[
1576
],
[
1576
],
[
256
],
[
974
],
[
12
],
[
1576
]
],
"texts": [
[
"film collaboration of Star Cinema and Viva Films entitled Catch Me,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"March 23, 2011 in"
],
[
"Geronimo had her solo weekly musical-variety show every Sunday night titled Sarah G. Live!"
],
[
"2011, she had a Valentine concert"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
157,
1576,
1576,
256,
974,
12,
1576
],
"texts": [
"film collaboration of Star Cinema and Viva Films entitled Catch Me,",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"March 23, 2011 in",
"Geronimo had her solo weekly musical-variety show every Sunday night titled Sarah G. Live!",
"2011, she had a Valentine concert",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Sarah Asher Tua Geronimo-Guidicelli (, born July 25, 1988) is a Filipino singer, performer and actress. Geronimo rose to prominence after winning the television singing contest Star for a Night earning her a recording contract with Viva Records. She has won 15 Awit Awards, 28 Myx Music Awards, 8 Aliw Awards, 4 FAMAS Awards including the prestigious FAMAS Golden Artist Award and a World Music Award. Tatler listed her as one of the most influential celebrities, while Forbes Asia named her one of the most powerful influencers.
Life and career
1988–2003: Early beginnings and Star for a Night
Sarah Asher Tua Geronimo was born on July 25, 1988, in Santa Cruz, Manila to Delfin Geronimo, a retired PLDT employee, and Divina Tua, who ran a beauty salon in their house. She is the third of four children. She started singing publicly at age two. At the age of four, she was accompanied by her mother to join auditions for different television programs. Geronimo became part of the shows Penpen de Sarapen (4–6 years old), Ang TV (7–8 years old) and NEXT (8–9 years old). She has also played as an extra in the movie Sarah... Ang Munting Prinsesa (1995). In between auditions, Geronimo would perform at shopping malls and hotel lounges. Geronimo, then age 7, was one of the performers during the 1995 visit of Pope John Paul II. Geronimo at an early age joined different singing contests the first of which was Tuklas Talino sponsored by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT).
In 2002, Geronimo competed in the television singing contest Star for a Night, airing in IBC. At the age of fourteen, she won the grand prize that included and a managerial contract from Viva Entertainment. Geronimo released her first album Popstar: A Dream Come True in 2003. Her acting debuts were supporting roles in two of Viva's entries to the 2003 Metro Manila Film Festival: Filipinas and Captain Barbell (2003).
2004–2007: The Other Side and In Motion
Still managed by VIVA, Geronimo signed a TV contract with ABS-CBN network in 2004. She starred in her first television series, Sarah the Teen Princess (2004) and became a regular host and performer on the variety show ASAP (2004–present). Geronimo again had supporting roles in the films Annie B., Masikip sa Dibdib and Lastikman: Unang Banat all released in that same year. Geronimo sang the Philippine National Anthem at the pre-inaugural ceremonies of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on June 30, 2004. In November 2004, Geronimo released her second album, Sweet Sixteen that included the single "How Could You Say You Love Me". Geronimo performed in the Night of the Champions concert at the Araneta Coliseum with other singing competition winners Rachelle Ann Go and Erik Santos.
In 2005, Geronimo joined the cast of the teen-oriented television program SCQ Reload: Kilig Ako and hosted two seasons of the singing competition show Little Big Star (2005–2007). On September 30, 2005, Geronimo staged a solo concert at Araneta Coliseum entitled The Other Side.
In 2006, Geronimo starred in ABS-CBN's primetime soap opera, Bituing Walang Ningning, a remake of the 1985 movie. She played the role of an aspiring singer named Dorina Pineda, originally played by Sharon Cuneta in the movie, and released a soundtrack of the series. In July 2006, Geronimo release her third studio album, Becoming, produced by Christian De Walden. The album yielded three singles: "I Still Believe In Loving You", "Carry My Love" and "Iingatan Ko Ang Pag-ibig Mo". On November 18, 2006, Manny Pacquiao chose Geronimo to sing Lupang Hinirang, the Philippine national anthem, before his match against Mexico's Erik Morales at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Geronimo staged her second major solo concert "In Motion" on July 14, 2007, at the Araneta Coliseum. Unlike her first solo concert, this concert went off with no technical glitches. She spent the rest of 2007 performing concerts in the Philippines and the U.S. and recording her fourth studio album, Taking Flight, which sold more than 60,000 units and achieved double-platinum status. In the latter half of 2007, Geronimo appeared in her third television series for ABS-CBN, Pangarap na Bituin.
2008–2010: The Next One and Record Breaker
In early 2008, Geronimo reunited with Erik Santos, Rachelle Ann Go, and Christian Bautista in a Valentine's Day concert at the Araneta Coliseum, entitled "OL4LUV". Before Geronimo released her fifth studio album, she released I'll Be There as the fourth single from Taking Flight. On July 30, 2008, Geronimo starred with Filipino actor John Lloyd Cruz in A Very Special Love which was produced by Star Cinema and VIVA films and grossed almost . The movie opened with and Isah V. Red of The Manila Standard Today said, "This only proves that the new generation of Filipino movie audience is ready for their own screen heroine, not someone passed on to them by their parents or grandparents. Geronimo included a track from the film, "A Very Special Love", on her album Taking Flight.
Geronimo's fifth studio album, Just Me, included a duet with Backstreet Boys member Howie Dorough entitled, "I'll Be There". De Walden again produced this album. Like her previous albums, Just Me achieved platinum status in December 2008. She was recognized for this accomplishment on the 2008 ASAP Platinum Circle Awards show. On November 8, 2008, Geronimo staged her third major solo concert in Araneta Coliseum, entitled The Next One, which marked the first time she accompanied herself on the piano while on stage. Geronimo's Just Me album, was re-released, adding You Changed My Life. She was also recognized by ASAP for attaining platinum status for her albums Taking Flight and Just Me and for her two concert DVDs (The Other Side and Sarah in Motion).
In February 2009, Geronimo made a movie again with John Lloyd Cruz in You Changed My Life, the sequel of A Very Special Love. The film's total theatrical earnings earned over , and holds the record for the highest grossing Filipino movie made. Geronimo traveled to the US in March to April 2009 for her The Next One tour, where she received positive reviews about her performances. In June 2009, she re-staged the Sarah Geronimo: The Next One Philippine concert tour. On August 5, 2009, Geronimo was given the honor to sing the Virna Lisa's 1986 People Power anthem, "Magkaisa" during the funeral of former President Corazon Aquino. Geronimo released a solo Christmas album, Your Christmas Girl in October 2009. In November 2009, she staged her fourth solo sold-out concert, Record Breaker, in the Araneta Coliseum. The Philippine Daily Inquirer called the concert "a qualified success". At the same day of her concert, she released her sixth studio album, Music and Me. In December 2009, Your Christmas Girl and Music and Me both reached platinum status after a month of their release.
On December 1, 2009, Geronimo received a star on the Philippines Walk of Fame at Libis, Eastwood. Geronimo released the DVD Record Breaker, filmed at the Araneta Coliseum, on March 16, 2010, and eventually achieved triple Platinum status in December 2010.
In April 2010, Geronimo was chosen to endorse an online game called Superstar which was launched by X-Play as an online singing star search. Geronimo also lent her voice in singing its theme song "This Is My Dream."
In September 2010, Geronimo starred in a musical series entitled 1DOL which was aired on ABS-CBN and she appeared in the film Hating Kapatid under Viva Films.
2011–2012: Catch Me, I'm in Love, Sarah G. Live!, and concerts
In February 2011, she had a Valentine concert with Martin Nievera titled "What Love Is" at the Araneta Coliseum.
Geronimo worked with Gerald Anderson in the film collaboration of Star Cinema and Viva Films entitled Catch Me, I'm in Love which was shown on March 23, 2011, in theaters nationwide and shown as a summer release in the Philippines. In November 2011, Geronimo made a movie again with Gerald Anderson in Won't Last A Day Without You which earned on its opening day. Geronimo signed an exclusive one-year contract with ABS-CBN, it states her future projects and commitments such as having a weekly solo show, an extension as a performer in ASAP Rocks, and a movie with John Lloyd Cruz for the third time. Also this year, Geronimo is declared as the Princess of Philippine Movies by the Guillermo Mendoza Box Office Awards for her movie, Catch Me, I'm in Love together with Gerald Anderson.
In October of the same year, the singer took private lessons on Jazz music during her vacation in the USA. She was also vocally supervised by Yosha Honassan who later on became the writer of some of her jazz songs.
Geronimo had her solo weekly musical-variety show every Sunday night titled Sarah G. Live! and her movie with John Lloyd Cruz is in production.
In July 2012, Geronimo staged her fifth major solo concert in the "Big Dome" entitled 24/SG.
In November 2012, Geronimo was chosen as the "Bayanihan Ambassadress" of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
In December 2012, Geronimo won a string of awards one of which is the Best Asian Artist Award (Philippines) at the recently concluded Mnet Asian Music Awards. Geronimo also won major awards in Awit Awards, Aliw Awards and PMPC Star Awards for Music.
2013–2015: The Voice of the Philippines and international activities
In 2013, Geronimo will have her own drama anthology entitled Sarah G. Presents. Geronimo is also set to be a coach and judge in The Voice of the Philippines.
In March 2013, Geronimo received two Presidential Awards, Ani ng Dangal for Multi-Disciplinary Arts and National Commission for Culture and the Arts (Philippines) Goodwill Ambassadress for Music. Geronimo is nominated for three categories at the 2013 World Music Awards (WMA): best entertainer of the year, best live act, and best female artist. Also her movie which is shown on March 30, 2013, It Takes a Man and a Woman broke box office records and became the highest grossing Filipino film of all time.
In June 2013, Viva Records announced that she wouldbe releasing her tenth studio album on July before her birthday. The album's title was later revealed to be Expressions, which was contain mainly original songs that she co-produced herself. It was released on July 22. On August 8, Geronimo became the brand endorser of KakaoTalk together with K-pop boyband Big Bang.
In December 2013, she was elevated into Anak TV Seal Hall of Famer for being a "credible, wholesome and worth emulating by the youth".
Geronimo was also nominated for the Best Southeast Asian Act category in the 2013 MTV Europe Music Awards.
On May 27, 2014, Geronimo are among the acts that won accolades in the 2014 World Music Awards held in Monaco, winning the Best Selling Philippines Artist award. She became the first Filipino music artist who received an award in the World Music Awards history.
On August 26, 2014, Spotify Philippines revealed that Geronimo was one of the most streamed artists within the country alongside band Eraserheads.
Geronimo release her eleventh studio album titled Perfectly Imperfect on October 4, 2014. The album also included songs which were written by international music producer Adam Hurstfield and Canadian singer Elise Estrada. The album's lead single, "Kilometro", premiered on September 17, 2014, and was written by Thyro & Yumi.
Geronimo was voted as the Best Southeast Asia Act at the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards and was also nominated as Best Southeast Asia, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese Act.
She was included in BuzzFeed's 2014 list of The 20 Filipino Music Artists You Need To Listen Right Now.
Geronimo has been chosen by Disney to re-interpret the theme song of its Princess franchise. In a teaser aired on Disney Channel, Geronimo revealed that she did her own version of "The Glow" and that its music video will premiere on December 6, 2014.
In July 2015, Geronimo with her song "Kilometro" represented the Philippines in the 10th International Song Contest: The Global Sound hosted by Australian jury, as one of the 70 semi-finalists from different countries all over the world and later on advanced as one of the top 25 finalists. In the final round, Geronimo was adjudged as the winner and received the Gold Global Sound award. ISC: The Global Sound confirmed on their Facebook page that this is the first Asian country to win the contest.
Geronimo also starred in the blockbuster movie The Breakup Playlist, together with Filipino actor Piolo Pascual, which was shown in cinemas on July 1. The movie grossed PHP 200 million.
In October 2015, Geronimo was chosen to record Felix Manalo's theme song "Ang Sugo ng Diyos Sa Mga Huling Araw" and later won Best Movie Theme Song on both PMPC Star Awards for Movies and FAMAS Awards in 2016.
Xeleb Inc., the first celebrity mobile games company in the Philippines, tapped Geronimo for its newest gaming app, Sarah G Popsters. The app officially launched on November 24, 2015.
In December 2015, for the second consecutive year, Spotify Philippines hailed Geronimo as one of the most streamed Filipino artists alongside bands Eraserheads and Up Dharma Down.
On December 9, 2015, Geronimo received her 10th Awit Award. At the 28th Awit Awards, Perfectly Imperfect was awarded "Album of the Year".
On December 18, 2015, Geronimo was voted as the Asian Artist of the Year at the Hello Asia! K-Pop Awards 2015.
2016–2018: Endorsements, The Great Unknown, This 15 Me, Miss Granny and International Recognition
On February 29, 2016, Big Apple Music Awards announced on their official Twitter account that Geronimo has been nominated as "Best Filipino Female Artist".
In March 2016, Philippine Airlines officials, led by the chairman Dr. Lucio C. Tan and President Jaime J. Bautista, celebrated the airline's 75th anniversary during a gala dinner for PAL employees at the SMX-MOA in Pasay, where the flag carrier also unveiled its new advertising campaign – The Heart of the Filipino: Shining Through – with top Filipino singers Sarah Geronimo, Bamboo and Lea Salonga as endorsers.
On September 21, 2016, Geronimo was named as one of the nominees in the Best Southeast Asian Act for the 2016 MTV Europe Music Awards set on November 6, 2016, at the Ahoy Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
On October 12, 2016, Geronimo's The Great Unknown won Best Secular Album in the 38th Catholic Mass Media Awards. This is the second time Sarah received the award, the first was for Perfectly Imperfect album.
Geronimo was recognized as this year's Best Asian Performer during the Classic Rock Awards 2016 held in Tokyo, Japan on November 11, 2016.
Geronimo attended the awarding ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Stadium in Tokyo, where she performed the song "Anak" by Freddie Aguilar.
On November 29, 2016, Geronimo held her album show entitled The Great Unknown: Unplugged in Kia Theatre in promotion of her platinum-selling album The Great Unknown. Due to its success, Geronimo brought the show in different provinces in the country including Albay, Pampanga and Iloilo.
In March 2017, Geronimo confirmed that she will be returning as one of the coaches of The Voice Teens Philippines. Geronimo will return to the teens edition along with coaches Bamboo, Sharon Cuneta, and Lea Salonga.
On May 15, 2017, US-based World Top Musicians included her on their website.
In July 2017, Geronimo starred in the movie Finally Found Someone with John Lloyd Cruz. The movie served as a reunion movie of Geronimo and John Lloyd Cruz tandem after four years.
In January 2018, Geronimo released the single called "Sandata" and topped the iTunes Philippines chart for 4 consecutive days. The song also landed on Spotify Philippines Viral Chart. The official lyric video of the song was published on Viva Records' official channel a week later. On April, she released two singles called "Ganito" and "Duyan". Both songs topped the iTunes Philippines songs chart.
In March 2018, Geronimo was included at Spotify's "Amplify: Women of the World" global playlist with her song "Tayo" in celebration of Women's Month. She is the only OPM artist included alongside Rihanna, Dua Lipa, CL and more.
On April 14, 2018, she held her 15th anniversary concert called This Is Me stylized as "This 15 Me" at the Araneta Coliseum. The sold-out concert was reported as the "Highest Grossing Local Concert of All-time." The concert's official hashtag was also the number one trending topic on Twitter Philippines on the day of the concert with over 200,000 tweets, whilst recorded performances from the said concert instantly trended on YouTube Philippines, including her opening number "Dulo", her song and dance number for "Tala", the rendition of Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing" and the rendition of Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing". Geronimo's take on the Dame Tu Cosita Dance Challenge also went viral on various social media platforms including Facebook.
In August 2018, Geronimo starred in her first title-role movie Miss Granny, a remake of the 2014 South Korean film of the same name. The film was both critically acclaimed and commercial success. Her performance was praised by both critics and viewers. Writing for Cosmopolitan Philippines, Ro Manalo stated "In my opinion, this was her (Sarah Geronimo) best performance as an actress to date. No other local female celebrity has the combination of characteristics required for the role—impeccable comedic timing, a talent for drama, a powerful singing voice, and an old soul with an almost manang charm. Sarah was so believable as a 70-year-old woman inside a 20-year-old's body." She is currently nominated as "Best Actress" at the 2018 Rawr Awards and Inside Showbiz Awards.
She released the first single from Miss Granny'''s movie soundtrack entitled "Kiss Me, Kiss Me" prior to the release of the film. The song went number one on iTunes Philippines and became an instant hit in the country. On July 15, Miss Granny soundtrack was released and also went number one. Its tracks "Isa Pang Araw", "Kiss Me, Kiss Me", and "Rain" all stayed on iTunes Philippines songs chart during and even after the run of the film in Philippine Cinemas.
She represented the Philippines at the 2nd ASEAN-Japan Music Festival held at the NHK Hall in Tokyo on October 4 where she performed her original hits "Kilometro" and "Tala". The event was hosted by Hikaru Nishida and Pico Taro coincided with the 45th anniversary of the ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation.
She went to Dubai for her This 15 Me concert and filled the 5,000-seater Dubai Duty-Free Stadium on September 20. Days after performing at ASEAN Music Festival, Geronimo staged her Nagoya, Japan leg of This 15 Me on October 7. She is set to stage her concert in Spain, Oman, and various cities in the Philippines.
While filming Miss Granny and touring the Philippines and the other side of the world for This 15 Me, Geronimo has been winning on various award-giving bodies in Manila. She won three awards at the 2018 MYX Music Awards including the "Female Artist of the Year" award and was hailed by EdukCircle Awards as the "Most Influential Actress" for her 2017 film Finally Found Someone.
In November 2018, Geronimo was hailed as the Best Pilipino Artist and the Most Popular BAMA 2018 Artist at the 2018 Big Apple Music Awards (BAMA), Geronimo failed to attend the ceremony held in New York but according to BAMA, the trophies were already sent to Geronimo. She staged her This 15 Me Laguna concert in Santa Rosa Sports Complex, Laguna the next day. It was the first-ever sold-out local show in the history of the said arena.
On December 23, 2018, she was announced a winner at Universal Music Awards 2018 in Warsaw, Poland with her song "Ganito". She beat more than 200 entries from different countries including songs by Ed Sheeran, Little Mix, Charlie Puth, Taylor Swift and more. She also bagged the Popular Award, while Charles Aznavour won the Historic Award.
On December 26, 2018, Geronimo's song "Sandata" topped CNN Philippines' "The 15 Best Filipino Songs of 2018" list.
2019–present: Unforgettable, Tala Dance Craze, Concerts, Awards and Recognitions
On January 29, 2019, Geronimo performed in front of 130,000 people who attended the first-ever holy mass of a Pope in the Middle East held at Zayed Sports City Stadium.
She performed in front of fans at Zurich and Milan on May 3 and 5 for her Europe concert tour after her "This 15 Me" anniversary concert in 2018.
Geronimo also supports incumbent senator Sonny Angara's re-election because 'of his advocacies'. Sarah also sang her song "Sa Iyo" as Angara's campaign jingle in 2013 and was reused in the upcoming elections.
On May 30, 2019, Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, announced her as the brand's newest ambassador. A TV commercial was aired on the first of June.
Geronimo launched her own makeup line, Pop Studio, on May 31, 2019. It was a collaboration with iFace Inc.
On June 2, Geronimo tied with Kathryn Bernardo as Best Actress at the PMPC Star Awards for Movies 2019 against veteran actresses Judy Ann Santos, Gina Pareño, Gloria Romero, and more.
She was announced "Star of the Week" by a Germany-based entertainment website and music awards Daf Entertainment on July 31, 2019.
Her newest film, Unforgettable, under VIVA Films was released on October 23, 2019. It was directed by Jun Robles Lana, and also stars celebrity dog Milo, Gina Pareno, Ara Mina, Meg Imperial, and more.
On October 10, 2019, she won 3 awards from the 2019 Awit Awards including "Female Artist of the year", "Best Song was written for a Movie/TV/Stageplay", and "Best Performance by a Female Recording Artist."
In late 2019, "Tala" turned into a viral dance craze.
On January 27, 2020, Geronimo's single "Tala" entered the 12th spot in the Billboard Digital Song sales chart. The song also charted in more than 20
countries around the globe including the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and more after it regained its popularity. It also reached the Global Viral 50 in Spotify, as well as YouTube's weekly global chart of world's most viewed music videos.
Geronimo won "Best Actress" award from 4th Guild of Educators, Mentors, and Students (GEMS) Hiyas ng Sining Awards last February 13 for her Unforgettable movie.
On February 27, Geronimo's viral song "Tala" had reached 100 million views on YouTube, making Geronimo the first local solo female artist to achieve the milestone.
On May, Sarah G received another international award as "Distinguished Entertainment Personality of the Year" award at the Akwa-Ibom State Advancement Awards 2020 (ASAA).
In June 2020, The music video of her song, "Tala" became the "Most Viewed OPM Music Video on YouTube".
She was also included the 2020 "Philippine’s Most Admired" list by YouGov PH.
In December 2020, Geronimo was included in Forbes Asia's 100 Digital Stars. She was also awarded as one of the "Most Influential Celebrities of The Decade" in the 10th EdukCircle Awards. She also garnered various recognitions such as Google PH's "Most Searched Lyrics and Songs" for her song "Tala", her movie Unforgettable is on the list of Netflix PH's "Most Watched Movie for Drama", Yahoo PH's "2nd Most Searched Female Personality" and YouTube Music included Sarah G's "Your Universe" in 3 of their playlists: Top Southeast Asian Song Of 2020, Top Song Of 2020 Philippines, and Top OPM 2020.
In May 2021, Geronimo's digital concert film Tala: The Film Concert received two encore screenings, with tickets selling for PHP 1,000.
Artistry
Geronimo's music is generally pop and sings songs mostly about love. International producer Christian de Walden praised Geronimo's voice and said "The personality of her voice is phenomenally distinct. Many have great voices but they tend to imitate foreign divas like Celine Dion, Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston. She definitely is the biggest talent I have come across within the last ten years...".
Rito P. Asilo of Philippine Daily Inquirer stated in a review of her album: "it's hard to resist the rich and lush quality of her melodies when they fall smoothly and squarely on her confident middle registers" and has praised her transition saying, "her phrasing style to her interchanging shifts in vocal placement, from deep chest tones to heady soft trills, and back which isn't really a bad thing: In fact, it could represent growth because Sarah used to win her admirers solely with the lung-busting high notes."
Influences
Geronimo has cited Michael Jackson as her major influence and she grew up singing and dancing to his music. Geronimo said: "As a child, my dream was to be hugely popular like Michael Jackson. I wanted to have that kind of worldwide fame," added, "I want to be like him while performing, everyone gets so wild and emotional. Besides that, I see him as not only a performer, he's an inspiration to many people, and that's what I also want to become." Geronimo also cited American pop star, Beyoncé as one of her influences in singing and dancing live.
Legacy
"Sarah's very successful concert showcased the various facets of her personality. She's an old soul who can sing Celine Dion's "If I Could" and Mariah Carey's "Through the Rain" with such emotion. She's an 80s baby who can moonwalk to "Billie Jean" ala Michael Jackson. She's a budding belter who can hit the high notes of Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All" with Regine Velasquez."
Geronimo's participation in the "What Love Is..." with Martin Nievera concert was described by Baby A. Gil of the Philippine Star with the comment, "Who needs a dancing Martin anyway when you have the long-limbed Sarah there, who is a daring, enthusiastic dancer? I like watching her dance and finding her moving even better now than the last time is a treat. Of course, she has also become an even better singer. To those who are wont to ask, has she gotten rid of her Celine Dion tendencies? Well, she still sings a good To Love You More, but she has obviously come to her own with fuller tones, nice, sexy low notes."
In her 24/SG concert People's Journal commented, "Sarah has reached a new level in her career as a concert artist. In fact, she has earned the right to be called the Concert Queen of the New Generation." Aside from her singing prowess, Geronimo's dancing skills has improved greatly.
Her performances earned her a win at the 2016 Classic Rock Awards in Tokyo as "Best Asian Performer".
Image
Camille Bersola of The Philippine Star described Geronimo as more than just a pop icon for being an inspiration, especially to today's youth. She stated: "In amateur singing competitions, there will be at least three contestants that will have their own rendition of 'To Love You More' or 'Forever's Not Enough'. When these little girls are asked who their favorite singer is, and whose path they’d like to follow someday, you can bet more or less 75 percent of them will have the same answer: Sarah Geronimo."
Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte described Geronimo in The Philippine Star: "She's wholesome on and off camera, untainted by unsavory rumors. She's an ideal daughter and that makes her a good role model for the youth." Wilson Lee Flores of The Philippine Star said, "She is a breath of fresh air in terms of wholesome image, humility, real talent and source of good news for the Philippine entertainment industry". In 2005, Geronimo was awarded with "Pinoy Wannabe Awardee", a prestigious Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards given to a celebrity whom kids consider as their role model. In 2006, QTV 11's magazine show Ang Pinaka named her as "Ang Pinaka Idol na Singer ng mga Bata."
Geronimo however admitted it's not always easy protecting that image, especially since everyone looks up to her as a role model for young people. She said, "It's a bit hard although I'd like to become a role model. I rather take it as a big challenge because it is probably my purpose being here in this industry. This may also be the reason why I'm being trusted by companies to promote their products."
Media reception
In 2011, Geronimo was ranked as the third in the top celebrity endorsers by the AGB Nielsen Philippines survey.
In 2013, she ranks as the sixth highest female taxpayer and as fourth top endorser.
In 2014, the entertainment publication YES! Magazine ranked Geronimo as the "Most Beautiful Star", leading the list as the top 1 of the top 100 celebrities. She also ranks in 2014, as the fourth highest female celebrity taxpayer.
Since 2014, Geronimo has been the most streamed solo Filipino artist in Spotify Philippines. In 2015, FAMAS named Geronimo the "Iconic Movie Queen of Philippine Cinema".
In December 2020, Forbes named Geronimo as one of Forbes Asia's 100 Digital Stars, a list of the most influential names in the Asia-Pacific region. She was praised for her efforts in helping Filipinos during the coronavirus pandemic.
Personal life and philanthropy
Geronimo attended Dominican School Manila for her primary education. She enrolled at University of Santo Tomas Education High School but later completed her secondary education at Angelicum College. Geronimo studied Associate in Arts program in University of the Philippines Open University (UP Open University).
Geronimo regularly holds benefit concerts for various charities for children and cancer patients and has been involved with several outreach programs and with Gawad Kalinga.
Geronimo is a born-again Christian. She stated Gary Valenciano was responsible for renewing her faith and shared with her a verse from Jeremiah 29. In November of 2019, she announced her engagement to long-time boyfriend, actor Matteo Guidicelli. They secretly had a Christian wedding at the Victory Christian Fellowship at Taguig at past six in the evening, Thursday night officiated by Sr. Pastor Paulo Punzalan on February 20, 2020.
Discography
Popstar: A Dream Come True (2003)
Sweet Sixteen (2004)
Becoming (2006)
Taking Flight (2007)
Just Me (2008)
Your Christmas Girl (2009)
Music and Me (2009)
One Heart (2011)
Pure OPM Classics (2012)
Expressions (2013)
Perfectly Imperfect (2014)
The Great Unknown (2015)
THIS 15 ME'' (2018)
Concerts
Popstar: A Dream Come True Concert (2004)
To Love Her More (2004)
The Other Side (2005)
In Motion (2007)
The Next One (2008)
Record Breaker (2009)
What Love Is (Sarah & Martin) (2011)
24/SG (2012)
Perfect 10 (2013–2014)
From The Top (2015–2016)
The Great Unknown: Unplugged (2016–2017)
This 15 Me (2018-2019)
Unified (Sarah & Regine) (2020)
Tala: The Film Concert (2021)
Christmas with the Gs! (2021)
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and recognitions
Sarah Geronimo has received awards and recognition in the entertainment industry (music, film, and television) and from other organizations including different international award-giving bodies such as 12 Awit Awards, 8 Aliw Awards, 28 Myx Music Awards, and a FAMAS Golden Artist Award.
She has also won the Best Asian Artist at the Mnet Asian Music Awards in 2012, Best Southeast Asian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2014, Best Selling Filipino Artist at the 22nd World Music Awards and Best Asian Performer at Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards in 2016. She was inducted into the Anak TV Hall of Fame in 2013. Geronimo is a Goodwill Ambassador for Music of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and a recipient of their Ani ng Dangal or "Harvest of Honors" state recognition for multi-disciplinary arts.
References
External links
Category:1988 births
Category:Living people
Category:21st-century Filipino actresses
Category:Actresses from Manila
Category:Singers from Manila
Category:People from Santa Cruz, Manila
Category:World Music Awards winners
Category:Filipino dance musicians
Category:Hip hop singers
Category:Filipino women pop singers
Category:English-language singers from the Philippines
Category:Filipino female dancers
Category:Filipino dancers
Category:Filipino female models
Category:Filipino film actresses
Category:Filipino television actresses
Category:Reality show winners
Category:Participants in Philippine reality television series
Category:Viva Artists Agency
Category:Filipino sopranos
Category:ABS-CBN personalities
Category:TV5 (Philippine TV network) personalities
Category:Viva Records (Philippines) artists
Category:University of the Philippines Open University alumni
Category:21st-century Filipino women singers
Category:21st-century Filipino singers
Category:Filipino television variety show hosts
Category:Filipino people of Chinese descent
Category:MTV Europe Music Award winners
Category:Women hip hop musicians | [] | [
"Catch Me, I'm in Love was a film collaboration of Star Cinema and Viva Films that Sarah Geronimo worked on with actor Gerald Anderson. It was shown on March 23, 2011 in theaters nationwide as a summer release in the Philippines.",
"The text does not provide information on how well the film \"Catch Me, I'm in Love\" performed.",
"The text does not provide specific information on what Sarah Geronimo's role or actions were in the film \"Catch Me, I'm in Love.\"",
"Catch Me, I'm in Love was released on March 23, 2011.",
"Sarah G. Live! was Sarah Geronimo's solo weekly musical-variety show that aired every Sunday night.",
"During the time period mentioned in the text, Sarah Geronimo had a Valentine concert with Martin Nievera titled \"What Love Is\" and she staged her fifth major solo concert in the \"Big Dome\" entitled 24/SG.",
"The text does not provide information on how well the concerts performed."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_1 | Sarah Geronimo | Sarah Geronimo (born July 25, 1988), is a Filipino singer, actress, and television personality. Her contributions to music along with her film and television work has made her a local figure in popular culture of the 2000s to 2010s in the Philippines. Born and raised in Santa Cruz, Manila, Geronimo started a career in music at the age of 14 after winning the television singing contest Star for a Night. She then signed with music label Viva Records and rose to fame with the release of her debut album Popstar | 2004-2007: The Other Side and In Motion | Still managed by VIVA, Geronimo signed a TV contract with ABS-CBN network in 2004. She starred in her first television series, Sarah the Teen Princess (2004) and became a regular host and performer on the variety show ASAP (2004-present). Geronimo again had supporting roles in the films Masikip sa Dibdib (2004), Annie B. (2004) and Lastikman: Unang Banat (2004). Geronimo sang the Philippine National Anthem at the pre-inaugural ceremonies of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on June 30, 2004. In November 2004, Geronimo released her second album, Sweet Sixteen that included the single "How Could You Say You Love Me". Geronimo performed in the Night of the Champions concert at the Araneta Coliseum with other singing competition winners Rachelle Ann Go and Erik Santos. In 2005, Geronimo joined the cast of the teen-oriented television program SCQ Reload: Kilig Ako and hosted two seasons of the singing competition show Little Big Star (2005-2007). On September 30, 2005, Geronimo staged a solo concert at Araneta Coliseum entitled The Other Side. In 2006, Geronimo starred in ABS-CBN's primetime soap opera, Bituing Walang Ningning, a remake of the 1985 movie. She played the role of an aspiring singer named Dorina Pineda, originally played by Sharon Cuneta in the movie, and released a soundtrack of the series. In July 2006, Geronimo release her third studio album, Becoming, produced by Christian De Walden. The album yielded three singles: "I Still Believe In Loving You", "Carry My Love" and "Iingatan Ko Ang Pag-ibig Mo". On November 18, 2006, Manny Pacquiao chose Geronimo to sing Lupang Hinirang, the Philippine national anthem, before his match against Mexico's Erik Morales at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. Geronimo staged her second major solo concert "In Motion" on July 14, 2007 at the Araneta Coliseum. Unlike her first solo concert, this concert went off with no technical glitches. She spent the rest of 2007 performing concerts in the Philippines and the U.S. and recording her fourth studio album, Taking Flight, which sold more than 60,000 units and achieved double platinum status. In the latter half of 2007, Geronimo appeared in her third television series for ABS-CBN, Pangarap Na Bituin. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_1_q#0",
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_1_q#1",
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_1_q#2",
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_1_q#3",
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_1_q#4",
"C_32b23f3625404e66b20028d99d30d0e4_1_q#5"
] | [
"Wha t occurred in 2004?",
"What was it for?",
"What is In Motion?",
"When did the concert begin?",
"Did she star in any TV shows?",
"What other album did she have?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
2,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
23
],
[
83
],
[
1740
],
[
1801
],
[
777
],
[
497
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Geronimo signed a TV contract with ABS-CBN network in 2004."
],
[
"She starred in her first television series, Sarah the Teen Princess (2004) and became a regular host and performer on the variety show ASAP (2004-present)."
],
[
"Geronimo staged her second major solo concert \"In Motion\" on July 14, 2007 at the Araneta Coliseum."
],
[
"July 14, 2007"
],
[
"In 2005, Geronimo joined the cast of the teen-oriented television program SCQ Reload: Kilig Ako and hosted two seasons of the singing competition show Little Big Star (2005-2007)."
],
[
"In November 2004, Geronimo released her second album, Sweet Sixteen"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
23,
83,
1740,
1801,
777,
497
],
"texts": [
"Geronimo signed a TV contract with ABS-CBN network in 2004.",
"She starred in her first television series, Sarah the Teen Princess (2004) and became a regular host and performer on the variety show ASAP (2004-present).",
"Geronimo staged her second major solo concert \"In Motion\" on July 14, 2007 at the Araneta Coliseum.",
"July 14, 2007",
"In 2005, Geronimo joined the cast of the teen-oriented television program SCQ Reload: Kilig Ako and hosted two seasons of the singing competition show Little Big Star (2005-2007).",
"In November 2004, Geronimo released her second album, Sweet Sixteen"
]
} | Sarah Asher Tua Geronimo-Guidicelli (, born July 25, 1988) is a Filipino singer, performer and actress. Geronimo rose to prominence after winning the television singing contest Star for a Night earning her a recording contract with Viva Records. She has won 15 Awit Awards, 28 Myx Music Awards, 8 Aliw Awards, 4 FAMAS Awards including the prestigious FAMAS Golden Artist Award and a World Music Award. Tatler listed her as one of the most influential celebrities, while Forbes Asia named her one of the most powerful influencers.
Life and career
1988–2003: Early beginnings and Star for a Night
Sarah Asher Tua Geronimo was born on July 25, 1988, in Santa Cruz, Manila to Delfin Geronimo, a retired PLDT employee, and Divina Tua, who ran a beauty salon in their house. She is the third of four children. She started singing publicly at age two. At the age of four, she was accompanied by her mother to join auditions for different television programs. Geronimo became part of the shows Penpen de Sarapen (4–6 years old), Ang TV (7–8 years old) and NEXT (8–9 years old). She has also played as an extra in the movie Sarah... Ang Munting Prinsesa (1995). In between auditions, Geronimo would perform at shopping malls and hotel lounges. Geronimo, then age 7, was one of the performers during the 1995 visit of Pope John Paul II. Geronimo at an early age joined different singing contests the first of which was Tuklas Talino sponsored by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT).
In 2002, Geronimo competed in the television singing contest Star for a Night, airing in IBC. At the age of fourteen, she won the grand prize that included and a managerial contract from Viva Entertainment. Geronimo released her first album Popstar: A Dream Come True in 2003. Her acting debuts were supporting roles in two of Viva's entries to the 2003 Metro Manila Film Festival: Filipinas and Captain Barbell (2003).
2004–2007: The Other Side and In Motion
Still managed by VIVA, Geronimo signed a TV contract with ABS-CBN network in 2004. She starred in her first television series, Sarah the Teen Princess (2004) and became a regular host and performer on the variety show ASAP (2004–present). Geronimo again had supporting roles in the films Annie B., Masikip sa Dibdib and Lastikman: Unang Banat all released in that same year. Geronimo sang the Philippine National Anthem at the pre-inaugural ceremonies of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on June 30, 2004. In November 2004, Geronimo released her second album, Sweet Sixteen that included the single "How Could You Say You Love Me". Geronimo performed in the Night of the Champions concert at the Araneta Coliseum with other singing competition winners Rachelle Ann Go and Erik Santos.
In 2005, Geronimo joined the cast of the teen-oriented television program SCQ Reload: Kilig Ako and hosted two seasons of the singing competition show Little Big Star (2005–2007). On September 30, 2005, Geronimo staged a solo concert at Araneta Coliseum entitled The Other Side.
In 2006, Geronimo starred in ABS-CBN's primetime soap opera, Bituing Walang Ningning, a remake of the 1985 movie. She played the role of an aspiring singer named Dorina Pineda, originally played by Sharon Cuneta in the movie, and released a soundtrack of the series. In July 2006, Geronimo release her third studio album, Becoming, produced by Christian De Walden. The album yielded three singles: "I Still Believe In Loving You", "Carry My Love" and "Iingatan Ko Ang Pag-ibig Mo". On November 18, 2006, Manny Pacquiao chose Geronimo to sing Lupang Hinirang, the Philippine national anthem, before his match against Mexico's Erik Morales at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Geronimo staged her second major solo concert "In Motion" on July 14, 2007, at the Araneta Coliseum. Unlike her first solo concert, this concert went off with no technical glitches. She spent the rest of 2007 performing concerts in the Philippines and the U.S. and recording her fourth studio album, Taking Flight, which sold more than 60,000 units and achieved double-platinum status. In the latter half of 2007, Geronimo appeared in her third television series for ABS-CBN, Pangarap na Bituin.
2008–2010: The Next One and Record Breaker
In early 2008, Geronimo reunited with Erik Santos, Rachelle Ann Go, and Christian Bautista in a Valentine's Day concert at the Araneta Coliseum, entitled "OL4LUV". Before Geronimo released her fifth studio album, she released I'll Be There as the fourth single from Taking Flight. On July 30, 2008, Geronimo starred with Filipino actor John Lloyd Cruz in A Very Special Love which was produced by Star Cinema and VIVA films and grossed almost . The movie opened with and Isah V. Red of The Manila Standard Today said, "This only proves that the new generation of Filipino movie audience is ready for their own screen heroine, not someone passed on to them by their parents or grandparents. Geronimo included a track from the film, "A Very Special Love", on her album Taking Flight.
Geronimo's fifth studio album, Just Me, included a duet with Backstreet Boys member Howie Dorough entitled, "I'll Be There". De Walden again produced this album. Like her previous albums, Just Me achieved platinum status in December 2008. She was recognized for this accomplishment on the 2008 ASAP Platinum Circle Awards show. On November 8, 2008, Geronimo staged her third major solo concert in Araneta Coliseum, entitled The Next One, which marked the first time she accompanied herself on the piano while on stage. Geronimo's Just Me album, was re-released, adding You Changed My Life. She was also recognized by ASAP for attaining platinum status for her albums Taking Flight and Just Me and for her two concert DVDs (The Other Side and Sarah in Motion).
In February 2009, Geronimo made a movie again with John Lloyd Cruz in You Changed My Life, the sequel of A Very Special Love. The film's total theatrical earnings earned over , and holds the record for the highest grossing Filipino movie made. Geronimo traveled to the US in March to April 2009 for her The Next One tour, where she received positive reviews about her performances. In June 2009, she re-staged the Sarah Geronimo: The Next One Philippine concert tour. On August 5, 2009, Geronimo was given the honor to sing the Virna Lisa's 1986 People Power anthem, "Magkaisa" during the funeral of former President Corazon Aquino. Geronimo released a solo Christmas album, Your Christmas Girl in October 2009. In November 2009, she staged her fourth solo sold-out concert, Record Breaker, in the Araneta Coliseum. The Philippine Daily Inquirer called the concert "a qualified success". At the same day of her concert, she released her sixth studio album, Music and Me. In December 2009, Your Christmas Girl and Music and Me both reached platinum status after a month of their release.
On December 1, 2009, Geronimo received a star on the Philippines Walk of Fame at Libis, Eastwood. Geronimo released the DVD Record Breaker, filmed at the Araneta Coliseum, on March 16, 2010, and eventually achieved triple Platinum status in December 2010.
In April 2010, Geronimo was chosen to endorse an online game called Superstar which was launched by X-Play as an online singing star search. Geronimo also lent her voice in singing its theme song "This Is My Dream."
In September 2010, Geronimo starred in a musical series entitled 1DOL which was aired on ABS-CBN and she appeared in the film Hating Kapatid under Viva Films.
2011–2012: Catch Me, I'm in Love, Sarah G. Live!, and concerts
In February 2011, she had a Valentine concert with Martin Nievera titled "What Love Is" at the Araneta Coliseum.
Geronimo worked with Gerald Anderson in the film collaboration of Star Cinema and Viva Films entitled Catch Me, I'm in Love which was shown on March 23, 2011, in theaters nationwide and shown as a summer release in the Philippines. In November 2011, Geronimo made a movie again with Gerald Anderson in Won't Last A Day Without You which earned on its opening day. Geronimo signed an exclusive one-year contract with ABS-CBN, it states her future projects and commitments such as having a weekly solo show, an extension as a performer in ASAP Rocks, and a movie with John Lloyd Cruz for the third time. Also this year, Geronimo is declared as the Princess of Philippine Movies by the Guillermo Mendoza Box Office Awards for her movie, Catch Me, I'm in Love together with Gerald Anderson.
In October of the same year, the singer took private lessons on Jazz music during her vacation in the USA. She was also vocally supervised by Yosha Honassan who later on became the writer of some of her jazz songs.
Geronimo had her solo weekly musical-variety show every Sunday night titled Sarah G. Live! and her movie with John Lloyd Cruz is in production.
In July 2012, Geronimo staged her fifth major solo concert in the "Big Dome" entitled 24/SG.
In November 2012, Geronimo was chosen as the "Bayanihan Ambassadress" of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
In December 2012, Geronimo won a string of awards one of which is the Best Asian Artist Award (Philippines) at the recently concluded Mnet Asian Music Awards. Geronimo also won major awards in Awit Awards, Aliw Awards and PMPC Star Awards for Music.
2013–2015: The Voice of the Philippines and international activities
In 2013, Geronimo will have her own drama anthology entitled Sarah G. Presents. Geronimo is also set to be a coach and judge in The Voice of the Philippines.
In March 2013, Geronimo received two Presidential Awards, Ani ng Dangal for Multi-Disciplinary Arts and National Commission for Culture and the Arts (Philippines) Goodwill Ambassadress for Music. Geronimo is nominated for three categories at the 2013 World Music Awards (WMA): best entertainer of the year, best live act, and best female artist. Also her movie which is shown on March 30, 2013, It Takes a Man and a Woman broke box office records and became the highest grossing Filipino film of all time.
In June 2013, Viva Records announced that she wouldbe releasing her tenth studio album on July before her birthday. The album's title was later revealed to be Expressions, which was contain mainly original songs that she co-produced herself. It was released on July 22. On August 8, Geronimo became the brand endorser of KakaoTalk together with K-pop boyband Big Bang.
In December 2013, she was elevated into Anak TV Seal Hall of Famer for being a "credible, wholesome and worth emulating by the youth".
Geronimo was also nominated for the Best Southeast Asian Act category in the 2013 MTV Europe Music Awards.
On May 27, 2014, Geronimo are among the acts that won accolades in the 2014 World Music Awards held in Monaco, winning the Best Selling Philippines Artist award. She became the first Filipino music artist who received an award in the World Music Awards history.
On August 26, 2014, Spotify Philippines revealed that Geronimo was one of the most streamed artists within the country alongside band Eraserheads.
Geronimo release her eleventh studio album titled Perfectly Imperfect on October 4, 2014. The album also included songs which were written by international music producer Adam Hurstfield and Canadian singer Elise Estrada. The album's lead single, "Kilometro", premiered on September 17, 2014, and was written by Thyro & Yumi.
Geronimo was voted as the Best Southeast Asia Act at the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards and was also nominated as Best Southeast Asia, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese Act.
She was included in BuzzFeed's 2014 list of The 20 Filipino Music Artists You Need To Listen Right Now.
Geronimo has been chosen by Disney to re-interpret the theme song of its Princess franchise. In a teaser aired on Disney Channel, Geronimo revealed that she did her own version of "The Glow" and that its music video will premiere on December 6, 2014.
In July 2015, Geronimo with her song "Kilometro" represented the Philippines in the 10th International Song Contest: The Global Sound hosted by Australian jury, as one of the 70 semi-finalists from different countries all over the world and later on advanced as one of the top 25 finalists. In the final round, Geronimo was adjudged as the winner and received the Gold Global Sound award. ISC: The Global Sound confirmed on their Facebook page that this is the first Asian country to win the contest.
Geronimo also starred in the blockbuster movie The Breakup Playlist, together with Filipino actor Piolo Pascual, which was shown in cinemas on July 1. The movie grossed PHP 200 million.
In October 2015, Geronimo was chosen to record Felix Manalo's theme song "Ang Sugo ng Diyos Sa Mga Huling Araw" and later won Best Movie Theme Song on both PMPC Star Awards for Movies and FAMAS Awards in 2016.
Xeleb Inc., the first celebrity mobile games company in the Philippines, tapped Geronimo for its newest gaming app, Sarah G Popsters. The app officially launched on November 24, 2015.
In December 2015, for the second consecutive year, Spotify Philippines hailed Geronimo as one of the most streamed Filipino artists alongside bands Eraserheads and Up Dharma Down.
On December 9, 2015, Geronimo received her 10th Awit Award. At the 28th Awit Awards, Perfectly Imperfect was awarded "Album of the Year".
On December 18, 2015, Geronimo was voted as the Asian Artist of the Year at the Hello Asia! K-Pop Awards 2015.
2016–2018: Endorsements, The Great Unknown, This 15 Me, Miss Granny and International Recognition
On February 29, 2016, Big Apple Music Awards announced on their official Twitter account that Geronimo has been nominated as "Best Filipino Female Artist".
In March 2016, Philippine Airlines officials, led by the chairman Dr. Lucio C. Tan and President Jaime J. Bautista, celebrated the airline's 75th anniversary during a gala dinner for PAL employees at the SMX-MOA in Pasay, where the flag carrier also unveiled its new advertising campaign – The Heart of the Filipino: Shining Through – with top Filipino singers Sarah Geronimo, Bamboo and Lea Salonga as endorsers.
On September 21, 2016, Geronimo was named as one of the nominees in the Best Southeast Asian Act for the 2016 MTV Europe Music Awards set on November 6, 2016, at the Ahoy Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
On October 12, 2016, Geronimo's The Great Unknown won Best Secular Album in the 38th Catholic Mass Media Awards. This is the second time Sarah received the award, the first was for Perfectly Imperfect album.
Geronimo was recognized as this year's Best Asian Performer during the Classic Rock Awards 2016 held in Tokyo, Japan on November 11, 2016.
Geronimo attended the awarding ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Stadium in Tokyo, where she performed the song "Anak" by Freddie Aguilar.
On November 29, 2016, Geronimo held her album show entitled The Great Unknown: Unplugged in Kia Theatre in promotion of her platinum-selling album The Great Unknown. Due to its success, Geronimo brought the show in different provinces in the country including Albay, Pampanga and Iloilo.
In March 2017, Geronimo confirmed that she will be returning as one of the coaches of The Voice Teens Philippines. Geronimo will return to the teens edition along with coaches Bamboo, Sharon Cuneta, and Lea Salonga.
On May 15, 2017, US-based World Top Musicians included her on their website.
In July 2017, Geronimo starred in the movie Finally Found Someone with John Lloyd Cruz. The movie served as a reunion movie of Geronimo and John Lloyd Cruz tandem after four years.
In January 2018, Geronimo released the single called "Sandata" and topped the iTunes Philippines chart for 4 consecutive days. The song also landed on Spotify Philippines Viral Chart. The official lyric video of the song was published on Viva Records' official channel a week later. On April, she released two singles called "Ganito" and "Duyan". Both songs topped the iTunes Philippines songs chart.
In March 2018, Geronimo was included at Spotify's "Amplify: Women of the World" global playlist with her song "Tayo" in celebration of Women's Month. She is the only OPM artist included alongside Rihanna, Dua Lipa, CL and more.
On April 14, 2018, she held her 15th anniversary concert called This Is Me stylized as "This 15 Me" at the Araneta Coliseum. The sold-out concert was reported as the "Highest Grossing Local Concert of All-time." The concert's official hashtag was also the number one trending topic on Twitter Philippines on the day of the concert with over 200,000 tweets, whilst recorded performances from the said concert instantly trended on YouTube Philippines, including her opening number "Dulo", her song and dance number for "Tala", the rendition of Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing" and the rendition of Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing". Geronimo's take on the Dame Tu Cosita Dance Challenge also went viral on various social media platforms including Facebook.
In August 2018, Geronimo starred in her first title-role movie Miss Granny, a remake of the 2014 South Korean film of the same name. The film was both critically acclaimed and commercial success. Her performance was praised by both critics and viewers. Writing for Cosmopolitan Philippines, Ro Manalo stated "In my opinion, this was her (Sarah Geronimo) best performance as an actress to date. No other local female celebrity has the combination of characteristics required for the role—impeccable comedic timing, a talent for drama, a powerful singing voice, and an old soul with an almost manang charm. Sarah was so believable as a 70-year-old woman inside a 20-year-old's body." She is currently nominated as "Best Actress" at the 2018 Rawr Awards and Inside Showbiz Awards.
She released the first single from Miss Granny'''s movie soundtrack entitled "Kiss Me, Kiss Me" prior to the release of the film. The song went number one on iTunes Philippines and became an instant hit in the country. On July 15, Miss Granny soundtrack was released and also went number one. Its tracks "Isa Pang Araw", "Kiss Me, Kiss Me", and "Rain" all stayed on iTunes Philippines songs chart during and even after the run of the film in Philippine Cinemas.
She represented the Philippines at the 2nd ASEAN-Japan Music Festival held at the NHK Hall in Tokyo on October 4 where she performed her original hits "Kilometro" and "Tala". The event was hosted by Hikaru Nishida and Pico Taro coincided with the 45th anniversary of the ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation.
She went to Dubai for her This 15 Me concert and filled the 5,000-seater Dubai Duty-Free Stadium on September 20. Days after performing at ASEAN Music Festival, Geronimo staged her Nagoya, Japan leg of This 15 Me on October 7. She is set to stage her concert in Spain, Oman, and various cities in the Philippines.
While filming Miss Granny and touring the Philippines and the other side of the world for This 15 Me, Geronimo has been winning on various award-giving bodies in Manila. She won three awards at the 2018 MYX Music Awards including the "Female Artist of the Year" award and was hailed by EdukCircle Awards as the "Most Influential Actress" for her 2017 film Finally Found Someone.
In November 2018, Geronimo was hailed as the Best Pilipino Artist and the Most Popular BAMA 2018 Artist at the 2018 Big Apple Music Awards (BAMA), Geronimo failed to attend the ceremony held in New York but according to BAMA, the trophies were already sent to Geronimo. She staged her This 15 Me Laguna concert in Santa Rosa Sports Complex, Laguna the next day. It was the first-ever sold-out local show in the history of the said arena.
On December 23, 2018, she was announced a winner at Universal Music Awards 2018 in Warsaw, Poland with her song "Ganito". She beat more than 200 entries from different countries including songs by Ed Sheeran, Little Mix, Charlie Puth, Taylor Swift and more. She also bagged the Popular Award, while Charles Aznavour won the Historic Award.
On December 26, 2018, Geronimo's song "Sandata" topped CNN Philippines' "The 15 Best Filipino Songs of 2018" list.
2019–present: Unforgettable, Tala Dance Craze, Concerts, Awards and Recognitions
On January 29, 2019, Geronimo performed in front of 130,000 people who attended the first-ever holy mass of a Pope in the Middle East held at Zayed Sports City Stadium.
She performed in front of fans at Zurich and Milan on May 3 and 5 for her Europe concert tour after her "This 15 Me" anniversary concert in 2018.
Geronimo also supports incumbent senator Sonny Angara's re-election because 'of his advocacies'. Sarah also sang her song "Sa Iyo" as Angara's campaign jingle in 2013 and was reused in the upcoming elections.
On May 30, 2019, Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, announced her as the brand's newest ambassador. A TV commercial was aired on the first of June.
Geronimo launched her own makeup line, Pop Studio, on May 31, 2019. It was a collaboration with iFace Inc.
On June 2, Geronimo tied with Kathryn Bernardo as Best Actress at the PMPC Star Awards for Movies 2019 against veteran actresses Judy Ann Santos, Gina Pareño, Gloria Romero, and more.
She was announced "Star of the Week" by a Germany-based entertainment website and music awards Daf Entertainment on July 31, 2019.
Her newest film, Unforgettable, under VIVA Films was released on October 23, 2019. It was directed by Jun Robles Lana, and also stars celebrity dog Milo, Gina Pareno, Ara Mina, Meg Imperial, and more.
On October 10, 2019, she won 3 awards from the 2019 Awit Awards including "Female Artist of the year", "Best Song was written for a Movie/TV/Stageplay", and "Best Performance by a Female Recording Artist."
In late 2019, "Tala" turned into a viral dance craze.
On January 27, 2020, Geronimo's single "Tala" entered the 12th spot in the Billboard Digital Song sales chart. The song also charted in more than 20
countries around the globe including the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and more after it regained its popularity. It also reached the Global Viral 50 in Spotify, as well as YouTube's weekly global chart of world's most viewed music videos.
Geronimo won "Best Actress" award from 4th Guild of Educators, Mentors, and Students (GEMS) Hiyas ng Sining Awards last February 13 for her Unforgettable movie.
On February 27, Geronimo's viral song "Tala" had reached 100 million views on YouTube, making Geronimo the first local solo female artist to achieve the milestone.
On May, Sarah G received another international award as "Distinguished Entertainment Personality of the Year" award at the Akwa-Ibom State Advancement Awards 2020 (ASAA).
In June 2020, The music video of her song, "Tala" became the "Most Viewed OPM Music Video on YouTube".
She was also included the 2020 "Philippine’s Most Admired" list by YouGov PH.
In December 2020, Geronimo was included in Forbes Asia's 100 Digital Stars. She was also awarded as one of the "Most Influential Celebrities of The Decade" in the 10th EdukCircle Awards. She also garnered various recognitions such as Google PH's "Most Searched Lyrics and Songs" for her song "Tala", her movie Unforgettable is on the list of Netflix PH's "Most Watched Movie for Drama", Yahoo PH's "2nd Most Searched Female Personality" and YouTube Music included Sarah G's "Your Universe" in 3 of their playlists: Top Southeast Asian Song Of 2020, Top Song Of 2020 Philippines, and Top OPM 2020.
In May 2021, Geronimo's digital concert film Tala: The Film Concert received two encore screenings, with tickets selling for PHP 1,000.
Artistry
Geronimo's music is generally pop and sings songs mostly about love. International producer Christian de Walden praised Geronimo's voice and said "The personality of her voice is phenomenally distinct. Many have great voices but they tend to imitate foreign divas like Celine Dion, Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston. She definitely is the biggest talent I have come across within the last ten years...".
Rito P. Asilo of Philippine Daily Inquirer stated in a review of her album: "it's hard to resist the rich and lush quality of her melodies when they fall smoothly and squarely on her confident middle registers" and has praised her transition saying, "her phrasing style to her interchanging shifts in vocal placement, from deep chest tones to heady soft trills, and back which isn't really a bad thing: In fact, it could represent growth because Sarah used to win her admirers solely with the lung-busting high notes."
Influences
Geronimo has cited Michael Jackson as her major influence and she grew up singing and dancing to his music. Geronimo said: "As a child, my dream was to be hugely popular like Michael Jackson. I wanted to have that kind of worldwide fame," added, "I want to be like him while performing, everyone gets so wild and emotional. Besides that, I see him as not only a performer, he's an inspiration to many people, and that's what I also want to become." Geronimo also cited American pop star, Beyoncé as one of her influences in singing and dancing live.
Legacy
"Sarah's very successful concert showcased the various facets of her personality. She's an old soul who can sing Celine Dion's "If I Could" and Mariah Carey's "Through the Rain" with such emotion. She's an 80s baby who can moonwalk to "Billie Jean" ala Michael Jackson. She's a budding belter who can hit the high notes of Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All" with Regine Velasquez."
Geronimo's participation in the "What Love Is..." with Martin Nievera concert was described by Baby A. Gil of the Philippine Star with the comment, "Who needs a dancing Martin anyway when you have the long-limbed Sarah there, who is a daring, enthusiastic dancer? I like watching her dance and finding her moving even better now than the last time is a treat. Of course, she has also become an even better singer. To those who are wont to ask, has she gotten rid of her Celine Dion tendencies? Well, she still sings a good To Love You More, but she has obviously come to her own with fuller tones, nice, sexy low notes."
In her 24/SG concert People's Journal commented, "Sarah has reached a new level in her career as a concert artist. In fact, she has earned the right to be called the Concert Queen of the New Generation." Aside from her singing prowess, Geronimo's dancing skills has improved greatly.
Her performances earned her a win at the 2016 Classic Rock Awards in Tokyo as "Best Asian Performer".
Image
Camille Bersola of The Philippine Star described Geronimo as more than just a pop icon for being an inspiration, especially to today's youth. She stated: "In amateur singing competitions, there will be at least three contestants that will have their own rendition of 'To Love You More' or 'Forever's Not Enough'. When these little girls are asked who their favorite singer is, and whose path they’d like to follow someday, you can bet more or less 75 percent of them will have the same answer: Sarah Geronimo."
Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte described Geronimo in The Philippine Star: "She's wholesome on and off camera, untainted by unsavory rumors. She's an ideal daughter and that makes her a good role model for the youth." Wilson Lee Flores of The Philippine Star said, "She is a breath of fresh air in terms of wholesome image, humility, real talent and source of good news for the Philippine entertainment industry". In 2005, Geronimo was awarded with "Pinoy Wannabe Awardee", a prestigious Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards given to a celebrity whom kids consider as their role model. In 2006, QTV 11's magazine show Ang Pinaka named her as "Ang Pinaka Idol na Singer ng mga Bata."
Geronimo however admitted it's not always easy protecting that image, especially since everyone looks up to her as a role model for young people. She said, "It's a bit hard although I'd like to become a role model. I rather take it as a big challenge because it is probably my purpose being here in this industry. This may also be the reason why I'm being trusted by companies to promote their products."
Media reception
In 2011, Geronimo was ranked as the third in the top celebrity endorsers by the AGB Nielsen Philippines survey.
In 2013, she ranks as the sixth highest female taxpayer and as fourth top endorser.
In 2014, the entertainment publication YES! Magazine ranked Geronimo as the "Most Beautiful Star", leading the list as the top 1 of the top 100 celebrities. She also ranks in 2014, as the fourth highest female celebrity taxpayer.
Since 2014, Geronimo has been the most streamed solo Filipino artist in Spotify Philippines. In 2015, FAMAS named Geronimo the "Iconic Movie Queen of Philippine Cinema".
In December 2020, Forbes named Geronimo as one of Forbes Asia's 100 Digital Stars, a list of the most influential names in the Asia-Pacific region. She was praised for her efforts in helping Filipinos during the coronavirus pandemic.
Personal life and philanthropy
Geronimo attended Dominican School Manila for her primary education. She enrolled at University of Santo Tomas Education High School but later completed her secondary education at Angelicum College. Geronimo studied Associate in Arts program in University of the Philippines Open University (UP Open University).
Geronimo regularly holds benefit concerts for various charities for children and cancer patients and has been involved with several outreach programs and with Gawad Kalinga.
Geronimo is a born-again Christian. She stated Gary Valenciano was responsible for renewing her faith and shared with her a verse from Jeremiah 29. In November of 2019, she announced her engagement to long-time boyfriend, actor Matteo Guidicelli. They secretly had a Christian wedding at the Victory Christian Fellowship at Taguig at past six in the evening, Thursday night officiated by Sr. Pastor Paulo Punzalan on February 20, 2020.
Discography
Popstar: A Dream Come True (2003)
Sweet Sixteen (2004)
Becoming (2006)
Taking Flight (2007)
Just Me (2008)
Your Christmas Girl (2009)
Music and Me (2009)
One Heart (2011)
Pure OPM Classics (2012)
Expressions (2013)
Perfectly Imperfect (2014)
The Great Unknown (2015)
THIS 15 ME'' (2018)
Concerts
Popstar: A Dream Come True Concert (2004)
To Love Her More (2004)
The Other Side (2005)
In Motion (2007)
The Next One (2008)
Record Breaker (2009)
What Love Is (Sarah & Martin) (2011)
24/SG (2012)
Perfect 10 (2013–2014)
From The Top (2015–2016)
The Great Unknown: Unplugged (2016–2017)
This 15 Me (2018-2019)
Unified (Sarah & Regine) (2020)
Tala: The Film Concert (2021)
Christmas with the Gs! (2021)
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and recognitions
Sarah Geronimo has received awards and recognition in the entertainment industry (music, film, and television) and from other organizations including different international award-giving bodies such as 12 Awit Awards, 8 Aliw Awards, 28 Myx Music Awards, and a FAMAS Golden Artist Award.
She has also won the Best Asian Artist at the Mnet Asian Music Awards in 2012, Best Southeast Asian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2014, Best Selling Filipino Artist at the 22nd World Music Awards and Best Asian Performer at Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards in 2016. She was inducted into the Anak TV Hall of Fame in 2013. Geronimo is a Goodwill Ambassador for Music of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and a recipient of their Ani ng Dangal or "Harvest of Honors" state recognition for multi-disciplinary arts.
References
External links
Category:1988 births
Category:Living people
Category:21st-century Filipino actresses
Category:Actresses from Manila
Category:Singers from Manila
Category:People from Santa Cruz, Manila
Category:World Music Awards winners
Category:Filipino dance musicians
Category:Hip hop singers
Category:Filipino women pop singers
Category:English-language singers from the Philippines
Category:Filipino female dancers
Category:Filipino dancers
Category:Filipino female models
Category:Filipino film actresses
Category:Filipino television actresses
Category:Reality show winners
Category:Participants in Philippine reality television series
Category:Viva Artists Agency
Category:Filipino sopranos
Category:ABS-CBN personalities
Category:TV5 (Philippine TV network) personalities
Category:Viva Records (Philippines) artists
Category:University of the Philippines Open University alumni
Category:21st-century Filipino women singers
Category:21st-century Filipino singers
Category:Filipino television variety show hosts
Category:Filipino people of Chinese descent
Category:MTV Europe Music Award winners
Category:Women hip hop musicians | [] | [
"In 2004, Sarah Geronimo signed a TV contract with ABS-CBN network, starred in her first television series Sarah the Teen Princess, became a regular host and performer on the variety show ASAP, and had supporting roles in the films Masikip sa Dibdib, Annie B. and Lastikman: Unang Banat. She also sang the Philippine National Anthem at the pre-inaugural ceremonies of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and released her second album, Sweet Sixteen, which included the single \"How Could You Say You Love Me\". Additionally, she performed in the Night of the Champions concert at the Araneta Coliseum.",
"Sarah Geronimo signed a TV contract with ABS-CBN network in 2004. She starred in her first television series, became a regular host and performer on a variety show, had supporting roles in several films, sang the national anthem at presidential pre-inaugural ceremonies, released an album, and performed in a concert. These activities were part of her career as a singer, actress, and television personality in the Philippines.",
"\"In Motion\" is the title of Sarah Geronimo's second major solo concert, which took place on July 14, 2007 at the Araneta Coliseum.",
"The concert \"In Motion\" by Sarah Geronimo was held on July 14, 2007.",
"Yes, Sarah Geronimo starred in multiple TV shows. In 2004, she starred in her first television series, Sarah the Teen Princess. In 2005, she joined the cast of the teen-oriented television program SCQ Reload: Kilig Ako and hosted two seasons of the singing competition show Little Big Star from 2005 to 2007. In 2006, she starred in ABS-CBN's primetime soap opera, Bituing Walang Ningning. And later in 2007, she appeared in her third television series for ABS-CBN, Pangarap Na Bituin.",
"Apart from her second album \"Sweet Sixteen\" that she released in 2004, Sarah Geronimo also had other albums. In July 2006, she released her third studio album, \"Becoming\", produced by Christian De Walden. In 2007, she recorded her fourth studio album, \"Taking Flight\", which sold more than 60,000 units and achieved double platinum status."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_0 | Frenzal Rhomb | Frenzal Rhomb is an Australian punk rock band that formed in 1992, with Jason Whalley on lead vocals and rhythm guitar during this entire period. In 1996, Lindsay McDougall joined the line-up on lead guitar and backing vocals. Three of the group's albums have entered the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart: A Man's Not a Camel (1999), | 2005-2009: Jay and the Doctor and Forever Malcolm Young | Frenzal Rhomb's Whalley and McDougall worked as Jay and the Doctor on Triple J's breakfast show from January 2005 through to November 2007. Prior to their employment at Triple J, the group's music had been banned after they had earlier criticised the station on air for playing the "same 40 songs". In 2004, they were asked to perform occasional late night shifts and request segments, which developed into the breakfast show slot. Their format includes banter where they provide "quips, one-liners, slagging off each other, other bands, other breakfast announcers, listeners, Triple J, Australian Idol and St Ives. It's verbal ping pong but more discursive." The band released Forever Malcolm Young in October 2006 - the title is a conflated reference to the 2005 song "Forever Young" by Youth Group and the name of AC/DC's guitarist, Malcolm Young - which peaked in the top 40. It provided a minor radio hit with the title track. Some controversy was expressed over the profanity in the title and lyrics of "Johnny Ramone was in a Fucking Good Band, but He Was a Cunt" (see Johnny Ramone, Ramones). Whalley's attitude to profanity and obscenity is "I often get amazed how offended people get by language, especially in Australia when its nothing you wouldn't hear in your local office or schoolyard. But we do make a point of shaking things up". Australian rock music journalist Ed Nimmervoll described them "[their] history is littered with legendary stories, perhaps true, perhaps exaggerations, but stories which fuel and match their song and album titles. Their songs are often profane, likely to poke fun at someone including themselves, hint at a social conscience, and inside all the tough talk and body jokes be hopelessly romantic." National touring followed the album's release, along with the announcement that from November 2007 Whalley would be leaving both Frenzal Rhomb and his job at Triple J to go on a world trip with his girlfriend. Some later copies of Forever Malcolm Young contained a bonus DVD covering the band's tours from 2002 up until 2005. It is titled Sucking All Over the World. Gordy Forman plays in the Melbourne hardcore band Mindsnare. McDougall continued as The Doctor at Triple J, initially with Robbie Buck and Marieke Hardy; and, from January 2010, he has hosted the afternoon show Drive with The Doctor. By April 2009, Frenzal Rhomb were performing The Boys Are Back in Town tour with 1990s punk group Nancy Vandal as their support act. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_0_q#0",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_0_q#1",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_0_q#2",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_0_q#3",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_0_q#4",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_0_q#5",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_0_q#6",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_0_q#7",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_0_q#8",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_0_q#9",
"C_31b6aef20b5e4ec5841e183fa3edbb37_0_q#10"
] | [
"What happen in 2005",
"What was Jay and the Doctor",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"How did it do on the charts?",
"What else happen album wise",
"What else did you find interesting in this article?",
"What else happen with Frenzal Rhomb",
"When did the touring ending",
"What happen after their album release",
"WHat else did Whalley do",
"What else happen that was good for the group"
] | [
0,
2,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
1,
0,
1,
0
] | [
1,
1,
0,
1,
1,
1,
1,
2,
1,
1,
1
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
81
],
[
0
],
[
661
],
[
859
],
[
717
],
[
1349
],
[
1746
],
[
2480
],
[
1845
],
[
1919
],
[
2174
]
],
"texts": [
[
"breakfast show from January 2005 through to November 2007."
],
[
"Frenzal Rhomb's Whalley and McDougall worked as Jay and the Doctor on Triple J's breakfast show"
],
[
"The band released Forever Malcolm Young"
],
[
"peaked in the top 40."
],
[
"- the title is a conflated reference to the 2005 song \"Forever Young"
],
[
"Australian rock music journalist Ed Nimmervoll described them \"[their] history is littered with legendary stories,"
],
[
"National touring followed"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Whalley would be leaving both Frenzal Rhomb and his job at Triple J"
],
[
"on a world trip with his girlfriend."
],
[
"McDougall continued as The Doctor at Triple J, initially with Robbie Buck and Marieke Hardy;"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
81,
0,
661,
859,
717,
1349,
1746,
2480,
1845,
1919,
2174
],
"texts": [
"breakfast show from January 2005 through to November 2007.",
"Frenzal Rhomb's Whalley and McDougall worked as Jay and the Doctor on Triple J's breakfast show",
"The band released Forever Malcolm Young",
"peaked in the top 40.",
"- the title is a conflated reference to the 2005 song \"Forever Young",
"Australian rock music journalist Ed Nimmervoll described them \"[their] history is littered with legendary stories,",
"National touring followed",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Whalley would be leaving both Frenzal Rhomb and his job at Triple J",
"on a world trip with his girlfriend.",
"McDougall continued as The Doctor at Triple J, initially with Robbie Buck and Marieke Hardy;"
]
} | Frenzal Rhomb are an Australian punk rock band that formed in 1992 in Sydney. Three of the group's albums have entered the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart: A Man's Not a Camel (1999), Hi-Vis High Tea (2017) and Smoko at the Pet Food Factory (2011). Hi-Vis High Tea reached 9th position in the charts. The group has supported Australian tours by The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX, and Blink-182. Frenzal Rhomb have also toured in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, South Africa, Israel and Taiwan. The band has undergone several line-up changes, with lead vocalist Jason Whalley serving as the band's sole constant member.
History
1992–1995: Formation to Coughing Up a Storm
Frenzal Rhomb formed in 1992 in the Sydney suburb of Newtown with Alexis 'Lex' Feltham on bass guitar and Jason Whalley on vocals. Feltham and Whalley had been school mates at St Ives High School in St Ives. Whalley had commenced a Bachelor of Arts course in philosophy at Sydney University when he formed Frenzal Rhomb as a punk rock band. The band was formed to take part in a battle of the bands and at that stage was not seen as a permanent project. The name came from Fresnel rhomb, which is a prism-like device invented by the 19th century French engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel.
By 1993, the group's line-up was Feltham, Whalley, Ben Costello on guitar and Karl Perske on drums. They played at the Sydney iteration of the Big Day Out in January.
In March 1994, the band issued a seven-track EP, Dick Sandwich. Its cover had "a graphic drawing of the offending flaccid appendage draped over a sesame seed bun with lashings of bloody sauce." Posters with a similar image that advertised the group had them banned at some venues. National youth radio station Triple J criticised the group as being immature and told them to "grow up". The EP was described as having "good songs but it sounds like it was recorded under a doona" and had the group banned from some radio stations and retail outlets. One of its tracks, "I Wish I Was as Credible as Roger Climpson" (aka "Roger"), attracted attention of its subject, Roger Climpson – a Seven News anchor on TV – who posed with the group for a photo. The E.P also features fan favourites "Chemotherapy", and a cover of the TV series theme "Home And Away". The E.P featured an alternate cover depicting rabbits on the flipside of the liftout to appease record stores or people who may have been offended by the original artwork. In October of that year, they released a single, "Sorry About the Ruse", on their own label, How Much Did I Fucking Pay For This Records? The group were the local support act on the Australian leg of separate tours by United States punk rockers Bad Religion, The Offspring, and Blink-182.
In March 1995, Frenzal Rhomb released their first studio album, Coughing Up a Storm, on Shock Records' sub-label Shagpile Records. Perske was replaced by Nat Nykyruj on drums before the album appeared. The album features live fan favourite "Genius". In October 1997, it was retitled Once a Jolly Swagman Always a Jolly Swagman and issued with additional tracks by the US label Liberation Records. In mid-1995, the group supported NOFX on their national tour. Fat Mike, a member of NOFX, was also the owner of Fat Wreck Chords, and he signed the band to his label, which released the 4 Litres EP in the US.
1996–2000: Not So Tough Now to A Man's Not a Camel
In July 1996, Frenzal Rhomb released their second album, Not So Tough Now, which was produced by Tony Cohen (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, TISM, Dave Graney), Kalju Tonuma (Nick Barker, The Mavis's) and Frenzal Rhomb. Just after its appearance, Costello was replaced by Lindsay McDougall on lead guitar and backing vocals – Costello left to attend university and become an animal rights activist. In November, the group issued a CD EP, Punch in the Face and, in January 1997, performed at Big Day Out. Late that year they toured the US supporting Blink-182.
In September 1997, their third LP, Meet the Family, was released, which reached the top 40 on the ARIA Albums Chart and became their first certified gold album by ARIA. It spawned three singles, "Mr Charisma" (June), "There's Your Dad" (September), and "Mum Changed the Locks" (April 1998). In April, Gordon "Gordy" Forman replaced Nykyruj on drums, and they toured Australia with US ska band Blue Meanies. Frenzal Rhomb were the head-liners for the Australian leg of the 1998 Vans Warped Tour and they were recruited for the US edition. A 1998 version of Meet the Family contained a bonus disc, Mongrel, that was recorded live on this US leg.
In March 1999, they released their next album, A Man's Not a Camel, which was produced by Eddie Ashworth and was supported by a nationwide tour. As from November 2011, it remains Frenzal Rhomb's highest charting album, reaching No. 11. It spawned their highest charting single, "You Are Not My Friend" (August), which reached No. 49. Allmusic's album reviewer Mike DaRonco felt "the first two songs are great in that catchy, playful pop-punk sort of way, but the rest ... fall under the trap of having all their tracks sounding like one big, long song". The album also features fan favourites "We're Going Out Tonight" and "Never Had So Much Fun".
At the ARIA Music Awards of 1999 in October, the group performed "Never Had So Much Fun". In 2019 Dan Condon of Double J described this as one of "7 great performances from the history of the ARIA Awards." According to the band's website, US gigs were dropped after Whalley suffered a heart attack in late 1999 and the group spent the first few months of 2000 inactive. Whalley later denied that he had had a heart attack with "a lot of things on our Web site are greatly exaggerated. There was also a thing about my having trench rot, the World War I disease, but that's not true either".
2000–2003: Shut Your Mouth to Sans Souci
In November 2000, Frenzal Rhomb returned with the album Shut Your Mouth, released on Epic Records in Australia, an offshoot of Sony. RockZone's Samuel Barker liked some tracks as "a fine template for a pop punk album" however "the majority just falls into the same formula of most punk today. It's not bad, just overplayed". The album peaked in the top 40. After six months, Sony dropped the band in mid-2001 and they signed with Epitaph Records in Australia.
In April 2002, Feltham left the group, which provided many stories about why he left, including one that he was fired after thinking that the group should incorporate synth and keyboard work. The last song he recorded with the band was a cover of Midnight Oil's "The Dead Heart" for the 2001 tribute album Power & The Passion: A Tribute to Midnight Oil. After holding auditions in Sydney, Tom Crease was announced as the new bass guitarist.
In April 2003, the band released Sans Souci, which appeared in the top 50. Jo-Ann Greene of Allmusic liked the group's outlook: "they're not bitter, just snotty about it all, as all good punks should be. And Rhomb are four of the best ... their latest set of frenzied, funny, pitiless attacks upon an uncaring planet." The initial version of the album included a bonus DVD of five tracks with live footage and music videos.
2004: Political protest, Jackie O
During 2003, Frenzal Rhomb's McDougall organised Rock Against Howard, a compilation album, by various Australian musicians as a protest against incumbent Prime Minister John Howard's government. It was released in August 2004, before the October federal election, when Howard's coalition was re-elected.
In July 2004, radio station 2Day FM presenter Jackie O was to MC at the Bassinthegrass festival in Darwin. Jackie allegedly arrived late, causing Frenzal Rhomb to cut their setlist short by several songs. She attempted to speak with the audience. In protest, McDougall began playing AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" over her voice. Jackie was upset that she was unable to finish her announcement to the audience. Whalley later accused her and other music industry personalities of pushing original Australian bands aside to make way for short-term marketable acts such as Australian Idol and Popstars contestants.
Jackie and her co-presenter, Kyle Sandilands, called Whalley on air during their next breakfast show. Whalley apologised for offending Jackie, but stood by his claims regarding the music industry. The conversation became heated as Sandilands told Whalley "Your songs being played on this network or the Triple M network... it's just not going to happen now"; to which Whalley argued that Frenzal Rhomb were almost never played on the Austereo network anyway. During the conversation, Sandilands told Whalley that he was bitter and sad. When Whalley pointed out that Sandilands is in a position to promote new Australian music but doesn't, Sandilands countered that Frenzal Rhomb is not played on the network "because it's pretty much shit". While Sandilands agreed that shows like Popstars and Australian Idol are interested in making "a quick buck", he also asserted that he doesn't "care about Australian Idol or Popstars".
Sandilands argued that Whalley should not "pick fights with people that are female in the Northern Territory". Sandilands asserted that if he himself were present, "it would have been on for young and old". Whalley argued that gender was irrelevant to the issue, and in response to Sandilands' threat of violence asked Jackie if she was aware that her security guard had threatened a band technician with violence. Sandilands said he endorsed the threat of violence. Sandilands argued to Whalley that he has to "get over it" when Whalley recommended that radio DJs should promote original Australian music. In reply, Sandilands insinuated that Frenzal Rhomb, and bands in general, suffer from a lack of support because they are not "putting [their] stuff in front of the right people".
ABC Television's Media Watch covered the exchange and presenter David Marr raised concerns about the interview: "Kyle and Jackie O are also part of a new generation of radio thugs". Patrick Joyce, general manager of Austereo in Sydney, responded to Sandilands' threats of black listing and violence, "Music content is decided by the programming directors based on research of the market... Austereo does not approve of threats being made to anyone... We have fully canvassed these issues with Kyle".
2005–2009: Jay and the Doctor and Forever Malcolm Young
Frenzal Rhomb's Whalley and McDougall worked as Jay and the Doctor on Triple J's breakfast show from January 2005 through to November 2007. Prior to their employment at Triple J, the group's music had been banned after they had earlier criticised the station on air for playing the "same 40 songs". In 2004, they were asked to perform occasional late night shifts and request segments, which developed into the breakfast show slot. Their format includes banter where they provide "quips, one-liners, slagging off each other, other bands, other breakfast announcers, listeners, Triple J, Australian Idol and St Ives. It's verbal ping pong but more discursive."
The band released Forever Malcolm Young in October 2006 – the title is a conflated reference to the 2005 song "Forever Young" by Youth Group and the name of AC/DC's guitarist, Malcolm Young – which peaked in the top 40. It provided a minor radio hit with the title track. Some controversy was expressed over the profanity in the title and lyrics of "Johnny Ramone was in a Fucking Good Band, but He Was a Cunt" (see Johnny Ramone, Ramones). Whalley's attitude to profanity and obscenity is "I often get amazed how offended people get by language, especially in Australia when its nothing you wouldn't hear in your local office or schoolyard. But we do make a point of shaking things up". Australian rock music journalist Ed Nimmervoll described them "[their] history is littered with legendary stories, perhaps true, perhaps exaggerations, but stories which fuel and match their song and album titles. Their songs are often profane, likely to poke fun at someone including themselves, hint at a social conscience, and inside all the tough talk and body jokes be hopelessly romantic."
National touring followed the album's release, along with the announcement that from November 2007 Whalley would be leaving both Frenzal Rhomb and his job at Triple J to go on a world trip with his girlfriend. Some later copies of Forever Malcolm Young contained a bonus DVD covering the band's tours from 2002 up until 2005. It is titled Sucking All Over the World. Gordy Forman plays in the Melbourne hardcore band Mindsnare. McDougall continued as The Doctor at Triple J, initially with Robbie Buck and Marieke Hardy; and, from January 2010, he has hosted the afternoon show Drive with The Doctor. By April 2009, Frenzal Rhomb were performing The Boys Are Back in Town tour with 1990s punk group Nancy Vandal as their support act.
2010–2017: Smoko at the Pet Food Factory and We Lived Like Kings...
In December 2010, Frenzal Rhomb embarked on the No Sleep Til Festival which featured punk and metal bands: Megadeth, Descendents, NOFX, Gwar and Dropkick Murphys. Frenzal Rhomb played a new song entitled "Bird Attack". In Brisbane, on the last stop of the tour, Whalley and Crease joined Descendents on-stage with other bands' singers – Al Barr (Dropkick Murphys), Fat Mike (NOFX), Matt Skiba and Derek Grant (Alkaline Trio), and Jason Allen (Descendents' road manager) – to perform "Everything Sux".
Frenzal Rhomb recorded their next album, Smoko at the Pet Food Factory in Colorado with Bill Stevenson (drummer for Descendents) producing. It was released on 19 August 2011 on Shock Records, which peaked at No. 14. The group toured Australia with Teenage Bottlerocket in September in support of the album.
In June 2012, the album 'Not So Tough Now' was certified gold by the Australia Record Industry Association, 16 years after its release.
Lead singer Jay Whalley announced on 26 February 2013 that the group was forced to cancel its recent tour after surgeons discovered and removed a pig tapeworm egg from his brain.
Drummer Gordy Foreman broke his arm in multiple places after stage diving during a performance in Perth in 2015 and spent about 18 months recovering. The band continued to play live with Kye Smith (of Local Resident Failure) filling in on drums. Smith had previously paid tribute to Frenzal Rhomb as part of his "5 Minute Drum Chronology" series on YouTube.
To celebrate the band's 25th anniversary Frenzal Rhomb toured Australia in 2016. Fans were offered the opportunity to select songs in the set list by voting for their favourite songs on the band's Facebook page. The band also released a best-of album, entitled We Lived Like Kings, We Did Anything We Wanted, on 19 August.
2017–2023: Hi-Vis High Tea
Frenzal Rhomb's ninth studio album, Hi-Vis High Tea, was released on 26 May 2017 on CD, LP (vinyl) and digital download. It was once again recorded in The Blasting Room by Bill Stevenson. The album's first single, "Cunt Act," was released on the same day; as well as a national run of dates with Totally Unicorn.
After 17 years, Tom Crease departed the band in mid-2019 due to ongoing hearing problems. He was replaced by Michael "Dal" Dallinger, formerly of Newcastle punk band Local Resident Failure – coincidentally, a band named after a Frenzal Rhomb song. The band then performed at the 2020 Hotter Than Hell festival, which ended up being their last shows for over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The band made their live return at Melbourne's 170 Russell on April 23, 2021. A national tour followed in May, including performances at the festivals Full Tilt and Spring Loaded.
2023–present: The Cup of Pestilence
In late 2022, the band confirmed that they were at work on an album. On 15 February 2023, the band announced their tenth studio album, The Cup of Pestilence, which was released on 7 April. The announcement came with the release of its opening track and lead single, "Where Drug Dealers Take Their Kids". On 22 March 2023, Frenzal Rhomb released their second and last song from the album and single, "Thought It Was Yoga But It Was Ketamine".
Controversy
The group has generated controversy for profanity in cover art, song titles and lyrics; for the behaviour of members, on and off stage.
In July 2004, radio 2Day FM hosts Jackie O and Kyle Sandilands (themselves no strangers to controversy) threatened the band with "black-listing" from the Austereo network after a festival performance in Darwin, Australia in a tit for tat. The band had played AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" over the top of Jackie O's effort to explain her late appearance to the audience as the delay caused a further cut into the band's set time.
Band members
Current members
Jason "Jay" Whalley – lead vocals, occasional guitar (1992–present)
Lindsay "The Doctor" McDougall – guitar, backing vocals (1996–present)
Gordon "Gordy" Forman – drums (1998–present, hiatus 2015–2016)
Michael "Dal" Dallinger (AKA Dal Failure) – bass, backing vocals (2019–present)
Former members
Alexis "Lex" Feltham – bass, backing vocals (1992–2002)
Ben Costello – guitar (1992–1996)
Bruce Braybrooke – drums (1992–1993)
Karl Perske – drums (1993–1995)
Nat Nykyruj – drums (1995–1998)
Tom Crease – bass, backing vocals (2002–2019)
Former touring musicians
Kye Smith – drums (2015–2016, occasional fill-in gigs)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Coughing up a Storm (1995)
Not So Tough Now (1996)
Meet the Family (1997)
A Man's Not a Camel (1999)
Shut Your Mouth (2000)
Sans Souci (2003)
Forever Malcolm Young (2006)
Smoko at the Pet Food Factory (2011)
Hi-Vis High Tea (2017)
The Cup of Pestilence (2023)
Awards and nominations
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.
!
|-
|rowspan="2"|1999
| "You Are Not My Friend"
| ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist - Single
|
|rowspan="2"|
|-
| A Man's Not a Camel
| ARIA Award for Best Rock Album
|
|-
|2000
| "Never Had So Much Fun"
| ARIA Award for Best Pop Release
|
|
|-
References
General
Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
External links
Official Facebook
Fat Wreck Chords
Official website, 2001 archived by PANDORA on 29 August 2001.
30 years of Frenzal Rhomb - J Files special on Double J from June 2022
Frenzal Rhomb's singer Jason Whalley and guitarist Lindsay McDougall perform at Big Day Out, Melbourne, Victoria, 2005. A photo by Martin Philbey at Digital Collections by National Library of Australia
Frenzal Rhomb website
Category:Australian punk rock groups
Category:Fat Wreck Chords artists
Category:Epitaph Records artists
Category:Musical groups established in 1992
Category:Musical groups from Sydney | [
{
"text": "Specific may refer to:\n\n Specificity (disambiguation)\n Specific, a cure or therapy for a specific illness\n\nLaw \n Specific deterrence, focussed on an individual\n Specific finding, intermediate verdict used by a jury in determining the final verdict\n Specific jurisdiction over an out-of-state party, specific to cases that have a substantial connection to the party's in-state activity\n Order of specific performance, court order to perform a specific act\n\nEconomics, finance, and accounting\n Asset specificity, the extent to which the investments made to support a particular transaction have a higher value to that transaction than they would have if they were redeployed for any other purpose\n Specific identification (inventories), summing purchase costs of all inventory items\n Specific rate duty, duty paid at a specific amount per unit\n Specific risk, risk that affects a very small number of assets\n\nPsychology \n Domain specificity, theory that many aspects of cognition are supported by specialized, presumably evolutionarily specified, learning devices\n Specific developmental disorder, disorders in which development is delayed in one specific area or areas, and in which basically all other areas of development are not affected\n Specific learning disability\n Specific phobia, phobia of a specific thing or situation\n Specific social phobia, triggered only by specific social situations\n\nBiology \n pertaining to a species\n Specific name (botany), species name of a plant\n Specific name (zoology), species name of an animal\n Specific appetite, drive to eat foods with specific flavors or other characteristics\n Specific granule, secretory vesicle in granulocytes\n Specific immunity, to a particular pathogen\n Specific Pathogen Free, of a laboratory animal guaranteed free of particular (i.e., specific and named) pathogens\n\nOther fields \n A specific quantity generally means a physical quantity normalized \"per unit\" of something (often mass).\n SPECIFIC, The Sustainable Product Engineering Centre for Innovative Functional Industrial Coatings\n Specific creation, creationism as opposed to evolution\n Specific interval, shortest possible clockwise distance between pitch classes on the chromatic circle\n Specific integral, in calculus, eliminates the constant of integration\n Specific Physical Preparedness, being prepared for the movements in a specific physical activity (usually a sport)\n\nSee also \n Species (disambiguation)\n Specification (disambiguation)\n Specialty (disambiguation)\n Site-specific (disambiguation)\n Language for specific purposes, has been primarily used to refer to two areas within applied linguistics",
"title": "Specific"
}
] | [
"In 2005, Frenzal Rhomb's Whalley and McDougall began working as Jay and the Doctor on Triple J's breakfast show. The band also released the song \"Forever Young\" which was a conflated reference to the 2005 song \"Forever Young\" by Youth Group and the name of AC/DC's guitarist, Malcolm Young.",
"Jay and the Doctor was a breakfast show on Triple J radio. The show was hosted by members of Frenzal Rhomb, Whalley and McDougall, from January 2005 to November 2007. The format of the show included banter, quips, one-liners, and discussions.",
"There are several interesting aspects, including the controversy over the profanity in the title and lyrics of Frenzal Rhomb's song \"Johnny Ramone was in a Fucking Good Band, but He Was a Cunt\". Also, Australian rock music journalist Ed Nimmervoll's description of the band as having legendary stories and a tendency to be profane and romantic in their songs. Another interesting aspect was the fact that after the release of the album \"Forever Malcolm Young\", a national tour was initiated and Whalley announced that he would be leaving both Frenzal Rhomb and his job at Triple J to go on a world trip with his girlfriend.",
"The album \"Forever Malcolm Young\" by Frenzal Rhomb, released in October 2006, peaked in the top 40. The title track provided a minor radio hit. However, the text does not provide specific numbers or rankings.",
"The context mentioned that some later copies of the album \"Forever Malcolm Young\" included a bonus DVD titled \"Sucking All Over the World\". This DVD covered the band's tours from 2002 to 2005. However, there is no additional information provided about any other albums.",
"An interesting aspect is how Frenzal Rhomb's relationship with Triple J radio evolved. Originally, the band's music was banned from the station after they criticised it for repetitive programming. However, they later joined as hosts for the station's breakfast show. Additionally, their song and album titles often courted controversy, like the profanity-laden title \"Johnny Ramone was in a Fucking Good Band, but He Was a Cunt,\" which led to some people expressing their disapproval. Despite this, they seemed to embrace a reputation for shock value and stirring things up.",
"After the release and tour of the album \"Forever Malcolm Young\", one of Frenzal Rhomb's members, Whalley, announced that he would be leaving the band and his job at Triple J radio station to embark on a world trip with his girlfriend. Meanwhile, McDougall continued hosting at Triple J, even taking on the afternoon show \"Drive with The Doctor\". In terms of performances, by April 2009, Frenzal Rhomb were touring with the 1990s punk group Nancy Vandal. Further information is not given in the provided text.",
"The text does not provide specific information on when Frenzal Rhomb's tour ended.",
"After the release of their album \"Forever Malcolm Young,\" Frenzal Rhomb went on a national tour. During this time, it was announced that Whalley would be leaving both Frenzal Rhomb and his job at Triple J to go on a world trip with his girlfriend. Some later copies of the album also came with a bonus DVD titled \"Sucking All Over the World\", covering the band's tours from 2002 to 2005. McDougall continued as The Doctor at Triple J and later hosted the afternoon show \"Drive with The Doctor\". By April 2009, Frenzal Rhomb was on The Boys Are Back in Town tour with 1990s punk group Nancy Vandal as their support act.",
"According to the context given, Whalley was a member of Frenzal Rhomb and worked as a host on Triple J radio under the name of Jay, as part of the duo \"Jay and the Doctor\", from January 2005 to November 2007. After the release of the album \"Forever Malcolm Young\" and a subsequent national tour, he announced in November 2007 that he was leaving both Frenzal Rhomb and Triple J to go on a world trip with his girlfriend. Further details about his activities or career are not provided in the text.",
"One positive for Frenzal Rhomb was that their album \"Forever Malcolm Young\" peaked in the top 40 after its release in 2006, and the title track provided a minor radio hit. In addition, despite earlier controversies with Triple J radio, two of the band's members, Whalley and McDougall, later worked as hosts for the station's breakfast show, indicating a successful relationship. They went on a national tour after the release of their album. Also, by April 2009, they were touring with the 1990s punk group Nancy Vandal, which can be seen as a positive collaboration."
] | [
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_1 | Women in Hong Kong | Native women in Hong Kong used to be situated within the context of Chinese family and society, in which they were treated the same as Mainland women or Taiwanese women. Under the traditional Chinese patriarchy structure, the society was male-dominated, and women had a relatively subordinate familial role. However, there are cultural differences between Mainland Chinese citizens and citizens of Hong Kong. During the British colonial period the emergence of Western culture (i.e. "Westernization") created a mix of traditional Chinese culture and Western values. | Education | See also (Economy of Hong Kong) and (Education in Hong Kong) The implementation of compulsory universal education in 1971, following with an extension to nine years in 1978, give rises to an increased number of women elites. Besides, the transform of social environment in Hong Kong also contribute to the rise of women education. In the past, if a family does not have enough money to send both their son and daughter to school, they will choose to educate the son over the daughter. Nonetheless, owing to the economic growth since 1960s, Hong Kong has become a wealthy society with a significant change in population at the same time. The birth rate in Hong Kong steadily decreased from 16.8% in 1981 to 8.6% in 2014. It reveals that the nuclear family structure nurturing only one to two children in a family is common, in which girls could receive better education due to the more concentrated resources within the family. According to the report of Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics by Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, a trend of universalism for boys and girls could be observed since the 1970s; and girls' enrolment rate in general was higher than the boys' since the 1980s. The gap between male and female enrollment in post-secondary education has narrowed down and female students even outnumber male students in entering University Grants Committee (UGC) funded programmes in recent decades. The percentage of females and male students enrolled in UGC-funded programmes was 53.7% and 46.3% in 2014, which is quite different from 32.9% and 67.1% respectively in 1987. However, when specifically comes to research postgraduate programmes, more male students were recorded since the programmes are largely related to sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). People in Hong Kong have gender bias in STEM fields, perceiving women as less capable of mastering the STEM knowledge and pursuing related careers. Half of the teenage girls in Hong Kong were discouraged to focus on mathematics and sciences during secondary school, which lead to their lessened self-concept in STEM. Thus, the sex ratio of students enrolled in UGC-funded engineering and technology programmes is imbalance, which is 29.5% for female and 70.5% for male in 2016. The situation is not much improved as compared with 14.1% for female and 85.9% for male in 1996. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_1_q#0",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_1_q#1",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_1_q#2",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_1_q#3",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_1_q#4",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_1_q#5",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_1_q#6",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_1_q#7"
] | [
"What is the education like?",
"Did they learn anything?",
"What else happened for Women in hong kong and education?",
"Did women go to school more than men?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Are they colleges in HK?",
"What if a women didn't go to school?",
"Did any enjoy school?"
] | [
0,
1,
2,
0,
1,
0,
2,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
0,
0,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
83
],
[
2378
],
[
430
],
[
1125
],
[
1201
],
[
1634
],
[
1951
],
[
2281
]
],
"texts": [
[
"compulsory universal education in 1971, following with an extension to nine years in 1978, give rises to an increased number of women elites."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"they will choose to educate the son over the daughter."
],
[
"girls' enrolment rate in general was higher than the boys' since the 1980s."
],
[
"The gap between male and female enrollment in post-secondary education has narrowed down and female students even outnumber male students in entering University Grants"
],
[
"research postgraduate programmes, more male students were recorded since the programmes are largely related to sciences,"
],
[
"Half of the teenage girls in Hong Kong were discouraged to focus on mathematics and sciences during secondary school,"
],
[
"The situation is not much improved as compared with 14.1% for female and 85.9% for male in 1996."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
83,
2378,
430,
1125,
1201,
1634,
1951,
2281
],
"texts": [
"compulsory universal education in 1971, following with an extension to nine years in 1978, give rises to an increased number of women elites.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"they will choose to educate the son over the daughter.",
"girls' enrolment rate in general was higher than the boys' since the 1980s.",
"The gap between male and female enrollment in post-secondary education has narrowed down and female students even outnumber male students in entering University Grants",
"research postgraduate programmes, more male students were recorded since the programmes are largely related to sciences,",
"Half of the teenage girls in Hong Kong were discouraged to focus on mathematics and sciences during secondary school,",
"The situation is not much improved as compared with 14.1% for female and 85.9% for male in 1996."
]
} | Traditionally, women in Hong Kong have been situated within the context of Chinese family and society, in which they were treated the same as Mainland women or Taiwanese women. However, there are cultural differences between Mainland Chinese citizens and citizens of Hong Kong. During the British colonial period, the emergence of Western culture (i.e. "Westernization") created a mix of traditional Chinese culture and Western values. This created a unique culture of Hong Kong. Along with the rapid economic and social development of Hong Kong since the end of the Second World War, there has been a significant improvement in the social status of women. However, the male-dominant social structure still persists in some aspects of women's lives.
During the past three decades, women in Hong Kong have become more financially independent, assertive, and career-focused. This may make them more prominent when compared with women in Southeast Asian countries. With the increased number of women in professional and managerial positions in recent decades, especially since the enactment of anti-discrimination laws since the mid-1990s, the terms "female strong person" or "superwomen" are being used to describe women in Hong Kong.
Gender Inequality
Statistical data from the Hong Kong national census in 2006 shows that the number of women in Hong Kong is increasing, while the number of men in Hong Kong is declining. The figure for single Hong Kong women living alone increased to 43.8 percent compared with 2001, with 103,938 in 1996, 127,001 in 2001, and 182,648, in 2006. The gender ratio between men and women as of 2006 was at 1,000 females for every 912 males; in 2016 it had risen to 1000 females for every 852 males. It is expected to deteriorate further by 2036 (1,000 females for every 763 males). The increase of single women in Hong Kong is significant because it is proven that single women's employment patterns are similar to men's in nature.
Education
See also Economy of Hong Kong and Education in Hong Kong.
The implementation of compulsory universal education in 1971, followed by an extension to nine years in 1978, gave rise to an increased number of women elites. The transform of the social environment in Hong Kong also contributed to the rise of women's education. Historically, families that did not have enough money to send both their son and daughter to school would choose to educate the son over the daughter. Following economic growth in the 1960s, Hong Kong has become a wealthy society with a significant change in population. The birth rate in Hong Kong steadily decreased from 16.8% in 1981 to 8.6% in 2014. It shows that the nuclear family structure nurturing only one to two children in a family is common, therefore girls can receive better education due to the more concentrated resources within the family.
According to the report of Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics by Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, a trend of universalism for boys and girls has been observed since the 1970s. Girls' enrolment rate, in general, has been higher than the boys' since the 1980s. The gap between male and female enrollment in post-secondary education has narrowed, and female students outnumber male students entering the University Grants Committee (UGC) funded programs in recent decades. The percentage of female and male students enrolled in UGC-funded programs was 53.7% and 46.3% respectively in 2014, which is quite different from 32.9% and 67.1% respectively in 1987.
However, when specifically focusing on research postgraduate programs, more male students have been recorded, largely due to the fact that programmes are largely related to sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). People in Hong Kong have a gender bias in STEM fields, perceiving women as less capable of mastering STEM knowledge and pursuing related careers. Half of the teenage girls in Hong Kong were discouraged from focussing on mathematics and sciences during secondary school, which lead to their lessened self-concept in STEM. Thus, the sex ratio of students enrolled in UGC-funded engineering and technology programs is an imbalance, at 29.5% for females and 70.5% for males in 2016. The situation is not much improved from 1996, which had 14.1% for females and 85.9% for males.
Career attainment
Women were in the workforce as early as the 1920s, but the small population often had to fight for equality of work rights. With the shift of Hong Kong's economy from the manufacturing industry in the 1980s to services industry, there is a growing demand for white collar workers. Abundant job opportunities are therefore available for both men and women. Employment in Hong Kong can be enjoyed by women, who possess rights such as maternity protection and sick leave. Nevertheless, women in Hong Kong are aware of the difficulties they face in being a woman in the workforce. For example, when surveyed, both men and women working in Hong Kong stated that they preferred to have a male supervisor over a woman supervisor.
In 2016, there were 49.3% females and 50.8% males in the employed population. In spite of the open-minded and relatively westernised culture of Hong Kong, the seemingly equal and fair workplace still poses obstacles on the way of women's career paths. 61.8% of females and 51.6% of males agreed that women have to sacrifice more than men for career success. 72.1% of females agreed that an increasing number of successful women is a positive social phenomenon, while only 59.6% of males shared the same view. The data showed that men, having the invisible privilege obtained from unequal gender perceptions, are content with the current situation and are more reluctant of the rising status of women, which might pose a threat to their career prospects.
The Hong Kong media clearly reflects the social stereotypes and norms. Performers of authority roles are mostly men, with commentaries and voice-overs mainly heard in male voices as well. Women are chiefly depicted in domestic roles and gender-specific professions, for example, secretaries and nurses.
Despite the high education level and prospective vision women possess, it is uncommon to see women working on Hong Kong corporate boards and in senior management roles. Women account for only 11% of the total director pool of Hong Kong's listed issuers, and 33% of senior management roles. The number of female workers participating in the labour force, which is 54% of the entire female population, lags behind many developed countries (67.6% in the US and 71% in the UK). The number of women in politics is also small. In the legislative council, there are only 12 female members among the 70 elected members. Comparing to 10 female members among the 60 elected members in 1998, women are remain under-represented in the legislative stage of the city, and such inadequacy will lead to prolonged suppression in women's rights and gender inequality. According to a 2021 report by the Credit Suisse Research Institute, women comprise 13.7% of company boardrooms in Hong, which is lower than the global average of 24%. The global average is up from 15.1% in 2015.
Family life
As part of the Chinese family traditions, a woman's duty within the household is to serve her family, in particular the men, with her role having long been based on the expectation of her serving her father as a child, her husband throughout her married life, and her son(s) when she reaches old age. The traditional role of men is to deal with external matters within the public sphere, whereas that of women is to remain in the private sphere at home and care for their children. Due to the traditional belief of male superiority within Hong Kong, there is a lot of pressure placed upon women to produce male offspring, irrelevant of her economic status and level of education. Until recently, women who were unable to bear a son to her family were viewed as defective and were often divorced.
The necessity of building a family, an important Chinese social value cultivated by the Confucian ideology, has reduced in popularity in recent years, as a considerable proportion of the population found singlehood comfortable. 42.3% males and 41.5% females are not planning to get married, outnumbering those who disagree (31.4% males and 32.3% females). A survey demonstrated a low desire to have children among the unmarried, with 22.1% females and 21.5% males disagreeing that life was empty without having a child. However, when discussing unmarried cohabitation, opinions diverged between males and females. Regarding the idea of coexistence without the intention of marriage, 71% of never-married males found it acceptable, but only 45.1% of never-married females agreed. It indicated that sexual integrity remains of relatively high importance among women in Hong Kong.
Along with the changing view on marriage and reproduction, the gender division of labor within a family has changed as well. The traditional picture that men are the financial backbones of the family and primarily deal with external affairs is no longer the mainstream perception. More than 50% of respondents reckoned that males no longer hold a dominant and superior figure within the family. Over 80% of the respondents agreed that contribution to household income should be made from both partners. The unequal division of labour in family affairs has also made gradual progress towards equal roles; about 50% of the respondents believed men should be more involved in household duties, and 43% of males agreed that men should take on more responsibilities in child-caring. As the society gained acceptance of changing family roles, the number of full-time male homemakers has grown from 2.9 thousand in 1991 (0.13% of the male population) to 19 thousand in 2016, taking up 0.65% of the male population. On the other hand, there was a substantial decrease in the number of full-time female homemakers, with numbers dropping from 752.8 thousand in 1991 (34.4% of the entire female population) to 628.1 thousand in 2016, downsizing to 18% of the female population. The statistics demonstrate the moderately reducing gap between men and women in household affairs.
Although social phenomenon grew in favour of gender equality in the family, the gender stereotypes in the division of household work remain rooted. According to the survey, half of the respondents considered women's major job to be family rather than work, and about 40% of the respondents agreed that providing income is men's work and household work is a women's job. Indeed, women are still largely responsible for household duties, with 70.6% of females accountable for child caring. Chores of daily life are mainly women's duties, whereas men assume the household duties by handling minor repairs.
There is a growing number of working mothers in society. Although career is a kind of financial empowerment for women, the double shift (career and housework) becomes a serious burden for them to carry. Not only do the double burdens harm women, it also harms the relationship between working mothers and their children. A working mother has less leisure time to stay with their children and therefore cannot be aware of some developmental problems during the children's growth. For example, when their children suffer from mental illness, working mothers are less able to articulate the symptoms of their children. Because so many women feel that caring for their children is strictly their responsibility, they rarely go to their husbands for additional help. This creates issues for women who work outside of their homes. To tackle the problem of domestic burden for working mothers, many families hire a domestic helper; the outsourced domestic work brings changes to the family structure. Some people think that hiring a domestic worker has an impact on marital conflict and marital quality, however research shows that hiring domestic help makes no significant difference to marital conflict and quality. In Hong Kong, women tend to work outside to focus on their career development and hire a domestic helper to ease their double burdens.
Women may suffer from multi-roles in which they cannot shift to the right role at home and workplace. To deal with those negative effects, the boundary-spanning resources that help to meet the demand of each domain are helpful to improve overall working families. There are some policies that have been launched that work to ease the double burden from the "working mother". For example, flexible working hours and supportive workplace culture can improve the family well-being of employees.
Marriage and the workforce
A large number of women will enter into the labour force following their education, but traditionally there was a substantial dropout rate after marriage and/or childbearing, due to the sense of obligation that women felt for their families and households. As a result of this, many women quit their occupations. In addition to this, until the 1970s the marriage bar was widely applied to women employees in Hong Kong.
From the mid-1990s through to the 21st century, Hong Kong has enacted several laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including discrimination based on sex and marital status.
In Hong Kong, the trend is that both males and females are getting married later in life. This is mainly due to the desire to be more independent, not just in the business world, but in all areas of life. Traditionally, women have been underestimated and viewed as inadequate members of society. As a result, they have a harder time getting hired by major companies and are less able to contribute monetarily to their families. By delaying marriage, women are more likely to pursue full-time and higher paying occupations. Hong Kong has one of the lowest total fertility rate in the world, 1.18 children/per woman, which is far below the replacement rate of 2.1. Hong Kong, like other developed nations in Asia, such as Japan and South Korea, has a strong tradition of women being housewives after marriage, but since the 1990s this has been challenged. As of 2011, the labour force participation rate for never married women was 67.2%, while for ever married women, it was only 46.8%.
Marriage in Hong Kong is becoming based on personal happiness and romantic satisfaction, as opposed to the traditional marriage based on duty and the expectation to stay with one's spouse regardless of the situation. Women now have more of a say in who they wish to marry, and if the marriage does not work out according to plan, they are able to openly consider divorce. Traditional marriage values are becoming less important and divorce has become more common and socially acceptable. Consequently, more individuals in Hong Kong are single than ever before. However, it is important to note that in China, marriage is based on strong family ties and relationships, despite any lack of romance. Therefore, if one were to propose divorce, he or she would risk losing all contact with the family. As of 2011, 49.0% of women were married, 8.7% of women were widowed, 4.4% of women were divorced, 0.6% of women were separated, and 37.3% of women had never been married.
Political participation and leadership
It is a global phenomenon that women lag behind in political participation and the statistics obtained by Inter-Parliamentary Union in 2016 showed that only 22.8% of all national parliamentarians were women. Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) was designed by United Nations (UN) to measure gender equality through looking at women's opportunities in political participation and their economic power. Since there is no parliamentary data in Hong Kong, Women's Commission calculated GEM in 2005 by using the number of female Legislative Council members to replace the number of female parliamentary members. The GEM of Hong Kong was 0.717 which ranked 19th among 109 countries, reflecting that there are greater opportunities for women in political and economic arenas compared with other Asian countries like Japan (54th) and South Korea (64th).
Although the gender gap is still wide in the political sector, gradual improvement can be seen. Executive Council is the highest authority in policy-making in Hong Kong, in which female members were slightly increased from 16% in 2007 to 26% in 2015. In 2004, Home Affairs Bureau set a target of raising female ratios in advisory and statutory bodies to at least 25%, which then successfully lead to the increased percentage of female members from 22.6% in 2003 to 32.3% in 2014. As for women being elected in Legislative Council, 22% and 18% were recorded in 2004 and 2012 respectively, which shows a small decline. Similarly, female secretaries account for only 20% among 13 policy bureaus in 2012.
Concerning women's leadership outside the governmental sector, the imbalanced sex ratios of the leading position in the enterprise world are even more serious than in government, with only one female in a chief executive role among 42 listed companies. In the judicial field, judges in the Court of Final Appeal are all male, while female judges only account for 15.2% in the High Court.
Obstacles in attaining leadership position
In gender division of labor, women are expected to be the homemaker even though some of them are the breadwinner at the same time, meaning it can be difficult for them to strike a balance between family and work. Getting promoted is accompanied by more time devoted to the workplace, which places women at a disadvantage since they need to fulfill household responsibility as well. The situation might be even worse in the finance and business industry which require longer working hours to handle fierce competition. Therefore, many women would give up senior positions to maintain the balance between family and workplace.
A lot of people in Hong Kong still uphold the traditional gender ideology that men's status should always be superior to women's. According to the survey conducted by the Women's Commission in 2010, 36.8% of females and 32.8% of males reported that patriarchal supremacy still exists in their family. In this case, the role of being a female leader might threaten their spouses' power in the relationship. In addition to this, 46.1% of males and 32.3% of females agreed that male political leaders would do much better than females. This gendered perception might discourage women from competing in higher positions with men.
Moreover, glass ceiling also hinders women from reaching the top position. The job segregation by sex restricts women into certain types of job like clerical work. This limits their work experience and thus makes it harder to get promoted. Even though some women are capable enough to move upward, the old-boy network excludes women from decision-making.
Violence against women
Violence against women is gender-based violence happening in both public and private life that targets women due to their sex or social roles and possibly leads to physical, sexual and psychological harm. International violence against women survey (IVAWS) revealed that the violence rates in Hong Kong are 19.9% which is ranked low as compared with countries like Australia (57%) and Denmark (50%).
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most common form of violence against women, involving harmful behaviors such as walloping and resources blockade exerted by a current or ex-spouse in marriage, a cohabitant or a partner in a dating relationship. Although several researchers have investigated gender symmetry of IPV by saying that both men and women would have the chance of suffering from violence, obvious gender differences still exist in Hong Kong as there are more reported cases of violence exerted by men than women. According to statistics from the Social Welfare Department, there were 3,917 reported cases of being physically abused by spouse or cohabitant, in which 83% of victims were women while only 17% were men. The abuses largely came from husband (62.8%), followed by the opposite-sex of cohabiting partner (13.4%) and wife (12.6%). In terms of sexual violence, there were 343 newly reported cases in 2010, in which 98.8% were female victims mostly suffering from indecent assault (70.8%).
Sex trafficking in Hong Kong is an issue. Hongkonger and foreign women and girls are forced into prostitution in brothels, homes, and businesses in the city.
Under-reporting of victimized cases
The reported cases of violence against women or men cannot fully reveal the situation in Hong Kong because there are still many cases being hidden by victims. Under the influence of the traditional patriarchal system, women might internalize their submissive role and therefore are less likely to challenge the status quo, resist against IPV or other forms of violence by non-partners, or seek help from society. Victims of sexual violence are sometimes labelled as shameful and dirty due to the sexual taboo in Hong Kong affected by the Chinese traditional value of chastity, resulting in women's fear of reporting the unpleasant violence. Another Chinese value of "Don't spread abroad the shame of the family" also leads to the absence of women's disclosure on their experienced violence by a partner or other family members, in order to protect their family reputation.
In 2006, Tarana Burke coined the phrase "Me Too" as a way to help women who had survived sexual violence. It quickly spread on the internet as a movement all over the world and Hong Kong also joined in the movement with the news of a Hong Kong hurdler Vera Lui Lai-yiu accusing her former coach of sexually assaulting her. Her coach, according to Lui, sexually assaulted her 10 years ago during her primary school age. The joining of a public figure into the movement encouraged more victims of sexual harassment to open up on the internet or ask for help from organizations. Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women in Hong Kong reports a rapid rise in several assistance call from alleged sexual harassment victims since Lui's post on Facebook. Many victims may begin to take the case seriously and try to ask for help from others. The viral 'Me Too' movement, to a certain extent, helps females to gain right in going against sexual violence.
Nonetheless, the movement is considered a failure in Hong Kong with people speculating whether the case Lui mentioned in her post is true. Many on the internet express disbelieve in Lui's description and instead think that she is lying. Lui was suspected of trying to create a story and gain fame.
Risk factors of potential violence toward women
Women with a lack of resources, such as education and income, are more likely to suffer from IPV. Since they have to rely on their husband or partner to receive financial support for daily expenditure, they tend to tolerate the violence and not to resist. The situation might be even worse for married women with children because they have a stronger desire to maintain marriage to get stable monetary support and let their children grow in a healthy family environment. However, resourceful women are also vulnerable to violence if their husband or partner strongly upholds the traditional gender ideology. In Hong Kong, men are expected to be masculine by being the main breadwinner in the family. When the husband owns fewer resources and earns less than their wife do, their masculinity will be challenged. Therefore, they are more likely to protect their remaining ego by exerting violence on women to show other forms of masculinity and power. It shows the interplay between social status, gender ideology, masculinity and violent behaviors.
Besides new immigrants brought by cross-border marriage, husband's unemployment and economic pressure, pregnancy and extramarital affairs are also found to be the risk factors of potential violence toward women in Hong Kong.
LGBT and Women's Rights Movements
Since 1991, the LGBT movement in Hong Kong began the decriminalization of homosexuality. The Women's Coalition of Hong Kong is an LBGT organization that was founded in 2002. This group was responsible for drafting the government's Sex Discrimination bill in 1995, which advocated for women's legal, political, and economic rights.
Gallery
See also
Nowhere girls, neologism
British Hong Kong
References
Further reading
</bc>
Notes: Several chapters are dedicated to the historical status of women in Hong Kong.
External links
Business and Professional Women Hong Kong (BPWHK)
Category:Culture of Hong Kong
Category:History of Hong Kong
Category:Hong Kong people
Hong Kong
Category:Women in Asia
Category:Women's rights in Asia | [
{
"text": "Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed by men or boys against women or girls. Such violence is often considered a form of hate crime, committed against women or girls specifically because they are female, and can take many forms.\n\nVAW has a very long history, though the incidents and intensity of such violence have varied over time and even today vary between societies. Such violence is often seen as a mechanism for the subjugation of women, whether in society in general or in an interpersonal relationship. Such violence may arise from a sense of entitlement, superiority, misogyny or similar attitudes in the perpetrator or his violent nature, especially against women.\n\nThe UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women states, \"violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women\" and \"violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men.\"\n\nKofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, declared in a 2006 report posted on the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) website:Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime with the abuser usually someone known to her.\n\nDefinition\nA number of international instruments that aim to eliminate violence against women and domestic violence have been enacted by various international bodies. These generally start with a definition of what such violence is, with a view to combating such practices. The Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence) of the Council of Europe describes VAW \"as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women\" and defines VAW as \"all acts of gender-based violence that result in or are likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life\".\n\nThe 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) of the United Nations General Assembly makes recommendations relating to VAW, and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action mentions VAW. However, the 1993 United Nations General Assembly resolution on the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women was the first international instrument to explicitly define VAW and elaborate on the subject. Other definitions of VAW are set out in the 1994 Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women and by the 2003 Maputo Protocol.\n\nIn addition, the term gender-based violence refers to \"any acts or threats of acts intended to hurt or make women suffer physically, sexually or psychologically, and which affect women because they are women or affect women disproportionately\". Gender-based violence is often used interchangeably with violence against women, and some articles on VAW reiterate these conceptions by stating that men are the main perpetrators of this violence. Moreover, the definition stated by the 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women also supported the notion that violence is rooted in the inequality between men and women when the term violence is used together with the term gender-based.\n\nIn Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence, the Council of Europe stipulated that VAW \"includes, but is not limited to, the following\":\n\na. violence occurring in the family or domestic unit, including, inter alia, physical and mental aggression, emotional and psychological abuse, rape and sexual abuse, incest, rape between spouses, regular or occasional partners and cohabitants, crimes committed in the name of honour, female genital and sexual mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women such as forced marriages;\n\nb. violence occurring within the general community including, inter alia, rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in institutions or elsewhere trafficking in women for the purposes of sexual exploitation, and economic exploitation and sex tourism;\n\nc. violence perpetrated or condoned by the state or its officials;\n\nd. violation of the human rights of women in situations of armed conflict, in particular the taking of hostages, forced displacement, systematic rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, and trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and economic exploitation.\n\nThese definitions of VAW as being gender-based are seen by some to be unsatisfactory and problematic. These definitions are conceptualized in an understanding of society as patriarchal, signifying unequal relations between men and women. Opponents of such definitions argue that the definitions disregard violence against men and that the term gender, as used in gender based violence, only refers to women. Other critics argue that employing the term gender in this particular way may introduce notions of inferiority and subordination for femininity and superiority for masculinity. There is no widely accepted current definition that covers all the dimensions of gender-based violence rather than the one for women that tends to reproduce the concept of binary oppositions: masculinity versus femininity.\n\nSexual violence\n\nSexual harassment can be used to refer to any unwelcome range of actions with sexual overtones, including verbal transgressions. Sexual violence refers to the use of violence to obtain a sexual act, including, for example, trafficking. Sexual assault is forcing a physical sexual act on someone against their will, and when this involves sexual penetration or sexual intercourse it is referred to as rape.\n\nWomen are most often the victims of rape, which is usually perpetrated by men known to them. The rate of reporting, prosecution and convictions for rape varies considerably in different jurisdictions, and reflects to some extent the society's attitudes to such crimes. It is considered the most underreported violent crime. Following a rape, a victim may face violence or threats of violence from the rapist, and, in many cultures, from the victim's own family and relatives. Violence or intimidation of the victim may be perpetrated by the rapist or by friends and relatives of the rapist, as a way of preventing the victims from reporting the rape, of punishing them for reporting it, or of forcing them to withdraw the complaint; or it may be perpetrated by the relatives of the victim as a punishment for \"bringing shame\" to the family. Internationally, the incidence of rapes recorded by police during 2008 varied between 0.1 per 100,000 people in Egypt and 91.6 per 100,000 people in Lesotho with 4.9 per 100,000 people in Lithuania as the median. In some countries, rape is not reported or properly recorded by police because of the consequences on the victim and the stigma attached to it.\n\nSurvival sex\n\nWomen who are sex workers end up in the profession for several reasons. Some were victims of sexual and domestic abuse. Many women have said they were raped as working girls. They may be apprehensive about coming forward and reporting their attacks. When reported, many women have said that the stigma was too great and that the police told them they deserved it and were reluctant to follow police policy. Decriminilazing sex work is argued to help sex workers in this aspect.\n\nIn some countries it is common for older men to engage in \"compensated dating\" with underage girls. Such relationships are called enjo kōsai in Japan, and are also common in Asian countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong. The WHO condemned \"economically coerced sex (e.g. school girls having sex with \"sugar daddies\" (Sugar baby in return for school fees)\" as a form of violence against women.\n\nWomen from lower certain castes have been involved in prostitution as part of tradition, called Intergenerational prostitution. In pre-modern Korea, women from the lower caste Cheonmin, known as Kisaeng, were trained to provide entertainment, conversation, and sexual services to men of the upper class. In South Asia, castes associated with prostitution today include the Bedias, the Perna caste, the Banchhada, the Nat caste and, in Nepal, the Badi people.\n\nWomen with illegal resident status are disproportionately involved with prostitution. For example, in 1997, Le Monde diplomatique stated that 80% of prostitutes in Amsterdam were foreigners and 70% had no immigration papers.\n\nForced sexual services\n\nBy military forces\n\nMilitarism produces special environments that allow for increased violence against women. War rapes have accompanied warfare in virtually every known historical era. Rape in the course of war is mentioned multiple times in the Bible: \"For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped...\" \"Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped.\"\n\nWar rapes are rapes committed by soldiers, other combatants or civilians during armed conflict or war, or during military occupation, distinguished from sexual assaults and rape committed amongst troops in military service. It also covers the situation where women are forced into prostitution or sexual slavery by an occupying power. During World War II the Japanese military established brothels filled with \"comfort women\", girls and women who were forced into sexual slavery for soldiers, exploiting women for the purpose of creating access and entitlement for men. People rarely tried to explain why rape happens in wars. One explanation that was floated around was that men in war have \"urges\".\n\nAnother example of violence against women incited by militarism during war took place in the Kovno Ghetto. Jewish male prisoners had access to (and used) Jewish women forced into camp brothels by the Nazis, who also used them.\n\nRape during the Bangladesh Liberation War by members of the Pakistani military and the militias that supported them led to 200,000 women raped over a period of nine months. Rape during the Bosnian War was used as a highly systematized instrument of war by Serb armed forces predominantly targeting women and girls of the Bosniak ethnic group for physical and moral destruction. Estimates of the number of women raped during the war range from 50,000 to 60,000; as of 2010 only 12 cases have been prosecuted.\n\nThe 1998 International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda recognized rape in the Rwandan Genocide as a war crime. Presiding judge Navanethem Pillay said in a statement after the verdict: \"From time immemorial, rape has been regarded as spoils of war. Now it will be considered a war crime. We want to send out a strong message that rape is no longer a trophy of war.\"\n\nAccording to one report, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's capture of Iraqi cities in June 2014 was accompanied by an upsurge in crimes against women, including kidnap and rape. The Guardian reported that ISIL's extremist agenda extended to women's bodies and that women living under their control were being captured and raped. Fighters are told that they are free to have sex and rape non-Muslim captive women. Yazidi girls in Iraq allegedly raped by ISIL fighters committed suicide by jumping to their death from Mount Sinjar, as described in a witness statement. Haleh Esfandiari from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has highlighted the abuse of local women by ISIL militants after they have captured an area. \"They usually take the older women to a makeshift slave market and try to sell them. The younger girls ... are raped or married off to fighters\", she said, adding, \"It's based on temporary marriages, and once these fighters have had sex with these young girls, they just pass them on to other fighters.\" Describing the Yazidi women captured by ISIS, Nazand Begikhani said \"[t]hese women have been treated like cattle... They have been subjected to physical and sexual violence, including systematic rape and sex slavery. They've been exposed in markets in Mosul and in Raqqa, Syria, carrying price tags.\" In December 2014 the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights announced that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant had killed over 150 women and girls in Fallujah who refused to participate in sexual jihad.\n\nDuring the Rohingya genocide (2016–present) the Armed Forces of Myanmar, along with the Myanmar Border Guard Police and Buddhist militias of Rakhine, committed widespread gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against the Rohingya Muslim women and girls. A January 2018 study estimated that the military and local Rakhine Buddhists perpetrated gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against 18,000 Rohingya Muslim women and girls. The Human Rights Watch stated that the gang rapes and sexual violence were committed as part of the military's ethnic cleansing campaign while the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten said that the Rohingya women and girls were made the \"systematic\" target of rapes and sexual violence because of their ethnic identity and religion. Other forms of sexual violence included sexual slavery in military captivity, forced public nudity, and humiliation. Some women and girls were raped to death while others were found traumatised with raw wounds after they had arrived in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch reported of a 15-year-old girl who was ruthlessly dragged on the ground for over 50 feet and then was raped by 10 Burmese soldiers.\n\nBy criminal groups\n\nHuman trafficking refers to the acquisition of persons by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children states,\n\nBecause of the illegal nature of trafficking, reliable data on its extent is very limited. The WHO states \"Current evidence strongly suggests that those who are trafficked into the sex industry and as domestic servants are more likely to be women and children.\"\nA 2006 study in Europe on trafficked women found that the women were subjected to serious forms of abuse, such as physical or sexual violence, that affected their physical and mental health.\n\nForced prostitution is prostitution that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. In forced prostitution, the party/parties who force the victim to be subjected to unwanted sexual acts exercise control over the victim.\n\nIntimate partner related violence\nWhile \"domestic violence\" or \"family violence\" can be used to refer to violence between any family members, intimate partner violence refers to violence between intimate partners.\n\nViolence related to acquiring a partner\n\nSingle women and women who are economically independent have been vilified by certain groups of men. In Hassi Messaoud in Algeria in 2001, mobs targeted single women, attacking 95 and killing at least six and, in 2011, similar attacks happened again throughout Algeria.\n\nStalking is unwanted or obsessive attention by an individual or group toward another person, often manifested through persistent harassment, intimidation, or following/monitoring of the victim. Stalking is often understood as \"course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear\". Although stalkers are frequently portrayed as being strangers, they are most often known people, such as former or current partners, friends, colleagues or acquaintances. In the U.S., a survey by NVAW found that only 23% of female victims were stalked by strangers. Stalking by partners can be very dangerous, as sometimes it can escalate into severe violence, including murder. Police statistics from the 1990s in Australia indicated that 87.7% of stalking offenders were male and 82.4% of stalking victims were female.\n\nAn acid attack is the act of throwing acid onto someone with the intention of injuring or disfiguring them. Women and girls are the victims in 75-80% of cases, and are often connected to domestic disputes, including dowry disputes, and refusal of a proposal of marriage, or of sexual advances. The acid is usually thrown at the faces, burning the tissue, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones. The long term consequences of these attacks include blindness and permanent scarring of the face and body. Such attacks are common in South Asia, in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, India; and in Southeast Asia, especially in Cambodia.\n\nForced marriage\n\nA forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married against their will. Forced marriages are common in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The customs of bride price and dowry, that exist in many parts of the world, contribute to this practice. A forced marriage is also often the result of a dispute between families, where the dispute is 'resolved' by giving a female from one family to the other.\n\nThe custom of bride kidnapping continues to exist in some Central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the Caucasus, or parts of Africa, especially Ethiopia. A girl or a woman is abducted by the would be groom, who is often helped by his friends. The victim is often raped by the would be groom, after which he may try to negotiate a bride price with the village elders to legitimize the marriage.\n\nForced and child marriages are practiced by some inhabitants in Tanzania. Girls are sold by their families to older men for financial benefits and often girls are married off as soon as they hit puberty, which can be as young as seven years old. To the older men, these young brides act as symbols of masculinity and accomplishment. Child brides endure forced sex, causing health risks and growth impediments. Primary education is usually not completed for young girls in forced marriages. Married and pregnant students are often discriminated against, and expelled and excluded from school. The Law of Marriage Act currently does not address issues with guardianship and child marriage. The issue of child marriage is not addressed enough in this law, and only establishes a minimum age of 18 for the boys of Tanzania. A minimum age needs to be enforced for girls to stop these practices and provide them with equal rights and a less harmful life.\n\nDowry violence\n\nThe custom of dowry, which is common in South Asia, especially in India, is the trigger of many forms of violence against women. Bride burning is a form of violence against women in which a bride is killed at home by her husband or husband's family due to his dissatisfaction over the dowry provided by her family. Dowry death refers to the phenomenon of women and girls being killed or committing suicide due to disputes regarding dowry. Dowry violence is common in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. In India, in 2011 alone, the National Crime Records Bureau reported 8,618 dowry deaths, while unofficial figures suggest the numbers to be at least three times higher.\n\nViolence within a relationship\n\nThe relation between violence against women and marriage laws, regulations and traditions has also been discussed. Roman law gave men the right to chastise their wives, even to the point of death. The US and English law subscribed until the 20th century to the system of coverture, that is, a legal doctrine under which, upon marriage, a woman's legal rights were subsumed by those of her husband. Common-law in the United States and in the UK allowed for domestic violence and in the UK, before 1891, the husband had the right to inflict moderate corporal punishment on his wife to keep her \"within the bounds of duty\". Today, outside the West, many countries severely restrict the rights of married women: for example, in Yemen, marriage regulations state that a wife must obey her husband and must not leave home without his permission. In Iraq husbands have a legal right to \"punish\" their wives. The criminal code states at Paragraph 41 that there is no crime if an act is committed while exercising a legal right; examples of legal rights include: \"The punishment of a wife by her husband, the disciplining by parents and teachers of children under their authority within certain limits prescribed by law or by custom\". In the West, married women faced discrimination until just a few decades ago: for instance, in France, married women received the right to work without their husband's permission in 1965. In Spain, during the Franco era, a married woman required her husband's consent (permiso marital) for nearly all economic activities, including employment, ownership of property and traveling away from home; the permiso marital was abolished in 1975. Concerns exist about violence related to marriage – both inside marriage (physical abuse, sexual violence, restriction of liberty) and in relation to marriage customs (dowry, bride price, forced marriage, child marriage, marriage by abduction, violence related to female premarital virginity). Claudia Card, professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, writes:\nThe legal rights of access that married partners have to each other's persons, property, and lives makes it all but impossible for a spouse to defend herself (or himself), or to be protected against torture, rape, battery, stalking, mayhem, or murder by the other spouse... Legal marriage thus enlists state support for conditions conducive to murder and mayhem.\n\nPhysical\n\nWomen are more likely to be victimized by someone that they are intimate with, commonly called \"intimate partner violence\" (IPV). Instances of IPV tend not to be reported to police and thus many experts find it hard to estimate the true magnitude of the problem. Though this form of violence is often considered as an issue within the context of heterosexual relationships, it also occurs in lesbian relationships, daughter-mother relationships, roommate relationships and other domestic relationships involving two women. Violence against women in lesbian relationships is about as common as violence against women in heterosexual relationships.\n\nWomen are much more likely than men to be murdered by an intimate partner. In the United States, in 2005, 1181 women were killed by their intimate partners, compared to 329 men. It is estimated that 30% or more of the women who are emitted to the ER could be victims of domestic violence\n\n In England and Wales about 100 women are killed by partners or former partners each year while 21 men were killed in 2010. In 2008, in France, 156 women were killed by their intimate partner, compared to 27 men. According to the WHO, globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner. A UN report compiled from a number of different studies conducted in at least 71 countries found domestic violence against women to be most prevalent in Ethiopia. A study by Pan American Health Organization conducted in 12 Latin American countries found the highest prevalence of domestic violence against women to be in Bolivia. In Western Europe, a country that has received major international criticism for the way it has dealt legally with the issue of violence against women is Finland; with authors pointing out that a high level of equality for women in the public sphere (as in Finland) should never be equated with equality in all other aspects of women's lives.\n\nThe American Psychiatric Association planning and research committees for the forthcoming DSM-5 (2013) have canvassed a series of new Relational disorders, which include Marital Conflict Disorder Without Violence or Marital Abuse Disorder (Marital Conflict Disorder With Violence). Couples with marital disorders sometimes come to clinical attention because the couple recognize long-standing dissatisfaction with their marriage and come to the clinician on their own initiative or are referred by an astute health care professional. Secondly, there is serious violence in the marriage that is \"usually the husband battering the wife\". In these cases the emergency room or a legal authority often is the first to notify the clinician. Most importantly, marital violence \"is a major risk factor for serious injury and even death and women in violent marriages are at much greater risk of being seriously injured or killed (National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women 2000)\". The authors of this study add, \"There is current considerable controversy over whether male-to-female marital violence is best regarded as a reflection of male psychopathology and control or whether there is an empirical base and clinical utility for conceptualizing these patterns as relational.\"\n\nRecommendations for clinicians making a diagnosis of Marital Relational Disorder should include the assessment of actual or \"potential\" male violence as regularly as they assess the potential for suicide in depressed patients. Further, \"clinicians should not relax their vigilance after a battered wife leaves her husband, because some data suggest that the period immediately following a marital separation is the period of greatest risk for the women. Many men will stalk and batter their wives in an effort to get them to return or punish them for leaving. Initial assessments of the potential for violence in a marriage can be supplemented by standardized interviews and questionnaires, which have been reliable and valid aids in exploring marital violence more systematically.\"\n \nThe authors conclude with what they call \"very recent information\" on the course of violent marriages, which suggests that \"over time a husband's battering may abate somewhat, but perhaps because he has successfully intimidated his wife. The risk of violence remains strong in a marriage in which it has been a feature in the past. Thus, treatment is essential here; the clinician cannot just wait and watch.\" The most urgent clinical priority is the protection of the wife because she is the one most frequently at risk, and clinicians must be aware that supporting assertiveness by a battered wife may lead to more beatings or even death.\n\nSexual\n\nMarital or spousal rape was once widely condoned or ignored by law, and is now widely considered an unacceptable violence against women and repudiated by international conventions and increasingly criminalized. Still, in many countries, spousal rape either remains legal, or is illegal but widely tolerated and accepted as a husband's prerogative. The criminalization of spousal rape is recent, having occurred during the past few decades. Traditional understanding and views of marriage, rape, sexuality, gender roles and self determination have started to be challenged in most Western countries during the 1960s and 1970s, which has led to the subsequent criminalization of marital rape during the following decades. With a few notable exceptions, it was during the past 30 years that most laws against marital rape have been enacted. Some countries in Scandinavia and in the former Communist Bloc of Europe made spousal rape illegal before 1970, but most Western countries criminalized it only in the 1980s and 1990s. In many parts of the world the laws against marital rape are very new, having been enacted in the 2000s.\n\nIn Canada, marital rape was made illegal in 1983, when several legal changes were made, including changing the rape statute to sexual assault, and making the laws gender neutral. In Ireland, spousal rape was outlawed in 1990. In the US, the criminalization of marital rape started in the mid-1970s and in 1993 North Carolina became the last state to make marital rape illegal.\nIn England and Wales, marital rape was made illegal in 1991. The views of Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th-century jurist, published in The History of the Pleas of the Crown (1736), stated that a husband cannot be guilty of the rape of his wife because the wife \"hath given up herself in this kind to her husband, which she cannot retract\"; in England and Wales this would remain law for more than 250 years, until it was abolished by the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, in the case of R v R in 1991. In the Netherlands marital rape was also made illegal in 1991. One of the last Western countries to criminalize marital rape was Germany, in 1997.\n\nThe relation between some religions (Christianity and Islam) and marital rape is controversial. The Bible at 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 explains that one has a \"conjugal duty\" to have sexual relations with one's spouse (in sharp opposition to sex outside marriage, which is considered a sin) and states, \"The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another...\" Some conservative religious figures interpret this as rejecting to possibility of marital rape. Islam makes reference to sexual relations in marriage too, notably: \"Allah's Apostle said, 'If a husband calls his wife to his bed (i.e. to have sexual relation) and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning';\" and several comments on the issue of marital rape made by Muslim religious leaders have been criticized.\n\nDating abuse or dating violence is the perpetration of coercion, intimidation or assault in the context of dating or courtship. It is also when one partner tries to maintain abusive power and control. Dating violence is defined by the CDC as \"the physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional violence within a dating relationship, including stalking\".\n\nWidowhood related violence\n\nWidows have been subjected to forced remarriage called widow inheritance, where she is forced to marry a male relative of her late husband. Another practice is banned remarriage of widows, such as was legal in India and Korea. A more extreme version is the ritual killing of widows as was seen in India and Fiji. Sati is the burning of widows and although sati in India is today an almost defunct practice, isolated incidents have occurred in recent years, such as the 1987 sati of Roop Kanwar, as well as several incidents in rural areas in 2002, and 2006. A traditional idea upheld in some places in Africa is that an unmarried widow is unholy and “disturbed” if she is unmarried and abstains from sex for some period of time. This fuels the practice of widow cleansing where the unmarried widow is required to have sexual intercourse as a form of ritual purification and is commenced with a ceremony for the neighborhood to witness that she is now purified.\n\nUnmarried widows are most likely to be accused and killed as witches. Witch trials in the early modern period (between the 15th and 18th centuries) were common in Europe and in the European colonies in North America. Today, there remain regions of the world (such as parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, rural North India, and Papua New Guinea) where belief in witchcraft is held by many people, and women accused of being witches are subjected to serious violence.\n\nNon-intimate partner family violence\n\nInfanticide and abandonment\n\nSon preference is a custom prevalent in many societies that in its extreme can lead to the rejection of daughters. Sex-selective abortion of females is more common among the higher income population, who can access medical technology. In China, the one child policy increased sex-selective abortions and was largely responsible for an unbalanced sex ratio. After birth, neglect and diverting resources to male children can lead to some countries having a skewed ratio with more boys than girls, with such practices killing an approximate 230,000 girls under five in India each year. The Dying Rooms is a 1995 television documentary film about Chinese state orphanages, which documented how parents abandoned their newborn girls into orphanages, where the staff would leave the children in rooms to die of thirst, or starvation.\n\nAnother manifestation of son preference is the violence inflicted against mothers who give birth to girls.\n\nBody modification\n\nGenitalia\n\nFemale genital mutilation (FGM) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as \"all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons\".\n\nThe WHO states: \"The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women\" and \"Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth increased risk of newborn deaths\".\n\nAccording to a UNICEF report, the top rates for FGM are in Somalia (with 98 percent of women affected), Guinea (96 percent), Djibouti (93 percent), Egypt (91 percent), Eritrea (89 percent), Mali (89 percent), Sierra Leone (88 percent), Sudan (88 percent), Gambia (76 percent), Burkina Faso (76 percent), Ethiopia (74 percent), Mauritania (69 percent), Liberia (66 percent), and Guinea-Bissau (50 percent). FGM is linked to cultural rites and customs, including traditional practices. It continues to take place in different communities of Africa and the Middle East, including in places where it is banned by national legislation. According to a 2013 UNICEF report, 125 million women and girls in Africa and the Middle East have experienced FGM. Due to globalization and immigration, FGM is spreading beyond the borders of Africa and Middle East, to countries such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, New Zealand, the U.S., and UK.\n\nAlthough FGM is today associated with developing countries, this practice was common until the 1970s in parts of the Western world, too. FGM was considered a standard medical procedure in the United States for most of the 19th and 20th centuries. Physicians performed surgeries of varying invasiveness to treat a number of diagnoses, including hysteria, depression, nymphomania, and frigidity. The medicalization of FGM in the United States allowed these practices to continue until the second part of the 20th century, with some procedures covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance until 1977.\n\nAs of 2016, in Africa, FGM has been legally banned in Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. The Istanbul Convention prohibits female genital mutilation (Article 38).\n\nLabia stretching, also referred to as labia elongation or labia pulling, is the act of lengthening the labia minora (the inner lips of the female genitals) through manual manipulation (pulling) or physical equipment (such as weights). It is often done by older women to girls.\n\nFeet\n\nFoot-binding was a practice in China done to reduce the size of feet in girls. It was seen as more desireable and was likely to make a more prestigious marriage.\n\nForce-feeding\n\nIn some countries, notably Mauritania, young girls are forcibly fattened to prepare them for marriage, because obesity is seen as desirable. This practice of force-feeding is known as leblouh or gavage. The practice goes back to the 11th century, and has been reported to have made a significant comeback after a military junta took over the country in 2008.\n\nSexual initiation rites\n\nSexual \"cleansing\" is ceremony where girls have sexual intercourse as a cleansing ritual following their first menstruation and is referred to as kusasa fumbi in some regions of Malawi. Prepubescent girls are often sent to a training camp where women known as anamkungwi, or \"key leaders\", teach the girls how to cook, clean, and have sexual intercourse in order to be a wife. After the training, a man known as a hyena performs the cleansing for 12- to 17-year-old females for three days and the girl is sometimes required to perform a bare-breasted dance, known as chisamba, to signal the end of her initiation in front of the community.\n\nHonor killings\nHonor killings are a common form of violence against women in certain parts of the world. Honor killings are perpetrated by family members (usually husbands, fathers, uncles or brothers) against women in the family who are believed to have placed dishonor to the family. The death of the dishonorable woman is believed to restore honor. These killings are a traditional practice, believed to have originated from tribal customs where an allegation against a woman can be enough to defile a family's reputation. Women are killed for reasons such as refusing to enter an arranged marriage, being in a relationship that is disapproved by their relatives, attempting to leave a marriage, having sex outside marriage, becoming the victim of rape, and dressing in ways that are deemed inappropriate, among others. In cultures where female virginity is highly valued and considered mandatory before marriage; in extreme cases, rape victims are killed in honor killings. Victims may also be forced by their families to marry the rapist in order to restore the family's \"honor\". In Lebanon, the Campaign Against Lebanese Rape Law - Article 522 was launched in December 2016 to abolish the article that permitted a rapist to escape prison by marrying his victim. In Italy, before 1981, the Criminal Code provided for mitigating circumstances in case of a killing of a woman or her sexual partner for reasons related to honor, providing for a reduced sentence.\n\nHonor killings are common in countries such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen. Honor killings also occur in immigrant communities in Europe, the United States and Canada. Although honor killings are most often associated with the Middle East and South Asia, they occur in other parts of the world too. In India, honor killings occur in the northern regions of the country, especially in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In Turkey, honor killings are a serious problem in Southeastern Anatolia.\n\nPregnancy-related violence\n\nObstetric violence refers to acts categorized as physically or psychologically violent in the context of labor and birth. A pregnant woman can sometimes be coerced into accepting surgical interventions or are done without her consent. This could include the \"husband's stitch\" in which one or more additional sutures than necessary are used to repair a woman's perineum after it has been torn or cut during childbirth with the intent of tightening the opening of the vagina and thereby enhance the pleasure of her male sex partner during penetrative intercourse. Several Latin American countries have laws to protect against obstetric violence. Reproductive coercion is a collection of behaviors that interfere with decision-making related to reproductive health. According to the WHO, \"Discrimination in health care settings takes many forms and is often manifested when an individual or group is denied access to health care services that are otherwise available to others. It can also occur through denial of services that are only needed by certain groups, such as women.\"\n\nRestrictions around menstruation\n\nWomen in some cultures are forced into social isolation during their menstrual periods. In parts of Nepal for instance, they are forced to live in sheds, are forbidden to touch men or even to enter the courtyard of their own homes, and are barred from consuming milk, yogurt, butter, meat, and various other foods, for fear they will contaminate those goods. Women have died during this period because of starvation, bad weather, or bites by snakes. In cultures where women are restricted from being in public places, by law or custom, women who break such restrictions often face violence.\n\nForced pregnancy\n\nForced pregnancy is the practice of forcing a woman or girl to become pregnant. A common motivation for this is to help establish a forced marriage, including by means of bride kidnapping. This was also used as part of a program of breeding slaves (see Slave breeding in the United States). In the 20th century, state mandated forced marriage with the aim of increasing the population was practiced by some authoritarian governments, notably during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which systematically forced people into marriages ordering them to have children, in order to increase the population and continue the revolution.\n\nThe issue of forced continuation of pregnancy (i.e. denying a woman safe and legal abortion) is also seen by some organizations as a violation of women's rights. For example, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women considers the criminalization of abortion a \"violations of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights\" and a form of \"gender based violence\".\n\nIn addition, in some parts of Latin America, with very strict anti-abortion laws, pregnant women avoid the medical system due to fear of being investigated by the authorities if they have a miscarriage, or a stillbirth, or other problems with the pregnancy. Prosecuting such women is quite common in places such as El Salvador.\n\nForced sterilization and forced abortion\n\nForced sterilization and forced abortion are considered forms of gender-based violence. The Istanbul Convention prohibits forced abortion and forced sterilization (Article 39). According to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, all \"women are guaranteed the right to decide freely and responsibly on the number of and spacing of their children, and to have access to information, education, and means to enable them to exercise these rights.\"\n\nStudies show forced sterilizations often target socially and politically disadvantaged groups such as racial and ethnic minorities, the poor, and indigenous populations. In the United States, much of the history of forced sterilization is connected to the legacy of eugenics and racism in the United States. Many doctors thought that they were doing the country a service by sterilizing women who were poor, disabled, or a minority; the doctors considered those women to be a drain on the system. Native American, Mexican American, African American and Puerto Rican-American women were coerced into sterilization programs, with Native Americans and African Americans especially being targeted. Records have shown that Native American girls as young as eleven years-old had hysterectomy operations performed.\n\nIn Europe, there have been a number of lawsuits and accusations towards the Czech Republic and Slovakia of sterilizing Roma women without adequate information and waiting period. In response, both nations have instituted a mandatory seven-day waiting period and written consent. Slovakia has been condemned on the issue of forced sterilization of Roma women several times by the European Court for Human Rights (see V. C. vs. Slovakia, N. B. vs. Slovakia and I.G. and Others vs. Slovakia).\n\nIn Peru, in 1995, Alberto Fujimori launched a family planning initiative that especially targeted poor and indigenous women. In total, over 215,000 women were sterilized, with over 200,000 believed to have been coerced. In 2002, Health Minister Fernando Carbone admitted that the government gave misleading information, offered food incentives, and threatened to fine parents if they had additional children. The procedures have also been found to have been negligent, with less than half using proper anesthetic.\n\nIn China, the one child policy included forced abortions and forced sterilization. Forced sterilization is also practiced in Uzbekistan.\n\nWomen-specific state restrictions\n\nWomen can be penalized for breaching laws specifically targeting women.\n\nDress\nIn Iran, since 1981, after the Islamic Revolution, all women are required to wear loose-fitting clothing and a headscarf in public. In 1983, the Islamic Consultative Assembly decided that women who do not cover their hair in public will be punished with 74 lashes. Since 1995, unveiled women can also be imprisoned for up to 60 days. The Iranian protests against compulsory hijab continued into the September 2022 Iranian protests which was triggered in response to the killing of Mahsa Amini, who was allegedly beaten to death by police due to wearing an \"improper hijab\". In Saudi Arabia, after the Grand Mosque seizure of 1979, it became mandatory for women to veil in public but this was no longer required since 2018. In Afghanistan, since May 2022, women are required to wear a hijab and face covering in public. \n\nThe hijab has seen bans in places such as Austria, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, the Soviet Union, and Tunisia. On 8 January 1936, Reza Shah issued a decree, Kashf-e hijab, banning all veils. To enforce this decree, the police were ordered to physically remove the veil from any woman who wore it in public. Women who refused were beaten, their headscarves and chadors torn off, and their homes forcibly searched.\n\nFreedom of movement\nWomen are, in many parts of the world, severely restricted in their freedom of movement.\nFreedom of movement is an essential right, recognized by international instruments, including Article 15 (4) of CEDAW. Nevertheless, in some countries, women are not legally allowed to leave home without a male guardian (male relative or husband). Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world where women were forbidden to drive motor vehicles until June 2018.\n\nSexuality\nSex crimes such as adultery and sex outside marriage are disproportionately levelled against women and the punishment is often stoning and flogging. This has been seen in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, and some states in Nigeria. Additionally this can deter victims of sexual violence from reporting the crime, because the victims may themselves be punished (if they cannot prove their case, if they are deemed to have been in the company of an unrelated male, or if they were unmarried and not virgins at the time of the rape). Another aspect is the denial of medical care often occurs with regard to reproductive and sexual health. Sometimes women themselves avoid the medical system for fear of being reported to the police or facing family violence due to having premarital sex or being the victims of sexual violence.\n\nViolence in male-dominated spheres\n\nViolence Against Women in Politics (VAWP) \nViolence Against Women in Politics (VAWP) is the act or threat of physical, emotional or psychological violence against female politicians on the basis of their gender, most often with the intent of discouraging the victims and other female politicians from participating in the political process. VAWP has been growing in significance among the fields of gendered political science and feminist political theory studies. The main intent behind creating a separate category that is distinct from Violence Against Women, is to highlight the barriers faced by women who work in politics, or wish to pursue a career in the political realm. VAWP is unique from Violence Against Women in three important ways: victims are targeted because of their gender; the violence itself can be gendered (i.e., sexism, sexual violence); the primary goal is to deter women from participating in politics (including but not limited to voting, running for office, campaigning, etc.). It is also important to distinguish VAWP from political violence, which is defined by the use or threats of force to reach political ends, and can be experienced by all politicians. It is also important to distinguish VAWP from political violence, which is defined by the use or threats of force to reach political ends, and can be experienced by all politicians. While women's participation in national parliaments has been increasing, rising from 11% in 1995 to 25% in 2021, there is still a large disparity between male and female representation in governmental politics. Expanding women's participation in government is a crucial goal for many countries, as female politicians have proven invaluable with respect to bringing certain issues to the forefront, such as elimination of gender-based violence, parental leave and childcare, pensions, gender-equality laws, electoral reform, and providing fresh perspectives on numerous policy areas that have typically remained a male-dominated realm. In order to increase women's participation in an effective manner, the importance of recognizing the issues related to VAWP and making every effort to provide the necessary resources to victims and condemn any and all hostile behaviour in political institutions cannot be understated. Experiencing VAWP can dissuade women from remaining in politics (and lead to an early exit from their career or from aspiring higher political office. Witnessing women in politics experience VAWP can serve as one of many deterrents for aspirants to run for office and for candidates to continue campaigning. Acts of violence or harassment are often not deemed to be gendered when they are reported, if they are reported at all. VAWP is often dismissed as the \"the cost of doing politics\" and reporting can be seen as \"political suicide,\" which contributes to the normalization of VAWP. This ambiguity results in a lack of information regarding attacks and makes the issue appear to be relatively commonplace. While it is reported that women in politics are more often targeted by violence than their male counterparts, the specific cause is often not reported as a gendered crime. This makes it more difficult to pinpoint where the links between gender-specific violence and political violence really are. In many countries, the practice of electoral politics is traditionally considered to be a masculine domain. The history of male dominated politics has allowed some male politicians to believe they have a right to participate in politics while women should not, since women's participation is a threat to the social order. Male politicians sometimes feel threatened by the prospect of a female politician occupying their position, which can cause them to lash out, and weak men do not want to feel as though women could be above them causing them to harass and threaten women in power. 48% of electoral violence against women is against supporters, this is most likely the largest percentage as it has the largest amount of the public participating. 9% of electoral violence against women is targeting candidates, while 22% targets female voters. This means that women who are directly acting in politics are likely to face some form of violence, whether physical or emotional. Regarding violence against female politicians, younger women and those with intersecting identities, particularly racial and ethnic minorities, are more likely to be targets. Female politicians who outwardly express and act from feminist perspectives are also more likely to be victimized.\n\nSub-Types of VAWP \nGabrielle Bardell's 2011 report: \"Breaking the mold: Understanding Gender and Electoral Violence\" was one of the first documents published that showed examples and figures for how women are intimidated and attacked in politics. Since Bardall's report, other scholars have conducted further research on the topic. Notably, Mona Lena Krook’s work on VAWP introduced 5 forms of violence and harassment: physical, sexual, psychological, economic, and semiotic/symbolic. Physical violence encompasses inflicting, or attempting to inflict, bodily harm and injury. While physical violence is the most easily identified form, it is actually the least common type. Sexual violence involves (attempts at) sexual acts through coercion, including unwanted sexual comments, advances, and harassment. Psychological violence includes causing emotional and mental damage through means of death/rape threats, stalking, etc. Economic violence involves denying, withholding, and controlling female politicians’ access to financial resources, particularly regarding campaigns. Semiotic or symbolic violence, the most abstract subtype of VAWP, refers to the erasure of female politicians through degrading images and sexist language. Krook theorizes that semiotic violence against women in politics works in two related ways: rendering women invisible and rendering women incompetent. By symbolically removing women from the public political sphere, semiotic violence renders women invisible. Examples include using masculine grammar when speaking about and to political women, interrupting female politicians, and not portraying political women in the media. By highlighting the role incongruity between stereotypically feminine attributes (e.g., warm, polite, submissive), and traits typically ascribed to good leaders (e.g., strong, powerful, assertive), semiotic violence emphasizes that women are incompetent to be political actors. This form of semiotic violence can manifest through denying and minimizing women’s political qualifications, sexual objectification, and labeling political women as emotional, among other actions.\n\nHigher education\n\nSexual violence on college campuses is considered a major problem in the United States. According to the conclusion of a major Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study: \"The CSA Study data suggest women at universities are at considerable risk for experiencing sexual assault.\" Sexual violence on campus has been researched in other countries too, such as Canada, the UK, and New Zealand.\n\nSports\nSport-related violence against women is any physical, sexual, mental acts that are \"perpetrated by both male athletes and by male fans or consumers of sport and sporting events, as well as by coaches of female athletes\". The documenting reports and literature suggest that there are obvious connections between contemporary sport and violence against women. Such events as the 2010 World Cup, the Olympic and Commonwealth Games \"have highlighted the connections between sports spectatorship and intimate partner violence, and the need for police, authorities and services to be aware of this when planning sporting events\". Sport-related violence occurs in various contexts and places, including homes, pubs, clubs, hotel rooms, the streets. Violence against women is a topic of concern in the United States' collegiate athletic community. From the 2010 UVA lacrosse murder, in which a male athlete was charged guilty with second degree murder of his girlfriend, to the 2004 University of Colorado Football Scandal when players were charged with nine alleged sexual assaults, studies suggest that athletes are at higher risk for committing sexual assault against women than the average student. It is reported that one in three college assaults are committed by athletes. Surveys suggest that male student athletes who represent 3.3% of the college population, commit 19% of reported sexual assaults and 35% of domestic violence. The theories that surround these statistics range from misrepresentation of the student-athlete to an unhealthy mentality towards women within the team itself. Sociologist Timothy Curry, after conducting an observational analysis of two big time sports' locker room conversations, deduced that the high risk of male student athletes for gender abuse is a result of the team's subculture. Curry states, \"Their locker room talk generally treated women as objects, encouraged sexist attitudes toward women and, in its extreme, promoted rape culture.\" He proposes that this objectification is a way for the male to reaffirm his heterosexual status and hyper-masculinity. Claims have been made that the atmosphere changes when an outsider (especially women) intrude in the locker room. In the wake of the reporter Lisa Olson being harassed by a Patriots player in the locker room in 1990, she said, \"We are taught to think we must have done something wrong and it took me a while to realize I hadn't done anything wrong.\" Other female sports reporters (college and professional) have said that they often brush off the players' comments, which leads to further objectification. Some sociologists challenge this assertion. Steve Chandler says that because of their celebrity status on campus, \"athletes are more likely to be scrutinized or falsely accused than non-athletes.\" Stephanie Mak says that \"if one considers the 1998 estimates that about three million women were battered and almost one million raped, the proportion of incidences that involve athletes in comparison to the regular population is relatively small.\" In response to the proposed link between college athletes and gender-based violence, and media coverage holding Universities as responsible for these scandals more universities are requiring athletes to attend workshops that promote awareness. For example, St. John's University holds sexual assault awareness classes in the fall for its incoming student athletes. Other groups, such as the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, have formed to provide support for the victims as their mission statement reads, \"The NCAVA works to eliminate off the field violence by athletes through the implementation of prevention methods that recognize and promote the positive leadership potential of athletes within their communities. In order to eliminate violence, the NCAVA is dedicated to empowering individuals affected by athlete violence through comprehensive services including advocacy, education and counseling.\"\n\nIn the military\nA 1995 study of female war veterans found that 90 percent had been sexually harassed. A 2003 survey found that 30 percent of female vets said they were raped in the military and a 2004 study of veterans who were seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder found that 71 percent of the women said they were sexually assaulted or raped while serving.\n\nOnline\nCyberbullying is a form of intimidation using electronic forms of contact. In the 21st century, cyberbullying has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers in Western countries. On 24 September 2015, the United Nations Broadband Commission released a report that claimed that almost 75% percent of women online have encountered harassment and threats of violence, otherwise known as cyber violence. Misogynistic rhetoric is prevalent online, and the public debate over gender-based attacks has increased significantly, leading to calls for policy interventions and better responses by social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Some specialists have argued that gendered online attacks should be given particular attention within the wider category of hate speech. Abusers quickly identified opportunities online to humiliate their victims, destroy their careers, reputations and relationships, and even drive them to suicide or \"trigger so-called 'honor' violence in societies where sex outside of marriage is seen as bringing shame on a family\".\nAccording to a poll conducted by Amnesty International in 2018 across 8 countries, 23% of women have experienced online abuse of harassment. These are often sexist or misogynistic in nature and include direct of indirect threats of physical or sexual violence, abuse targeting aspects of their personality and privacy violations.\nAccording to Human Rights Watch, 90% of those who experienced sexual violence online in 2019 were women and girls.\n\nEffect on society\nAccording to an article published in the Health and Human Rights journal, regardless of many years of advocacy and involvement of many feminist activist organizations, the issue of violence against women still \"remains one of the most pervasive forms of human rights violations worldwide\". The violence against women can occur in both public and private spheres of life and at any time of their life span. Violence against women often keeps women from wholly contributing to social, economic, and political development of their communities. Many women are terrified by these threats of violence and this essentially influences their lives so that they are impeded to exercise their human rights; for instance, they fear contributing to the development of their communities socially, economically, and politically. Apart from that, the causes that trigger VAW or gender-based violence can go beyond just the issue of gender and into the issues of age, class, culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and specific geographical area of their origins.\n\nMost often, violence against women has been framed as a health issue, and also as a violation of human rights. The research seems to provide convincing evidence that violence against women is a severe and pervasive problem the world over, with devastating effects on the health and well-being of women and children. \nImportantly, other than the issue of social divisions, gendered violence can also extend into the realm of health issues and become a direct concern of the public health sector. A health issue such as HIV/AIDS is another cause that also leads to violence. Women who have HIV/AIDS infection are also among the targets of the violence. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that violence against women puts an undue burden on health care services, as women who have suffered violence are more likely to need health services and at higher cost, compared to women who have not suffered violence. Another statement that confirms an understanding of VAW as being a significant health issue is apparent in the recommendation adopted by the Council of Europe, violence against women in private sphere, at home or domestic violence, is the main reason of \"death and disability\" among the women who encountered violence. A study in 2002 estimated that at least one in five women in the world had been physically or sexually abused by a man sometime in their lives, and \"gender-based violence accounts for as much death and ill-health in women aged 15–44 years as cancer, and is a greater cause of ill-health than malaria and traffic accidents combined.\"\n\nIn addition, several studies have shown a link between poor treatment of women and international violence. These studies show that one of the best predictors of inter- and intranational violence is the maltreatment of women in the society.\n\nForms of violence\nViolence against women can fit into several broad categories. These include violence carried out by individuals as well as states. Some of the forms of violence perpetrated by individuals are: rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, acid throwing, reproductive coercion, female infanticide, prenatal sex selection, obstetric violence, online gender-based violence and mob violence; as well as harmful customary or traditional practices such as honor killings, dowry violence, female genital mutilation, marriage by abduction and forced marriage. There are forms of violence which may be perpetrated or condoned by the government, such as war rape; sexual violence and sexual slavery during conflict; forced sterilization; forced abortion; violence by the police and authoritative personnel; stoning and flogging. Many forms of VAW, such as trafficking in women and forced prostitution are often perpetrated by organized criminal networks. Historically, there have been forms of organized WAV, such as the Witch trials in the early modern period or the sexual slavery of the comfort women.\n\nAccording to the UN, \"there is no region of the world, no country and no culture in which women's freedom from violence has been secured.\" Several forms of violence are more prevalent in certain parts of the world, often in developing countries. For example, dowry violence and bride burning is associated with India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Acid throwing is also associated with these countries, as well as in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia. Honor killing is associated with the Middle East and South Asia. Female genital mutilation is found mostly in Africa, and to a lesser extent in the Middle East and some other parts of Asia. Marriage by abduction is found in Ethiopia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. Abuse related to payment of bride price (such as violence, trafficking, and forced marriage) is linked to parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania (also see Lobolo).\n\nActs of violence against women are often not unique episodes, but are ongoing over time. More often than not, the violence is perpetrated by someone the woman knows, not by a stranger.\n\nThe WHO, in its research on VAW, has analyzed and categorized the different forms of VAW occurring through all stages of life from before birth to old age.\n\nIn recent years, there has been a trend of approaching VAW at an international level through means such as conventions or, in the European Union, through directives (such as the directive against sexual harassment, and the directive against human trafficking).\n\nThe Gender Equality Commission of the Council of Europe identifies nine forms of violence against women based on subject and context rather than life cycle or time period:\n'Violence within the family or domestic violence'\n'Rape and sexual violence'\n'Sexual harassment'\n'Violence in institutional environments'\n'Female genital mutilation'\n'Forced marriages'\n'Violence in conflict and post-conflict situations'\n'Killings in the name of honour'\n'Failure to respect freedom of choice with regard to reproduction'\n\nBy age groups\nThe World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a typology of violence against women based on their cultural life cycles. \n\nSignificant progress towards the protection of women from violence has been made on international level as a product of collective effort of lobbying by many women's rights movements; international organizations to civil society groups. As a result, worldwide governments and international as well as civil society organizations actively work to combat violence against women through a variety of programs. Among the major achievements of the women's rights movements against violence on girls and women, the landmark accomplishments are the \"Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women\" that implies \"political will towards addressing VAW \" and the legal binding agreement, \"the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)\". In addition, the UN General Assembly resolution also designated 25 November as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.\n\nA typology similar to the WHO's from an article on violence against women published in the academic journal The Lancet shows the different types of violence perpetrated against women according to what time period in a women's life the violence takes place. However, it also classifies the types of violence according to the perpetrator. One important point to note is that more of the types of violence inflicted on women are perpetrated by someone the woman knows, either a family member or intimate partner, rather than a stranger.\n\nHigh risk groups\n\nIndigenous people \nIndigenous women around the world are often targets of sexual assault or physical violence. Many indigenous communities are rural, with few resources and little help from the government or non-state actors. These groups also often have strained relationships with law enforcement, making prosecution difficult. Many indigenous societies also find themselves at the center of land disputes between nations and ethnic groups, often resulting in these communities bearing the brunt of national and ethnic conflicts.\n\nViolence against indigenous women is often perpetrated by the state, such as in Peru, in the 1990s. President Alberto Fujimori (in office from 1990 to 2000) has been accused of genocide and crimes against humanity as a result of a forced sterilization program put in place by his administration. During his presidency, Fujimori put in place a program of forced sterilizations against indigenous people (mainly the Quechuas and the Aymaras), in the name of a \"public health plan\", presented 28 July 1995.\n\nBolivia has the highest rate of domestic violence in Latin America. Indigenous women self-report physical or sexual violence from a current or former partner at rates of twenty-nine percent, in comparison to the national average of twenty four percent. Bolivia is largely indigenous in its ethnic demographics, and Quechua, Aymara, and Guarani women have been monumental in the nation's fight against violence against women.\n\nGuatemalan indigenous women have also faced extensive violence. Throughout over three decades of conflict, Maya women and girls have continued to be targeted. The Commission for Historical Clarification found that 88% of women affected by state-sponsored rape and sexual violence against women were indigenous.\n\nThe concept of white dominion over indigenous women's bodies has been rooted in American history since the beginning of colonization. The theory of manifest destiny went beyond simple land extension and into the belief that European settlers had the right to exploit Native women's bodies as a method of taming and \"humanizing\" them.\n\nCanada has an extensive problem with violence against indigenous women, by both indigenous men and non-aboriginals. \"[I]t has been consistently found that Aboriginal women have a higher likelihood of being victimized compared to the rest of the female population.\" While Canadian national averages of violence against women are falling, they have remained the same for aboriginal communities throughout the years. The history of residential schools and economic inequality of indigenous Canadians has resulted in communities facing violence, unemployment, drug use, alcoholism, political corruption, and high rates of suicide. In addition, there has been clear and admitted racism towards indigenous people by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, making victims less likely to report cases of domestic violence.\n\nMany of the issues facing indigenous women in Canada have been addressed via the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) initiatives. Thousands of Native Canadian women have gone missing or been killed in the past 30 years, with little representation or attention from the government. Efforts to make the Canadian public aware of these women's disappearances have mostly been led by Aboriginal communities, who often reached across provinces to support one another. In 2015, prime minister Stephen Harper commented that the issue of murdered and missing indigenous women was \"not high on our radar\", prompting outrage in already frustrated indigenous communities. A few months later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launched an official inquiry into the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.\n\nIn the United States, Native American women are more than twice as likely to experience violence than any other demographic. One in three Native women is sexually assaulted during her life, and 67% of these assaults are perpetrated by non-Natives, with Native Americans constituting 0.7% of U.S. population in 2015. The disproportionate rate of assault to indigenous women is due to a variety of causes, including but not limited to the historical legal inability of tribes to prosecute on their own on the reservation. The federal Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized in 2013, which for the first time gave tribes jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute felony domestic violence offenses involving Native American and non-Native offenders on the reservation, as 26% of Natives live on reservations. In 2019 the Democrat House passed H.R. 1585 (Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019) by a vote of 263–158, which increases tribes' prosecution rights much further. However, in the Republican Senate its progress has stalled.\n\nImmigrants and refugees\nImmigrant and refugee women often face violence, both in the private sphere (by partners and other family members) and in the public sphere (by the police and other authorities). These women are often in a vulnerable position: they do not speak the language of the country they are in, they do not know its laws, and sometimes they are in a legal position where they may be deported if they make contact with the authorities. Women who seek protection from armed conflict in their countries of origin often face more violence while travelling to the destination country or when they arrive there. Women refugees face violence from both the journey facilitator and the detention center guards. Journey facilitator rapes in exchange for money for their passage where as male guards sexually violates in exchange for faster refugee case process. These women have already been through a lot in their country because of wars and political instability and now while in search of freedom they face all kind of gender based Violences.\n\nTransgender women\n\nTransgender women, especially transgender women of color, are at higher risk of experiencing violence than cisgender women. Trans women commonly experience intimate partner violence, with one study finding that 31.1% of trans people experience it, and another finding that half of all trans women experience it. Trans women also often face abuse by police, and transgender sex workers often face violence from clients. Trans women who are survivors of violence can have a harder time finding domestic violence shelters, as some shelters do not accept them. In 2018, more than two dozen transgender people were violently killed in the United States, most of them women of color.\n\nActivism\n\nBackground and history\nActivism refers to \"a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue\". In the activism for violence against women, the objectives are to address and draw public attention on the issues of VAW as well as seek and recommend measures to prevent and eliminate this violence. Many scholarly articles suggest that the VAW is considered as a violation of human rights as well as \"public health issue\".\n\nIn order to better comprehend the anti-violence movements against VAW, there is a need to also understand the generic historical background of feminist movements in a holistic manner. Talking about the international women's movement, many feminist scholars have categorized these movements into three waves according to their different beliefs, strategies and goals.\n\nThe emergence of the first women's movements, or so called the first wave of feminism, dated back in the years the late 19th Century and early 20th Century in the United States and Europe. During this period, feminist movements developed from the context of industrialization and liberal politics that triggered the rise of feminist groups concerned with gaining equal access and opportunity for women. This wave marks a period of \"suffrage, independence, rights to nationality, work and equal pay\" for women.\n\nThe second wave of feminist movements was the series of movements from the period of the late 1960s to early 1970s. It was noted by feminist scholars that this wave could be characterized as a period of women's liberation and the rise of a branch of feminism known as radical feminism. This wave of feminism emerged in the context of the postwar period in society where other mainstream movements also played a large role; for instance, the civil rights movements, which meant to condemn capitalism, imperialism and the oppression of people based on the notions of race, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation. This wave marks a period of equal rights at home and workplace as well as rights to development for the purposes of people of different races, ethnicities, economic statuses and gender identities.\n\nThe third wave of feminism is the newest wave of feminism led by young feminists whose understanding and context are of the globalized world order and the technological advances that have come with it. Also, this wave is a transition of the fall communism to more complex issues of new kinds of 'warfare', threats and violence. This new wave also \"embraces ambiguity\" and introduced a feminist approach of 'intersectionality' that includes the issues of race, gender, age, and class. Other than that, the third wave marks a period of feminism dealing with identity politics, body politics as well as the issues of violence.\n\nNonetheless, the VAW movement was initiated in the 1970s where some feminist movements started to bring the discussion on the issue of violence into the feminist discourse and that many other groups, on the national as well as international levels, had attempted to push for the betterment of women through lobbying of the state officials and delegates, demanding the conferences on 'gender issues' and thus made the VAW known to a wider range of population. Therefore, to put this into the theoretical context, VAW can be categorized along with the second and third waves of feminism which share a focus on violence.\n\nVAW activist movements come in many forms, operating at international, national, and local levels and utilizing different approaches based on Health and Human Rights frameworks. The movements stemmed mostly from social movements and groups of women who see the need to create organizations to 'lobby' their governments to establish \"sanctuaries, shelters\" and provision of services that help protecting these victims, also called \"battered women\", from acts of violence. The term \"battered women\" was used in a number of VAW movements and had its root in the early stage of organizing efforts to tackle the problem of violence against women in many regions of the world such as Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin American and the Caribbean. The activist organizations against VAW, some with and the others without the support of their governments, attempted to develop \"innovative efforts\" to assist battered women by providing them services such as shelters and centers; drafting and lobbying governments to include the recognition and language of VAW into national legislations and international human rights instruments; advocating to raise the awareness of people via education and training sessions; forming national, regional as well as international networks to empower the movements; organizing demonstrations and gathering more efforts to end violent acts against women. In addition, many women's rights activist groups see the issue of violence against women as a central focus of their movements. Many of these groups take a human rights approach as the integral framework of their activism. These VAW movements also employ the idea that \"women's rights are human rights\", transform the concepts and ideas of human rights, which are mostly reckoned to be \"Western concepts\" and 'vernacularize them into the concepts that can be understood in their local institutions.\n\nLevels of activist movements \n\nOn the local or national level, the VAW movements are diverse and differ in their strategic program of intervention. The strategies used in a number of the movements focus on the individual level with the emphases on individuals, relationships and family. Also, many of them take the 'preventive' as an approach to tackle the issues on the ground by encouraging people to \"reexamine their attitudes and beliefs\" in order to trigger and create fundamental changes in these \"deep-rooted beliefs and behaviors\". Despite the fact that these strategies can be life changing, helpful to those who participate and feasible over a long time frame, the effects on societal level seem to be restricted and of minimal effects. In order to achieve the objectives of the movement, many activists and scholars argue that they have to initiate changes in cultural attitudes and norms on a communal level. An example of activism on the local level can be seen in South Africa. The movements of VAW in this context employ a strategy that is based on the 'prevention' approach, which is applicable on individual and societal levels: in families and communities. This movement encourages the individuals and small populations to rethink their attitudes and beliefs in order to create a possibility to alter these deep-rooted beliefs and behaviors, which lead to the acts of violence against women. Another example is the local level movement in East Africa that employs the prevention approach, which is applicable on a communal level. They call this a \"raising voices\" approach. This approach employs an 'ad hoc' framework that can be used alongside the individual approach where the strategy is to aggravate the status quo issues onto the individuals' and communities' perception and establish a common ground of interests for them to push for the movement, all in a short time period. In addition, on the domestic level, there seems to be many 'autonomous movements.' feminist movements (for VAW) can be understood as \"a form of women's mobilization that is devoted to promoting women's status and well-being independently of political parties and other associations that do not have the status of women as their main concern\".\n\nA number of regions of the world have come together to address violence against women. In South America, the Southern Cone Network Against Domestic Violence has worked extensively to address sexual and domestic violence since 1989. The Latin American and Caribbean Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, formed in 1990, includes representation from twenty-one different countries and has been instrumental in increasing the visibility of VAW. In September 1999, the Heads of States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met and drafted the \"Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children\", a document condemning violence against women and children, and resolved a set of 13 methods of addressing it, reaching into the legal; social, economic, cultural, and political; social service; and education, training, and awareness building sectors.\n\nOn the transnational or regional level, the anti-violence movements also deploy different strategies based on the specificities of their cultures and beliefs in their particular regions. On this level, the activist movements are known as \"transnational feminist networks\" or TFNs. The TFNs have a significant effect, like the autonomous movements on the national level, in shaping sets of policies as well pushing for the recognition and inclusion of language of VAW in the United Nations human rights mechanisms: the international human rights agreements. Their activities are ranging from lobbying the policy makers; organizing demonstrations on the local and regional levels; to creating institutional pressure that could push for changes in the international institutional measures.\n\nOn an international level, the movements that advocate for women's rights and against VAW are the mixture of (civil society) actors from domestic and regional levels. The objectives of these VAW movements focus on \"creating shared expectations\" within the domestic and regional levels as well as \"mobilizing numbers of domestic civil society\" to create \"standards in global civil society\". The global women's movement works to transform numbers of international conventions and conferences to \"a conference on women's rights\" by pushing for a \"stronger language and clearer recognition\" of the VAW issues. In addition, the United Nations also plays a vital role in promoting and campaigning for the VAW movements on the international level. For instance, in 2008 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon initiated and launched a campaign called \"UNiTE to End Violence against Women\". This campaign \"calls on governments, civil society, women's organizations, young people, the private sector, the media and the entire UN system to join forces in addressing the global pandemic of violence against women and girls\". Moreover, this campaign also announces every 25th of the month to be \"Orange Day\" or \"a day to take action to raise awareness and prevent violence against women and girls\".\n\nIn conclusion, each level of activism is intertwined and has the common purpose to end violence against women. Activism on local levels can significantly affect national, transnational, and international levels as well. In a scholarly article on Combating Violence Against Women, the authors illustrated from their research analysis on how the norms of international society can shape and influence policy making on the domestic or national level and vice versa. They argue that there are three mechanisms which have effects on the making of national policies as well as global agreements and conventions: \"1) the influence of global treaties and documents such as CEDAW on women's rights\" on the national policies, \"2) the influence of regional agreements on VAW (particularly after certain tipping points are reached)\" on both domestic policies and international conventions and \"3) regional demonstration effects or pressure for conformity captured as diffusion within regions\" on the international norms and agreements.\n\nTargeted campaigns \nIn November 2021, Iamhere international, a group focused on increasing counter-speech on social media, started a 16-day campaign all forms of gender-based violence, in particular cyber violence.\n\nArtists worldwide have addressed violence against women, highlighting the unique manifestations of violence across cultural and political histories. For example, Argentinian Italian artist Natalia Saurin (2020) responds to the Italian newspaper's use of love narratives to justify partner homicide in her mixed media postcard series, \"Ti Amo Troppo\". In the United States, artist street artist Sophie Sandberg encourages individuals to chalk their experiences of harassment in the places in which they occurred. Augmented reality comic \"Priya's Shakti\" addresses victim-blaming attitudes in India in response to the 2012 Delhi gang rape of a middle-caste college-educated woman. Through the utilization of Hindu mythologies, \"Priya's Shakti\" tells the story of a rape survivor in a controversial heroic role inviting Indian society to reckon with patriarchal societal views.\nArtworks addressing violence against women span across artistic mediums and illuminate the issue of violence against women and provoke change in laws and government. In \"And So I Stayed\" (2021), a documentary film addressing unjustly incarcerated survivors of domestic violence in the United States, co-directors Natalie Pattillo, and Daniel Nelson confront the lack of legal understanding of abused women. As a result of the film, Pattillo and Nelson assembled a short film for the court case of Tanisha Davis, a survivor of domestic violence who was unable to receive leniency for the killing of her boyfriend despite years of physical and emotional abuse. In 2021, Tanisha Davis was released from prison thanks to the \"Domestic Violence Survivor's Justice Act\" and Pattillo and Nelson's nuanced portrait of Davis through their short film.\n\nThe \"Violence Against Women Art Map\" came to fruition in 2021 as part of a Pennsylvania State University research study by Lauren Stetz to visualize artists' responses to violence against women. Featuring 24 artists globally, the map highlights the diverse ways in which women experience violence as a result of intersectional identity, culture, and history. The interactive digital map was co-created through a participatory action arts-based research methodology, using artist interviews and their artworks. Through visual mapping, artists addressing violence against women through their work connected transnationally for the purpose of coalition building.\n\nSecond order sexual harassment (SOSH)\nSecond-order sexual harassment (SOSH) is the harassment suffered by those who stand with and support victims of violence against women (VAW). Addressing this type of sexual harassment is basic to protect victims of gender violence. According to scientific evidence, the most successful actions for overcoming gender violence are those that promote bystander intervention, thus it is necessary to protect the people who support the victims. If society wants to empower victims to denounce and help them not to feel alone, it is necessary to ensure to protect persons who are actively protecting the victims for breaking the silence. \nThere is pioneer legislation in the world regarding legal issues, In 2020 the Catalan Parliament passed the first legislation in the world against this form of violence under the name of Second-Order Violence. In 2013 the UN General Assembly passed its first resolution calling for the protection of defenders of women's human rights. The resolution urges states to put in place gender-specific laws and policies for the protection of women's human rights defenders and to ensure that defenders themselves are involved in the design and implementation of these measures, and calls on states to protect women's human rights defenders from reprisals for cooperating with the UN and to ensure their unhindered access to and communication with international human rights bodies and mechanisms. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 is also a global initiative with a target to eliminate all forms of violence against women.\n\nLegal enforcement\nAs violence is often committed by a family member, women first started by lobbying their governments to set up shelters for domestic violence survivors. The Julia Burgos Protected House established in Puerto Rico in 1979 was the first shelter in Latin America and the Caribbean for \"battered women\". In 2003, 18 out of the 20 countries in the region had legislation on domestic or family violence, and 11 countries addressed sexual violence in their laws. Legislative measures to protect victims can include restraining orders, which can be found in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Venezuela, Turkey, the United States and many western European countries for instance.\n\nCourts can also be allowed by law (Germany, 2001) to order the perpetrator to leave the home so that victims do not have to seek shelter. Countries were urged to repeal discriminatory legislation by 2005 following the review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2000. Egypt, for instance, abolished a law that exempted men from rape charges when marrying their victims. However, the goal of antiviolence legislation is often to keep the families together, regardless of the best interests of women, which perpetuate domestic violence.\n\nChallenges faced by women in accessing justice and limitations of measures \nThere can be a de jure or de facto acceptance of violent behaviors and lack of remedies for victims.\n\nLack of criminalization: in many places, acts of abuse, especially acts such as female genital mutilation, marital rape, forced marriage and child marriage, are not criminalized, or are illegal but widely tolerated, with the laws against them being rarely enforced. There are instances where crimes against women are also categorized as minor offenses.\nLack of awareness of the existing laws: in many places, although there are laws against violence on the books, many women do not know of their existence. This is especially the case with marital rape – its criminalization being very recent in most countries.\nChallenges in making a case in court: the burden of proof can be placed on the victim. For instance in the Philippines, before a change in law in 1997, rape used to be described as a crime against chastity; and virginity played an important role in court. In various countries, such as Bangladesh, a woman's past sexual experience continues to be very important in a case of rape. Bangladesh has received criticism for its employment of the \"two-finger test\" in rape investigations. This test consists in a physical examination of women who report rape during which a doctor inserts two fingers in the woman's vagina to determine whether the woman is \"habituated to sex\". This examination has its origin in the country's colonial-era laws dating back to 1872. The test deters many women from reporting incidents of rape. More than 100 experts, including doctors, lawyers, police, and women's rights activists had signed a joint statement in 2013 asking for the test, which they called \"demeaning\", to be abolished, as it \"does not provide any evidence that is relevant to proving the offence\". This test is also performed in several other countries in the region, including India. It can also be difficult to make a case of sexual assault in court, when members of the judiciary expect evidence of severe struggle and injury as determinative evidence of non-consent. On the other hand, there are measures, such as the 2012 law in Brazil, that allow for cases to be filed even without the representation of the victim.\nExisting laws are insufficient, conflicting, and have no effect in practice: some laws on domestic violence, for instance, conflict with other provisions and ultimately contradict their goals. Legal frameworks can also be flawed when laws that integrate protection do so in isolation, notably in relation to immigration laws. Undocumented women in countries where they would have, in theory, access to justice, do not in practice for fear of being denounced and deported. The CEDAW Committee recommends that a State authority's obligation to report undocumented persons be repealed in national legislation.\n\nMany kinds of violence against women (specifically rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence) are under-reported, often due to societal norms, taboos, stigma, and the sensitive nature of the subject. It is widely recognized that even today, a lack of reliable and continuous data is an obstacle to forming a clear picture of violence against women.\n\nInvoking culture to explain particular forms of violence against women risks appearing to legitimize them. There is also debate and controversy about the ways in which cultural traditions, local customs and social expectations, as well as various interpretations of religion, interact with abusive practices. Specifically, cultural justifications for certain violent acts against women are asserted by some states and social groups within many countries claiming to defend their traditions. These justifications are questionable precisely because the defenses are generally voiced by political leaders or traditional authorities, not by those actually affected. The need for sensitivity and respect of culture is an element that cannot be ignored either; thus a sensitive debate has ensued and is ongoing.\n\nMeasures to address violence against women range from access to legal-aid to the provision of shelters and hotlines for victims. Despite advances in legislation and policies, the lack of implementation of the measures put in place prevents significant progress in eradicating violence against women globally. This failure to apply existing laws and procedures is often due to the persisting issue of gender stereotyping.\n\nAccessibility of police\nWomen who report acts of violence most often come into contact first with police workers. Therefore, police attitudes are crucial in facilitating a sense of safety and comfort for women who have been victimized. When police officers misuse their power as agents of the state to physically and sexually harass and assault victims, the survivors, including women, feel much less able to report the violence. Human rights violations perpetrated by police and military personnel in many countries are correlated with decreased access to public health services and increased practices of risky behavior among members of vulnerable groups, such as women and female sex workers. These practices are especially widespread in settings with a weak rule of law and low levels of police and military management and professionalism. Police abuse in this context has been linked to a wide range of risky behaviors and health outcomes, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse. Extortion of sexual services and police sexual abuse have been linked to a decrease in condom use and an elevated risk of STI and HIV infections among vulnerable groups.\n\nSome countries, such as Brazil and Jordan, have enacted women's police station, which are police stations that specialize in certain crimes, such as sexual violence, harassment, domestic violence committed against women.\n\nIntervention versus autonomy\nIt is standard procedure for police to force entry into the victim's home even after the victim's numerous requests for them to go away. Government agencies often disregard the victim's right to freedom of association with their perpetrator.\n\nInternational protection regimes\nEfforts to fight violence against women can take many forms and access to justice, or lack thereof, for such violence varies greatly depending on the justice system. International and regional instruments are increasingly used as the basis for national legislation and policies to eradicate violence against women. Experts in the international community generally believe that solely enacting punitive legislation for prevention and punishment of violence against women is not sufficient to address the problem. For example, although much stricter laws on violence against women have been passed in Bangladesh, violence against women is still rising. And violence against women has risen dramatically around the world since the late 2010s despite similar measures being taken in many regions as well as increased awareness and discussion of the subject. Instead, it is thought that wide societal changes to address gender inequalities and women's empowerment will be the way to reduce violence against women.\n\nAfrica\nIn Africa, there emerged a series of regional meetings and agreements, which was triggered by the UN processes on the international level such as Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi, 1985; the 1993 Kampala Prep Com; the 1994 Africa-wide UN women's conference that led to the identification of VAW as a critical issue in the Southern African Women's Charter.\n\nAmericas\nIn the Americas, the Inter-American Convention on Violence Against Women, which was formally announced and adopted by the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1994, immediately after the Vienna Conference The Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Eradicate and Punish Violence Against Women – also known as the Belém do Parà Convention, for instance, has been applied by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in its first case of domestic violence to condemn Brazil in the Maria da Penha case. This led the Brazilian government to enact in 2006 the Maria da Penha Law, the country's first law against domestic violence against women.\n\nThese are some developments since the 1960s in the United States to oppose and treat violence against women: \n1967: One of the country's first domestic violence shelters opened in Maine.\n1972: The country's first rape help hotline opened in Washington, D.C.\n1978: Two national coalitions, the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, were formed, to raise awareness of these two forms of violence against women.\n1984: The U.S. Attorney General created the Department of Justice Task Force on Family Violence, to address ways in which the criminal justice system and community response to domestic violence should be improved.\n1994: Passage of the Violence Against Women Act or VAWA, legislation included in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, sponsored by then-Senator Joseph Biden, which required a strengthened community response to crimes of domestic violence and sexual assault, strengthened federal penalties for repeat sex offenders and strengthened legislative protection of victims, among many other provisions.\n2000: President Clinton signed into law the VAWA of 2000, further strengthening federal laws, and emphasizing assistance of immigrant victims, elderly victims, victims with disabilities, and victims of dating violence.\n2006: President Bush signed into law the VAWA of 2006, with an emphasis on programs to address violence against youth victims, and establishing programs for Engaging Men and Youth, and Culturally and Linguistically Specific Services.\n2007: The National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline opened.\n2009: President Obama declared April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.\n2013: President Obama signed into law the VAWA of 2015, which granted Native American tribes the ability to prosecute non-Native offenders, and regulated reports of sexual assault on college campuses.\n\nAsia\nIn Asia, there is the South Asian Agreement on Regional Cooperation's (SAARC) Protocol to End Trafficking in Women and Children.\n\nEurope\n\nIn Europe, the European Union (EU)'s initiatives to combat violence against women after the 1990s: the 1997 resolution calling for a zero tolerance: specifically on UN human rights instruments of CEDAW and the Vienna Declaration. The Council of Europe also developed \"a series of initiatives\" related to the issue of VAW: \"the 2000 resolution on trafficking, the 2003 resolution on domestic violence, and the 2004 resolution on honor crimes\" as well as promoted \"the 2002 recommendation on the protection of women against violence and established its monitoring framework\". The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, is the first legally binding instrument in Europe in the field of domestic violence and violence against women, and came into force in 2014.\nCountries which ratify it must ensure that the forms of violence defined in its text are outlawed. In its Preamble, the Convention states that \"the realisation of de jure and de facto equality between women and men is a key element in the prevention of violence against women\". The convention also provides a definition of domestic violence as \"all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim\". Although it is a Convention of the Council of Europe, it is open to accession by any country.\n\nGlobal\nSome of the most important milestones on the international level for the prevention of violence against women include:\n\nThe 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which recognizes violence as a part of discrimination against women in recommendations 12 and 19.\nThe 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, which recognized violence against women as a human rights violation, and which contributed to the following UN declaration.\nThe 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women was the first international instrument explicitly defining and addressing violence against women. This document specifically refers to the historically forever-present nature of gender inequalities in understanding violence against women. (Include current 2nd paragraph here). This Declaration, as well as the World Conference of the same year, is often viewed as a \"turning point\" at which the consideration of violence against women by the international community began to be taken much more seriously, and after which more countries mobilized around this problem. The first major document that highlights the recognition of violence against women as a human rights violation: the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in Vienna, 1993. It was a result of collective effort of global feminist movement to transform the Vienna conference from a general and mainstream human rights conference into the conference on women's rights. As before the other human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch did not focus on the issue of VAW and did not consider rape and domestic violence as violations of human rights despite the fact that they also have agenda on women's rights.\nThe 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, linking violence against women to reproductive health and rights, and also providing recommendations to governments on how to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.\n The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing During the 4th Women Conference, VAW was emphasized and named as a critical concern. Also, the spillover effect was that this push highlighted the need for the development of \"new international norms\" that have often been used by activists and governments the proposition of legislation that provide other action to redress the acts of violence. Subsequently, the push from the global feminist movement also push for the fully incorporation of the VAW issues into the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) whereas the \"original text of CEDAW in 1979 did not explicitly mention violence against women\".\nIn 1996, the World Health Assembly (WHA) declared violence a major public health issue, and included in the subtypes recognized were intimate partner violence and sexual violence, two kinds of violence often perpetrated as violence against women. This was followed by a World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2002 (see below). The UN also created the Trust Fund to Support Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women. \nIn 1999, the UN adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. \nIn 2002, as a follow-up of the WHA declaration in 1996 of violence as a major public health issue, the WHO published the first World Report on Violence and Health, which addressed many types of violence and their effect on public health, including forms of violence affecting women particularly strongly. The report specifically noted the sharp rise in civil society organizations and activities directed at responding to gender-based violence against women from the 1970s to the 1990s. \nIn 2004, the WHO published its \"Multi-country study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women\", a study of women's health and domestic violence by surveying over 24,000 women in 10 countries from all regions of the world, which assessed the prevalence and extent of violence against women, particularly violence by intimate partners, and linked this with health outcomes to women as well as documenting strategies and services that women use to cope with intimate-partner violence.\nThe 2006 UN Secretary General's \"In-depth study on all forms of violence against women\", the first comprehensive international document on the issue.\nThe 2011 Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which is the second regional legally-binding instrument on violence against women and girls. \nIn 2013, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) adopted, by consensus, Agreed Conclusions on the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls (formerly, there were no agreed-upon conclusions).\nAlso in 2013, the UN General Assembly passed its first resolution calling for the protection of defenders of women's human rights. The resolution urges states to put in place gender-specific laws and policies for the protection of women's human rights defenders and to ensure that defenders themselves are involved in the design and implementation of these measures, and calls on states to protect women's human rights defenders from reprisals for cooperating with the UN and to ensure their unhindered access to and communication with international human rights bodies and mechanisms.\n\nSee also\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n \n \n Pdf.\n \n\n Discussion Paper No. 255\n \n \n Pdf.\n \n Pdf.\n\nExternal links\n\n Violence against women, a factsheet on ECtHR case law\n Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence against Women and Girls (in English, French, and Spanish)\n UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences\n World Health Organization's reports on FGM, Health complications of female genital mutilation\n\n \nCategory:Sex industry\nCategory:Feminism and health\n \nCategory:Crimes against women",
"title": "Violence against women"
},
{
"text": "Gallery or The Gallery may refer to:\n\nArts, entertainment, and media\n\n Art gallery\n Contemporary art gallery\n\nMusic\n Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s\n\nAlbums\n Gallery (Elaiza album), 2014 album\n Gallery (Great White album), a 1999 compilation album\n Gallery, an album by Bert Kaempfert 1974\n The Gallery (album), a 1995 album by Dark Tranquility\n Gallery, 2017 album by Arizona\n\nSongs\n \"Gallery\" (Mario Vazquez song)\n Gallery (Yōko Oginome song)\n \"Gallery\", a 2018 track by Toby Fox from Deltarune Chapter 1 OST from the video game Deltarune\n \"Gallery\", a 2021 song by Park Ji-hoon on the EP My Collection\n \"The Gallery\", a song on the Joni Mitchell album Clouds\n \"The Gallery\", a song on the Bradley Joseph album Rapture\n In the Gallery, a song on the initial and self-titled Dire Straits album\n\nTelevision\n Gallery (TV series), Canadian documentary series on CBC Television (1973–1979)\n Gallery Girls, a reality TV program\n\nOther arts, entertainment, and media\n Gallery (magazine), published by Montcalm Publishing\n Gallery Project, an open-source project enabling management and web publication of photographs and other media\n The Gallery (video game), a virtual reality game series\n The Gallery, a 1947 novel by John Horne Burns\n\nBuildings and spaces\n Gallery, a horizontal passage in an underground mine\n Gallery, a production control room, in a UK television studio\n Art gallery or art museum, an exhibition in a museum or other public space, or a retail art shop\n Gallery (architecture)\n An exterior balcony\n Observation deck, usually on the upper floors of a building, used to afford visitors a long-distance view\n Veranda, an open-air gallery or porch\n\nPeople\n Daniel V. Gallery (1901–1977), Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy during World War II; fought in the Battle of the Atlantic\n Mary Onahan Gallery (1866–1941), American writer, editor\n Philip D. Gallery (1907–1973), Rear Admiral who served on Naval destroyers in the Pacific Theater\n Robert Gallery (born 1980), American football player\n William O. Gallery (1904–1981), Rear Admiral, naval aviator\n\nPlaces\n Gallery Hotel, a hotel in Singapore\n Gallery Place station, a metro station in Washington, DC, US\n The Gallery (disco), a 1970s disco in New York City, US\n The Gallery at Market East, former name of the Fashion District, Philadelphia, a shopping mall in Philadelphia, US\n\nOther uses\n Gallery, an audience or a group of spectators\n Peanut gallery, a nickname for spectators occupying the cheapest seats\n Gallery forest, a forest formed along a waterway\n Gallery grave, a type of prehistoric megalithic tomb\n Gallery road, a mountain road in China\n Oil gallery, a lubricating-oil passage within an internal combustion engine\n\nSee also\n\n \n \n Galleria (disambiguation)\n Shooting gallery (disambiguation)\n The Galleries (disambiguation)",
"title": "Gallery"
},
{
"text": "Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841, during the First Opium War between the British and the Qing dynasty. The Qing had wanted to enforce its prohibition of opium importation within the dynasty that was being exported mostly from British India, as it was causing widespread addiction among its populace.\n\nThe island was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Nanking, ratified by the Daoguang Emperor in the aftermath of the war of 1842. It was established as a crown colony in 1843. In 1860, the British took the opportunity to expand the colony with the addition of the Kowloon Peninsula after the Second Opium War, while the Qing was embroiled in handling the Taiping Rebellion. With the Qing further weakened after the First Sino-Japanese War, Hong Kong's territory was further extended in 1898 when the British obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories.\n\nAlthough the Qing dynasty had to cede Hong Kong Island and Kowloon in perpetuity as per the treaty, the leased New Territories comprised 86.2% of the colony and more than half of the entire colony's population. With the lease nearing its end during the late 20th century, Britain did not see any viable way to administer the colony by dividing it, whilst the People's Republic of China (PRC) would not consider extending the lease or allow continued British administration thereafter.\n\nWith the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, which stated that the economic and social systems in Hong Kong would remain relatively unchanged for 50 years, the British government agreed to transfer the entire territory to China upon the expiration of the New Territories lease in 1997 – with Hong Kong becoming a special administrative region (SAR) until at least 2047.\n\nHistory\n\nColonial establishment \n\nIn 1836, the imperial government of the Qing dynasty undertook a major policy review of the opium trade, which had been first introduced to the Chinese by Persian then Islamic traders over many centuries. Viceroy Lin Zexu took on the task of suppressing the opium trade. In March 1839, he became Special Imperial Commissioner in Canton, where he ordered the foreign traders to surrender their opium stock. He confined the British to the Canton Factories and cut off their supplies. Chief Superintendent of Trade, Charles Elliot, complied with Lin's demands to secure a safe exit for the British, with the costs involved to be resolved between the two governments. When Elliot promised that the British government would pay for their opium stock, the merchants surrendered their 20,283 chests of opium, which were destroyed in public.\n\nIn September 1839, the British Cabinet decided that the Chinese should be made to pay for the destruction of British property, either by the threat or use of force. An expeditionary force was placed under Elliot and his cousin, Rear-Admiral George Elliot, as joint plenipotentiaries in 1840. Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston stressed to the Chinese government that the British government did not question China's right to prohibit opium, but it objected to the way this was handled. He viewed the sudden strict enforcement as laying a trap for the foreign traders, and the confinement of the British with supplies cut off was tantamount to starving them into submission or death. He instructed the Elliot cousins to occupy one of the Chusan Islands in the Hangzhou Bay delta across from Shanghai, then to present a letter from himself to a Chinese official for the Emperor of China, then to proceed to the Gulf of Bohai for a treaty, and if the Chinese resisted, then to blockade the key ports of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers. Palmerston demanded a territorial base in the Chusan Islands for trade so that British merchants \"may not be subject to the arbitrary caprice either of the Government of Peking, or its local Authorities at the Sea-Ports of the Empire\".\n\nIn 1841, Elliot negotiated with Lin's successor, Qishan, in the Convention of Chuenpi during the First Opium War. On 20 January, Elliot announced \"the conclusion of preliminary arrangements\", which included the cession of the barren Hong Kong Island and its harbour to the British Crown. Elliot chose Hong Kong Island instead of Chusan because he believed a settlement nearer to Shanghai would cause an \"indefinite protraction of hostilities\", whereas Hong Kong Island's harbour was a valuable base for the British trading community in Canton. British rule began with the occupation of the island on 26 January. Commodore Gordon Bremer, commander-in-chief of British forces in China, took formal possession of the island at Possession Point, where the Union Jack was raised under a fire of joy from the marines and a royal salute from the warships. Hong Kong Island was ceded in the Treaty of Nanking on 29 August 1842 and established as a Crown colony after the ratification exchanged between the Daoguang Emperor and Queen Victoria was completed on 26 June 1843.\n\nGrowth and expansion \n\nThe Treaty of Nanking failed to satisfy British expectations of a major expansion of trade and profit, which led to increasing pressure for a revision of the terms. In October 1856, Chinese authorities in Canton detained the Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong to enjoy the protection of the British flag. The Consul in Canton, Harry Parkes, claimed the hauling down of the flag and arrest of the crew were \"an insult of very grave character\". Parkes and Sir John Bowring, the fourth Governor of Hong Kong, seized the incident to pursue a forward policy. In March 1857, Palmerston appointed Lord Elgin as Plenipotentiary, with the aim of securing a new and satisfactory treaty. A French expeditionary force joined the British to avenge the execution of a French missionary in 1856. In 1860, the capture of the Taku Forts and occupation of Beijing led to the Treaty of Tientsin and Convention of Peking. In the Treaty of Tientsin, the Chinese accepted British demands to open more ports, navigate the Yangtze River, legalise the opium trade and have diplomatic representation in Beijing. During the conflict, the British occupied the Kowloon Peninsula, where the flat land was valuable training and resting ground. The area in what is now south of Boundary Street and Stonecutters Island was ceded in the Convention of Peking.\n\nIn 1898, the British sought to extend Hong Kong for defence. After negotiations began in April 1898, with the British Minister in Beijing, Sir Claude MacDonald, representing Britain, and diplomat Li Hongzhang leading the Chinese, the Second Convention of Peking was signed on 9 June. Since the foreign powers had agreed by the late 19th century that it was no longer permissible to acquire outright sovereignty over any parcel of Chinese territory, and in keeping with the other territorial cessions China made to Russia, Germany and France that same year, the extension of Hong Kong took the form of a 99-year lease. The lease consisted of the rest of Kowloon south of the Sham Chun River and 230 islands, which became known as the New Territories. The British formally took possession on 16 April 1899.\n\nJapanese occupation \n\nIn 1941, during the Second World War, the British reached an agreement with the Chinese government under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek that if Japan attacked Hong Kong, the Chinese National Army would attack the Japanese from the rear to relieve pressure on the British garrison. On 8 December, the Battle of Hong Kong began when Japanese air bombers effectively destroyed British air power in one attack. Two days later, the Japanese breached the Gin Drinkers Line in the New Territories. The British commander, Major-General Christopher Maltby, concluded that the island could not be defended for long unless he withdrew his brigade from the mainland. On 18 December, the Japanese crossed Victoria Harbour. By 25 December, organised defence was reduced into pockets of resistance. Maltby recommended a surrender to Governor Sir Mark Young, who accepted his advice to reduce further losses. A day after the invasion, Chiang ordered three corps under General Yu Hanmou to march towards Hong Kong. The plan was to launch a New Year's Day attack on the Japanese in the Canton region, but before the Chinese infantry could attack, the Japanese had broken Hong Kong's defences. The British casualties were 2,232 killed or missing and 2,300 wounded. The Japanese reported 1,996 killed and 6,000 wounded.\n\nThe Japanese soldiers committed atrocities, including rape, on many locals. The population fell in half, from 1.6 million in 1941 to 750,000 at war's end because of fleeing refugees; they returned in 1945.\n\nThe Japanese imprisoned the ruling British colonial elite and sought to win over the local merchant gentry by appointments to advisory councils and neighbourhood watch groups. The policy worked well for Japan and produced extensive collaboration from both the elite and the middle class, with far less terror than in other Chinese cities. Hong Kong was transformed into a Japanese colony, with Japanese businesses replacing the British. However, the Japanese Empire had severe logistical difficulties and by 1943 the food supply for Hong Kong was problematic. The overlords became more brutal and corrupt, and the Chinese gentry became disenchanted. With the surrender of Japan, the transition back to British rule was smooth, for on the mainland the Nationalist and Communist forces were preparing for a civil war and ignored Hong Kong. In the long run the occupation strengthened the pre-war social and economic order among the Chinese business community by eliminating some conflicts of interests and reducing the prestige and power of the British.\n\nRestoration of British rule \n\nOn 14 August 1945, when Japan announced its unconditional surrender, the British formed a naval task group to sail towards Hong Kong. On 1 September, Rear-Admiral Cecil Harcourt proclaimed a military administration with himself as its head. He formally accepted the Japanese surrender on 16 September in Government House. Young, upon his return as governor in May 1946, pursued political reform known as the \"Young Plan\", believing that, to counter the Chinese government's determination to recover Hong Kong, it was necessary to give local inhabitants a greater stake in the territory by widening the political franchise to include them.\n\nTransfer of Sovereignty \n\nThe Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed by both the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Premier of the People's Republic of China on 19 December 1984 in Beijing. The Declaration entered into force with the exchange of instruments of ratification on 27 May 1985 and was registered by the People's Republic of China and United Kingdom governments at the United Nations on 12 June 1985. In the Joint Declaration, the People's Republic of China Government stated that it had decided to resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong (including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories) with effect from 1 July 1997 and the United Kingdom Government declared that it would relinquish Hong Kong to the PRC with effect from 1 July 1997. In the document, the People's Republic of China Government also declared its basic policies regarding Hong Kong.\n\nIn accordance with the One Country, Two Systems principle agreed between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China, the socialist system of People's Republic of China would not be practised in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and its way of life would remain unchanged for a period of 50 years. The Joint Declaration provides that these basic policies shall be stipulated in the Hong Kong Basic Law. The ceremony of the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration took place at 18:00, 19 December 1984 at the Western Main Chamber of the Great Hall of the People. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office at first proposed a list of 60–80 Hong Kong people to attend the ceremony. The number was finally extended to 101. The list included Hong Kong government officials, members of the Legislative and Executive Councils, chairmen of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Standard Chartered Bank, Hong Kong celebrities such as Li Ka-shing, Pao Yue-kong and Fok Ying-tung, and also Martin Lee Chu-ming and Szeto Wah.\n\nThe handover ceremony was held at the new wing of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai on the night of 30 June 1997. The principal British guest was Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles III, King of the United Kingdom) who read a farewell speech on behalf of the Queen. The newly appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; the British Foreign Minister, Robin Cook; the departing Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten; the Chief of the Defence Staff of the United Kingdom, Field Marshal Sir Charles Guthrie, also attended.\n\nRepresenting China were the CCP General Secretary and President of China, Jiang Zemin; Premier of China, Li Peng; and Tung Chee-hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong. This event was broadcast on television and radio stations across the world.\n\nGovernment \n\nHong Kong was a Crown colony of the United Kingdom and maintained an administration roughly modelled after the Westminster system. The Letters Patent formed the constitutional basis of the colonial government and the Royal Instructions detailed how the territory should be governed and organised.\n\nThe Governor was the head of government and appointed by the British monarch to serve as the representative of the Crown in the colony. Executive power was highly concentrated with the Governor, who himself appointed almost all members of the Legislative Council and Executive Council and also served as President of both chambers. The British government provided oversight for the colonial government; the Foreign Secretary formally approved any additions to the Legislative and Executive Councils and the Sovereign held sole authority to amend the Letters Patent and Royal Instructions.\n\nThe Executive Council determined administrative policy changes and considered primary legislation before passing it to the Legislative Council for approval. This advisory body also itself issued secondary legislation under a limited set of colonial ordinances. The Legislative Council debated proposed legislation and was responsible for the appropriation of public funds. This chamber was reformed in the last years of colonial rule to introduce more democratic representation. Indirectly elected functional constituency seats were introduced in 1985 and popularly elected geographical constituency seats in 1991. Further electoral reform in 1994 effectively made the legislature broadly representative. The administrative Civil Service was led by the Colonial Secretary (later Chief Secretary), who was deputy to the Governor.\n\nThe judicial system was based on English law, with Chinese customary law taking a secondary role in civil cases involving Chinese residents. The Supreme Court of Hong Kong was the highest court and ruled on all civil and criminal cases in the colony. During the early colonial period, extraterritorial appellate cases from other regions of China involving British subjects were also tried in this court. Further appeals from the Supreme Court were heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which exercised final adjudication over the entire British Empire.\n\nIn March 1975 the Hong Kong government introduced a programme to measure public opinion of government efforts, known as Movement of Opinion Direction (MOOD).\n\nCadets \n\nIn 1861, Governor Sir Hercules Robinson introduced the Hong Kong Cadetship, which recruited young graduates from Britain to learn Cantonese and written Chinese for two years, before deploying them on a fast track to the Civil Service. Cadet officers gradually formed the backbone of the civil administration. After the Second World War, ethnic Chinese were allowed into the service, followed by women. Cadets were renamed Administrative Officers in the 1950s, and they remained the elite of the Civil Service during British rule.\n\nMilitary \n\nPrior to and during the Second World War, the garrison was composed of British Army battalions and locally enlisted personnel (LEPs) who served as regular members in the Hong Kong Squadron of the Royal Navy or the Hong Kong Military Service Corps and their associate land units. The Hong Kong Brigade served as the main garrison formation. After the outbreak of the Second World War, the garrison was reinforced with British Indian Army and Canadian Army units. A second brigade, the Kowloon Infantry Brigade, was formed to assist in commanding the expanded force. The garrison was defeated during the Battle of Hong Kong, by the Empire of Japan.\n\nAfter the Second World War and the end of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the British military reestablished a presence. As a result of the Chinese Civil War, the British Army raised the 40th Infantry Division and dispatched it to garrison Hong Kong. It later left for combat in the Korean War, and the defense of the territory was taken up by additional British forces who were rotated from Europe. The garrison was further supplemented by LEPs, and Gurkhas. The latter came from Nepal, but formed part of the British Army. The size of the garrison during the Cold War fluctuated and ended up being based around one brigade.\n\nThe Royal Hong Kong Regiment, a military unit which was part of the Hong Kong Government, was trained and organised along the lines of a British Territorial Army unit. As such, it was supported by British Army regular personnel holding key positions. These British Army personnel, for their duration of service to the Royal Hong Kong Regiment, were seconded to the Hong Kong Government. In the post-WWII era, the majority of the regiment's members were local citizens of Chinese descent.\n\nEconomy \n\nThe stability, security, and predictability of British law and government enabled Hong Kong to flourish as a centre for international trade. In the colony's first decade, the revenue from the opium trade was a key source of government funds. The importance of opium reduced over time, but the colonial government was dependent on its revenues until the Japanese occupation in 1941. Although the largest businesses in the early colony were operated by British, American, and other expatriates, Chinese workers provided the bulk of the manpower to build a new port city.\n\nBy the late 1980s, many ethnic Chinese people had become major business figures in Hong Kong. Amongst these billionaires was Sir Li Ka-shing, who had become one of the colony's wealthiest people by this time.\n\nCulture \n\nHong Kong is characterised as a hybrid of East and West. Traditional Chinese values emphasising family and education blend with Western ideals, including economic liberty and the rule of law. Although the vast majority of the population is ethnically Chinese, Hong Kong has developed a distinct identity. The territory diverged from the mainland through its long period of colonial administration and a different pace of economic, social, and cultural development. Mainstream culture is derived from immigrants originating from various parts of China. This was influenced by British-style education, a separate political system, and the territory's rapid development during the late 20th century. Most migrants of that era fled poverty and war, reflected in the prevailing attitude toward wealth; Hongkongers tend to link self-image and decision-making to material benefits. Residents' sense of local identity has markedly increased post-handover: The majority of the population (52%) identifies as \"Hongkongers\", while 11% describe themselves as \"Chinese\". The remaining population purport mixed identities, 23% as \"Hongkonger in China\" and 12% as \"Chinese in Hong Kong\".\n\nTraditional Chinese family values, including family honour, filial piety, and a preference for sons, are prevalent. Nuclear families are the most common households, although multi-generational and extended families are not unusual. In British-ruled Hong Kong, polygamy was legal until 1971 pursuant to the colonial practice of not interfering in local customs that British authorities viewed as relatively harmless to the public order.\n\nSpiritual concepts such as feng shui are observed; large-scale construction projects often hire consultants to ensure proper building positioning and layout. The degree of its adherence to feng shui is believed to determine the success of a business. Bagua mirrors are regularly used to deflect evil spirits, and buildings often lack floor numbers with a 4; the number has a similar sound to the word for \"die\" in Cantonese.\n\nBesides, the cultural integration can also be found in everyday life in Hong Kong. For example, British English is a common second language and also one of the official languages in British Hong Kong since the establishment of the colony. Moreover, British English is also taught in primary and secondary schools. For the metro system, the metro lines are named after places instead of numbered, unlike Mainland China, where metro lines are numbered. Roads were named after British royals, governors, famous people, cities and towns across the UK and the Commonwealth, as well as Chinese cities and places. Aside from Chinese New Year, Christmas is celebrated as the second-most important festival. In literature, some idioms in Cantonese are directly translated from those in English. A Mandarin Chinese speaker may recognise the words but not understand the meaning.\n\nCuisine \n\nFood in Hong Kong is primarily based on Cantonese cuisine, despite the territory's exposure to foreign influences and its residents' varied origins. Rice is the staple food, and is usually served plain with other dishes. Freshness of ingredients is emphasised. Poultry and seafood are commonly sold live at wet markets, and ingredients are used as quickly as possible. There are five daily meals: breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and siu yeh. Dim sum, as part of yum cha (brunch), is a dining-out tradition with family and friends. Dishes include congee, cha siu bao, siu yuk, egg tarts, and mango pudding. Local versions of Western food are served at cha chaan teng (Hong Kong-style cafes). Common cha chaan teng menu items include macaroni in soup, deep-fried French toast, and Hong Kong-style milk tea.\n\nCinema \n\nHong Kong developed into a filmmaking hub during the late 1940s as a wave of Shanghai filmmakers migrated to the territory, and these movie veterans helped build the colony's entertainment industry over the next decade. By the 1960s, the city was well known to overseas audiences through films such as The World of Suzie Wong. When Bruce Lee's The Way of the Dragon was released in 1972, local productions became popular outside Hong Kong. During the 1980s, films such as A Better Tomorrow, As Tears Go By, and Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain expanded global interest beyond martial arts films; locally made gangster films, romantic dramas, and supernatural fantasies became popular. Hong Kong cinema continued to be internationally successful over the following decade with critically acclaimed dramas such as Farewell My Concubine, To Live, and Chungking Express. The city's martial arts film roots are evident in the roles of the most prolific Hong Kong actors. Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, and Michelle Yeoh frequently play action-oriented roles in foreign films. At the height of the local movie industry in the early 1990s, over 400 films were produced each year; since then, industry momentum shifted to mainland China. The number of films produced annually has declined to about 60 in 2017.\n\nMusic \n\nCantopop is a genre of Cantonese popular music which emerged in Hong Kong during the 1970s. Evolving from Shanghai-style shidaiqu, it is also influenced by Cantonese opera and Western pop. Local media featured songs by artists such as Sam Hui, Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, and Alan Tam; during the 1980s, exported films and shows exposed Cantopop to a global audience. The genre's popularity peaked in the 1990s, when the Four Heavenly Kings dominated Asian record charts. Despite a general decline since late in the decade, Cantopop remains dominant in Hong Kong; contemporary artists such as Eason Chan, Joey Yung, and Twins are popular in and beyond the territory.\n\nWestern classical music has historically had a strong presence in Hong Kong and remains a large part of local musical education. The publicly funded Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the territory's oldest professional symphony orchestra, frequently hosts musicians and conductors from overseas. The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, composed of classical Chinese instruments, is the leading Chinese ensemble and plays a significant role in promoting traditional music in the community.\n\nSport and recreation \n\nDespite its small area, the territory regularly hosts the Hong Kong Sevens, Hong Kong Marathon, Hong Kong Tennis Classic and Lunar New Year Cup, and hosted the inaugural AFC Asian Cup and the 1995 Dynasty Cup.\n\nHong Kong represents itself separately from mainland China, with its own sports teams in international competitions. The territory has participated in almost every Summer Olympics since 1952 and has earned four medals. Lee Lai-shan won the territory's first Olympic gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and Cheung Ka Long won the second one in Tokyo 2020. Hong Kong athletes have won 126 medals at the Paralympic Games and 17 at the Commonwealth Games. No longer part of the Commonwealth of Nations, the city's last appearance in the latter was in 1994.\n\nDragon boat races originated as a religious ceremony conducted during the annual Tuen Ng Festival. The race was revived as a modern sport as part of the Tourism Board's efforts to promote Hong Kong's image abroad. The first modern competition was organised in 1976, and overseas teams began competing in the first international race in 1993.\n\nThe Hong Kong Jockey Club, the territory's largest taxpayer, has a monopoly on gambling and provides over 7% of government revenue. Three forms of gambling are legal in Hong Kong: lotteries, horse racing, and football.\n\nDissent \n\nDuring China's turbulent 20th century, Hong Kong served as a safe haven for dissidents, political refugees, and officials who lost power. British policy allowed dissidents to live in Hong Kong as long as they did not break local laws or harm British interests. The implementation of this policy varied according to what the senior officials thought constituted British interests and the state of relations with China. The Canton–Hong Kong strike (1925–1926) was anti-imperialist in nature. The 1966 riots and Maoist-led 1967 riots, essentially spillovers from the Cultural Revolution, were large scale demonstrations fuelled by tensions surrounding labour disputes and dissatisfaction towards the government. Although the 1967 riots started as a labour dispute, the incident escalated quickly after the leftist camp and mainland officials stationed in Hong Kong seized the opportunity to mobilise their followers to protest against the colonial government. Chinese Communist Party supporters organised the Anti-British Struggle Committee during the riots.\n\nSteve Tsang, director of the China Institute of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, wrote that it was \"ironic\" that despite Hong Kong being a symbol of China's humiliation by Britain, there was not one major movement started by the Chinese residents of the colony for its retrocession to China, even though there had been several upsurges of Chinese nationalism. He explained:\nIn the 1920s, the working class Chinese of Hong Kong did not have a good reason to rally around the Hong Kong government, and they were more susceptible to appeals based on Chinese nationalism. Consequently, the call of the Communists was basically heeded by the working men, and their actions practically paralysed the colony for a year. By the [end of the] 1960s, however, the attempts by the Hong Kong government to maintain stability and good order which helped improve everyone's living conditions, and ... the beginning of the emergence of a Hong Kong identity, changed the attitude of the local Chinese. They overwhelmingly rallied around the colonial British regime.\n\nSee also \n Emperor of India\n British Military Hospital\n British Education\n Royal Hong Kong Regiment\n Political Department\n Flags of Elizabeth II\n British Forces Overseas Hong Kong \n Commander British Forces in Hong Kong\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nCitations\n\nSources \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n .\n \n \n .\n .\n\nFurther reading \nClayton, Adam (2003). Hong Kong Since 1945: An Economic and Social History.\nEndacott, G. B. (1964). An Eastern Entrepôt: A Collection of Documents Illustrating the History of Hong Kong. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. p. 293. . .\nLui, Adam Yuen-chung (1990). Forts and Pirates – A History of Hong Kong. Hong Kong History Society. p. 114. .\nLiu, Shuyong; Wang, Wenjiong; Chang, Mingyu (1997). An Outline History of Hong Kong. Foreign Languages Press. p. 291. .\nNgo, Tak-Wing (1999). Hong Kong's History: State and Society Under Colonial Rule. Routledge. p. 205. .\nWelsh, Frank (1993). A Borrowed Place: The History of Hong Kong. Kodansha International. p. 624. .\n\nExternal links \n\n\"Official website of the British Hong Kong Government\". Archived from the original on 24 December 1996. Retrieved 2013-03-26.\n\n \nCategory:Hong Kong and the Commonwealth of Nations\nCategory:19th century in Hong Kong\nCategory:20th century in Hong Kong\nCategory:1841 establishments in Hong Kong\nCategory:1841 establishments in the British Empire\nCategory:1997 disestablishments in Hong Kong\nCategory:Concessions in China\nCategory:China–United Kingdom relations\nHong Kong\nCategory:History of Hong Kong\nCategory:Hong Kong–United Kingdom relations\nCategory:States and territories established in 1841\nCategory:States and territories disestablished in 1941\nCategory:States and territories established in 1945\nCategory:States and territories disestablished in 1997",
"title": "British Hong Kong"
},
{
"text": "Hong Kong ( or ; , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta in South China. With 7.4 million residents of various nationalities in a territory, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world. Hong Kong is also a major global financial centre and one of the most developed cities in the world.\n\nHong Kong was established as a colony of the British Empire after the Qing Empire ceded Hong Kong Island from Xin'an County at the end of the First Opium War in 1841 then again in 1842. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 after the Second Opium War and was further extended when Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. British Hong Kong was occupied by Imperial Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II; British administration resumed after the surrender of Japan. The whole territory was transferred to China in 1997. As one of China's two special administrative regions (the other being Macau), Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China under the principle of \"one country, two systems\".\n\nOriginally a sparsely populated area of farming and fishing villages, the territory has become one of the world's most significant financial centres and commercial ports. As of 2021, it is the world's ninth-largest exporter and eight-largest importer. Hong Kong has a market economy characterised by a focus on services, low taxation and free trade; its currency, the Hong Kong dollar, is the eighth most traded currency in the world. Hong Kong is home to the third-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world, the second-highest number of billionaires of any city in Asia, and the largest concentration of ultra high-net-worth individuals of any city in the world. Although the city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, severe income inequality exists among the population. Most notably, housing in Hong Kong has been well-documented to experience a chronic persistent shortage; the extremely compact house sizes and the extremely high housing density are the effects of Hong Kong's housing market being the most expensive housing in the world.\n\nHong Kong is a highly developed territory and has a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.952, ranking fourth in the world. The city has the largest number of skyscrapers of any city in the world, and its residents have some of the highest life expectancies in the world. The dense space has led to a highly developed transportation network with public transport rates exceeding 90%. Hong Kong is ranked 4th in the Global Financial Centres Index.\n\nEtymology \n\nThe name of the territory, first romanised as \"He-Ong-Kong\" in 1780, originally referred to a small inlet located between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Although the source of the romanised name is unknown, it is generally believed to be an early phonetic rendering of the Cantonese (or Tanka Cantonese) phrase hēung góng. The name translates as \"fragrant harbour\" or \"incense harbour\". \"Fragrant\" may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's freshwater influx from the Pearl River or to the odour from incense factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Victoria Harbour was developed. Sir John Davis (the second colonial governor) offered an alternative origin; Davis said that the name derived from \"Hoong-keang\" (\"red torrent\"), reflecting the colour of soil over which a waterfall on the island flowed.\n\nThe simplified name Hong Kong was frequently used by 1810. The name was also commonly written as the single word Hongkong until 1926, when the government officially adopted the two-word name. Some corporations founded during the early colonial era still keep this name, including Hongkong Land, Hongkong Electric Company, Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC).\n\nHistory\n\nPrehistory and Imperial China \nEarliest known human traces in what is now Hong Kong are dated by some to 35,000 and 39,000 years ago during the Paleolithic period. The claim is based on an archaeological investigation in Wong Tei Tung, Sai Kung in 2003. The archaeological works revealed knapped stone tools from deposits that were dated using optical luminescence dating.\n\nDuring the Middle Neolithic period, about 6,000 years ago, the region had been widely occupied by humans. Neolithic to Bronze Age Hong Kong settlers were semi-coastal people. Early inhabitants are believed to be Austronesians in the Middle Neolithic period and later the Yueh people. As hinted by the archaeological works in Sha Ha, Sai Kung, rice cultivation had been introduced since Late Neolithic period. Bronze Age Hong Kong featured coarse pottery, hard pottery, quartz and stone jewelry, as well as small bronze implements.\n\nThe Qin dynasty incorporated the Hong Kong area into China for the first time in 214 BCE, after conquering the indigenous Baiyue. The region was consolidated under the Nanyue kingdom (a predecessor state of Vietnam) after the Qin collapse and recaptured by China after the Han conquest. During the Mongol conquest of China in the 13th century, the Southern Song court was briefly located in modern-day Kowloon City (the Sung Wong Toi site) before its final defeat in the 1279 Battle of Yamen. By the end of the Yuan dynasty, seven large families had settled in the region and owned most of the land. Settlers from nearby provinces migrated to Kowloon throughout the Ming dynasty.\n\nThe earliest European visitor was Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares, who arrived in 1513. Portuguese merchants established a trading post called Tamão in Hong Kong waters and began regular trade with southern China. Although the traders were expelled after military clashes in the 1520s, Portuguese-Chinese trade relations were re-established by 1549. Portugal acquired a permanent lease for Macau in 1557.\n\nAfter the Qing conquest, maritime trade was banned under the Haijin policies. From 1661 to 1683, the population of most of the area forming present day Hong Kong was cleared under the Great Clearance, turning the region into a wasteland. The Kangxi Emperor lifted the maritime trade prohibition, allowing foreigners to enter Chinese ports in 1684. Qing authorities established the Canton System in 1757 to regulate trade more strictly, restricting non-Russian ships to the port of Canton. Although European demand for Chinese commodities like tea, silk, and porcelain was high, Chinese interest in European manufactured goods was insignificant, so that Chinese goods could only be bought with precious metals. To reduce the trade imbalance, the British sold large amounts of Indian opium to China. Faced with a drug crisis, Qing officials pursued ever more aggressive actions to halt the opium trade.\n\nBritish colony \n\nIn 1839, the Daoguang Emperor rejected proposals to legalise and tax opium and ordered imperial commissioner Lin Zexu to eradicate the opium trade. The commissioner destroyed opium stockpiles and halted all foreign trade, triggering a British military response and the First Opium War. The Qing surrendered early in the war and ceded Hong Kong Island in the Convention of Chuenpi. British forces began controlling Hong Kong shortly after the signing of the convention, from 26 January 1841. However, both countries were dissatisfied and did not ratify the agreement. After more than a year of further hostilities, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded to the United Kingdom in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking.\n\nAdministrative infrastructure was quickly built by early 1842, but piracy, disease, and hostile Qing policies initially prevented the government from attracting commerce. Conditions on the island improved during the Taiping Rebellion in the 1850s, when many Chinese refugees, including wealthy merchants, fled mainland turbulence and settled in the colony. Further tensions between the British and Qing over the opium trade escalated into the Second Opium War. The Qing were again defeated and forced to give up Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island in the Convention of Peking. By the end of this war, Hong Kong had evolved from a transient colonial outpost into a major entrepôt. Rapid economic improvement during the 1850s attracted foreign investment, as potential stakeholders became more confident in Hong Kong's future.\n\nThe colony was further expanded in 1898 when Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories. The University of Hong Kong was established in 1911 as the territory's first institution of higher education. Kai Tak Airport began operation in 1924, and the colony avoided a prolonged economic downturn after the 1925–26 Canton–Hong Kong strike. At the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Governor Geoffry Northcote declared Hong Kong a neutral zone to safeguard its status as a free port. The colonial government prepared for a possible attack, evacuating all British women and children in 1940. The Imperial Japanese Army attacked Hong Kong on 8 December 1941, the same morning as its attack on Pearl Harbor. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan for almost four years before Britain resumed control on 30 August 1945.\n\nIts population rebounded quickly after the war, as skilled Chinese migrants fled from the Chinese Civil War and more refugees crossed the border when the Chinese Communist Party took control of mainland China in 1949. Hong Kong became the first of the Four Asian Tiger economies to industrialise during the 1950s. With a rapidly increasing population, the colonial government attempted reforms to improve infrastructure and public services. The public-housing estate programme, Independent Commission Against Corruption, and Mass Transit Railway were all established during the post-war decades to provide safer housing, integrity in the civil service, and more reliable transportation.\n\nNevertheless, widespread public discontent resulted in multiple protests from the 1950s to 1980s, including pro-Republic of China and pro-Chinese Communist Party protests. In the 1967 Hong Kong riots, pro-PRC protestors clashed with the British colonial government. As many as 51 were killed and 802 were injured in the violence, including dozens killed by the Royal Hong Kong Police via beatings and shootings.\n\nAlthough the territory's competitiveness in manufacturing gradually declined because of rising labour and property costs, it transitioned to a service-based economy. By the early 1990s, Hong Kong had established itself as a global financial centre and shipping hub.\n\nChinese special administrative region \nThe colony faced an uncertain future as the end of the New Territories lease approached, and Governor Murray MacLehose raised the question of Hong Kong's status with Deng Xiaoping in 1979. Diplomatic negotiations with China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which the United Kingdom agreed to transfer the colony in 1997 and China would guarantee Hong Kong's economic and political systems for 50 years after the transfer. The impending transfer triggered a wave of mass emigration as residents feared an erosion of civil rights, the rule of law, and quality of life. Over half a million people left the territory during the peak migration period, from 1987 to 1996. The Legislative Council became a fully elected legislature for the first time in 1995 and extensively expanded its functions and organisations throughout the last years of the colonial rule. Hong Kong was transferred to China on 1 July 1997, after 156 years of British rule.\n\nImmediately after the transfer, Hong Kong was severely affected by several crises. The Hong Kong government was forced to use substantial foreign exchange reserves to maintain the Hong Kong dollar's currency peg during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the recovery from this was muted by an H5N1 avian-flu outbreak and a housing surplus. This was followed by the 2003 SARS epidemic, during which the territory experienced its most serious economic downturn.\n\nPolitical debates after the transfer of sovereignty have centred around the region's democratic development and the Chinese central government's adherence to the \"one country, two systems\" principle. After reversal of the last colonial era Legislative Council democratic reforms following the handover, the regional government unsuccessfully attempted to enact national security legislation pursuant to Article 23 of the Basic Law. The central government decision to implement nominee pre-screening before allowing chief executive elections triggered a series of protests in 2014 which became known as the Umbrella Revolution. Discrepancies in the electoral registry and disqualification of elected legislators after the 2016 Legislative Council elections and enforcement of national law in the West Kowloon high-speed railway station raised further concerns about the region's autonomy. In June 2019, mass protests erupted in response to a proposed extradition amendment bill permitting the extradition of fugitives to mainland China. The protests are the largest in Hong Kong's history, with organisers claiming to have attracted more than three million Hong Kong residents.\n\nThe Hong Kong regional government and Chinese central government responded to the protests with a number of administrative measures to quell dissent. In June 2020, the Legislative Council passed the National Anthem Ordinance, which criminalised \"insults to the national anthem of China\". The Chinese central government meanwhile enacted the Hong Kong national security law to help quell protests in the region. Nine months later, in March 2021, the Chinese central government introduced amendments to Hong Kong's electoral system, which included the reduction of directly elected seats in the Legislative Council and the requirement that all candidates be vetted and approved by a Beijing-appointed Candidate Eligibility Review Committee.\n\nGovernment and politics \n\nHong Kong is a special administrative region of China, with executive, legislative, and judicial powers devolved from the national government. The Sino-British Joint Declaration provided for economic and administrative continuity through the transfer of sovereignty, resulting in an executive-led governing system largely inherited from the territory's history as a British colony. Under these terms and the \"one country, two systems\" principle, the Basic Law of Hong Kong is the regional constitution. The regional government is composed of three branches:\n Executive: The Chief Executive is responsible for enforcing regional law, can force reconsideration of legislation, and appoints Executive Council members and principal officials. Acting with the Executive Council, the Chief Executive-in-Council can propose new bills, issue subordinate legislation, and has authority to dissolve the legislature. In states of emergency or public danger, the Chief Executive-in-Council is further empowered to enact any regulation necessary to restore public order.\n Legislature: The unicameral Legislative Council enacts regional law, approves budgets, and has the power to impeach a sitting chief executive.\n Judiciary: The Court of Final Appeal and lower courts interpret laws and overturn those inconsistent with the Basic Law. Judges are appointed by the chief executive on the advice of a recommendation commission.\n\nThe chief executive is the head of government and serves for a maximum of two five-year terms. The State Council (led by the Premier of China) appoints the chief executive after nomination by the Election Committee, which is composed of 1,200 business, community, and government leaders.\n\nThe Legislative Council has 90 members, each serving a four-year term. Twenty are directly elected from geographical constituencies, thirty-five represent functional constituencies (FC), and forty are chosen by an election committee consisting of representatives appointed by the Chinese central government. Thirty FC councillors are selected from limited electorates representing sectors of the economy or special interest groups, and the remaining five members are nominated from sitting district council members and selected in region-wide double direct elections. All popularly elected members are chosen by proportional representation. The 30 limited electorate functional constituencies fill their seats using first-past-the-post or instant-runoff voting.\n\nTwenty-two political parties had representatives elected to the Legislative Council in the 2016 election. These parties have aligned themselves into three ideological groups: the pro-Beijing camp (the current government), the pro-democracy camp, and localist groups. The Chinese Communist Party does not have an official political presence in Hong Kong, and its members do not run in local elections. Hong Kong is represented in the National People's Congress by 36 deputies chosen through an electoral college and 203 delegates in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference appointed by the central government.\n\nChinese national law does not generally apply in the region, and Hong Kong is treated as a separate jurisdiction. Its judicial system is based on common law, continuing the legal tradition established during British rule. Local courts may refer to precedents set in English law and overseas jurisprudence. However, mainland criminal procedure law applies to cases investigated by the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the CPG in the HKSAR. Interpretative and amending power over the Basic Law and jurisdiction over acts of state lie with the central authority, making regional courts ultimately subordinate to the mainland's socialist civil law system. Decisions made by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress override any territorial judicial process. Furthermore, in circumstances where the Standing Committee declares a state of emergency in Hong Kong, the State Council may enforce national law in the region.\n\nThe territory's jurisdictional independence is most apparent in its immigration and taxation policies. The Immigration Department issues passports for permanent residents which differ from those of the mainland or Macau, and the region maintains a regulated border with the rest of the country. All travellers between Hong Kong and China and Macau must pass through border controls, regardless of nationality. Mainland Chinese citizens do not have right of abode in Hong Kong and are subject to immigration controls. Public finances are handled separately from the national government; taxes levied in Hong Kong do not fund the central authority.\n\nThe Hong Kong Garrison of the People's Liberation Army is responsible for the region's defence. Although the Chairman of the Central Military Commission is supreme commander of the armed forces, the regional government may request assistance from the garrison. Hong Kong residents are not required to perform military service, and current law has no provision for local enlistment, so its defence is composed entirely of non-Hongkongers.\n\nThe central government and Ministry of Foreign Affairs handle diplomatic matters, but Hong Kong retains the ability to maintain separate economic and cultural relations with foreign nations. The territory actively participates in the World Trade Organization, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the International Olympic Committee, and many United Nations agencies. The regional government maintains trade offices in Greater China and other nations.\n\nThe imposition of the Hong Kong national security law by the central government in Beijing in June 2020 resulted in the suspension of bilateral extradition treaties by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, and Ireland. The United States ended its preferential economic and trade treatment of Hong Kong in July 2020 because it was no longer able to distinguish Hong Kong as a separate entity from the People's Republic of China.\n\nAdministrative divisions \n\nThe territory is divided into 18 districts, each represented by a district council. These advise the government on local issues such as public facility provisioning, community programme maintenance, cultural promotion, and environmental policy. There are a total of 479 district council seats, 452 of which are directly elected. Rural committee chairmen, representing outlying villages and towns, fill the 27 non-elected seats.\n\nPolitical reforms and sociopolitical issues \n\nHong Kong is governed by a hybrid regime that is not fully representative of the population. Legislative Council members elected by functional constituencies composed of professional and special interest groups are accountable to these narrow corporate electorates and not the general public. This electoral arrangement has guaranteed a pro-establishment majority in the legislature since the transfer of sovereignty. Similarly, the chief executive is selected by establishment politicians and corporate members of the Election Committee rather than directly elected. Although universal suffrage for the chief executive and all Legislative Council elections are defined goals of Basic Law Articles 45 and 68, the legislature is only partially directly elected, and the executive continues to be nominated by an unrepresentative body. The government has been repeatedly petitioned to introduce direct elections for these positions.\n\nEthnic minorities (except those of European ancestry) have marginal representation in government and often experience discrimination in housing, education, and employment. Employment vacancies and public service appointments frequently have language requirements which minority job seekers do not meet, and language education resources remain inadequate for Chinese learners. Foreign domestic helpers, predominantly women from the Philippines and Indonesia, have little protection under regional law. Although they live and work in Hong Kong, these workers are not treated as ordinary residents and do not have the right of abode in the territory. Sex trafficking in Hong Kong is an issue. Local and foreign women and girls are often forced into prostitution in brothels, homes, and businesses in the city.\n\nThe Joint Declaration guarantees the Basic Law of Hong Kong for 50 years after the transfer of sovereignty. It does not specify how Hong Kong will be governed after 2047, and the central government's role in determining the territory's future system of government is the subject of political debate and speculation. Hong Kong's political and judicial systems may be integrated with China's at that time, or the territory may continue to be administered separately. However, in response to large-scale protests in 2019 and 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the controversial Hong Kong national security law. The law criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign elements and establishes the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the CPG in the HKSAR, an investigative office under Central People's Government authority immune from HKSAR jurisdiction. Some of the aforementioned acts were previously considered protected speech under Hong Kong law. The United Kingdom considers the law to be a serious violation of the Joint Declaration. In October 2020, Hong Kong police arrested seven pro-democracy politicians over tussles with pro-Beijing politicians in the Legislative Council in May. They were charged with contempt and interfering with members of the council, while none of the pro-Beijing lawmakers were detained. Annual commemorations of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre were also cancelled amidst fears of violating the national security law. In March 2021, the Chinese central government unilaterally changed Hong Kong's electoral system and established the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, which would be tasked with screening and evaluating political candidates for their \"patriotism\".\n\nGeography \n\nHong Kong is on China's southern coast, east of Macau, on the east side of the mouth of the Pearl River estuary. It is surrounded by the South China Sea on all sides except the north, which neighbours the Guangdong city of Shenzhen along the Sham Chun River. The territory's area (2754.97 km2 if the maritime area is included) consists of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories, Lantau Island, and over 200 other islands. Of the total area, is land and is water. The territory's highest point is Tai Mo Shan, above sea level. Urban development is concentrated on the Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong Island, and in new towns throughout the New Territories. Much of this is built on reclaimed land; (6% of the total land or about 25% of developed space in the territory) is reclaimed from the sea.\n\nUndeveloped terrain is hilly to mountainous, with very little flat land, and consists mostly of grassland, woodland, shrubland, or farmland. About 40% of the remaining land area is country parks and nature reserves. The territory has a diverse ecosystem; over 3,000 species of vascular plants occur in the region (300 of which are native to Hong Kong), and thousands of insect, avian, and marine species.\n\nClimate \nHong Kong has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa), characteristic of southern China, despite being located south of the Tropic of Cancer. Summers are long, hot and humid, with occasional showers and thunderstorms and warm air from the southwest. The humid nature of Hong Kong exacerbates the warmth of summer. Typhoons occur most often then, sometimes resulting in floods or landslides. Winters are short, mild and usually sunny at the beginning, becoming cloudy towards February. Frequent cold fronts bring strong, cooling winds from the north and occasionally result in chilly weather. Autumn is the sunniest season, whilst spring is generally cloudy. When there is snowfall, which is extremely rare, it is usually at high elevations. Hong Kong averages 1,709 hours of sunshine per year. Historic temperature extremes at the Hong Kong Observatory are on 22 August 2017 and on 18 January 1893. The highest and lowest recorded temperatures in all of Hong Kong are at Wetland Park on 22 August 2017, and at Tai Mo Shan on 24 January 2016.\n\nArchitecture \n\nHong Kong has the world's largest number of skyscrapers, with 482 towers taller than , and the third-largest number of high-rise buildings in the world. The lack of available space restricted development to high-density residential tenements and commercial complexes packed closely together on buildable land. Single-family detached homes are uncommon and generally only found in outlying areas. The International Commerce Centre and Two International Finance Centre are the tallest buildings in Hong Kong and are among the tallest in the Asia-Pacific region. Other distinctive buildings lining the Hong Kong Island skyline include the HSBC Main Building, the anemometer-topped triangular Central Plaza, the circular Hopewell Centre, and the sharp-edged Bank of China Tower.\n\nDemand for new construction has contributed to frequent demolition of older buildings, freeing space for modern high-rises. However, many examples of European and Lingnan architecture are still found throughout the territory. Older government buildings are examples of colonial architecture. The 1846 Flagstaff House, the former residence of the commanding British military officer, is the oldest Western-style building in Hong Kong. Some (including the Court of Final Appeal Building and the Hong Kong Observatory) retain their original function, and others have been adapted and reused; the Former Marine Police Headquarters was redeveloped into a commercial and retail complex, and Béthanie (built in 1875 as a sanatorium) houses the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. The Tin Hau Temple, dedicated to the sea goddess Mazu (originally built in 1012 and rebuilt in 1266), is the territory's oldest existing structure. The Ping Shan Heritage Trail has architectural examples of several imperial Chinese dynasties, including the Tsui Sing Lau Pagoda (Hong Kong's only remaining pagoda).\n\nTong lau, mixed-use tenement buildings constructed during the colonial era, blended southern Chinese architectural styles with European influences. These were especially prolific during the immediate post-war period, when many were rapidly built to house large numbers of Chinese migrants. Examples include Lui Seng Chun, the Blue House in Wan Chai, and the Shanghai Street shophouses in Mong Kok. Mass-produced public-housing estates, built since the 1960s, are mainly constructed in modernist style.\n\nDemographics \n\nThe Census and Statistics Department estimated Hong Kong's population at 7,413,070 in 2021. The overwhelming majority (91.6%) is Han Chinese, most of whom are Taishanese, Teochew, Hakka, and other Cantonese peoples. The remaining 8.4% are non-ethnic Chinese minorities, primarily Filipinos, Indonesians, and South Asians. However, most Filipinos and Indonesians in Hong Kong are short-term workers. According to a 2021 thematic report by the Hong Kong government, after excluding foreign domestic helpers, the real number of non-Chinese ethnic minorities in the city was 301,344, or 4% of Hong Kong's population. About half the population have some form of British nationality, a legacy of colonial rule; 3.4 million residents have British National (Overseas) status, and 260,000 British citizens live in the territory. The vast majority also hold Chinese nationality, automatically granted to all ethnic Chinese residents at the transfer of sovereignty. Headline population density exceeds 7,060 people/km2, and is the fourth-highest in the world.\n\nThe predominant language is Cantonese, a variety of Chinese originating in Guangdong. It is spoken by 93.7% of the population, 88.2% as a first language and 5.5% as a second language. Slightly over half the population (58.7%) speaks English, the other official language; 4.6% are native speakers, and 54.1% speak English as a second language. Code-switching, mixing English and Cantonese in informal conversation, is common among the bilingual population. Post-handover governments have promoted Mandarin, which is currently about as prevalent as English; 54.2% of the population speak Mandarin, with 2.3% native speakers and 51.9% as a second language. Traditional Chinese characters are used in writing, rather than the simplified characters used in the mainland.\n\nAmong the religious population, the traditional \"three teachings\" of China, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, have the most adherents (20%), followed by Christianity (12%) and Islam (4%). Followers of other religions, including Sikhism, Hinduism, and Judaism, generally originate from regions where their religion predominates.\n\nLife expectancy in Hong Kong was 82.38 years for males and 88.17 years for females in 2022, the highest in the world. Cancer, pneumonia, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and accidents are the territory's five leading causes of death. The universal public healthcare system is funded by general-tax revenue, and treatment is highly subsidised; on average, 95% of healthcare costs are covered by the government.\n\nThe city has a severe amount of Income inequality, which has risen since the transfer of sovereignty, as the region's ageing population has gradually added to the number of nonworking people. Although median household income steadily increased during the decade to 2016, the wage gap remained high; the 90th percentile of earners receive 41% of all income. The city has the most billionaires per capita, with one billionaire per 109,657 people, as well as the third-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world, the second-highest number of billionaires of any city in Asia, and the largest concentration of ultra high-net-worth individuals of any city in the world. Despite government efforts to reduce the growing disparity, median income for the top 10% of earners is 44 times that of the bottom 10%.\n\nEconomy \n\nOne of the world's most significant financial centres and commercial ports, Hong Kong has a market economy focused on services, characterised by low taxation, minimal government market intervention, and an established international financial market. It is the world's 35th-largest economy, with a nominal GDP of approximately US$373 billion. Hong Kong's economy ranked at the top of the Heritage Foundation's economic freedom index between 1995 and 2021. However, Hong Kong was removed from the index by the Heritage Foundation in 2021, with the Foundation citing a \"loss of political freedom and autonomy... [making Hong Kong] almost indistinguishable in many respects from other major Chinese commercial centers like Shanghai and Beijing\". Hong Kong is highly developed, and ranks fourth on the UN Human Development Index. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is the seventh-largest in the world, with a market capitalisation of HK$30.4 trillion (US$3.87 trillion) . Hong Kong is ranked as the 14th most innovative territory in the Global Innovation Index in 2022, and 3rd in the Global Financial Centres Index. The city is sometimes referred to as \"Silicon Harbor\", a nickname derived from Silicon Valley in California. Hong Kong hosts several high tech and innovation companies, including several multinational companies.\n\nHong Kong is the ninth- and eight-largest trading entity in exports and imports respectively (2021), trading more goods in value than its gross domestic product. Over half of its cargo throughput consists of transshipments (goods travelling through Hong Kong). Products from mainland China account for about 40% of that traffic. The city's location allowed it to establish a transportation and logistics infrastructure which includes the world's seventh-busiest container port and the busiest airport for international cargo. The territory's largest export markets are mainland China and the United States. Hong Kong is a key part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It has little arable land and few natural resources, importing most of its food and raw materials. More than 90% of Hong Kong's food is imported, including nearly all of its meat and rice. Agricultural activity is 0.1% of GDP and consists of growing premium food and flower varieties.\n\nAlthough the territory had one of Asia's largest manufacturing economies during the latter half of the colonial era, Hong Kong's economy is now dominated by the service sector. The sector generates 92.7% of economic output, with the public sector accounting for about 10%. Between 1961 and 1997 Hong Kong's gross domestic product increased by a factor of 180, and per capita GDP increased by a factor of 87. The territory's GDP relative to mainland China's peaked at 27% in 1993; it fell to less than 3% in 2017, as the mainland developed and liberalised its economy. Economic and infrastructure integration with China has increased significantly since the 1978 start of market liberalisation on the mainland. Since resumption of cross-boundary train service in 1979, many rail and road links have been improved and constructed, facilitating trade between regions. The Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement formalised a policy of free trade between the two areas, with each jurisdiction pledging to remove remaining obstacles to trade and cross-boundary investment. A similar economic partnership with Macau details the liberalisation of trade between the special administrative regions. Chinese companies have expanded their economic presence in the territory since the transfer of sovereignty. Mainland firms represent over half of the Hang Seng Index value, up from 5% in 1997.\n\nAs the mainland liberalised its economy, Hong Kong's shipping industry faced intense competition from other Chinese ports. Half of China's trade goods were routed through Hong Kong in 1997, dropping to about 13% by 2015. The territory's minimal taxation, common law system, and civil service attract overseas corporations wishing to establish a presence in Asia. The city has the second-highest number of corporate headquarters in the Asia-Pacific region. Hong Kong is a gateway for foreign direct investment in China, giving investors open access to mainland Chinese markets through direct links with the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The territory was the first market outside mainland China for renminbi-denominated bonds, and is one of the largest hubs for offshore renminbi trading. In November 2020, Hong Kong's Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau proposed a new law that will restrict cryptocurrency trading to professional investors only, leaving amateur traders (93% of Hong Kong's trading population) out of the market. The Hong Kong dollar, the local currency, is the eighth most traded currency in the world. Due to extremely compact house sizes and the extremely high housing density, the city has the most expensive housing market in the world.\n\nThe government has had a passive role in the economy. Colonial governments had little industrial policy and implemented almost no trade controls. Under the doctrine of \"positive non-interventionism\", post-war administrations deliberately avoided the direct allocation of resources; active intervention was considered detrimental to economic growth. While the economy transitioned to a service basis during the 1980s, late colonial governments introduced interventionist policies. Post-handover administrations continued and expanded these programmes, including export-credit guarantees, a compulsory pension scheme, a minimum wage, anti-discrimination laws, and a state mortgage backer.\n\nTourism is a major part of the economy, accounting for 5% of GDP. In 2016, 26.6 million visitors contributed HK$258 billion (US$32.9 billion) to the territory, making Hong Kong the 14th most popular destination for international tourists. It is the most popular Chinese city for tourists, receiving over 70% more visitors than its closest competitor (Macau). The city is ranked as one of the most expensive cities for expatriates. However, since 2020, there has been a sharp decline in incoming visitors due to tight COVID-19 travel restrictions. Additionally, due to the closure of Russian airspace in 2022, multiple airlines decided to cease their operations in Hong Kong. In an attempt to attract tourists back to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government announced plans to give away 500,000 free airline tickets in 2023.\n\nInfrastructure\n\nTransport \n\nHong Kong has a highly developed, sophisticated transport network. Over 90% of daily trips are made on public transport, the highest percentage in the world. The Octopus card, a contactless smart payment card, is widely accepted on railways, buses and ferries, and can be used for payment in most retail stores.\n\nThe Peak Tram, Hong Kong's first public transport system, has provided funicular rail transport between Central and Victoria Peak since 1888. The Central and Western District has an extensive system of escalators and moving pavements, including the Mid-Levels escalator (the world's longest outdoor covered escalator system). Hong Kong Tramways covers a portion of Hong Kong Island. The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is an extensive passenger rail network, connecting 93 metro stations throughout the territory. With a daily ridership of almost five million, the system serves 41% of all public transit passengers in the city and has an on-time rate of 99.9%. Cross-boundary train service to Shenzhen is offered by the East Rail line, and longer-distance inter-city trains to Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing are operated from Hung Hom station. Connecting service to the national high-speed rail system is provided at West Kowloon railway station.\n\nAlthough public transport systems handle most passenger traffic, there are over 500,000 private vehicles registered in Hong Kong. Automobiles drive on the left (unlike in mainland China), because of historical influence of the British Empire. Vehicle traffic is extremely congested in urban areas, exacerbated by limited space to expand roads and an increasing number of vehicles. More than 18,000 taxicabs, easily identifiable by their bright colour, are licensed to carry riders in the territory. Bus services operate more than 700 routes across the territory, with smaller public light buses (also known as minibuses) serving areas standard buses do not reach as frequently or directly. Highways, organised with the Hong Kong Strategic Route and Exit Number System, connect all major areas of the territory. The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge provides a direct route to the western side of the Pearl River estuary.\n\nHong Kong International Airport is the territory's primary airport. Over 100 airlines operate flights from the airport, including locally based Cathay Pacific (flag carrier), Hong Kong Airlines, low-cost airline HK Express and cargo airline Air Hong Kong. It is the eighth-busiest airport by passenger traffic pre-COVID and handles the most air-cargo traffic in the world. Most private recreational aviation traffic flies through Shek Kong Airfield, under the supervision of the Hong Kong Aviation Club.\n\nThe Star Ferry operates two lines across Victoria Harbour for its 53,000 daily passengers. Ferries also serve outlying islands inaccessible by other means. Smaller kai-to boats serve the most remote coastal settlements. Ferry travel to Macau and mainland China is also available. Junks, once common in Hong Kong waters, are no longer widely available and are used privately and for tourism.\nThe large size of the port gives Hong Kong the classification of Large-Port Metropolis.\n\nUtilities \n\nHong Kong generates most of its electricity locally. The vast majority of this energy comes from fossil fuels, with 46% from coal and 47% from petroleum. The rest is from other imports, including nuclear energy generated in mainland China. Renewable sources account for a negligible amount of energy generated for the territory. Small-scale wind-power sources have been developed, and a small number of private homes and public buildings have installed solar panels.\n\nWith few natural lakes and rivers, high population density, inaccessible groundwater sources, and extremely seasonal rainfall, the territory does not have a reliable source of freshwater. The Dongjiang River in Guangdong supplies 70% of the city's water, and the remaining demand is filled by harvesting rainwater. Toilets in most built-up areas of the territory flush with seawater, greatly reducing freshwater use.\n\nBroadband Internet access is widely available, with 92.6% of households connected. Connections over fibre-optic infrastructure are increasingly prevalent, contributing to the high regional average connection speed of 21.9 Mbit/s (the world's fourth-fastest). Mobile-phone use is ubiquitous; there are more than 18 million mobile-phone accounts, more than double the territory's population.\n\nCulture \n\nHong Kong is characterised as a hybrid of East and West. Traditional Chinese values emphasising family and education blend with Western ideals, including economic liberty and the rule of law. Although the vast majority of the population is ethnically Chinese, Hong Kong has developed a distinct identity. The territory diverged from the mainland through its long period of colonial administration and a different pace of economic, social, and cultural development. Mainstream culture is derived from immigrants originating from various parts of China. This was influenced by British-style education, a separate political system, and the territory's rapid development during the late 20th century. Most migrants of that era fled poverty and war, reflected in the prevailing attitude toward wealth; Hongkongers tend to link self-image and decision-making to material benefits. Residents' sense of local identity has markedly increased post-handover: The majority of the population (52%) identifies as \"Hongkongers\", while 11% describe themselves as \"Chinese\". The remaining population purport mixed identities, 23% as \"Hongkonger in China\" and 12% as \"Chinese in Hong Kong\".\n\nTraditional Chinese family values, including family honour, filial piety, and a preference for sons, are prevalent. Nuclear families are the most common households, although multi-generational and extended families are not unusual. Spiritual concepts such as feng shui are observed; large-scale construction projects often hire consultants to ensure proper building positioning and layout. The degree of its adherence to feng shui is believed to determine the success of a business. Bagua mirrors are regularly used to deflect evil spirits, and buildings often lack floor numbers with a 4; the number has a similar sound to the word for \"die\" in Cantonese.\n\nCuisine \n\nFood in Hong Kong is primarily based on Cantonese cuisine, despite the territory's exposure to foreign influences and its residents' varied origins. Rice is the staple food, and is usually served plain with other dishes. Freshness of ingredients is emphasised. Poultry and seafood are commonly sold live at wet markets, and ingredients are used as quickly as possible. There are five daily meals: breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and siu yeh. Dim sum, as part of yum cha (brunch), is a dining-out tradition with family and friends. Dishes include congee, cha siu bao, siu yuk, egg tarts, and mango pudding. Local versions of Western food are served at cha chaan teng (Hong Kong-style cafes). Common cha chaan teng menu items include macaroni in soup, deep-fried French toast, and Hong Kong-style milk tea.\n\nCinema \n\nHong Kong developed into a filmmaking hub during the late 1940s as a wave of Shanghai filmmakers migrated to the territory, and these movie veterans helped build the colony's entertainment industry over the next decade. By the 1960s, the city was well known to overseas audiences through films such as The World of Suzie Wong. When Bruce Lee's The Way of the Dragon was released in 1972, local productions became popular outside Hong Kong. During the 1980s, films such as A Better Tomorrow, As Tears Go By, and Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain expanded global interest beyond martial arts films; locally made gangster films, romantic dramas, and supernatural fantasies became popular. Hong Kong cinema continued to be internationally successful over the following decade with critically acclaimed dramas such as Farewell My Concubine, To Live, and Chungking Express. The city's martial arts film roots are evident in the roles of the most prolific Hong Kong actors. Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, and Michelle Yeoh frequently play action-oriented roles in foreign films. Hong Kong films have also grown popular in oversea markets such as Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, earning the city the moniker \"Hollywood of the East\". At the height of the local movie industry in the early 1990s, over 400 films were produced each year; since then, industry momentum shifted to mainland China. The number of films produced annually has declined to about 60 in 2017.\n\nMusic \n\nCantopop is a genre of Cantonese popular music which emerged in Hong Kong during the 1970s. Evolving from Shanghai-style shidaiqu, it is also influenced by Cantonese opera and Western pop. Local media featured songs by artists such as Sam Hui, Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, and Alan Tam; during the 1980s, exported films and shows exposed Cantopop to a global audience. The genre's popularity peaked in the 1990s, when the Four Heavenly Kings dominated Asian record charts. Despite a general decline since late in the decade, Cantopop remains dominant in Hong Kong; contemporary artists such as Eason Chan, Joey Yung, and Twins are popular in and beyond the territory.\n\nWestern classical music has historically had a strong presence in Hong Kong and remains a large part of local musical education. The publicly funded Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the territory's oldest professional symphony orchestra, frequently hosts musicians and conductors from overseas. The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, composed of classical Chinese instruments, is the leading Chinese ensemble and plays a significant role in promoting traditional music in the community.\n\nHong Kong has never had a separate national anthem to the country that controlled it; its current official national anthem is therefore that of China, March of the Volunteers. The song Glory to Hong Kong has been used by protestors as an unofficial national anthem.\n\nSport and recreation \n\nDespite its small area, the territory is home to a variety of sports and recreational facilities. The city has hosted numerous major sporting events, including the 2009 East Asian Games, the 2008 Summer Olympics equestrian events, and the 2007 Premier League Asia Trophy. The territory regularly hosts the Hong Kong Sevens, Hong Kong Marathon, Hong Kong Tennis Classic and Lunar New Year Cup, and hosted the inaugural AFC Asian Cup and the 1995 Dynasty Cup.\n\nHong Kong represents itself separately from mainland China, with its own sports teams in international competitions. The territory has participated in almost every Summer Olympics since 1952 and has earned nine medals. Lee Lai-shan won the territory's first Olympic gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and Cheung Ka Long won the second one in Tokyo 2020. Hong Kong athletes have won 126 medals at the Paralympic Games and 17 at the Commonwealth Games. No longer part of the Commonwealth of Nations, the city's last appearance in the latter was in 1994.\n\nDragon boat races originated as a religious ceremony conducted during the annual Tuen Ng Festival. The race was revived as a modern sport as part of the Tourism Board's efforts to promote Hong Kong's image abroad. The first modern competition was organised in 1976, and overseas teams began competing in the first international race in 1993.\n\nThe Hong Kong Jockey Club, the territory's largest taxpayer, has a monopoly on gambling and provides over 7% of government revenue. Three forms of gambling are legal in Hong Kong: lotteries, horse racing, and football.\n\nEducation \n\nEducation in Hong Kong is largely modelled after that of the United Kingdom, particularly the English system. Children are required to attend school from age 6 until completion of secondary education, generally at age 18. At the end of secondary schooling, all students take a public examination and awarded the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education on successful completion. Of residents aged 15 and older, 81% completed lower-secondary education, 66% graduated from an upper secondary school, 32% attended a non-degree tertiary program, and 24% earned a bachelor's degree or higher. Mandatory education has contributed to an adult literacy rate of 95.7%. The literacy rate is lower than that of other developed economies because of the influx of refugees from mainland China during the post-war colonial era; much of the elderly population were not formally educated because of war and poverty.\n\nComprehensive schools fall under three categories: public schools, which are government-run; subsidised schools, including government aid-and-grant schools; and private schools, often those run by religious organisations and that base admissions on academic merit. These schools are subject to the curriculum guidelines as provided by the Education Bureau. Private schools subsidised under the Direct Subsidy Scheme; international schools fall outside of this system and may elect to use differing curricula and teach using other languages.\n\nMedium of instruction \nAt primary and secondary school levels, the government maintains a policy of \"mother tongue instruction\"; most schools use Cantonese as the medium of instruction, with written education in both Chinese and English. Other languages being used as medium of instruction in non-international school education include English and Putonghua (Standard Mandarin Chinese). Secondary schools emphasise \"bi-literacy and tri-lingualism\", which has encouraged the proliferation of spoken Mandarin language education.\n\nEnglish is the official medium of instruction and assessments for most university programmes in Hong Kong, although use of Cantonese is predominant in informal discussions among local students and professors.\n\nTertiary education \nHong Kong has eleven universities. The University of Hong Kong (HKU) was founded as the city's first institute of higher education during the early colonial period in 1911. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) was established in 1963 to fill the need for a university that taught using Chinese as its primary language of instruction. Along with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) established in 1991, these universities are consistently ranked among the top 50 or top 100 universities worldwide. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and City University of Hong Kong (CityU), both granted university status in 1994, are consistently ranked among the top 100 or top 200 universities worldwide. The Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) was granted university status in 1994 and is a liberal arts institution. Lingnan University, Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Metropolitan University (formerly Open University of Hong Kong), Hong Kong Shue Yan University and Hang Seng University of Hong Kong all attained full university status in subsequent years.\n\nMedia \n\nMost of the newsapapers in Hong Kong are written in Chinese but there are also a few English-language newspapers. The major one is the South China Morning Post, with The Standard serving as a business-oriented alternative. A variety of Chinese-language newspapers are published daily; the most prominent are Ming Pao and Oriental Daily News. Local publications are often politically affiliated, with pro-Beijing or pro-democracy sympathies. The central government has a print-media presence in the territory through the state-owned Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po. Several international publications have regional operations in Hong Kong, including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The New York Times International Edition, USA Today, Yomiuri Shimbun, and The Nikkei.\n\nThree free-to-air television broadcasters operate in the territory; TVB, HKTVE, and Hong Kong Open TV air eight digital channels. TVB, Hong Kong's dominant television network, has an 80% viewer share. Pay TV services operated by Cable TV Hong Kong and PCCW offer hundreds of additional channels and cater to a variety of audiences. RTHK is the public broadcaster, providing seven radio channels and three television channels. Ten non-domestic broadcasters air programming for the territory's foreign population. Access to media and information over the Internet is not subject to mainland Chinese regulations, including the Great Firewall, yet local control applies.\n\nSee also \n\n Index of articles related to Hong Kong\n Outline of Hong Kong\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nCitations\n\nSources\n\nPrint \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Wasserstrom, Jeffrey. Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink (2020) Online review\n\nLegislation and case law\n\nAcademic publications\n\nInstitutional reports\n\nNews and magazine articles\n\nWebsites\n\nExternal links \n\n Hong Kong. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.\n Hong Kong from BBC News\n Key Development Forecasts for Hong Kong from International Futures\n Hong Kong in Transition (1995–2020), an open access photographic archive of recent Hong Kong history\nGovernment\n GovHK Hong Kong SAR government portal\n Discover Hong Kong Official site of the tourism board\nTrade\n World Bank Summary Trade Statistics Hong Kong\nMaps\n \n \n\n \nCategory:People's Republic of China\nCategory:1842 establishments in Asia\nCategory:Chinese-speaking countries and territories\nCategory:English-speaking countries and territories\nCategory:Metropolitan areas of China\nCategory:Pearl River Delta\nCategory:Populated coastal places in Hong Kong\nCategory:Populated places established in 1842\nCategory:Port cities and towns in China\nCategory:South China Sea\nCategory:Special administrative regions of China\nCategory:States and territories established in 1997\nCategory:Former Japanese colonies\nCategory:Former British colonies and protectorates in Asia",
"title": "Hong Kong"
}
] | [
"The education in Hong Kong has evolved over time. Universal education was implemented in 1971, which was extended to nine years in 1978. This has led to an increased number of women getting educated. Previously, in a situation of financial constraint, families preferred to educate the boys over the girls. But with time, due to economic growth and a decrease in birth rate, families began to focus more on educating their daughters as well. By the 1980s, more girls were being enrolled in schools than boys. In post-secondary education, the number of females even surpassed the males. However, there is still a gender bias when it comes to research postgraduate programmes especially in sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), where male students outnumber females.",
"The context does not provide specific information on whether the students in Hong Kong learned anything from their education. CANNOTANSWER",
"In Hong Kong, the implementation of compulsory universal education and an extension of it significantly increased the education of women. Economic growth and changes in family dynamics also allowed for many families to provide better education for girls. From the 1980s onward, girls' enrolment rate in general was higher than boys'. The number of female students even surpassed males in entering University Grants Committee funded programmes. However, when it comes to research postgraduate programmes, particularly in sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics, more males are present due to a gender bias where women are perceived as less capable in these fields. This bias has discouraged many girls from focusing on these subjects during secondary school.",
"Yes, according to the context provided, since the 1980s, girls' enrolment rate in general was higher than boys' and female students even outnumbered male students in entering University Grants Committee funded programmes. However, for research postgraduate programmes in the fields of sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics, male students were more in number.",
"One interesting aspect of this context is the shift in societal and family preferences over time in Hong Kong. Previously, if a family could not afford to educate both their son and daughter, they chose to educate the son. However, owing to economic growth and decrease in birth rates, resources could be concentrated for the education of girls, leading to an increase in their enrollment rates. Another interesting aspect is the persisting gender bias in the STEM fields leading to lower enrollment of women in research postgraduate programmes. Even though women outnumber men in post-secondary education overall, they are significantly outnumbered in STEM-related postgraduate studies.",
"The context does not provide specific information about the presence of colleges in Hong Kong. CANNOTANSWER",
"The context does not provide specific information on the consequences or circumstances faced by women in Hong Kong who did not attend school. CANNOTANSWER",
"The context does not provide specific information on whether students in Hong Kong enjoyed school. CANNOTANSWER"
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"no",
"No"
] |
C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_0 | Women in Hong Kong | Native women in Hong Kong used to be situated within the context of Chinese family and society, in which they were treated the same as Mainland women or Taiwanese women. Under the traditional Chinese patriarchy structure, the society was male-dominated, and women had a relatively subordinate familial role. However, there are cultural differences between Mainland Chinese citizens and citizens of Hong Kong. During the British colonial period the emergence of Western culture (i.e. "Westernization") created a mix of traditional Chinese culture and Western values. | Career attainment | Women were in the workforce as early as the 1920s, but the small population of them often had to fight vigorously for equality of work rights. With the shift of Hong Kong's economy from manufacturing industry to services industry since the 1980s, there is a growing demand for white collar workers. Abundant job opportunities are hence available for both men and women. Employment in Hong Kong can be enjoyed by women, who possess rights, such as maternity protection and sick leave. Nevertheless, women in Hong Kong are aware of the difficulties they face in being a woman in the workforce. For example, when surveyed, both men and women working in Hong Kong stated that they preferred to have a male supervisor over a woman supervisor. In 2016, there are 49.3% females and 50.8% males in the employed population. In spite of the open-minded and relatively westernised culture in Hong Kong, the seemingly equal and fair workplace still poses obstacles on the way of women's career paths. 61.8% of females and 51.6% of males agreed that women have to sacrifice more than men for career success. Interestingly, 72.1% of females agreed that an increasing number of successful women is a positive social phenomenon, while only 59.6% of males shared the same view. The data showed that men, having the invisible privilege obtained from unequal gender perceptions, are content with the current situation and are slightly reluctant to the rising status of women, which might pose a threat to their career prospects. The Hong Kong media clearly reflects the social stereotypes and norms. Performers of authority roles are mostly men, with commentaries and voice overs mainly heard in male voices as well, whereas women are chiefly depicted in domestic roles and gender-specific professions, for example, secretaries and nurses. Despite the high education level and prospective vision women possess, it is uncommon to see women working on Hong Kong corporate boards and in senior management roles. Women account for only 11% of total director pool of Hong Kong's listed issuers and 33% of senior management roles, while the number of female participating in the labor force, which is 54% of the entire female population, lags behind many developed countries (67.6% in the US and 71% in the UK). The number of women in politics is also worryingly small. In the legislative council, there are only 12 female members among the 70 elected members. Comparing to 10 female members among the 60 elected members in 1998, women are clearly under-represented in the legislative stage of the city and such inadequacy will lead to prolonged suppression in women's rights and gender inequality. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_0_q#0",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_0_q#1",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_0_q#2",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_0_q#3",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_0_q#4",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_0_q#5",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_0_q#6",
"C_b9271226afc0432cb0e51e4f9214bb5b_0_q#7"
] | [
"Did women have equal roles when it came to careers in Hong Kong?",
"Did a lot of women try to attain careers in the early 1920's?",
"What are some of the career obstacles that women there face?",
"Is this still true in the 2000's?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Do women hold political roles in Hong Kong?",
"Do any females hold an important political role in Hong Kong?",
"How are those females viewed?"
] | [
0,
1,
2,
2,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
1,
2,
2,
1,
0,
0,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
2677
],
[
1824
],
[
739
],
[
1993
],
[
2290
],
[
2348
],
[
2508
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Women were in the workforce as early as the 1920s, but the small population of them often had to fight vigorously for equality of work rights."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Despite the high education level and prospective vision women possess, it is uncommon to see women working on Hong Kong corporate boards and in senior management roles."
],
[
"In 2016, there are 49.3% females and 50.8% males in the employed population."
],
[
"Women account for only 11% of total director pool of Hong Kong's listed issuers and 33% of senior management roles,"
],
[
"The number of women in politics is also worryingly small."
],
[
"In the legislative council, there are only 12 female members among the 70 elected members."
],
[
"women are clearly under-represented in the legislative stage"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
2677,
1824,
739,
1993,
2290,
2348,
2508
],
"texts": [
"Women were in the workforce as early as the 1920s, but the small population of them often had to fight vigorously for equality of work rights.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Despite the high education level and prospective vision women possess, it is uncommon to see women working on Hong Kong corporate boards and in senior management roles.",
"In 2016, there are 49.3% females and 50.8% males in the employed population.",
"Women account for only 11% of total director pool of Hong Kong's listed issuers and 33% of senior management roles,",
"The number of women in politics is also worryingly small.",
"In the legislative council, there are only 12 female members among the 70 elected members.",
"women are clearly under-represented in the legislative stage"
]
} | Traditionally, women in Hong Kong have been situated within the context of Chinese family and society, in which they were treated the same as Mainland women or Taiwanese women. However, there are cultural differences between Mainland Chinese citizens and citizens of Hong Kong. During the British colonial period, the emergence of Western culture (i.e. "Westernization") created a mix of traditional Chinese culture and Western values. This created a unique culture of Hong Kong. Along with the rapid economic and social development of Hong Kong since the end of the Second World War, there has been a significant improvement in the social status of women. However, the male-dominant social structure still persists in some aspects of women's lives.
During the past three decades, women in Hong Kong have become more financially independent, assertive, and career-focused. This may make them more prominent when compared with women in Southeast Asian countries. With the increased number of women in professional and managerial positions in recent decades, especially since the enactment of anti-discrimination laws since the mid-1990s, the terms "female strong person" or "superwomen" are being used to describe women in Hong Kong.
Gender Inequality
Statistical data from the Hong Kong national census in 2006 shows that the number of women in Hong Kong is increasing, while the number of men in Hong Kong is declining. The figure for single Hong Kong women living alone increased to 43.8 percent compared with 2001, with 103,938 in 1996, 127,001 in 2001, and 182,648, in 2006. The gender ratio between men and women as of 2006 was at 1,000 females for every 912 males; in 2016 it had risen to 1000 females for every 852 males. It is expected to deteriorate further by 2036 (1,000 females for every 763 males). The increase of single women in Hong Kong is significant because it is proven that single women's employment patterns are similar to men's in nature.
Education
See also Economy of Hong Kong and Education in Hong Kong.
The implementation of compulsory universal education in 1971, followed by an extension to nine years in 1978, gave rise to an increased number of women elites. The transform of the social environment in Hong Kong also contributed to the rise of women's education. Historically, families that did not have enough money to send both their son and daughter to school would choose to educate the son over the daughter. Following economic growth in the 1960s, Hong Kong has become a wealthy society with a significant change in population. The birth rate in Hong Kong steadily decreased from 16.8% in 1981 to 8.6% in 2014. It shows that the nuclear family structure nurturing only one to two children in a family is common, therefore girls can receive better education due to the more concentrated resources within the family.
According to the report of Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics by Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, a trend of universalism for boys and girls has been observed since the 1970s. Girls' enrolment rate, in general, has been higher than the boys' since the 1980s. The gap between male and female enrollment in post-secondary education has narrowed, and female students outnumber male students entering the University Grants Committee (UGC) funded programs in recent decades. The percentage of female and male students enrolled in UGC-funded programs was 53.7% and 46.3% respectively in 2014, which is quite different from 32.9% and 67.1% respectively in 1987.
However, when specifically focusing on research postgraduate programs, more male students have been recorded, largely due to the fact that programmes are largely related to sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). People in Hong Kong have a gender bias in STEM fields, perceiving women as less capable of mastering STEM knowledge and pursuing related careers. Half of the teenage girls in Hong Kong were discouraged from focussing on mathematics and sciences during secondary school, which lead to their lessened self-concept in STEM. Thus, the sex ratio of students enrolled in UGC-funded engineering and technology programs is an imbalance, at 29.5% for females and 70.5% for males in 2016. The situation is not much improved from 1996, which had 14.1% for females and 85.9% for males.
Career attainment
Women were in the workforce as early as the 1920s, but the small population often had to fight for equality of work rights. With the shift of Hong Kong's economy from the manufacturing industry in the 1980s to services industry, there is a growing demand for white collar workers. Abundant job opportunities are therefore available for both men and women. Employment in Hong Kong can be enjoyed by women, who possess rights such as maternity protection and sick leave. Nevertheless, women in Hong Kong are aware of the difficulties they face in being a woman in the workforce. For example, when surveyed, both men and women working in Hong Kong stated that they preferred to have a male supervisor over a woman supervisor.
In 2016, there were 49.3% females and 50.8% males in the employed population. In spite of the open-minded and relatively westernised culture of Hong Kong, the seemingly equal and fair workplace still poses obstacles on the way of women's career paths. 61.8% of females and 51.6% of males agreed that women have to sacrifice more than men for career success. 72.1% of females agreed that an increasing number of successful women is a positive social phenomenon, while only 59.6% of males shared the same view. The data showed that men, having the invisible privilege obtained from unequal gender perceptions, are content with the current situation and are more reluctant of the rising status of women, which might pose a threat to their career prospects.
The Hong Kong media clearly reflects the social stereotypes and norms. Performers of authority roles are mostly men, with commentaries and voice-overs mainly heard in male voices as well. Women are chiefly depicted in domestic roles and gender-specific professions, for example, secretaries and nurses.
Despite the high education level and prospective vision women possess, it is uncommon to see women working on Hong Kong corporate boards and in senior management roles. Women account for only 11% of the total director pool of Hong Kong's listed issuers, and 33% of senior management roles. The number of female workers participating in the labour force, which is 54% of the entire female population, lags behind many developed countries (67.6% in the US and 71% in the UK). The number of women in politics is also small. In the legislative council, there are only 12 female members among the 70 elected members. Comparing to 10 female members among the 60 elected members in 1998, women are remain under-represented in the legislative stage of the city, and such inadequacy will lead to prolonged suppression in women's rights and gender inequality. According to a 2021 report by the Credit Suisse Research Institute, women comprise 13.7% of company boardrooms in Hong, which is lower than the global average of 24%. The global average is up from 15.1% in 2015.
Family life
As part of the Chinese family traditions, a woman's duty within the household is to serve her family, in particular the men, with her role having long been based on the expectation of her serving her father as a child, her husband throughout her married life, and her son(s) when she reaches old age. The traditional role of men is to deal with external matters within the public sphere, whereas that of women is to remain in the private sphere at home and care for their children. Due to the traditional belief of male superiority within Hong Kong, there is a lot of pressure placed upon women to produce male offspring, irrelevant of her economic status and level of education. Until recently, women who were unable to bear a son to her family were viewed as defective and were often divorced.
The necessity of building a family, an important Chinese social value cultivated by the Confucian ideology, has reduced in popularity in recent years, as a considerable proportion of the population found singlehood comfortable. 42.3% males and 41.5% females are not planning to get married, outnumbering those who disagree (31.4% males and 32.3% females). A survey demonstrated a low desire to have children among the unmarried, with 22.1% females and 21.5% males disagreeing that life was empty without having a child. However, when discussing unmarried cohabitation, opinions diverged between males and females. Regarding the idea of coexistence without the intention of marriage, 71% of never-married males found it acceptable, but only 45.1% of never-married females agreed. It indicated that sexual integrity remains of relatively high importance among women in Hong Kong.
Along with the changing view on marriage and reproduction, the gender division of labor within a family has changed as well. The traditional picture that men are the financial backbones of the family and primarily deal with external affairs is no longer the mainstream perception. More than 50% of respondents reckoned that males no longer hold a dominant and superior figure within the family. Over 80% of the respondents agreed that contribution to household income should be made from both partners. The unequal division of labour in family affairs has also made gradual progress towards equal roles; about 50% of the respondents believed men should be more involved in household duties, and 43% of males agreed that men should take on more responsibilities in child-caring. As the society gained acceptance of changing family roles, the number of full-time male homemakers has grown from 2.9 thousand in 1991 (0.13% of the male population) to 19 thousand in 2016, taking up 0.65% of the male population. On the other hand, there was a substantial decrease in the number of full-time female homemakers, with numbers dropping from 752.8 thousand in 1991 (34.4% of the entire female population) to 628.1 thousand in 2016, downsizing to 18% of the female population. The statistics demonstrate the moderately reducing gap between men and women in household affairs.
Although social phenomenon grew in favour of gender equality in the family, the gender stereotypes in the division of household work remain rooted. According to the survey, half of the respondents considered women's major job to be family rather than work, and about 40% of the respondents agreed that providing income is men's work and household work is a women's job. Indeed, women are still largely responsible for household duties, with 70.6% of females accountable for child caring. Chores of daily life are mainly women's duties, whereas men assume the household duties by handling minor repairs.
There is a growing number of working mothers in society. Although career is a kind of financial empowerment for women, the double shift (career and housework) becomes a serious burden for them to carry. Not only do the double burdens harm women, it also harms the relationship between working mothers and their children. A working mother has less leisure time to stay with their children and therefore cannot be aware of some developmental problems during the children's growth. For example, when their children suffer from mental illness, working mothers are less able to articulate the symptoms of their children. Because so many women feel that caring for their children is strictly their responsibility, they rarely go to their husbands for additional help. This creates issues for women who work outside of their homes. To tackle the problem of domestic burden for working mothers, many families hire a domestic helper; the outsourced domestic work brings changes to the family structure. Some people think that hiring a domestic worker has an impact on marital conflict and marital quality, however research shows that hiring domestic help makes no significant difference to marital conflict and quality. In Hong Kong, women tend to work outside to focus on their career development and hire a domestic helper to ease their double burdens.
Women may suffer from multi-roles in which they cannot shift to the right role at home and workplace. To deal with those negative effects, the boundary-spanning resources that help to meet the demand of each domain are helpful to improve overall working families. There are some policies that have been launched that work to ease the double burden from the "working mother". For example, flexible working hours and supportive workplace culture can improve the family well-being of employees.
Marriage and the workforce
A large number of women will enter into the labour force following their education, but traditionally there was a substantial dropout rate after marriage and/or childbearing, due to the sense of obligation that women felt for their families and households. As a result of this, many women quit their occupations. In addition to this, until the 1970s the marriage bar was widely applied to women employees in Hong Kong.
From the mid-1990s through to the 21st century, Hong Kong has enacted several laws prohibiting employment discrimination, including discrimination based on sex and marital status.
In Hong Kong, the trend is that both males and females are getting married later in life. This is mainly due to the desire to be more independent, not just in the business world, but in all areas of life. Traditionally, women have been underestimated and viewed as inadequate members of society. As a result, they have a harder time getting hired by major companies and are less able to contribute monetarily to their families. By delaying marriage, women are more likely to pursue full-time and higher paying occupations. Hong Kong has one of the lowest total fertility rate in the world, 1.18 children/per woman, which is far below the replacement rate of 2.1. Hong Kong, like other developed nations in Asia, such as Japan and South Korea, has a strong tradition of women being housewives after marriage, but since the 1990s this has been challenged. As of 2011, the labour force participation rate for never married women was 67.2%, while for ever married women, it was only 46.8%.
Marriage in Hong Kong is becoming based on personal happiness and romantic satisfaction, as opposed to the traditional marriage based on duty and the expectation to stay with one's spouse regardless of the situation. Women now have more of a say in who they wish to marry, and if the marriage does not work out according to plan, they are able to openly consider divorce. Traditional marriage values are becoming less important and divorce has become more common and socially acceptable. Consequently, more individuals in Hong Kong are single than ever before. However, it is important to note that in China, marriage is based on strong family ties and relationships, despite any lack of romance. Therefore, if one were to propose divorce, he or she would risk losing all contact with the family. As of 2011, 49.0% of women were married, 8.7% of women were widowed, 4.4% of women were divorced, 0.6% of women were separated, and 37.3% of women had never been married.
Political participation and leadership
It is a global phenomenon that women lag behind in political participation and the statistics obtained by Inter-Parliamentary Union in 2016 showed that only 22.8% of all national parliamentarians were women. Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) was designed by United Nations (UN) to measure gender equality through looking at women's opportunities in political participation and their economic power. Since there is no parliamentary data in Hong Kong, Women's Commission calculated GEM in 2005 by using the number of female Legislative Council members to replace the number of female parliamentary members. The GEM of Hong Kong was 0.717 which ranked 19th among 109 countries, reflecting that there are greater opportunities for women in political and economic arenas compared with other Asian countries like Japan (54th) and South Korea (64th).
Although the gender gap is still wide in the political sector, gradual improvement can be seen. Executive Council is the highest authority in policy-making in Hong Kong, in which female members were slightly increased from 16% in 2007 to 26% in 2015. In 2004, Home Affairs Bureau set a target of raising female ratios in advisory and statutory bodies to at least 25%, which then successfully lead to the increased percentage of female members from 22.6% in 2003 to 32.3% in 2014. As for women being elected in Legislative Council, 22% and 18% were recorded in 2004 and 2012 respectively, which shows a small decline. Similarly, female secretaries account for only 20% among 13 policy bureaus in 2012.
Concerning women's leadership outside the governmental sector, the imbalanced sex ratios of the leading position in the enterprise world are even more serious than in government, with only one female in a chief executive role among 42 listed companies. In the judicial field, judges in the Court of Final Appeal are all male, while female judges only account for 15.2% in the High Court.
Obstacles in attaining leadership position
In gender division of labor, women are expected to be the homemaker even though some of them are the breadwinner at the same time, meaning it can be difficult for them to strike a balance between family and work. Getting promoted is accompanied by more time devoted to the workplace, which places women at a disadvantage since they need to fulfill household responsibility as well. The situation might be even worse in the finance and business industry which require longer working hours to handle fierce competition. Therefore, many women would give up senior positions to maintain the balance between family and workplace.
A lot of people in Hong Kong still uphold the traditional gender ideology that men's status should always be superior to women's. According to the survey conducted by the Women's Commission in 2010, 36.8% of females and 32.8% of males reported that patriarchal supremacy still exists in their family. In this case, the role of being a female leader might threaten their spouses' power in the relationship. In addition to this, 46.1% of males and 32.3% of females agreed that male political leaders would do much better than females. This gendered perception might discourage women from competing in higher positions with men.
Moreover, glass ceiling also hinders women from reaching the top position. The job segregation by sex restricts women into certain types of job like clerical work. This limits their work experience and thus makes it harder to get promoted. Even though some women are capable enough to move upward, the old-boy network excludes women from decision-making.
Violence against women
Violence against women is gender-based violence happening in both public and private life that targets women due to their sex or social roles and possibly leads to physical, sexual and psychological harm. International violence against women survey (IVAWS) revealed that the violence rates in Hong Kong are 19.9% which is ranked low as compared with countries like Australia (57%) and Denmark (50%).
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most common form of violence against women, involving harmful behaviors such as walloping and resources blockade exerted by a current or ex-spouse in marriage, a cohabitant or a partner in a dating relationship. Although several researchers have investigated gender symmetry of IPV by saying that both men and women would have the chance of suffering from violence, obvious gender differences still exist in Hong Kong as there are more reported cases of violence exerted by men than women. According to statistics from the Social Welfare Department, there were 3,917 reported cases of being physically abused by spouse or cohabitant, in which 83% of victims were women while only 17% were men. The abuses largely came from husband (62.8%), followed by the opposite-sex of cohabiting partner (13.4%) and wife (12.6%). In terms of sexual violence, there were 343 newly reported cases in 2010, in which 98.8% were female victims mostly suffering from indecent assault (70.8%).
Sex trafficking in Hong Kong is an issue. Hongkonger and foreign women and girls are forced into prostitution in brothels, homes, and businesses in the city.
Under-reporting of victimized cases
The reported cases of violence against women or men cannot fully reveal the situation in Hong Kong because there are still many cases being hidden by victims. Under the influence of the traditional patriarchal system, women might internalize their submissive role and therefore are less likely to challenge the status quo, resist against IPV or other forms of violence by non-partners, or seek help from society. Victims of sexual violence are sometimes labelled as shameful and dirty due to the sexual taboo in Hong Kong affected by the Chinese traditional value of chastity, resulting in women's fear of reporting the unpleasant violence. Another Chinese value of "Don't spread abroad the shame of the family" also leads to the absence of women's disclosure on their experienced violence by a partner or other family members, in order to protect their family reputation.
In 2006, Tarana Burke coined the phrase "Me Too" as a way to help women who had survived sexual violence. It quickly spread on the internet as a movement all over the world and Hong Kong also joined in the movement with the news of a Hong Kong hurdler Vera Lui Lai-yiu accusing her former coach of sexually assaulting her. Her coach, according to Lui, sexually assaulted her 10 years ago during her primary school age. The joining of a public figure into the movement encouraged more victims of sexual harassment to open up on the internet or ask for help from organizations. Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women in Hong Kong reports a rapid rise in several assistance call from alleged sexual harassment victims since Lui's post on Facebook. Many victims may begin to take the case seriously and try to ask for help from others. The viral 'Me Too' movement, to a certain extent, helps females to gain right in going against sexual violence.
Nonetheless, the movement is considered a failure in Hong Kong with people speculating whether the case Lui mentioned in her post is true. Many on the internet express disbelieve in Lui's description and instead think that she is lying. Lui was suspected of trying to create a story and gain fame.
Risk factors of potential violence toward women
Women with a lack of resources, such as education and income, are more likely to suffer from IPV. Since they have to rely on their husband or partner to receive financial support for daily expenditure, they tend to tolerate the violence and not to resist. The situation might be even worse for married women with children because they have a stronger desire to maintain marriage to get stable monetary support and let their children grow in a healthy family environment. However, resourceful women are also vulnerable to violence if their husband or partner strongly upholds the traditional gender ideology. In Hong Kong, men are expected to be masculine by being the main breadwinner in the family. When the husband owns fewer resources and earns less than their wife do, their masculinity will be challenged. Therefore, they are more likely to protect their remaining ego by exerting violence on women to show other forms of masculinity and power. It shows the interplay between social status, gender ideology, masculinity and violent behaviors.
Besides new immigrants brought by cross-border marriage, husband's unemployment and economic pressure, pregnancy and extramarital affairs are also found to be the risk factors of potential violence toward women in Hong Kong.
LGBT and Women's Rights Movements
Since 1991, the LGBT movement in Hong Kong began the decriminalization of homosexuality. The Women's Coalition of Hong Kong is an LBGT organization that was founded in 2002. This group was responsible for drafting the government's Sex Discrimination bill in 1995, which advocated for women's legal, political, and economic rights.
Gallery
See also
Nowhere girls, neologism
British Hong Kong
References
Further reading
</bc>
Notes: Several chapters are dedicated to the historical status of women in Hong Kong.
External links
Business and Professional Women Hong Kong (BPWHK)
Category:Culture of Hong Kong
Category:History of Hong Kong
Category:Hong Kong people
Hong Kong
Category:Women in Asia
Category:Women's rights in Asia | [
{
"text": "Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed by men or boys against women or girls. Such violence is often considered a form of hate crime, committed against women or girls specifically because they are female, and can take many forms.\n\nVAW has a very long history, though the incidents and intensity of such violence have varied over time and even today vary between societies. Such violence is often seen as a mechanism for the subjugation of women, whether in society in general or in an interpersonal relationship. Such violence may arise from a sense of entitlement, superiority, misogyny or similar attitudes in the perpetrator or his violent nature, especially against women.\n\nThe UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women states, \"violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women\" and \"violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men.\"\n\nKofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, declared in a 2006 report posted on the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) website:Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime with the abuser usually someone known to her.\n\nDefinition\nA number of international instruments that aim to eliminate violence against women and domestic violence have been enacted by various international bodies. These generally start with a definition of what such violence is, with a view to combating such practices. The Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence) of the Council of Europe describes VAW \"as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women\" and defines VAW as \"all acts of gender-based violence that result in or are likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life\".\n\nThe 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) of the United Nations General Assembly makes recommendations relating to VAW, and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action mentions VAW. However, the 1993 United Nations General Assembly resolution on the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women was the first international instrument to explicitly define VAW and elaborate on the subject. Other definitions of VAW are set out in the 1994 Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women and by the 2003 Maputo Protocol.\n\nIn addition, the term gender-based violence refers to \"any acts or threats of acts intended to hurt or make women suffer physically, sexually or psychologically, and which affect women because they are women or affect women disproportionately\". Gender-based violence is often used interchangeably with violence against women, and some articles on VAW reiterate these conceptions by stating that men are the main perpetrators of this violence. Moreover, the definition stated by the 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women also supported the notion that violence is rooted in the inequality between men and women when the term violence is used together with the term gender-based.\n\nIn Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence, the Council of Europe stipulated that VAW \"includes, but is not limited to, the following\":\n\na. violence occurring in the family or domestic unit, including, inter alia, physical and mental aggression, emotional and psychological abuse, rape and sexual abuse, incest, rape between spouses, regular or occasional partners and cohabitants, crimes committed in the name of honour, female genital and sexual mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women such as forced marriages;\n\nb. violence occurring within the general community including, inter alia, rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in institutions or elsewhere trafficking in women for the purposes of sexual exploitation, and economic exploitation and sex tourism;\n\nc. violence perpetrated or condoned by the state or its officials;\n\nd. violation of the human rights of women in situations of armed conflict, in particular the taking of hostages, forced displacement, systematic rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, and trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and economic exploitation.\n\nThese definitions of VAW as being gender-based are seen by some to be unsatisfactory and problematic. These definitions are conceptualized in an understanding of society as patriarchal, signifying unequal relations between men and women. Opponents of such definitions argue that the definitions disregard violence against men and that the term gender, as used in gender based violence, only refers to women. Other critics argue that employing the term gender in this particular way may introduce notions of inferiority and subordination for femininity and superiority for masculinity. There is no widely accepted current definition that covers all the dimensions of gender-based violence rather than the one for women that tends to reproduce the concept of binary oppositions: masculinity versus femininity.\n\nSexual violence\n\nSexual harassment can be used to refer to any unwelcome range of actions with sexual overtones, including verbal transgressions. Sexual violence refers to the use of violence to obtain a sexual act, including, for example, trafficking. Sexual assault is forcing a physical sexual act on someone against their will, and when this involves sexual penetration or sexual intercourse it is referred to as rape.\n\nWomen are most often the victims of rape, which is usually perpetrated by men known to them. The rate of reporting, prosecution and convictions for rape varies considerably in different jurisdictions, and reflects to some extent the society's attitudes to such crimes. It is considered the most underreported violent crime. Following a rape, a victim may face violence or threats of violence from the rapist, and, in many cultures, from the victim's own family and relatives. Violence or intimidation of the victim may be perpetrated by the rapist or by friends and relatives of the rapist, as a way of preventing the victims from reporting the rape, of punishing them for reporting it, or of forcing them to withdraw the complaint; or it may be perpetrated by the relatives of the victim as a punishment for \"bringing shame\" to the family. Internationally, the incidence of rapes recorded by police during 2008 varied between 0.1 per 100,000 people in Egypt and 91.6 per 100,000 people in Lesotho with 4.9 per 100,000 people in Lithuania as the median. In some countries, rape is not reported or properly recorded by police because of the consequences on the victim and the stigma attached to it.\n\nSurvival sex\n\nWomen who are sex workers end up in the profession for several reasons. Some were victims of sexual and domestic abuse. Many women have said they were raped as working girls. They may be apprehensive about coming forward and reporting their attacks. When reported, many women have said that the stigma was too great and that the police told them they deserved it and were reluctant to follow police policy. Decriminilazing sex work is argued to help sex workers in this aspect.\n\nIn some countries it is common for older men to engage in \"compensated dating\" with underage girls. Such relationships are called enjo kōsai in Japan, and are also common in Asian countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong. The WHO condemned \"economically coerced sex (e.g. school girls having sex with \"sugar daddies\" (Sugar baby in return for school fees)\" as a form of violence against women.\n\nWomen from lower certain castes have been involved in prostitution as part of tradition, called Intergenerational prostitution. In pre-modern Korea, women from the lower caste Cheonmin, known as Kisaeng, were trained to provide entertainment, conversation, and sexual services to men of the upper class. In South Asia, castes associated with prostitution today include the Bedias, the Perna caste, the Banchhada, the Nat caste and, in Nepal, the Badi people.\n\nWomen with illegal resident status are disproportionately involved with prostitution. For example, in 1997, Le Monde diplomatique stated that 80% of prostitutes in Amsterdam were foreigners and 70% had no immigration papers.\n\nForced sexual services\n\nBy military forces\n\nMilitarism produces special environments that allow for increased violence against women. War rapes have accompanied warfare in virtually every known historical era. Rape in the course of war is mentioned multiple times in the Bible: \"For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped...\" \"Their little children will be dashed to death before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked, and their wives will be raped.\"\n\nWar rapes are rapes committed by soldiers, other combatants or civilians during armed conflict or war, or during military occupation, distinguished from sexual assaults and rape committed amongst troops in military service. It also covers the situation where women are forced into prostitution or sexual slavery by an occupying power. During World War II the Japanese military established brothels filled with \"comfort women\", girls and women who were forced into sexual slavery for soldiers, exploiting women for the purpose of creating access and entitlement for men. People rarely tried to explain why rape happens in wars. One explanation that was floated around was that men in war have \"urges\".\n\nAnother example of violence against women incited by militarism during war took place in the Kovno Ghetto. Jewish male prisoners had access to (and used) Jewish women forced into camp brothels by the Nazis, who also used them.\n\nRape during the Bangladesh Liberation War by members of the Pakistani military and the militias that supported them led to 200,000 women raped over a period of nine months. Rape during the Bosnian War was used as a highly systematized instrument of war by Serb armed forces predominantly targeting women and girls of the Bosniak ethnic group for physical and moral destruction. Estimates of the number of women raped during the war range from 50,000 to 60,000; as of 2010 only 12 cases have been prosecuted.\n\nThe 1998 International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda recognized rape in the Rwandan Genocide as a war crime. Presiding judge Navanethem Pillay said in a statement after the verdict: \"From time immemorial, rape has been regarded as spoils of war. Now it will be considered a war crime. We want to send out a strong message that rape is no longer a trophy of war.\"\n\nAccording to one report, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's capture of Iraqi cities in June 2014 was accompanied by an upsurge in crimes against women, including kidnap and rape. The Guardian reported that ISIL's extremist agenda extended to women's bodies and that women living under their control were being captured and raped. Fighters are told that they are free to have sex and rape non-Muslim captive women. Yazidi girls in Iraq allegedly raped by ISIL fighters committed suicide by jumping to their death from Mount Sinjar, as described in a witness statement. Haleh Esfandiari from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has highlighted the abuse of local women by ISIL militants after they have captured an area. \"They usually take the older women to a makeshift slave market and try to sell them. The younger girls ... are raped or married off to fighters\", she said, adding, \"It's based on temporary marriages, and once these fighters have had sex with these young girls, they just pass them on to other fighters.\" Describing the Yazidi women captured by ISIS, Nazand Begikhani said \"[t]hese women have been treated like cattle... They have been subjected to physical and sexual violence, including systematic rape and sex slavery. They've been exposed in markets in Mosul and in Raqqa, Syria, carrying price tags.\" In December 2014 the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights announced that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant had killed over 150 women and girls in Fallujah who refused to participate in sexual jihad.\n\nDuring the Rohingya genocide (2016–present) the Armed Forces of Myanmar, along with the Myanmar Border Guard Police and Buddhist militias of Rakhine, committed widespread gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against the Rohingya Muslim women and girls. A January 2018 study estimated that the military and local Rakhine Buddhists perpetrated gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against 18,000 Rohingya Muslim women and girls. The Human Rights Watch stated that the gang rapes and sexual violence were committed as part of the military's ethnic cleansing campaign while the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten said that the Rohingya women and girls were made the \"systematic\" target of rapes and sexual violence because of their ethnic identity and religion. Other forms of sexual violence included sexual slavery in military captivity, forced public nudity, and humiliation. Some women and girls were raped to death while others were found traumatised with raw wounds after they had arrived in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch reported of a 15-year-old girl who was ruthlessly dragged on the ground for over 50 feet and then was raped by 10 Burmese soldiers.\n\nBy criminal groups\n\nHuman trafficking refers to the acquisition of persons by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children states,\n\nBecause of the illegal nature of trafficking, reliable data on its extent is very limited. The WHO states \"Current evidence strongly suggests that those who are trafficked into the sex industry and as domestic servants are more likely to be women and children.\"\nA 2006 study in Europe on trafficked women found that the women were subjected to serious forms of abuse, such as physical or sexual violence, that affected their physical and mental health.\n\nForced prostitution is prostitution that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. In forced prostitution, the party/parties who force the victim to be subjected to unwanted sexual acts exercise control over the victim.\n\nIntimate partner related violence\nWhile \"domestic violence\" or \"family violence\" can be used to refer to violence between any family members, intimate partner violence refers to violence between intimate partners.\n\nViolence related to acquiring a partner\n\nSingle women and women who are economically independent have been vilified by certain groups of men. In Hassi Messaoud in Algeria in 2001, mobs targeted single women, attacking 95 and killing at least six and, in 2011, similar attacks happened again throughout Algeria.\n\nStalking is unwanted or obsessive attention by an individual or group toward another person, often manifested through persistent harassment, intimidation, or following/monitoring of the victim. Stalking is often understood as \"course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear\". Although stalkers are frequently portrayed as being strangers, they are most often known people, such as former or current partners, friends, colleagues or acquaintances. In the U.S., a survey by NVAW found that only 23% of female victims were stalked by strangers. Stalking by partners can be very dangerous, as sometimes it can escalate into severe violence, including murder. Police statistics from the 1990s in Australia indicated that 87.7% of stalking offenders were male and 82.4% of stalking victims were female.\n\nAn acid attack is the act of throwing acid onto someone with the intention of injuring or disfiguring them. Women and girls are the victims in 75-80% of cases, and are often connected to domestic disputes, including dowry disputes, and refusal of a proposal of marriage, or of sexual advances. The acid is usually thrown at the faces, burning the tissue, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones. The long term consequences of these attacks include blindness and permanent scarring of the face and body. Such attacks are common in South Asia, in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, India; and in Southeast Asia, especially in Cambodia.\n\nForced marriage\n\nA forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married against their will. Forced marriages are common in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The customs of bride price and dowry, that exist in many parts of the world, contribute to this practice. A forced marriage is also often the result of a dispute between families, where the dispute is 'resolved' by giving a female from one family to the other.\n\nThe custom of bride kidnapping continues to exist in some Central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the Caucasus, or parts of Africa, especially Ethiopia. A girl or a woman is abducted by the would be groom, who is often helped by his friends. The victim is often raped by the would be groom, after which he may try to negotiate a bride price with the village elders to legitimize the marriage.\n\nForced and child marriages are practiced by some inhabitants in Tanzania. Girls are sold by their families to older men for financial benefits and often girls are married off as soon as they hit puberty, which can be as young as seven years old. To the older men, these young brides act as symbols of masculinity and accomplishment. Child brides endure forced sex, causing health risks and growth impediments. Primary education is usually not completed for young girls in forced marriages. Married and pregnant students are often discriminated against, and expelled and excluded from school. The Law of Marriage Act currently does not address issues with guardianship and child marriage. The issue of child marriage is not addressed enough in this law, and only establishes a minimum age of 18 for the boys of Tanzania. A minimum age needs to be enforced for girls to stop these practices and provide them with equal rights and a less harmful life.\n\nDowry violence\n\nThe custom of dowry, which is common in South Asia, especially in India, is the trigger of many forms of violence against women. Bride burning is a form of violence against women in which a bride is killed at home by her husband or husband's family due to his dissatisfaction over the dowry provided by her family. Dowry death refers to the phenomenon of women and girls being killed or committing suicide due to disputes regarding dowry. Dowry violence is common in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. In India, in 2011 alone, the National Crime Records Bureau reported 8,618 dowry deaths, while unofficial figures suggest the numbers to be at least three times higher.\n\nViolence within a relationship\n\nThe relation between violence against women and marriage laws, regulations and traditions has also been discussed. Roman law gave men the right to chastise their wives, even to the point of death. The US and English law subscribed until the 20th century to the system of coverture, that is, a legal doctrine under which, upon marriage, a woman's legal rights were subsumed by those of her husband. Common-law in the United States and in the UK allowed for domestic violence and in the UK, before 1891, the husband had the right to inflict moderate corporal punishment on his wife to keep her \"within the bounds of duty\". Today, outside the West, many countries severely restrict the rights of married women: for example, in Yemen, marriage regulations state that a wife must obey her husband and must not leave home without his permission. In Iraq husbands have a legal right to \"punish\" their wives. The criminal code states at Paragraph 41 that there is no crime if an act is committed while exercising a legal right; examples of legal rights include: \"The punishment of a wife by her husband, the disciplining by parents and teachers of children under their authority within certain limits prescribed by law or by custom\". In the West, married women faced discrimination until just a few decades ago: for instance, in France, married women received the right to work without their husband's permission in 1965. In Spain, during the Franco era, a married woman required her husband's consent (permiso marital) for nearly all economic activities, including employment, ownership of property and traveling away from home; the permiso marital was abolished in 1975. Concerns exist about violence related to marriage – both inside marriage (physical abuse, sexual violence, restriction of liberty) and in relation to marriage customs (dowry, bride price, forced marriage, child marriage, marriage by abduction, violence related to female premarital virginity). Claudia Card, professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, writes:\nThe legal rights of access that married partners have to each other's persons, property, and lives makes it all but impossible for a spouse to defend herself (or himself), or to be protected against torture, rape, battery, stalking, mayhem, or murder by the other spouse... Legal marriage thus enlists state support for conditions conducive to murder and mayhem.\n\nPhysical\n\nWomen are more likely to be victimized by someone that they are intimate with, commonly called \"intimate partner violence\" (IPV). Instances of IPV tend not to be reported to police and thus many experts find it hard to estimate the true magnitude of the problem. Though this form of violence is often considered as an issue within the context of heterosexual relationships, it also occurs in lesbian relationships, daughter-mother relationships, roommate relationships and other domestic relationships involving two women. Violence against women in lesbian relationships is about as common as violence against women in heterosexual relationships.\n\nWomen are much more likely than men to be murdered by an intimate partner. In the United States, in 2005, 1181 women were killed by their intimate partners, compared to 329 men. It is estimated that 30% or more of the women who are emitted to the ER could be victims of domestic violence\n\n In England and Wales about 100 women are killed by partners or former partners each year while 21 men were killed in 2010. In 2008, in France, 156 women were killed by their intimate partner, compared to 27 men. According to the WHO, globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner. A UN report compiled from a number of different studies conducted in at least 71 countries found domestic violence against women to be most prevalent in Ethiopia. A study by Pan American Health Organization conducted in 12 Latin American countries found the highest prevalence of domestic violence against women to be in Bolivia. In Western Europe, a country that has received major international criticism for the way it has dealt legally with the issue of violence against women is Finland; with authors pointing out that a high level of equality for women in the public sphere (as in Finland) should never be equated with equality in all other aspects of women's lives.\n\nThe American Psychiatric Association planning and research committees for the forthcoming DSM-5 (2013) have canvassed a series of new Relational disorders, which include Marital Conflict Disorder Without Violence or Marital Abuse Disorder (Marital Conflict Disorder With Violence). Couples with marital disorders sometimes come to clinical attention because the couple recognize long-standing dissatisfaction with their marriage and come to the clinician on their own initiative or are referred by an astute health care professional. Secondly, there is serious violence in the marriage that is \"usually the husband battering the wife\". In these cases the emergency room or a legal authority often is the first to notify the clinician. Most importantly, marital violence \"is a major risk factor for serious injury and even death and women in violent marriages are at much greater risk of being seriously injured or killed (National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women 2000)\". The authors of this study add, \"There is current considerable controversy over whether male-to-female marital violence is best regarded as a reflection of male psychopathology and control or whether there is an empirical base and clinical utility for conceptualizing these patterns as relational.\"\n\nRecommendations for clinicians making a diagnosis of Marital Relational Disorder should include the assessment of actual or \"potential\" male violence as regularly as they assess the potential for suicide in depressed patients. Further, \"clinicians should not relax their vigilance after a battered wife leaves her husband, because some data suggest that the period immediately following a marital separation is the period of greatest risk for the women. Many men will stalk and batter their wives in an effort to get them to return or punish them for leaving. Initial assessments of the potential for violence in a marriage can be supplemented by standardized interviews and questionnaires, which have been reliable and valid aids in exploring marital violence more systematically.\"\n \nThe authors conclude with what they call \"very recent information\" on the course of violent marriages, which suggests that \"over time a husband's battering may abate somewhat, but perhaps because he has successfully intimidated his wife. The risk of violence remains strong in a marriage in which it has been a feature in the past. Thus, treatment is essential here; the clinician cannot just wait and watch.\" The most urgent clinical priority is the protection of the wife because she is the one most frequently at risk, and clinicians must be aware that supporting assertiveness by a battered wife may lead to more beatings or even death.\n\nSexual\n\nMarital or spousal rape was once widely condoned or ignored by law, and is now widely considered an unacceptable violence against women and repudiated by international conventions and increasingly criminalized. Still, in many countries, spousal rape either remains legal, or is illegal but widely tolerated and accepted as a husband's prerogative. The criminalization of spousal rape is recent, having occurred during the past few decades. Traditional understanding and views of marriage, rape, sexuality, gender roles and self determination have started to be challenged in most Western countries during the 1960s and 1970s, which has led to the subsequent criminalization of marital rape during the following decades. With a few notable exceptions, it was during the past 30 years that most laws against marital rape have been enacted. Some countries in Scandinavia and in the former Communist Bloc of Europe made spousal rape illegal before 1970, but most Western countries criminalized it only in the 1980s and 1990s. In many parts of the world the laws against marital rape are very new, having been enacted in the 2000s.\n\nIn Canada, marital rape was made illegal in 1983, when several legal changes were made, including changing the rape statute to sexual assault, and making the laws gender neutral. In Ireland, spousal rape was outlawed in 1990. In the US, the criminalization of marital rape started in the mid-1970s and in 1993 North Carolina became the last state to make marital rape illegal.\nIn England and Wales, marital rape was made illegal in 1991. The views of Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th-century jurist, published in The History of the Pleas of the Crown (1736), stated that a husband cannot be guilty of the rape of his wife because the wife \"hath given up herself in this kind to her husband, which she cannot retract\"; in England and Wales this would remain law for more than 250 years, until it was abolished by the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, in the case of R v R in 1991. In the Netherlands marital rape was also made illegal in 1991. One of the last Western countries to criminalize marital rape was Germany, in 1997.\n\nThe relation between some religions (Christianity and Islam) and marital rape is controversial. The Bible at 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 explains that one has a \"conjugal duty\" to have sexual relations with one's spouse (in sharp opposition to sex outside marriage, which is considered a sin) and states, \"The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another...\" Some conservative religious figures interpret this as rejecting to possibility of marital rape. Islam makes reference to sexual relations in marriage too, notably: \"Allah's Apostle said, 'If a husband calls his wife to his bed (i.e. to have sexual relation) and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning';\" and several comments on the issue of marital rape made by Muslim religious leaders have been criticized.\n\nDating abuse or dating violence is the perpetration of coercion, intimidation or assault in the context of dating or courtship. It is also when one partner tries to maintain abusive power and control. Dating violence is defined by the CDC as \"the physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional violence within a dating relationship, including stalking\".\n\nWidowhood related violence\n\nWidows have been subjected to forced remarriage called widow inheritance, where she is forced to marry a male relative of her late husband. Another practice is banned remarriage of widows, such as was legal in India and Korea. A more extreme version is the ritual killing of widows as was seen in India and Fiji. Sati is the burning of widows and although sati in India is today an almost defunct practice, isolated incidents have occurred in recent years, such as the 1987 sati of Roop Kanwar, as well as several incidents in rural areas in 2002, and 2006. A traditional idea upheld in some places in Africa is that an unmarried widow is unholy and “disturbed” if she is unmarried and abstains from sex for some period of time. This fuels the practice of widow cleansing where the unmarried widow is required to have sexual intercourse as a form of ritual purification and is commenced with a ceremony for the neighborhood to witness that she is now purified.\n\nUnmarried widows are most likely to be accused and killed as witches. Witch trials in the early modern period (between the 15th and 18th centuries) were common in Europe and in the European colonies in North America. Today, there remain regions of the world (such as parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, rural North India, and Papua New Guinea) where belief in witchcraft is held by many people, and women accused of being witches are subjected to serious violence.\n\nNon-intimate partner family violence\n\nInfanticide and abandonment\n\nSon preference is a custom prevalent in many societies that in its extreme can lead to the rejection of daughters. Sex-selective abortion of females is more common among the higher income population, who can access medical technology. In China, the one child policy increased sex-selective abortions and was largely responsible for an unbalanced sex ratio. After birth, neglect and diverting resources to male children can lead to some countries having a skewed ratio with more boys than girls, with such practices killing an approximate 230,000 girls under five in India each year. The Dying Rooms is a 1995 television documentary film about Chinese state orphanages, which documented how parents abandoned their newborn girls into orphanages, where the staff would leave the children in rooms to die of thirst, or starvation.\n\nAnother manifestation of son preference is the violence inflicted against mothers who give birth to girls.\n\nBody modification\n\nGenitalia\n\nFemale genital mutilation (FGM) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as \"all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons\".\n\nThe WHO states: \"The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women\" and \"Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth increased risk of newborn deaths\".\n\nAccording to a UNICEF report, the top rates for FGM are in Somalia (with 98 percent of women affected), Guinea (96 percent), Djibouti (93 percent), Egypt (91 percent), Eritrea (89 percent), Mali (89 percent), Sierra Leone (88 percent), Sudan (88 percent), Gambia (76 percent), Burkina Faso (76 percent), Ethiopia (74 percent), Mauritania (69 percent), Liberia (66 percent), and Guinea-Bissau (50 percent). FGM is linked to cultural rites and customs, including traditional practices. It continues to take place in different communities of Africa and the Middle East, including in places where it is banned by national legislation. According to a 2013 UNICEF report, 125 million women and girls in Africa and the Middle East have experienced FGM. Due to globalization and immigration, FGM is spreading beyond the borders of Africa and Middle East, to countries such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, New Zealand, the U.S., and UK.\n\nAlthough FGM is today associated with developing countries, this practice was common until the 1970s in parts of the Western world, too. FGM was considered a standard medical procedure in the United States for most of the 19th and 20th centuries. Physicians performed surgeries of varying invasiveness to treat a number of diagnoses, including hysteria, depression, nymphomania, and frigidity. The medicalization of FGM in the United States allowed these practices to continue until the second part of the 20th century, with some procedures covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance until 1977.\n\nAs of 2016, in Africa, FGM has been legally banned in Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. The Istanbul Convention prohibits female genital mutilation (Article 38).\n\nLabia stretching, also referred to as labia elongation or labia pulling, is the act of lengthening the labia minora (the inner lips of the female genitals) through manual manipulation (pulling) or physical equipment (such as weights). It is often done by older women to girls.\n\nFeet\n\nFoot-binding was a practice in China done to reduce the size of feet in girls. It was seen as more desireable and was likely to make a more prestigious marriage.\n\nForce-feeding\n\nIn some countries, notably Mauritania, young girls are forcibly fattened to prepare them for marriage, because obesity is seen as desirable. This practice of force-feeding is known as leblouh or gavage. The practice goes back to the 11th century, and has been reported to have made a significant comeback after a military junta took over the country in 2008.\n\nSexual initiation rites\n\nSexual \"cleansing\" is ceremony where girls have sexual intercourse as a cleansing ritual following their first menstruation and is referred to as kusasa fumbi in some regions of Malawi. Prepubescent girls are often sent to a training camp where women known as anamkungwi, or \"key leaders\", teach the girls how to cook, clean, and have sexual intercourse in order to be a wife. After the training, a man known as a hyena performs the cleansing for 12- to 17-year-old females for three days and the girl is sometimes required to perform a bare-breasted dance, known as chisamba, to signal the end of her initiation in front of the community.\n\nHonor killings\nHonor killings are a common form of violence against women in certain parts of the world. Honor killings are perpetrated by family members (usually husbands, fathers, uncles or brothers) against women in the family who are believed to have placed dishonor to the family. The death of the dishonorable woman is believed to restore honor. These killings are a traditional practice, believed to have originated from tribal customs where an allegation against a woman can be enough to defile a family's reputation. Women are killed for reasons such as refusing to enter an arranged marriage, being in a relationship that is disapproved by their relatives, attempting to leave a marriage, having sex outside marriage, becoming the victim of rape, and dressing in ways that are deemed inappropriate, among others. In cultures where female virginity is highly valued and considered mandatory before marriage; in extreme cases, rape victims are killed in honor killings. Victims may also be forced by their families to marry the rapist in order to restore the family's \"honor\". In Lebanon, the Campaign Against Lebanese Rape Law - Article 522 was launched in December 2016 to abolish the article that permitted a rapist to escape prison by marrying his victim. In Italy, before 1981, the Criminal Code provided for mitigating circumstances in case of a killing of a woman or her sexual partner for reasons related to honor, providing for a reduced sentence.\n\nHonor killings are common in countries such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen. Honor killings also occur in immigrant communities in Europe, the United States and Canada. Although honor killings are most often associated with the Middle East and South Asia, they occur in other parts of the world too. In India, honor killings occur in the northern regions of the country, especially in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In Turkey, honor killings are a serious problem in Southeastern Anatolia.\n\nPregnancy-related violence\n\nObstetric violence refers to acts categorized as physically or psychologically violent in the context of labor and birth. A pregnant woman can sometimes be coerced into accepting surgical interventions or are done without her consent. This could include the \"husband's stitch\" in which one or more additional sutures than necessary are used to repair a woman's perineum after it has been torn or cut during childbirth with the intent of tightening the opening of the vagina and thereby enhance the pleasure of her male sex partner during penetrative intercourse. Several Latin American countries have laws to protect against obstetric violence. Reproductive coercion is a collection of behaviors that interfere with decision-making related to reproductive health. According to the WHO, \"Discrimination in health care settings takes many forms and is often manifested when an individual or group is denied access to health care services that are otherwise available to others. It can also occur through denial of services that are only needed by certain groups, such as women.\"\n\nRestrictions around menstruation\n\nWomen in some cultures are forced into social isolation during their menstrual periods. In parts of Nepal for instance, they are forced to live in sheds, are forbidden to touch men or even to enter the courtyard of their own homes, and are barred from consuming milk, yogurt, butter, meat, and various other foods, for fear they will contaminate those goods. Women have died during this period because of starvation, bad weather, or bites by snakes. In cultures where women are restricted from being in public places, by law or custom, women who break such restrictions often face violence.\n\nForced pregnancy\n\nForced pregnancy is the practice of forcing a woman or girl to become pregnant. A common motivation for this is to help establish a forced marriage, including by means of bride kidnapping. This was also used as part of a program of breeding slaves (see Slave breeding in the United States). In the 20th century, state mandated forced marriage with the aim of increasing the population was practiced by some authoritarian governments, notably during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which systematically forced people into marriages ordering them to have children, in order to increase the population and continue the revolution.\n\nThe issue of forced continuation of pregnancy (i.e. denying a woman safe and legal abortion) is also seen by some organizations as a violation of women's rights. For example, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women considers the criminalization of abortion a \"violations of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights\" and a form of \"gender based violence\".\n\nIn addition, in some parts of Latin America, with very strict anti-abortion laws, pregnant women avoid the medical system due to fear of being investigated by the authorities if they have a miscarriage, or a stillbirth, or other problems with the pregnancy. Prosecuting such women is quite common in places such as El Salvador.\n\nForced sterilization and forced abortion\n\nForced sterilization and forced abortion are considered forms of gender-based violence. The Istanbul Convention prohibits forced abortion and forced sterilization (Article 39). According to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, all \"women are guaranteed the right to decide freely and responsibly on the number of and spacing of their children, and to have access to information, education, and means to enable them to exercise these rights.\"\n\nStudies show forced sterilizations often target socially and politically disadvantaged groups such as racial and ethnic minorities, the poor, and indigenous populations. In the United States, much of the history of forced sterilization is connected to the legacy of eugenics and racism in the United States. Many doctors thought that they were doing the country a service by sterilizing women who were poor, disabled, or a minority; the doctors considered those women to be a drain on the system. Native American, Mexican American, African American and Puerto Rican-American women were coerced into sterilization programs, with Native Americans and African Americans especially being targeted. Records have shown that Native American girls as young as eleven years-old had hysterectomy operations performed.\n\nIn Europe, there have been a number of lawsuits and accusations towards the Czech Republic and Slovakia of sterilizing Roma women without adequate information and waiting period. In response, both nations have instituted a mandatory seven-day waiting period and written consent. Slovakia has been condemned on the issue of forced sterilization of Roma women several times by the European Court for Human Rights (see V. C. vs. Slovakia, N. B. vs. Slovakia and I.G. and Others vs. Slovakia).\n\nIn Peru, in 1995, Alberto Fujimori launched a family planning initiative that especially targeted poor and indigenous women. In total, over 215,000 women were sterilized, with over 200,000 believed to have been coerced. In 2002, Health Minister Fernando Carbone admitted that the government gave misleading information, offered food incentives, and threatened to fine parents if they had additional children. The procedures have also been found to have been negligent, with less than half using proper anesthetic.\n\nIn China, the one child policy included forced abortions and forced sterilization. Forced sterilization is also practiced in Uzbekistan.\n\nWomen-specific state restrictions\n\nWomen can be penalized for breaching laws specifically targeting women.\n\nDress\nIn Iran, since 1981, after the Islamic Revolution, all women are required to wear loose-fitting clothing and a headscarf in public. In 1983, the Islamic Consultative Assembly decided that women who do not cover their hair in public will be punished with 74 lashes. Since 1995, unveiled women can also be imprisoned for up to 60 days. The Iranian protests against compulsory hijab continued into the September 2022 Iranian protests which was triggered in response to the killing of Mahsa Amini, who was allegedly beaten to death by police due to wearing an \"improper hijab\". In Saudi Arabia, after the Grand Mosque seizure of 1979, it became mandatory for women to veil in public but this was no longer required since 2018. In Afghanistan, since May 2022, women are required to wear a hijab and face covering in public. \n\nThe hijab has seen bans in places such as Austria, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, the Soviet Union, and Tunisia. On 8 January 1936, Reza Shah issued a decree, Kashf-e hijab, banning all veils. To enforce this decree, the police were ordered to physically remove the veil from any woman who wore it in public. Women who refused were beaten, their headscarves and chadors torn off, and their homes forcibly searched.\n\nFreedom of movement\nWomen are, in many parts of the world, severely restricted in their freedom of movement.\nFreedom of movement is an essential right, recognized by international instruments, including Article 15 (4) of CEDAW. Nevertheless, in some countries, women are not legally allowed to leave home without a male guardian (male relative or husband). Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world where women were forbidden to drive motor vehicles until June 2018.\n\nSexuality\nSex crimes such as adultery and sex outside marriage are disproportionately levelled against women and the punishment is often stoning and flogging. This has been seen in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, and some states in Nigeria. Additionally this can deter victims of sexual violence from reporting the crime, because the victims may themselves be punished (if they cannot prove their case, if they are deemed to have been in the company of an unrelated male, or if they were unmarried and not virgins at the time of the rape). Another aspect is the denial of medical care often occurs with regard to reproductive and sexual health. Sometimes women themselves avoid the medical system for fear of being reported to the police or facing family violence due to having premarital sex or being the victims of sexual violence.\n\nViolence in male-dominated spheres\n\nViolence Against Women in Politics (VAWP) \nViolence Against Women in Politics (VAWP) is the act or threat of physical, emotional or psychological violence against female politicians on the basis of their gender, most often with the intent of discouraging the victims and other female politicians from participating in the political process. VAWP has been growing in significance among the fields of gendered political science and feminist political theory studies. The main intent behind creating a separate category that is distinct from Violence Against Women, is to highlight the barriers faced by women who work in politics, or wish to pursue a career in the political realm. VAWP is unique from Violence Against Women in three important ways: victims are targeted because of their gender; the violence itself can be gendered (i.e., sexism, sexual violence); the primary goal is to deter women from participating in politics (including but not limited to voting, running for office, campaigning, etc.). It is also important to distinguish VAWP from political violence, which is defined by the use or threats of force to reach political ends, and can be experienced by all politicians. It is also important to distinguish VAWP from political violence, which is defined by the use or threats of force to reach political ends, and can be experienced by all politicians. While women's participation in national parliaments has been increasing, rising from 11% in 1995 to 25% in 2021, there is still a large disparity between male and female representation in governmental politics. Expanding women's participation in government is a crucial goal for many countries, as female politicians have proven invaluable with respect to bringing certain issues to the forefront, such as elimination of gender-based violence, parental leave and childcare, pensions, gender-equality laws, electoral reform, and providing fresh perspectives on numerous policy areas that have typically remained a male-dominated realm. In order to increase women's participation in an effective manner, the importance of recognizing the issues related to VAWP and making every effort to provide the necessary resources to victims and condemn any and all hostile behaviour in political institutions cannot be understated. Experiencing VAWP can dissuade women from remaining in politics (and lead to an early exit from their career or from aspiring higher political office. Witnessing women in politics experience VAWP can serve as one of many deterrents for aspirants to run for office and for candidates to continue campaigning. Acts of violence or harassment are often not deemed to be gendered when they are reported, if they are reported at all. VAWP is often dismissed as the \"the cost of doing politics\" and reporting can be seen as \"political suicide,\" which contributes to the normalization of VAWP. This ambiguity results in a lack of information regarding attacks and makes the issue appear to be relatively commonplace. While it is reported that women in politics are more often targeted by violence than their male counterparts, the specific cause is often not reported as a gendered crime. This makes it more difficult to pinpoint where the links between gender-specific violence and political violence really are. In many countries, the practice of electoral politics is traditionally considered to be a masculine domain. The history of male dominated politics has allowed some male politicians to believe they have a right to participate in politics while women should not, since women's participation is a threat to the social order. Male politicians sometimes feel threatened by the prospect of a female politician occupying their position, which can cause them to lash out, and weak men do not want to feel as though women could be above them causing them to harass and threaten women in power. 48% of electoral violence against women is against supporters, this is most likely the largest percentage as it has the largest amount of the public participating. 9% of electoral violence against women is targeting candidates, while 22% targets female voters. This means that women who are directly acting in politics are likely to face some form of violence, whether physical or emotional. Regarding violence against female politicians, younger women and those with intersecting identities, particularly racial and ethnic minorities, are more likely to be targets. Female politicians who outwardly express and act from feminist perspectives are also more likely to be victimized.\n\nSub-Types of VAWP \nGabrielle Bardell's 2011 report: \"Breaking the mold: Understanding Gender and Electoral Violence\" was one of the first documents published that showed examples and figures for how women are intimidated and attacked in politics. Since Bardall's report, other scholars have conducted further research on the topic. Notably, Mona Lena Krook’s work on VAWP introduced 5 forms of violence and harassment: physical, sexual, psychological, economic, and semiotic/symbolic. Physical violence encompasses inflicting, or attempting to inflict, bodily harm and injury. While physical violence is the most easily identified form, it is actually the least common type. Sexual violence involves (attempts at) sexual acts through coercion, including unwanted sexual comments, advances, and harassment. Psychological violence includes causing emotional and mental damage through means of death/rape threats, stalking, etc. Economic violence involves denying, withholding, and controlling female politicians’ access to financial resources, particularly regarding campaigns. Semiotic or symbolic violence, the most abstract subtype of VAWP, refers to the erasure of female politicians through degrading images and sexist language. Krook theorizes that semiotic violence against women in politics works in two related ways: rendering women invisible and rendering women incompetent. By symbolically removing women from the public political sphere, semiotic violence renders women invisible. Examples include using masculine grammar when speaking about and to political women, interrupting female politicians, and not portraying political women in the media. By highlighting the role incongruity between stereotypically feminine attributes (e.g., warm, polite, submissive), and traits typically ascribed to good leaders (e.g., strong, powerful, assertive), semiotic violence emphasizes that women are incompetent to be political actors. This form of semiotic violence can manifest through denying and minimizing women’s political qualifications, sexual objectification, and labeling political women as emotional, among other actions.\n\nHigher education\n\nSexual violence on college campuses is considered a major problem in the United States. According to the conclusion of a major Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study: \"The CSA Study data suggest women at universities are at considerable risk for experiencing sexual assault.\" Sexual violence on campus has been researched in other countries too, such as Canada, the UK, and New Zealand.\n\nSports\nSport-related violence against women is any physical, sexual, mental acts that are \"perpetrated by both male athletes and by male fans or consumers of sport and sporting events, as well as by coaches of female athletes\". The documenting reports and literature suggest that there are obvious connections between contemporary sport and violence against women. Such events as the 2010 World Cup, the Olympic and Commonwealth Games \"have highlighted the connections between sports spectatorship and intimate partner violence, and the need for police, authorities and services to be aware of this when planning sporting events\". Sport-related violence occurs in various contexts and places, including homes, pubs, clubs, hotel rooms, the streets. Violence against women is a topic of concern in the United States' collegiate athletic community. From the 2010 UVA lacrosse murder, in which a male athlete was charged guilty with second degree murder of his girlfriend, to the 2004 University of Colorado Football Scandal when players were charged with nine alleged sexual assaults, studies suggest that athletes are at higher risk for committing sexual assault against women than the average student. It is reported that one in three college assaults are committed by athletes. Surveys suggest that male student athletes who represent 3.3% of the college population, commit 19% of reported sexual assaults and 35% of domestic violence. The theories that surround these statistics range from misrepresentation of the student-athlete to an unhealthy mentality towards women within the team itself. Sociologist Timothy Curry, after conducting an observational analysis of two big time sports' locker room conversations, deduced that the high risk of male student athletes for gender abuse is a result of the team's subculture. Curry states, \"Their locker room talk generally treated women as objects, encouraged sexist attitudes toward women and, in its extreme, promoted rape culture.\" He proposes that this objectification is a way for the male to reaffirm his heterosexual status and hyper-masculinity. Claims have been made that the atmosphere changes when an outsider (especially women) intrude in the locker room. In the wake of the reporter Lisa Olson being harassed by a Patriots player in the locker room in 1990, she said, \"We are taught to think we must have done something wrong and it took me a while to realize I hadn't done anything wrong.\" Other female sports reporters (college and professional) have said that they often brush off the players' comments, which leads to further objectification. Some sociologists challenge this assertion. Steve Chandler says that because of their celebrity status on campus, \"athletes are more likely to be scrutinized or falsely accused than non-athletes.\" Stephanie Mak says that \"if one considers the 1998 estimates that about three million women were battered and almost one million raped, the proportion of incidences that involve athletes in comparison to the regular population is relatively small.\" In response to the proposed link between college athletes and gender-based violence, and media coverage holding Universities as responsible for these scandals more universities are requiring athletes to attend workshops that promote awareness. For example, St. John's University holds sexual assault awareness classes in the fall for its incoming student athletes. Other groups, such as the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, have formed to provide support for the victims as their mission statement reads, \"The NCAVA works to eliminate off the field violence by athletes through the implementation of prevention methods that recognize and promote the positive leadership potential of athletes within their communities. In order to eliminate violence, the NCAVA is dedicated to empowering individuals affected by athlete violence through comprehensive services including advocacy, education and counseling.\"\n\nIn the military\nA 1995 study of female war veterans found that 90 percent had been sexually harassed. A 2003 survey found that 30 percent of female vets said they were raped in the military and a 2004 study of veterans who were seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder found that 71 percent of the women said they were sexually assaulted or raped while serving.\n\nOnline\nCyberbullying is a form of intimidation using electronic forms of contact. In the 21st century, cyberbullying has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers in Western countries. On 24 September 2015, the United Nations Broadband Commission released a report that claimed that almost 75% percent of women online have encountered harassment and threats of violence, otherwise known as cyber violence. Misogynistic rhetoric is prevalent online, and the public debate over gender-based attacks has increased significantly, leading to calls for policy interventions and better responses by social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Some specialists have argued that gendered online attacks should be given particular attention within the wider category of hate speech. Abusers quickly identified opportunities online to humiliate their victims, destroy their careers, reputations and relationships, and even drive them to suicide or \"trigger so-called 'honor' violence in societies where sex outside of marriage is seen as bringing shame on a family\".\nAccording to a poll conducted by Amnesty International in 2018 across 8 countries, 23% of women have experienced online abuse of harassment. These are often sexist or misogynistic in nature and include direct of indirect threats of physical or sexual violence, abuse targeting aspects of their personality and privacy violations.\nAccording to Human Rights Watch, 90% of those who experienced sexual violence online in 2019 were women and girls.\n\nEffect on society\nAccording to an article published in the Health and Human Rights journal, regardless of many years of advocacy and involvement of many feminist activist organizations, the issue of violence against women still \"remains one of the most pervasive forms of human rights violations worldwide\". The violence against women can occur in both public and private spheres of life and at any time of their life span. Violence against women often keeps women from wholly contributing to social, economic, and political development of their communities. Many women are terrified by these threats of violence and this essentially influences their lives so that they are impeded to exercise their human rights; for instance, they fear contributing to the development of their communities socially, economically, and politically. Apart from that, the causes that trigger VAW or gender-based violence can go beyond just the issue of gender and into the issues of age, class, culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and specific geographical area of their origins.\n\nMost often, violence against women has been framed as a health issue, and also as a violation of human rights. The research seems to provide convincing evidence that violence against women is a severe and pervasive problem the world over, with devastating effects on the health and well-being of women and children. \nImportantly, other than the issue of social divisions, gendered violence can also extend into the realm of health issues and become a direct concern of the public health sector. A health issue such as HIV/AIDS is another cause that also leads to violence. Women who have HIV/AIDS infection are also among the targets of the violence. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that violence against women puts an undue burden on health care services, as women who have suffered violence are more likely to need health services and at higher cost, compared to women who have not suffered violence. Another statement that confirms an understanding of VAW as being a significant health issue is apparent in the recommendation adopted by the Council of Europe, violence against women in private sphere, at home or domestic violence, is the main reason of \"death and disability\" among the women who encountered violence. A study in 2002 estimated that at least one in five women in the world had been physically or sexually abused by a man sometime in their lives, and \"gender-based violence accounts for as much death and ill-health in women aged 15–44 years as cancer, and is a greater cause of ill-health than malaria and traffic accidents combined.\"\n\nIn addition, several studies have shown a link between poor treatment of women and international violence. These studies show that one of the best predictors of inter- and intranational violence is the maltreatment of women in the society.\n\nForms of violence\nViolence against women can fit into several broad categories. These include violence carried out by individuals as well as states. Some of the forms of violence perpetrated by individuals are: rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, acid throwing, reproductive coercion, female infanticide, prenatal sex selection, obstetric violence, online gender-based violence and mob violence; as well as harmful customary or traditional practices such as honor killings, dowry violence, female genital mutilation, marriage by abduction and forced marriage. There are forms of violence which may be perpetrated or condoned by the government, such as war rape; sexual violence and sexual slavery during conflict; forced sterilization; forced abortion; violence by the police and authoritative personnel; stoning and flogging. Many forms of VAW, such as trafficking in women and forced prostitution are often perpetrated by organized criminal networks. Historically, there have been forms of organized WAV, such as the Witch trials in the early modern period or the sexual slavery of the comfort women.\n\nAccording to the UN, \"there is no region of the world, no country and no culture in which women's freedom from violence has been secured.\" Several forms of violence are more prevalent in certain parts of the world, often in developing countries. For example, dowry violence and bride burning is associated with India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Acid throwing is also associated with these countries, as well as in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia. Honor killing is associated with the Middle East and South Asia. Female genital mutilation is found mostly in Africa, and to a lesser extent in the Middle East and some other parts of Asia. Marriage by abduction is found in Ethiopia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. Abuse related to payment of bride price (such as violence, trafficking, and forced marriage) is linked to parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania (also see Lobolo).\n\nActs of violence against women are often not unique episodes, but are ongoing over time. More often than not, the violence is perpetrated by someone the woman knows, not by a stranger.\n\nThe WHO, in its research on VAW, has analyzed and categorized the different forms of VAW occurring through all stages of life from before birth to old age.\n\nIn recent years, there has been a trend of approaching VAW at an international level through means such as conventions or, in the European Union, through directives (such as the directive against sexual harassment, and the directive against human trafficking).\n\nThe Gender Equality Commission of the Council of Europe identifies nine forms of violence against women based on subject and context rather than life cycle or time period:\n'Violence within the family or domestic violence'\n'Rape and sexual violence'\n'Sexual harassment'\n'Violence in institutional environments'\n'Female genital mutilation'\n'Forced marriages'\n'Violence in conflict and post-conflict situations'\n'Killings in the name of honour'\n'Failure to respect freedom of choice with regard to reproduction'\n\nBy age groups\nThe World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a typology of violence against women based on their cultural life cycles. \n\nSignificant progress towards the protection of women from violence has been made on international level as a product of collective effort of lobbying by many women's rights movements; international organizations to civil society groups. As a result, worldwide governments and international as well as civil society organizations actively work to combat violence against women through a variety of programs. Among the major achievements of the women's rights movements against violence on girls and women, the landmark accomplishments are the \"Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women\" that implies \"political will towards addressing VAW \" and the legal binding agreement, \"the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)\". In addition, the UN General Assembly resolution also designated 25 November as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.\n\nA typology similar to the WHO's from an article on violence against women published in the academic journal The Lancet shows the different types of violence perpetrated against women according to what time period in a women's life the violence takes place. However, it also classifies the types of violence according to the perpetrator. One important point to note is that more of the types of violence inflicted on women are perpetrated by someone the woman knows, either a family member or intimate partner, rather than a stranger.\n\nHigh risk groups\n\nIndigenous people \nIndigenous women around the world are often targets of sexual assault or physical violence. Many indigenous communities are rural, with few resources and little help from the government or non-state actors. These groups also often have strained relationships with law enforcement, making prosecution difficult. Many indigenous societies also find themselves at the center of land disputes between nations and ethnic groups, often resulting in these communities bearing the brunt of national and ethnic conflicts.\n\nViolence against indigenous women is often perpetrated by the state, such as in Peru, in the 1990s. President Alberto Fujimori (in office from 1990 to 2000) has been accused of genocide and crimes against humanity as a result of a forced sterilization program put in place by his administration. During his presidency, Fujimori put in place a program of forced sterilizations against indigenous people (mainly the Quechuas and the Aymaras), in the name of a \"public health plan\", presented 28 July 1995.\n\nBolivia has the highest rate of domestic violence in Latin America. Indigenous women self-report physical or sexual violence from a current or former partner at rates of twenty-nine percent, in comparison to the national average of twenty four percent. Bolivia is largely indigenous in its ethnic demographics, and Quechua, Aymara, and Guarani women have been monumental in the nation's fight against violence against women.\n\nGuatemalan indigenous women have also faced extensive violence. Throughout over three decades of conflict, Maya women and girls have continued to be targeted. The Commission for Historical Clarification found that 88% of women affected by state-sponsored rape and sexual violence against women were indigenous.\n\nThe concept of white dominion over indigenous women's bodies has been rooted in American history since the beginning of colonization. The theory of manifest destiny went beyond simple land extension and into the belief that European settlers had the right to exploit Native women's bodies as a method of taming and \"humanizing\" them.\n\nCanada has an extensive problem with violence against indigenous women, by both indigenous men and non-aboriginals. \"[I]t has been consistently found that Aboriginal women have a higher likelihood of being victimized compared to the rest of the female population.\" While Canadian national averages of violence against women are falling, they have remained the same for aboriginal communities throughout the years. The history of residential schools and economic inequality of indigenous Canadians has resulted in communities facing violence, unemployment, drug use, alcoholism, political corruption, and high rates of suicide. In addition, there has been clear and admitted racism towards indigenous people by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, making victims less likely to report cases of domestic violence.\n\nMany of the issues facing indigenous women in Canada have been addressed via the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) initiatives. Thousands of Native Canadian women have gone missing or been killed in the past 30 years, with little representation or attention from the government. Efforts to make the Canadian public aware of these women's disappearances have mostly been led by Aboriginal communities, who often reached across provinces to support one another. In 2015, prime minister Stephen Harper commented that the issue of murdered and missing indigenous women was \"not high on our radar\", prompting outrage in already frustrated indigenous communities. A few months later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launched an official inquiry into the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.\n\nIn the United States, Native American women are more than twice as likely to experience violence than any other demographic. One in three Native women is sexually assaulted during her life, and 67% of these assaults are perpetrated by non-Natives, with Native Americans constituting 0.7% of U.S. population in 2015. The disproportionate rate of assault to indigenous women is due to a variety of causes, including but not limited to the historical legal inability of tribes to prosecute on their own on the reservation. The federal Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized in 2013, which for the first time gave tribes jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute felony domestic violence offenses involving Native American and non-Native offenders on the reservation, as 26% of Natives live on reservations. In 2019 the Democrat House passed H.R. 1585 (Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019) by a vote of 263–158, which increases tribes' prosecution rights much further. However, in the Republican Senate its progress has stalled.\n\nImmigrants and refugees\nImmigrant and refugee women often face violence, both in the private sphere (by partners and other family members) and in the public sphere (by the police and other authorities). These women are often in a vulnerable position: they do not speak the language of the country they are in, they do not know its laws, and sometimes they are in a legal position where they may be deported if they make contact with the authorities. Women who seek protection from armed conflict in their countries of origin often face more violence while travelling to the destination country or when they arrive there. Women refugees face violence from both the journey facilitator and the detention center guards. Journey facilitator rapes in exchange for money for their passage where as male guards sexually violates in exchange for faster refugee case process. These women have already been through a lot in their country because of wars and political instability and now while in search of freedom they face all kind of gender based Violences.\n\nTransgender women\n\nTransgender women, especially transgender women of color, are at higher risk of experiencing violence than cisgender women. Trans women commonly experience intimate partner violence, with one study finding that 31.1% of trans people experience it, and another finding that half of all trans women experience it. Trans women also often face abuse by police, and transgender sex workers often face violence from clients. Trans women who are survivors of violence can have a harder time finding domestic violence shelters, as some shelters do not accept them. In 2018, more than two dozen transgender people were violently killed in the United States, most of them women of color.\n\nActivism\n\nBackground and history\nActivism refers to \"a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue\". In the activism for violence against women, the objectives are to address and draw public attention on the issues of VAW as well as seek and recommend measures to prevent and eliminate this violence. Many scholarly articles suggest that the VAW is considered as a violation of human rights as well as \"public health issue\".\n\nIn order to better comprehend the anti-violence movements against VAW, there is a need to also understand the generic historical background of feminist movements in a holistic manner. Talking about the international women's movement, many feminist scholars have categorized these movements into three waves according to their different beliefs, strategies and goals.\n\nThe emergence of the first women's movements, or so called the first wave of feminism, dated back in the years the late 19th Century and early 20th Century in the United States and Europe. During this period, feminist movements developed from the context of industrialization and liberal politics that triggered the rise of feminist groups concerned with gaining equal access and opportunity for women. This wave marks a period of \"suffrage, independence, rights to nationality, work and equal pay\" for women.\n\nThe second wave of feminist movements was the series of movements from the period of the late 1960s to early 1970s. It was noted by feminist scholars that this wave could be characterized as a period of women's liberation and the rise of a branch of feminism known as radical feminism. This wave of feminism emerged in the context of the postwar period in society where other mainstream movements also played a large role; for instance, the civil rights movements, which meant to condemn capitalism, imperialism and the oppression of people based on the notions of race, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation. This wave marks a period of equal rights at home and workplace as well as rights to development for the purposes of people of different races, ethnicities, economic statuses and gender identities.\n\nThe third wave of feminism is the newest wave of feminism led by young feminists whose understanding and context are of the globalized world order and the technological advances that have come with it. Also, this wave is a transition of the fall communism to more complex issues of new kinds of 'warfare', threats and violence. This new wave also \"embraces ambiguity\" and introduced a feminist approach of 'intersectionality' that includes the issues of race, gender, age, and class. Other than that, the third wave marks a period of feminism dealing with identity politics, body politics as well as the issues of violence.\n\nNonetheless, the VAW movement was initiated in the 1970s where some feminist movements started to bring the discussion on the issue of violence into the feminist discourse and that many other groups, on the national as well as international levels, had attempted to push for the betterment of women through lobbying of the state officials and delegates, demanding the conferences on 'gender issues' and thus made the VAW known to a wider range of population. Therefore, to put this into the theoretical context, VAW can be categorized along with the second and third waves of feminism which share a focus on violence.\n\nVAW activist movements come in many forms, operating at international, national, and local levels and utilizing different approaches based on Health and Human Rights frameworks. The movements stemmed mostly from social movements and groups of women who see the need to create organizations to 'lobby' their governments to establish \"sanctuaries, shelters\" and provision of services that help protecting these victims, also called \"battered women\", from acts of violence. The term \"battered women\" was used in a number of VAW movements and had its root in the early stage of organizing efforts to tackle the problem of violence against women in many regions of the world such as Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin American and the Caribbean. The activist organizations against VAW, some with and the others without the support of their governments, attempted to develop \"innovative efforts\" to assist battered women by providing them services such as shelters and centers; drafting and lobbying governments to include the recognition and language of VAW into national legislations and international human rights instruments; advocating to raise the awareness of people via education and training sessions; forming national, regional as well as international networks to empower the movements; organizing demonstrations and gathering more efforts to end violent acts against women. In addition, many women's rights activist groups see the issue of violence against women as a central focus of their movements. Many of these groups take a human rights approach as the integral framework of their activism. These VAW movements also employ the idea that \"women's rights are human rights\", transform the concepts and ideas of human rights, which are mostly reckoned to be \"Western concepts\" and 'vernacularize them into the concepts that can be understood in their local institutions.\n\nLevels of activist movements \n\nOn the local or national level, the VAW movements are diverse and differ in their strategic program of intervention. The strategies used in a number of the movements focus on the individual level with the emphases on individuals, relationships and family. Also, many of them take the 'preventive' as an approach to tackle the issues on the ground by encouraging people to \"reexamine their attitudes and beliefs\" in order to trigger and create fundamental changes in these \"deep-rooted beliefs and behaviors\". Despite the fact that these strategies can be life changing, helpful to those who participate and feasible over a long time frame, the effects on societal level seem to be restricted and of minimal effects. In order to achieve the objectives of the movement, many activists and scholars argue that they have to initiate changes in cultural attitudes and norms on a communal level. An example of activism on the local level can be seen in South Africa. The movements of VAW in this context employ a strategy that is based on the 'prevention' approach, which is applicable on individual and societal levels: in families and communities. This movement encourages the individuals and small populations to rethink their attitudes and beliefs in order to create a possibility to alter these deep-rooted beliefs and behaviors, which lead to the acts of violence against women. Another example is the local level movement in East Africa that employs the prevention approach, which is applicable on a communal level. They call this a \"raising voices\" approach. This approach employs an 'ad hoc' framework that can be used alongside the individual approach where the strategy is to aggravate the status quo issues onto the individuals' and communities' perception and establish a common ground of interests for them to push for the movement, all in a short time period. In addition, on the domestic level, there seems to be many 'autonomous movements.' feminist movements (for VAW) can be understood as \"a form of women's mobilization that is devoted to promoting women's status and well-being independently of political parties and other associations that do not have the status of women as their main concern\".\n\nA number of regions of the world have come together to address violence against women. In South America, the Southern Cone Network Against Domestic Violence has worked extensively to address sexual and domestic violence since 1989. The Latin American and Caribbean Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, formed in 1990, includes representation from twenty-one different countries and has been instrumental in increasing the visibility of VAW. In September 1999, the Heads of States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met and drafted the \"Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children\", a document condemning violence against women and children, and resolved a set of 13 methods of addressing it, reaching into the legal; social, economic, cultural, and political; social service; and education, training, and awareness building sectors.\n\nOn the transnational or regional level, the anti-violence movements also deploy different strategies based on the specificities of their cultures and beliefs in their particular regions. On this level, the activist movements are known as \"transnational feminist networks\" or TFNs. The TFNs have a significant effect, like the autonomous movements on the national level, in shaping sets of policies as well pushing for the recognition and inclusion of language of VAW in the United Nations human rights mechanisms: the international human rights agreements. Their activities are ranging from lobbying the policy makers; organizing demonstrations on the local and regional levels; to creating institutional pressure that could push for changes in the international institutional measures.\n\nOn an international level, the movements that advocate for women's rights and against VAW are the mixture of (civil society) actors from domestic and regional levels. The objectives of these VAW movements focus on \"creating shared expectations\" within the domestic and regional levels as well as \"mobilizing numbers of domestic civil society\" to create \"standards in global civil society\". The global women's movement works to transform numbers of international conventions and conferences to \"a conference on women's rights\" by pushing for a \"stronger language and clearer recognition\" of the VAW issues. In addition, the United Nations also plays a vital role in promoting and campaigning for the VAW movements on the international level. For instance, in 2008 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon initiated and launched a campaign called \"UNiTE to End Violence against Women\". This campaign \"calls on governments, civil society, women's organizations, young people, the private sector, the media and the entire UN system to join forces in addressing the global pandemic of violence against women and girls\". Moreover, this campaign also announces every 25th of the month to be \"Orange Day\" or \"a day to take action to raise awareness and prevent violence against women and girls\".\n\nIn conclusion, each level of activism is intertwined and has the common purpose to end violence against women. Activism on local levels can significantly affect national, transnational, and international levels as well. In a scholarly article on Combating Violence Against Women, the authors illustrated from their research analysis on how the norms of international society can shape and influence policy making on the domestic or national level and vice versa. They argue that there are three mechanisms which have effects on the making of national policies as well as global agreements and conventions: \"1) the influence of global treaties and documents such as CEDAW on women's rights\" on the national policies, \"2) the influence of regional agreements on VAW (particularly after certain tipping points are reached)\" on both domestic policies and international conventions and \"3) regional demonstration effects or pressure for conformity captured as diffusion within regions\" on the international norms and agreements.\n\nTargeted campaigns \nIn November 2021, Iamhere international, a group focused on increasing counter-speech on social media, started a 16-day campaign all forms of gender-based violence, in particular cyber violence.\n\nArtists worldwide have addressed violence against women, highlighting the unique manifestations of violence across cultural and political histories. For example, Argentinian Italian artist Natalia Saurin (2020) responds to the Italian newspaper's use of love narratives to justify partner homicide in her mixed media postcard series, \"Ti Amo Troppo\". In the United States, artist street artist Sophie Sandberg encourages individuals to chalk their experiences of harassment in the places in which they occurred. Augmented reality comic \"Priya's Shakti\" addresses victim-blaming attitudes in India in response to the 2012 Delhi gang rape of a middle-caste college-educated woman. Through the utilization of Hindu mythologies, \"Priya's Shakti\" tells the story of a rape survivor in a controversial heroic role inviting Indian society to reckon with patriarchal societal views.\nArtworks addressing violence against women span across artistic mediums and illuminate the issue of violence against women and provoke change in laws and government. In \"And So I Stayed\" (2021), a documentary film addressing unjustly incarcerated survivors of domestic violence in the United States, co-directors Natalie Pattillo, and Daniel Nelson confront the lack of legal understanding of abused women. As a result of the film, Pattillo and Nelson assembled a short film for the court case of Tanisha Davis, a survivor of domestic violence who was unable to receive leniency for the killing of her boyfriend despite years of physical and emotional abuse. In 2021, Tanisha Davis was released from prison thanks to the \"Domestic Violence Survivor's Justice Act\" and Pattillo and Nelson's nuanced portrait of Davis through their short film.\n\nThe \"Violence Against Women Art Map\" came to fruition in 2021 as part of a Pennsylvania State University research study by Lauren Stetz to visualize artists' responses to violence against women. Featuring 24 artists globally, the map highlights the diverse ways in which women experience violence as a result of intersectional identity, culture, and history. The interactive digital map was co-created through a participatory action arts-based research methodology, using artist interviews and their artworks. Through visual mapping, artists addressing violence against women through their work connected transnationally for the purpose of coalition building.\n\nSecond order sexual harassment (SOSH)\nSecond-order sexual harassment (SOSH) is the harassment suffered by those who stand with and support victims of violence against women (VAW). Addressing this type of sexual harassment is basic to protect victims of gender violence. According to scientific evidence, the most successful actions for overcoming gender violence are those that promote bystander intervention, thus it is necessary to protect the people who support the victims. If society wants to empower victims to denounce and help them not to feel alone, it is necessary to ensure to protect persons who are actively protecting the victims for breaking the silence. \nThere is pioneer legislation in the world regarding legal issues, In 2020 the Catalan Parliament passed the first legislation in the world against this form of violence under the name of Second-Order Violence. In 2013 the UN General Assembly passed its first resolution calling for the protection of defenders of women's human rights. The resolution urges states to put in place gender-specific laws and policies for the protection of women's human rights defenders and to ensure that defenders themselves are involved in the design and implementation of these measures, and calls on states to protect women's human rights defenders from reprisals for cooperating with the UN and to ensure their unhindered access to and communication with international human rights bodies and mechanisms. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 is also a global initiative with a target to eliminate all forms of violence against women.\n\nLegal enforcement\nAs violence is often committed by a family member, women first started by lobbying their governments to set up shelters for domestic violence survivors. The Julia Burgos Protected House established in Puerto Rico in 1979 was the first shelter in Latin America and the Caribbean for \"battered women\". In 2003, 18 out of the 20 countries in the region had legislation on domestic or family violence, and 11 countries addressed sexual violence in their laws. Legislative measures to protect victims can include restraining orders, which can be found in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Venezuela, Turkey, the United States and many western European countries for instance.\n\nCourts can also be allowed by law (Germany, 2001) to order the perpetrator to leave the home so that victims do not have to seek shelter. Countries were urged to repeal discriminatory legislation by 2005 following the review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2000. Egypt, for instance, abolished a law that exempted men from rape charges when marrying their victims. However, the goal of antiviolence legislation is often to keep the families together, regardless of the best interests of women, which perpetuate domestic violence.\n\nChallenges faced by women in accessing justice and limitations of measures \nThere can be a de jure or de facto acceptance of violent behaviors and lack of remedies for victims.\n\nLack of criminalization: in many places, acts of abuse, especially acts such as female genital mutilation, marital rape, forced marriage and child marriage, are not criminalized, or are illegal but widely tolerated, with the laws against them being rarely enforced. There are instances where crimes against women are also categorized as minor offenses.\nLack of awareness of the existing laws: in many places, although there are laws against violence on the books, many women do not know of their existence. This is especially the case with marital rape – its criminalization being very recent in most countries.\nChallenges in making a case in court: the burden of proof can be placed on the victim. For instance in the Philippines, before a change in law in 1997, rape used to be described as a crime against chastity; and virginity played an important role in court. In various countries, such as Bangladesh, a woman's past sexual experience continues to be very important in a case of rape. Bangladesh has received criticism for its employment of the \"two-finger test\" in rape investigations. This test consists in a physical examination of women who report rape during which a doctor inserts two fingers in the woman's vagina to determine whether the woman is \"habituated to sex\". This examination has its origin in the country's colonial-era laws dating back to 1872. The test deters many women from reporting incidents of rape. More than 100 experts, including doctors, lawyers, police, and women's rights activists had signed a joint statement in 2013 asking for the test, which they called \"demeaning\", to be abolished, as it \"does not provide any evidence that is relevant to proving the offence\". This test is also performed in several other countries in the region, including India. It can also be difficult to make a case of sexual assault in court, when members of the judiciary expect evidence of severe struggle and injury as determinative evidence of non-consent. On the other hand, there are measures, such as the 2012 law in Brazil, that allow for cases to be filed even without the representation of the victim.\nExisting laws are insufficient, conflicting, and have no effect in practice: some laws on domestic violence, for instance, conflict with other provisions and ultimately contradict their goals. Legal frameworks can also be flawed when laws that integrate protection do so in isolation, notably in relation to immigration laws. Undocumented women in countries where they would have, in theory, access to justice, do not in practice for fear of being denounced and deported. The CEDAW Committee recommends that a State authority's obligation to report undocumented persons be repealed in national legislation.\n\nMany kinds of violence against women (specifically rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence) are under-reported, often due to societal norms, taboos, stigma, and the sensitive nature of the subject. It is widely recognized that even today, a lack of reliable and continuous data is an obstacle to forming a clear picture of violence against women.\n\nInvoking culture to explain particular forms of violence against women risks appearing to legitimize them. There is also debate and controversy about the ways in which cultural traditions, local customs and social expectations, as well as various interpretations of religion, interact with abusive practices. Specifically, cultural justifications for certain violent acts against women are asserted by some states and social groups within many countries claiming to defend their traditions. These justifications are questionable precisely because the defenses are generally voiced by political leaders or traditional authorities, not by those actually affected. The need for sensitivity and respect of culture is an element that cannot be ignored either; thus a sensitive debate has ensued and is ongoing.\n\nMeasures to address violence against women range from access to legal-aid to the provision of shelters and hotlines for victims. Despite advances in legislation and policies, the lack of implementation of the measures put in place prevents significant progress in eradicating violence against women globally. This failure to apply existing laws and procedures is often due to the persisting issue of gender stereotyping.\n\nAccessibility of police\nWomen who report acts of violence most often come into contact first with police workers. Therefore, police attitudes are crucial in facilitating a sense of safety and comfort for women who have been victimized. When police officers misuse their power as agents of the state to physically and sexually harass and assault victims, the survivors, including women, feel much less able to report the violence. Human rights violations perpetrated by police and military personnel in many countries are correlated with decreased access to public health services and increased practices of risky behavior among members of vulnerable groups, such as women and female sex workers. These practices are especially widespread in settings with a weak rule of law and low levels of police and military management and professionalism. Police abuse in this context has been linked to a wide range of risky behaviors and health outcomes, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse. Extortion of sexual services and police sexual abuse have been linked to a decrease in condom use and an elevated risk of STI and HIV infections among vulnerable groups.\n\nSome countries, such as Brazil and Jordan, have enacted women's police station, which are police stations that specialize in certain crimes, such as sexual violence, harassment, domestic violence committed against women.\n\nIntervention versus autonomy\nIt is standard procedure for police to force entry into the victim's home even after the victim's numerous requests for them to go away. Government agencies often disregard the victim's right to freedom of association with their perpetrator.\n\nInternational protection regimes\nEfforts to fight violence against women can take many forms and access to justice, or lack thereof, for such violence varies greatly depending on the justice system. International and regional instruments are increasingly used as the basis for national legislation and policies to eradicate violence against women. Experts in the international community generally believe that solely enacting punitive legislation for prevention and punishment of violence against women is not sufficient to address the problem. For example, although much stricter laws on violence against women have been passed in Bangladesh, violence against women is still rising. And violence against women has risen dramatically around the world since the late 2010s despite similar measures being taken in many regions as well as increased awareness and discussion of the subject. Instead, it is thought that wide societal changes to address gender inequalities and women's empowerment will be the way to reduce violence against women.\n\nAfrica\nIn Africa, there emerged a series of regional meetings and agreements, which was triggered by the UN processes on the international level such as Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi, 1985; the 1993 Kampala Prep Com; the 1994 Africa-wide UN women's conference that led to the identification of VAW as a critical issue in the Southern African Women's Charter.\n\nAmericas\nIn the Americas, the Inter-American Convention on Violence Against Women, which was formally announced and adopted by the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1994, immediately after the Vienna Conference The Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Eradicate and Punish Violence Against Women – also known as the Belém do Parà Convention, for instance, has been applied by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in its first case of domestic violence to condemn Brazil in the Maria da Penha case. This led the Brazilian government to enact in 2006 the Maria da Penha Law, the country's first law against domestic violence against women.\n\nThese are some developments since the 1960s in the United States to oppose and treat violence against women: \n1967: One of the country's first domestic violence shelters opened in Maine.\n1972: The country's first rape help hotline opened in Washington, D.C.\n1978: Two national coalitions, the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, were formed, to raise awareness of these two forms of violence against women.\n1984: The U.S. Attorney General created the Department of Justice Task Force on Family Violence, to address ways in which the criminal justice system and community response to domestic violence should be improved.\n1994: Passage of the Violence Against Women Act or VAWA, legislation included in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, sponsored by then-Senator Joseph Biden, which required a strengthened community response to crimes of domestic violence and sexual assault, strengthened federal penalties for repeat sex offenders and strengthened legislative protection of victims, among many other provisions.\n2000: President Clinton signed into law the VAWA of 2000, further strengthening federal laws, and emphasizing assistance of immigrant victims, elderly victims, victims with disabilities, and victims of dating violence.\n2006: President Bush signed into law the VAWA of 2006, with an emphasis on programs to address violence against youth victims, and establishing programs for Engaging Men and Youth, and Culturally and Linguistically Specific Services.\n2007: The National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline opened.\n2009: President Obama declared April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.\n2013: President Obama signed into law the VAWA of 2015, which granted Native American tribes the ability to prosecute non-Native offenders, and regulated reports of sexual assault on college campuses.\n\nAsia\nIn Asia, there is the South Asian Agreement on Regional Cooperation's (SAARC) Protocol to End Trafficking in Women and Children.\n\nEurope\n\nIn Europe, the European Union (EU)'s initiatives to combat violence against women after the 1990s: the 1997 resolution calling for a zero tolerance: specifically on UN human rights instruments of CEDAW and the Vienna Declaration. The Council of Europe also developed \"a series of initiatives\" related to the issue of VAW: \"the 2000 resolution on trafficking, the 2003 resolution on domestic violence, and the 2004 resolution on honor crimes\" as well as promoted \"the 2002 recommendation on the protection of women against violence and established its monitoring framework\". The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, is the first legally binding instrument in Europe in the field of domestic violence and violence against women, and came into force in 2014.\nCountries which ratify it must ensure that the forms of violence defined in its text are outlawed. In its Preamble, the Convention states that \"the realisation of de jure and de facto equality between women and men is a key element in the prevention of violence against women\". The convention also provides a definition of domestic violence as \"all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim\". Although it is a Convention of the Council of Europe, it is open to accession by any country.\n\nGlobal\nSome of the most important milestones on the international level for the prevention of violence against women include:\n\nThe 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which recognizes violence as a part of discrimination against women in recommendations 12 and 19.\nThe 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, which recognized violence against women as a human rights violation, and which contributed to the following UN declaration.\nThe 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women was the first international instrument explicitly defining and addressing violence against women. This document specifically refers to the historically forever-present nature of gender inequalities in understanding violence against women. (Include current 2nd paragraph here). This Declaration, as well as the World Conference of the same year, is often viewed as a \"turning point\" at which the consideration of violence against women by the international community began to be taken much more seriously, and after which more countries mobilized around this problem. The first major document that highlights the recognition of violence against women as a human rights violation: the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in Vienna, 1993. It was a result of collective effort of global feminist movement to transform the Vienna conference from a general and mainstream human rights conference into the conference on women's rights. As before the other human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch did not focus on the issue of VAW and did not consider rape and domestic violence as violations of human rights despite the fact that they also have agenda on women's rights.\nThe 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, linking violence against women to reproductive health and rights, and also providing recommendations to governments on how to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.\n The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing During the 4th Women Conference, VAW was emphasized and named as a critical concern. Also, the spillover effect was that this push highlighted the need for the development of \"new international norms\" that have often been used by activists and governments the proposition of legislation that provide other action to redress the acts of violence. Subsequently, the push from the global feminist movement also push for the fully incorporation of the VAW issues into the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) whereas the \"original text of CEDAW in 1979 did not explicitly mention violence against women\".\nIn 1996, the World Health Assembly (WHA) declared violence a major public health issue, and included in the subtypes recognized were intimate partner violence and sexual violence, two kinds of violence often perpetrated as violence against women. This was followed by a World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2002 (see below). The UN also created the Trust Fund to Support Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women. \nIn 1999, the UN adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. \nIn 2002, as a follow-up of the WHA declaration in 1996 of violence as a major public health issue, the WHO published the first World Report on Violence and Health, which addressed many types of violence and their effect on public health, including forms of violence affecting women particularly strongly. The report specifically noted the sharp rise in civil society organizations and activities directed at responding to gender-based violence against women from the 1970s to the 1990s. \nIn 2004, the WHO published its \"Multi-country study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women\", a study of women's health and domestic violence by surveying over 24,000 women in 10 countries from all regions of the world, which assessed the prevalence and extent of violence against women, particularly violence by intimate partners, and linked this with health outcomes to women as well as documenting strategies and services that women use to cope with intimate-partner violence.\nThe 2006 UN Secretary General's \"In-depth study on all forms of violence against women\", the first comprehensive international document on the issue.\nThe 2011 Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which is the second regional legally-binding instrument on violence against women and girls. \nIn 2013, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) adopted, by consensus, Agreed Conclusions on the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls (formerly, there were no agreed-upon conclusions).\nAlso in 2013, the UN General Assembly passed its first resolution calling for the protection of defenders of women's human rights. The resolution urges states to put in place gender-specific laws and policies for the protection of women's human rights defenders and to ensure that defenders themselves are involved in the design and implementation of these measures, and calls on states to protect women's human rights defenders from reprisals for cooperating with the UN and to ensure their unhindered access to and communication with international human rights bodies and mechanisms.\n\nSee also\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n \n \n Pdf.\n \n\n Discussion Paper No. 255\n \n \n Pdf.\n \n Pdf.\n\nExternal links\n\n Violence against women, a factsheet on ECtHR case law\n Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence against Women and Girls (in English, French, and Spanish)\n UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences\n World Health Organization's reports on FGM, Health complications of female genital mutilation\n\n \nCategory:Sex industry\nCategory:Feminism and health\n \nCategory:Crimes against women",
"title": "Violence against women"
},
{
"text": "Gallery or The Gallery may refer to:\n\nArts, entertainment, and media\n\n Art gallery\n Contemporary art gallery\n\nMusic\n Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s\n\nAlbums\n Gallery (Elaiza album), 2014 album\n Gallery (Great White album), a 1999 compilation album\n Gallery, an album by Bert Kaempfert 1974\n The Gallery (album), a 1995 album by Dark Tranquility\n Gallery, 2017 album by Arizona\n\nSongs\n \"Gallery\" (Mario Vazquez song)\n Gallery (Yōko Oginome song)\n \"Gallery\", a 2018 track by Toby Fox from Deltarune Chapter 1 OST from the video game Deltarune\n \"Gallery\", a 2021 song by Park Ji-hoon on the EP My Collection\n \"The Gallery\", a song on the Joni Mitchell album Clouds\n \"The Gallery\", a song on the Bradley Joseph album Rapture\n In the Gallery, a song on the initial and self-titled Dire Straits album\n\nTelevision\n Gallery (TV series), Canadian documentary series on CBC Television (1973–1979)\n Gallery Girls, a reality TV program\n\nOther arts, entertainment, and media\n Gallery (magazine), published by Montcalm Publishing\n Gallery Project, an open-source project enabling management and web publication of photographs and other media\n The Gallery (video game), a virtual reality game series\n The Gallery, a 1947 novel by John Horne Burns\n\nBuildings and spaces\n Gallery, a horizontal passage in an underground mine\n Gallery, a production control room, in a UK television studio\n Art gallery or art museum, an exhibition in a museum or other public space, or a retail art shop\n Gallery (architecture)\n An exterior balcony\n Observation deck, usually on the upper floors of a building, used to afford visitors a long-distance view\n Veranda, an open-air gallery or porch\n\nPeople\n Daniel V. Gallery (1901–1977), Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy during World War II; fought in the Battle of the Atlantic\n Mary Onahan Gallery (1866–1941), American writer, editor\n Philip D. Gallery (1907–1973), Rear Admiral who served on Naval destroyers in the Pacific Theater\n Robert Gallery (born 1980), American football player\n William O. Gallery (1904–1981), Rear Admiral, naval aviator\n\nPlaces\n Gallery Hotel, a hotel in Singapore\n Gallery Place station, a metro station in Washington, DC, US\n The Gallery (disco), a 1970s disco in New York City, US\n The Gallery at Market East, former name of the Fashion District, Philadelphia, a shopping mall in Philadelphia, US\n\nOther uses\n Gallery, an audience or a group of spectators\n Peanut gallery, a nickname for spectators occupying the cheapest seats\n Gallery forest, a forest formed along a waterway\n Gallery grave, a type of prehistoric megalithic tomb\n Gallery road, a mountain road in China\n Oil gallery, a lubricating-oil passage within an internal combustion engine\n\nSee also\n\n \n \n Galleria (disambiguation)\n Shooting gallery (disambiguation)\n The Galleries (disambiguation)",
"title": "Gallery"
},
{
"text": "Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841, during the First Opium War between the British and the Qing dynasty. The Qing had wanted to enforce its prohibition of opium importation within the dynasty that was being exported mostly from British India, as it was causing widespread addiction among its populace.\n\nThe island was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Nanking, ratified by the Daoguang Emperor in the aftermath of the war of 1842. It was established as a crown colony in 1843. In 1860, the British took the opportunity to expand the colony with the addition of the Kowloon Peninsula after the Second Opium War, while the Qing was embroiled in handling the Taiping Rebellion. With the Qing further weakened after the First Sino-Japanese War, Hong Kong's territory was further extended in 1898 when the British obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories.\n\nAlthough the Qing dynasty had to cede Hong Kong Island and Kowloon in perpetuity as per the treaty, the leased New Territories comprised 86.2% of the colony and more than half of the entire colony's population. With the lease nearing its end during the late 20th century, Britain did not see any viable way to administer the colony by dividing it, whilst the People's Republic of China (PRC) would not consider extending the lease or allow continued British administration thereafter.\n\nWith the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, which stated that the economic and social systems in Hong Kong would remain relatively unchanged for 50 years, the British government agreed to transfer the entire territory to China upon the expiration of the New Territories lease in 1997 – with Hong Kong becoming a special administrative region (SAR) until at least 2047.\n\nHistory\n\nColonial establishment \n\nIn 1836, the imperial government of the Qing dynasty undertook a major policy review of the opium trade, which had been first introduced to the Chinese by Persian then Islamic traders over many centuries. Viceroy Lin Zexu took on the task of suppressing the opium trade. In March 1839, he became Special Imperial Commissioner in Canton, where he ordered the foreign traders to surrender their opium stock. He confined the British to the Canton Factories and cut off their supplies. Chief Superintendent of Trade, Charles Elliot, complied with Lin's demands to secure a safe exit for the British, with the costs involved to be resolved between the two governments. When Elliot promised that the British government would pay for their opium stock, the merchants surrendered their 20,283 chests of opium, which were destroyed in public.\n\nIn September 1839, the British Cabinet decided that the Chinese should be made to pay for the destruction of British property, either by the threat or use of force. An expeditionary force was placed under Elliot and his cousin, Rear-Admiral George Elliot, as joint plenipotentiaries in 1840. Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston stressed to the Chinese government that the British government did not question China's right to prohibit opium, but it objected to the way this was handled. He viewed the sudden strict enforcement as laying a trap for the foreign traders, and the confinement of the British with supplies cut off was tantamount to starving them into submission or death. He instructed the Elliot cousins to occupy one of the Chusan Islands in the Hangzhou Bay delta across from Shanghai, then to present a letter from himself to a Chinese official for the Emperor of China, then to proceed to the Gulf of Bohai for a treaty, and if the Chinese resisted, then to blockade the key ports of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers. Palmerston demanded a territorial base in the Chusan Islands for trade so that British merchants \"may not be subject to the arbitrary caprice either of the Government of Peking, or its local Authorities at the Sea-Ports of the Empire\".\n\nIn 1841, Elliot negotiated with Lin's successor, Qishan, in the Convention of Chuenpi during the First Opium War. On 20 January, Elliot announced \"the conclusion of preliminary arrangements\", which included the cession of the barren Hong Kong Island and its harbour to the British Crown. Elliot chose Hong Kong Island instead of Chusan because he believed a settlement nearer to Shanghai would cause an \"indefinite protraction of hostilities\", whereas Hong Kong Island's harbour was a valuable base for the British trading community in Canton. British rule began with the occupation of the island on 26 January. Commodore Gordon Bremer, commander-in-chief of British forces in China, took formal possession of the island at Possession Point, where the Union Jack was raised under a fire of joy from the marines and a royal salute from the warships. Hong Kong Island was ceded in the Treaty of Nanking on 29 August 1842 and established as a Crown colony after the ratification exchanged between the Daoguang Emperor and Queen Victoria was completed on 26 June 1843.\n\nGrowth and expansion \n\nThe Treaty of Nanking failed to satisfy British expectations of a major expansion of trade and profit, which led to increasing pressure for a revision of the terms. In October 1856, Chinese authorities in Canton detained the Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong to enjoy the protection of the British flag. The Consul in Canton, Harry Parkes, claimed the hauling down of the flag and arrest of the crew were \"an insult of very grave character\". Parkes and Sir John Bowring, the fourth Governor of Hong Kong, seized the incident to pursue a forward policy. In March 1857, Palmerston appointed Lord Elgin as Plenipotentiary, with the aim of securing a new and satisfactory treaty. A French expeditionary force joined the British to avenge the execution of a French missionary in 1856. In 1860, the capture of the Taku Forts and occupation of Beijing led to the Treaty of Tientsin and Convention of Peking. In the Treaty of Tientsin, the Chinese accepted British demands to open more ports, navigate the Yangtze River, legalise the opium trade and have diplomatic representation in Beijing. During the conflict, the British occupied the Kowloon Peninsula, where the flat land was valuable training and resting ground. The area in what is now south of Boundary Street and Stonecutters Island was ceded in the Convention of Peking.\n\nIn 1898, the British sought to extend Hong Kong for defence. After negotiations began in April 1898, with the British Minister in Beijing, Sir Claude MacDonald, representing Britain, and diplomat Li Hongzhang leading the Chinese, the Second Convention of Peking was signed on 9 June. Since the foreign powers had agreed by the late 19th century that it was no longer permissible to acquire outright sovereignty over any parcel of Chinese territory, and in keeping with the other territorial cessions China made to Russia, Germany and France that same year, the extension of Hong Kong took the form of a 99-year lease. The lease consisted of the rest of Kowloon south of the Sham Chun River and 230 islands, which became known as the New Territories. The British formally took possession on 16 April 1899.\n\nJapanese occupation \n\nIn 1941, during the Second World War, the British reached an agreement with the Chinese government under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek that if Japan attacked Hong Kong, the Chinese National Army would attack the Japanese from the rear to relieve pressure on the British garrison. On 8 December, the Battle of Hong Kong began when Japanese air bombers effectively destroyed British air power in one attack. Two days later, the Japanese breached the Gin Drinkers Line in the New Territories. The British commander, Major-General Christopher Maltby, concluded that the island could not be defended for long unless he withdrew his brigade from the mainland. On 18 December, the Japanese crossed Victoria Harbour. By 25 December, organised defence was reduced into pockets of resistance. Maltby recommended a surrender to Governor Sir Mark Young, who accepted his advice to reduce further losses. A day after the invasion, Chiang ordered three corps under General Yu Hanmou to march towards Hong Kong. The plan was to launch a New Year's Day attack on the Japanese in the Canton region, but before the Chinese infantry could attack, the Japanese had broken Hong Kong's defences. The British casualties were 2,232 killed or missing and 2,300 wounded. The Japanese reported 1,996 killed and 6,000 wounded.\n\nThe Japanese soldiers committed atrocities, including rape, on many locals. The population fell in half, from 1.6 million in 1941 to 750,000 at war's end because of fleeing refugees; they returned in 1945.\n\nThe Japanese imprisoned the ruling British colonial elite and sought to win over the local merchant gentry by appointments to advisory councils and neighbourhood watch groups. The policy worked well for Japan and produced extensive collaboration from both the elite and the middle class, with far less terror than in other Chinese cities. Hong Kong was transformed into a Japanese colony, with Japanese businesses replacing the British. However, the Japanese Empire had severe logistical difficulties and by 1943 the food supply for Hong Kong was problematic. The overlords became more brutal and corrupt, and the Chinese gentry became disenchanted. With the surrender of Japan, the transition back to British rule was smooth, for on the mainland the Nationalist and Communist forces were preparing for a civil war and ignored Hong Kong. In the long run the occupation strengthened the pre-war social and economic order among the Chinese business community by eliminating some conflicts of interests and reducing the prestige and power of the British.\n\nRestoration of British rule \n\nOn 14 August 1945, when Japan announced its unconditional surrender, the British formed a naval task group to sail towards Hong Kong. On 1 September, Rear-Admiral Cecil Harcourt proclaimed a military administration with himself as its head. He formally accepted the Japanese surrender on 16 September in Government House. Young, upon his return as governor in May 1946, pursued political reform known as the \"Young Plan\", believing that, to counter the Chinese government's determination to recover Hong Kong, it was necessary to give local inhabitants a greater stake in the territory by widening the political franchise to include them.\n\nTransfer of Sovereignty \n\nThe Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed by both the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Premier of the People's Republic of China on 19 December 1984 in Beijing. The Declaration entered into force with the exchange of instruments of ratification on 27 May 1985 and was registered by the People's Republic of China and United Kingdom governments at the United Nations on 12 June 1985. In the Joint Declaration, the People's Republic of China Government stated that it had decided to resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong (including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories) with effect from 1 July 1997 and the United Kingdom Government declared that it would relinquish Hong Kong to the PRC with effect from 1 July 1997. In the document, the People's Republic of China Government also declared its basic policies regarding Hong Kong.\n\nIn accordance with the One Country, Two Systems principle agreed between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China, the socialist system of People's Republic of China would not be practised in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and its way of life would remain unchanged for a period of 50 years. The Joint Declaration provides that these basic policies shall be stipulated in the Hong Kong Basic Law. The ceremony of the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration took place at 18:00, 19 December 1984 at the Western Main Chamber of the Great Hall of the People. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office at first proposed a list of 60–80 Hong Kong people to attend the ceremony. The number was finally extended to 101. The list included Hong Kong government officials, members of the Legislative and Executive Councils, chairmen of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Standard Chartered Bank, Hong Kong celebrities such as Li Ka-shing, Pao Yue-kong and Fok Ying-tung, and also Martin Lee Chu-ming and Szeto Wah.\n\nThe handover ceremony was held at the new wing of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai on the night of 30 June 1997. The principal British guest was Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles III, King of the United Kingdom) who read a farewell speech on behalf of the Queen. The newly appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; the British Foreign Minister, Robin Cook; the departing Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten; the Chief of the Defence Staff of the United Kingdom, Field Marshal Sir Charles Guthrie, also attended.\n\nRepresenting China were the CCP General Secretary and President of China, Jiang Zemin; Premier of China, Li Peng; and Tung Chee-hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong. This event was broadcast on television and radio stations across the world.\n\nGovernment \n\nHong Kong was a Crown colony of the United Kingdom and maintained an administration roughly modelled after the Westminster system. The Letters Patent formed the constitutional basis of the colonial government and the Royal Instructions detailed how the territory should be governed and organised.\n\nThe Governor was the head of government and appointed by the British monarch to serve as the representative of the Crown in the colony. Executive power was highly concentrated with the Governor, who himself appointed almost all members of the Legislative Council and Executive Council and also served as President of both chambers. The British government provided oversight for the colonial government; the Foreign Secretary formally approved any additions to the Legislative and Executive Councils and the Sovereign held sole authority to amend the Letters Patent and Royal Instructions.\n\nThe Executive Council determined administrative policy changes and considered primary legislation before passing it to the Legislative Council for approval. This advisory body also itself issued secondary legislation under a limited set of colonial ordinances. The Legislative Council debated proposed legislation and was responsible for the appropriation of public funds. This chamber was reformed in the last years of colonial rule to introduce more democratic representation. Indirectly elected functional constituency seats were introduced in 1985 and popularly elected geographical constituency seats in 1991. Further electoral reform in 1994 effectively made the legislature broadly representative. The administrative Civil Service was led by the Colonial Secretary (later Chief Secretary), who was deputy to the Governor.\n\nThe judicial system was based on English law, with Chinese customary law taking a secondary role in civil cases involving Chinese residents. The Supreme Court of Hong Kong was the highest court and ruled on all civil and criminal cases in the colony. During the early colonial period, extraterritorial appellate cases from other regions of China involving British subjects were also tried in this court. Further appeals from the Supreme Court were heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which exercised final adjudication over the entire British Empire.\n\nIn March 1975 the Hong Kong government introduced a programme to measure public opinion of government efforts, known as Movement of Opinion Direction (MOOD).\n\nCadets \n\nIn 1861, Governor Sir Hercules Robinson introduced the Hong Kong Cadetship, which recruited young graduates from Britain to learn Cantonese and written Chinese for two years, before deploying them on a fast track to the Civil Service. Cadet officers gradually formed the backbone of the civil administration. After the Second World War, ethnic Chinese were allowed into the service, followed by women. Cadets were renamed Administrative Officers in the 1950s, and they remained the elite of the Civil Service during British rule.\n\nMilitary \n\nPrior to and during the Second World War, the garrison was composed of British Army battalions and locally enlisted personnel (LEPs) who served as regular members in the Hong Kong Squadron of the Royal Navy or the Hong Kong Military Service Corps and their associate land units. The Hong Kong Brigade served as the main garrison formation. After the outbreak of the Second World War, the garrison was reinforced with British Indian Army and Canadian Army units. A second brigade, the Kowloon Infantry Brigade, was formed to assist in commanding the expanded force. The garrison was defeated during the Battle of Hong Kong, by the Empire of Japan.\n\nAfter the Second World War and the end of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the British military reestablished a presence. As a result of the Chinese Civil War, the British Army raised the 40th Infantry Division and dispatched it to garrison Hong Kong. It later left for combat in the Korean War, and the defense of the territory was taken up by additional British forces who were rotated from Europe. The garrison was further supplemented by LEPs, and Gurkhas. The latter came from Nepal, but formed part of the British Army. The size of the garrison during the Cold War fluctuated and ended up being based around one brigade.\n\nThe Royal Hong Kong Regiment, a military unit which was part of the Hong Kong Government, was trained and organised along the lines of a British Territorial Army unit. As such, it was supported by British Army regular personnel holding key positions. These British Army personnel, for their duration of service to the Royal Hong Kong Regiment, were seconded to the Hong Kong Government. In the post-WWII era, the majority of the regiment's members were local citizens of Chinese descent.\n\nEconomy \n\nThe stability, security, and predictability of British law and government enabled Hong Kong to flourish as a centre for international trade. In the colony's first decade, the revenue from the opium trade was a key source of government funds. The importance of opium reduced over time, but the colonial government was dependent on its revenues until the Japanese occupation in 1941. Although the largest businesses in the early colony were operated by British, American, and other expatriates, Chinese workers provided the bulk of the manpower to build a new port city.\n\nBy the late 1980s, many ethnic Chinese people had become major business figures in Hong Kong. Amongst these billionaires was Sir Li Ka-shing, who had become one of the colony's wealthiest people by this time.\n\nCulture \n\nHong Kong is characterised as a hybrid of East and West. Traditional Chinese values emphasising family and education blend with Western ideals, including economic liberty and the rule of law. Although the vast majority of the population is ethnically Chinese, Hong Kong has developed a distinct identity. The territory diverged from the mainland through its long period of colonial administration and a different pace of economic, social, and cultural development. Mainstream culture is derived from immigrants originating from various parts of China. This was influenced by British-style education, a separate political system, and the territory's rapid development during the late 20th century. Most migrants of that era fled poverty and war, reflected in the prevailing attitude toward wealth; Hongkongers tend to link self-image and decision-making to material benefits. Residents' sense of local identity has markedly increased post-handover: The majority of the population (52%) identifies as \"Hongkongers\", while 11% describe themselves as \"Chinese\". The remaining population purport mixed identities, 23% as \"Hongkonger in China\" and 12% as \"Chinese in Hong Kong\".\n\nTraditional Chinese family values, including family honour, filial piety, and a preference for sons, are prevalent. Nuclear families are the most common households, although multi-generational and extended families are not unusual. In British-ruled Hong Kong, polygamy was legal until 1971 pursuant to the colonial practice of not interfering in local customs that British authorities viewed as relatively harmless to the public order.\n\nSpiritual concepts such as feng shui are observed; large-scale construction projects often hire consultants to ensure proper building positioning and layout. The degree of its adherence to feng shui is believed to determine the success of a business. Bagua mirrors are regularly used to deflect evil spirits, and buildings often lack floor numbers with a 4; the number has a similar sound to the word for \"die\" in Cantonese.\n\nBesides, the cultural integration can also be found in everyday life in Hong Kong. For example, British English is a common second language and also one of the official languages in British Hong Kong since the establishment of the colony. Moreover, British English is also taught in primary and secondary schools. For the metro system, the metro lines are named after places instead of numbered, unlike Mainland China, where metro lines are numbered. Roads were named after British royals, governors, famous people, cities and towns across the UK and the Commonwealth, as well as Chinese cities and places. Aside from Chinese New Year, Christmas is celebrated as the second-most important festival. In literature, some idioms in Cantonese are directly translated from those in English. A Mandarin Chinese speaker may recognise the words but not understand the meaning.\n\nCuisine \n\nFood in Hong Kong is primarily based on Cantonese cuisine, despite the territory's exposure to foreign influences and its residents' varied origins. Rice is the staple food, and is usually served plain with other dishes. Freshness of ingredients is emphasised. Poultry and seafood are commonly sold live at wet markets, and ingredients are used as quickly as possible. There are five daily meals: breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and siu yeh. Dim sum, as part of yum cha (brunch), is a dining-out tradition with family and friends. Dishes include congee, cha siu bao, siu yuk, egg tarts, and mango pudding. Local versions of Western food are served at cha chaan teng (Hong Kong-style cafes). Common cha chaan teng menu items include macaroni in soup, deep-fried French toast, and Hong Kong-style milk tea.\n\nCinema \n\nHong Kong developed into a filmmaking hub during the late 1940s as a wave of Shanghai filmmakers migrated to the territory, and these movie veterans helped build the colony's entertainment industry over the next decade. By the 1960s, the city was well known to overseas audiences through films such as The World of Suzie Wong. When Bruce Lee's The Way of the Dragon was released in 1972, local productions became popular outside Hong Kong. During the 1980s, films such as A Better Tomorrow, As Tears Go By, and Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain expanded global interest beyond martial arts films; locally made gangster films, romantic dramas, and supernatural fantasies became popular. Hong Kong cinema continued to be internationally successful over the following decade with critically acclaimed dramas such as Farewell My Concubine, To Live, and Chungking Express. The city's martial arts film roots are evident in the roles of the most prolific Hong Kong actors. Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, and Michelle Yeoh frequently play action-oriented roles in foreign films. At the height of the local movie industry in the early 1990s, over 400 films were produced each year; since then, industry momentum shifted to mainland China. The number of films produced annually has declined to about 60 in 2017.\n\nMusic \n\nCantopop is a genre of Cantonese popular music which emerged in Hong Kong during the 1970s. Evolving from Shanghai-style shidaiqu, it is also influenced by Cantonese opera and Western pop. Local media featured songs by artists such as Sam Hui, Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, and Alan Tam; during the 1980s, exported films and shows exposed Cantopop to a global audience. The genre's popularity peaked in the 1990s, when the Four Heavenly Kings dominated Asian record charts. Despite a general decline since late in the decade, Cantopop remains dominant in Hong Kong; contemporary artists such as Eason Chan, Joey Yung, and Twins are popular in and beyond the territory.\n\nWestern classical music has historically had a strong presence in Hong Kong and remains a large part of local musical education. The publicly funded Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the territory's oldest professional symphony orchestra, frequently hosts musicians and conductors from overseas. The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, composed of classical Chinese instruments, is the leading Chinese ensemble and plays a significant role in promoting traditional music in the community.\n\nSport and recreation \n\nDespite its small area, the territory regularly hosts the Hong Kong Sevens, Hong Kong Marathon, Hong Kong Tennis Classic and Lunar New Year Cup, and hosted the inaugural AFC Asian Cup and the 1995 Dynasty Cup.\n\nHong Kong represents itself separately from mainland China, with its own sports teams in international competitions. The territory has participated in almost every Summer Olympics since 1952 and has earned four medals. Lee Lai-shan won the territory's first Olympic gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and Cheung Ka Long won the second one in Tokyo 2020. Hong Kong athletes have won 126 medals at the Paralympic Games and 17 at the Commonwealth Games. No longer part of the Commonwealth of Nations, the city's last appearance in the latter was in 1994.\n\nDragon boat races originated as a religious ceremony conducted during the annual Tuen Ng Festival. The race was revived as a modern sport as part of the Tourism Board's efforts to promote Hong Kong's image abroad. The first modern competition was organised in 1976, and overseas teams began competing in the first international race in 1993.\n\nThe Hong Kong Jockey Club, the territory's largest taxpayer, has a monopoly on gambling and provides over 7% of government revenue. Three forms of gambling are legal in Hong Kong: lotteries, horse racing, and football.\n\nDissent \n\nDuring China's turbulent 20th century, Hong Kong served as a safe haven for dissidents, political refugees, and officials who lost power. British policy allowed dissidents to live in Hong Kong as long as they did not break local laws or harm British interests. The implementation of this policy varied according to what the senior officials thought constituted British interests and the state of relations with China. The Canton–Hong Kong strike (1925–1926) was anti-imperialist in nature. The 1966 riots and Maoist-led 1967 riots, essentially spillovers from the Cultural Revolution, were large scale demonstrations fuelled by tensions surrounding labour disputes and dissatisfaction towards the government. Although the 1967 riots started as a labour dispute, the incident escalated quickly after the leftist camp and mainland officials stationed in Hong Kong seized the opportunity to mobilise their followers to protest against the colonial government. Chinese Communist Party supporters organised the Anti-British Struggle Committee during the riots.\n\nSteve Tsang, director of the China Institute of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, wrote that it was \"ironic\" that despite Hong Kong being a symbol of China's humiliation by Britain, there was not one major movement started by the Chinese residents of the colony for its retrocession to China, even though there had been several upsurges of Chinese nationalism. He explained:\nIn the 1920s, the working class Chinese of Hong Kong did not have a good reason to rally around the Hong Kong government, and they were more susceptible to appeals based on Chinese nationalism. Consequently, the call of the Communists was basically heeded by the working men, and their actions practically paralysed the colony for a year. By the [end of the] 1960s, however, the attempts by the Hong Kong government to maintain stability and good order which helped improve everyone's living conditions, and ... the beginning of the emergence of a Hong Kong identity, changed the attitude of the local Chinese. They overwhelmingly rallied around the colonial British regime.\n\nSee also \n Emperor of India\n British Military Hospital\n British Education\n Royal Hong Kong Regiment\n Political Department\n Flags of Elizabeth II\n British Forces Overseas Hong Kong \n Commander British Forces in Hong Kong\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nCitations\n\nSources \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n .\n \n \n .\n .\n\nFurther reading \nClayton, Adam (2003). Hong Kong Since 1945: An Economic and Social History.\nEndacott, G. B. (1964). An Eastern Entrepôt: A Collection of Documents Illustrating the History of Hong Kong. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. p. 293. . .\nLui, Adam Yuen-chung (1990). Forts and Pirates – A History of Hong Kong. Hong Kong History Society. p. 114. .\nLiu, Shuyong; Wang, Wenjiong; Chang, Mingyu (1997). An Outline History of Hong Kong. Foreign Languages Press. p. 291. .\nNgo, Tak-Wing (1999). Hong Kong's History: State and Society Under Colonial Rule. Routledge. p. 205. .\nWelsh, Frank (1993). A Borrowed Place: The History of Hong Kong. Kodansha International. p. 624. .\n\nExternal links \n\n\"Official website of the British Hong Kong Government\". Archived from the original on 24 December 1996. Retrieved 2013-03-26.\n\n \nCategory:Hong Kong and the Commonwealth of Nations\nCategory:19th century in Hong Kong\nCategory:20th century in Hong Kong\nCategory:1841 establishments in Hong Kong\nCategory:1841 establishments in the British Empire\nCategory:1997 disestablishments in Hong Kong\nCategory:Concessions in China\nCategory:China–United Kingdom relations\nHong Kong\nCategory:History of Hong Kong\nCategory:Hong Kong–United Kingdom relations\nCategory:States and territories established in 1841\nCategory:States and territories disestablished in 1941\nCategory:States and territories established in 1945\nCategory:States and territories disestablished in 1997",
"title": "British Hong Kong"
},
{
"text": "Hong Kong ( or ; , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta in South China. With 7.4 million residents of various nationalities in a territory, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world. Hong Kong is also a major global financial centre and one of the most developed cities in the world.\n\nHong Kong was established as a colony of the British Empire after the Qing Empire ceded Hong Kong Island from Xin'an County at the end of the First Opium War in 1841 then again in 1842. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 after the Second Opium War and was further extended when Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. British Hong Kong was occupied by Imperial Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II; British administration resumed after the surrender of Japan. The whole territory was transferred to China in 1997. As one of China's two special administrative regions (the other being Macau), Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China under the principle of \"one country, two systems\".\n\nOriginally a sparsely populated area of farming and fishing villages, the territory has become one of the world's most significant financial centres and commercial ports. As of 2021, it is the world's ninth-largest exporter and eight-largest importer. Hong Kong has a market economy characterised by a focus on services, low taxation and free trade; its currency, the Hong Kong dollar, is the eighth most traded currency in the world. Hong Kong is home to the third-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world, the second-highest number of billionaires of any city in Asia, and the largest concentration of ultra high-net-worth individuals of any city in the world. Although the city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, severe income inequality exists among the population. Most notably, housing in Hong Kong has been well-documented to experience a chronic persistent shortage; the extremely compact house sizes and the extremely high housing density are the effects of Hong Kong's housing market being the most expensive housing in the world.\n\nHong Kong is a highly developed territory and has a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.952, ranking fourth in the world. The city has the largest number of skyscrapers of any city in the world, and its residents have some of the highest life expectancies in the world. The dense space has led to a highly developed transportation network with public transport rates exceeding 90%. Hong Kong is ranked 4th in the Global Financial Centres Index.\n\nEtymology \n\nThe name of the territory, first romanised as \"He-Ong-Kong\" in 1780, originally referred to a small inlet located between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Although the source of the romanised name is unknown, it is generally believed to be an early phonetic rendering of the Cantonese (or Tanka Cantonese) phrase hēung góng. The name translates as \"fragrant harbour\" or \"incense harbour\". \"Fragrant\" may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's freshwater influx from the Pearl River or to the odour from incense factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Victoria Harbour was developed. Sir John Davis (the second colonial governor) offered an alternative origin; Davis said that the name derived from \"Hoong-keang\" (\"red torrent\"), reflecting the colour of soil over which a waterfall on the island flowed.\n\nThe simplified name Hong Kong was frequently used by 1810. The name was also commonly written as the single word Hongkong until 1926, when the government officially adopted the two-word name. Some corporations founded during the early colonial era still keep this name, including Hongkong Land, Hongkong Electric Company, Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC).\n\nHistory\n\nPrehistory and Imperial China \nEarliest known human traces in what is now Hong Kong are dated by some to 35,000 and 39,000 years ago during the Paleolithic period. The claim is based on an archaeological investigation in Wong Tei Tung, Sai Kung in 2003. The archaeological works revealed knapped stone tools from deposits that were dated using optical luminescence dating.\n\nDuring the Middle Neolithic period, about 6,000 years ago, the region had been widely occupied by humans. Neolithic to Bronze Age Hong Kong settlers were semi-coastal people. Early inhabitants are believed to be Austronesians in the Middle Neolithic period and later the Yueh people. As hinted by the archaeological works in Sha Ha, Sai Kung, rice cultivation had been introduced since Late Neolithic period. Bronze Age Hong Kong featured coarse pottery, hard pottery, quartz and stone jewelry, as well as small bronze implements.\n\nThe Qin dynasty incorporated the Hong Kong area into China for the first time in 214 BCE, after conquering the indigenous Baiyue. The region was consolidated under the Nanyue kingdom (a predecessor state of Vietnam) after the Qin collapse and recaptured by China after the Han conquest. During the Mongol conquest of China in the 13th century, the Southern Song court was briefly located in modern-day Kowloon City (the Sung Wong Toi site) before its final defeat in the 1279 Battle of Yamen. By the end of the Yuan dynasty, seven large families had settled in the region and owned most of the land. Settlers from nearby provinces migrated to Kowloon throughout the Ming dynasty.\n\nThe earliest European visitor was Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares, who arrived in 1513. Portuguese merchants established a trading post called Tamão in Hong Kong waters and began regular trade with southern China. Although the traders were expelled after military clashes in the 1520s, Portuguese-Chinese trade relations were re-established by 1549. Portugal acquired a permanent lease for Macau in 1557.\n\nAfter the Qing conquest, maritime trade was banned under the Haijin policies. From 1661 to 1683, the population of most of the area forming present day Hong Kong was cleared under the Great Clearance, turning the region into a wasteland. The Kangxi Emperor lifted the maritime trade prohibition, allowing foreigners to enter Chinese ports in 1684. Qing authorities established the Canton System in 1757 to regulate trade more strictly, restricting non-Russian ships to the port of Canton. Although European demand for Chinese commodities like tea, silk, and porcelain was high, Chinese interest in European manufactured goods was insignificant, so that Chinese goods could only be bought with precious metals. To reduce the trade imbalance, the British sold large amounts of Indian opium to China. Faced with a drug crisis, Qing officials pursued ever more aggressive actions to halt the opium trade.\n\nBritish colony \n\nIn 1839, the Daoguang Emperor rejected proposals to legalise and tax opium and ordered imperial commissioner Lin Zexu to eradicate the opium trade. The commissioner destroyed opium stockpiles and halted all foreign trade, triggering a British military response and the First Opium War. The Qing surrendered early in the war and ceded Hong Kong Island in the Convention of Chuenpi. British forces began controlling Hong Kong shortly after the signing of the convention, from 26 January 1841. However, both countries were dissatisfied and did not ratify the agreement. After more than a year of further hostilities, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded to the United Kingdom in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking.\n\nAdministrative infrastructure was quickly built by early 1842, but piracy, disease, and hostile Qing policies initially prevented the government from attracting commerce. Conditions on the island improved during the Taiping Rebellion in the 1850s, when many Chinese refugees, including wealthy merchants, fled mainland turbulence and settled in the colony. Further tensions between the British and Qing over the opium trade escalated into the Second Opium War. The Qing were again defeated and forced to give up Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island in the Convention of Peking. By the end of this war, Hong Kong had evolved from a transient colonial outpost into a major entrepôt. Rapid economic improvement during the 1850s attracted foreign investment, as potential stakeholders became more confident in Hong Kong's future.\n\nThe colony was further expanded in 1898 when Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories. The University of Hong Kong was established in 1911 as the territory's first institution of higher education. Kai Tak Airport began operation in 1924, and the colony avoided a prolonged economic downturn after the 1925–26 Canton–Hong Kong strike. At the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Governor Geoffry Northcote declared Hong Kong a neutral zone to safeguard its status as a free port. The colonial government prepared for a possible attack, evacuating all British women and children in 1940. The Imperial Japanese Army attacked Hong Kong on 8 December 1941, the same morning as its attack on Pearl Harbor. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan for almost four years before Britain resumed control on 30 August 1945.\n\nIts population rebounded quickly after the war, as skilled Chinese migrants fled from the Chinese Civil War and more refugees crossed the border when the Chinese Communist Party took control of mainland China in 1949. Hong Kong became the first of the Four Asian Tiger economies to industrialise during the 1950s. With a rapidly increasing population, the colonial government attempted reforms to improve infrastructure and public services. The public-housing estate programme, Independent Commission Against Corruption, and Mass Transit Railway were all established during the post-war decades to provide safer housing, integrity in the civil service, and more reliable transportation.\n\nNevertheless, widespread public discontent resulted in multiple protests from the 1950s to 1980s, including pro-Republic of China and pro-Chinese Communist Party protests. In the 1967 Hong Kong riots, pro-PRC protestors clashed with the British colonial government. As many as 51 were killed and 802 were injured in the violence, including dozens killed by the Royal Hong Kong Police via beatings and shootings.\n\nAlthough the territory's competitiveness in manufacturing gradually declined because of rising labour and property costs, it transitioned to a service-based economy. By the early 1990s, Hong Kong had established itself as a global financial centre and shipping hub.\n\nChinese special administrative region \nThe colony faced an uncertain future as the end of the New Territories lease approached, and Governor Murray MacLehose raised the question of Hong Kong's status with Deng Xiaoping in 1979. Diplomatic negotiations with China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which the United Kingdom agreed to transfer the colony in 1997 and China would guarantee Hong Kong's economic and political systems for 50 years after the transfer. The impending transfer triggered a wave of mass emigration as residents feared an erosion of civil rights, the rule of law, and quality of life. Over half a million people left the territory during the peak migration period, from 1987 to 1996. The Legislative Council became a fully elected legislature for the first time in 1995 and extensively expanded its functions and organisations throughout the last years of the colonial rule. Hong Kong was transferred to China on 1 July 1997, after 156 years of British rule.\n\nImmediately after the transfer, Hong Kong was severely affected by several crises. The Hong Kong government was forced to use substantial foreign exchange reserves to maintain the Hong Kong dollar's currency peg during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the recovery from this was muted by an H5N1 avian-flu outbreak and a housing surplus. This was followed by the 2003 SARS epidemic, during which the territory experienced its most serious economic downturn.\n\nPolitical debates after the transfer of sovereignty have centred around the region's democratic development and the Chinese central government's adherence to the \"one country, two systems\" principle. After reversal of the last colonial era Legislative Council democratic reforms following the handover, the regional government unsuccessfully attempted to enact national security legislation pursuant to Article 23 of the Basic Law. The central government decision to implement nominee pre-screening before allowing chief executive elections triggered a series of protests in 2014 which became known as the Umbrella Revolution. Discrepancies in the electoral registry and disqualification of elected legislators after the 2016 Legislative Council elections and enforcement of national law in the West Kowloon high-speed railway station raised further concerns about the region's autonomy. In June 2019, mass protests erupted in response to a proposed extradition amendment bill permitting the extradition of fugitives to mainland China. The protests are the largest in Hong Kong's history, with organisers claiming to have attracted more than three million Hong Kong residents.\n\nThe Hong Kong regional government and Chinese central government responded to the protests with a number of administrative measures to quell dissent. In June 2020, the Legislative Council passed the National Anthem Ordinance, which criminalised \"insults to the national anthem of China\". The Chinese central government meanwhile enacted the Hong Kong national security law to help quell protests in the region. Nine months later, in March 2021, the Chinese central government introduced amendments to Hong Kong's electoral system, which included the reduction of directly elected seats in the Legislative Council and the requirement that all candidates be vetted and approved by a Beijing-appointed Candidate Eligibility Review Committee.\n\nGovernment and politics \n\nHong Kong is a special administrative region of China, with executive, legislative, and judicial powers devolved from the national government. The Sino-British Joint Declaration provided for economic and administrative continuity through the transfer of sovereignty, resulting in an executive-led governing system largely inherited from the territory's history as a British colony. Under these terms and the \"one country, two systems\" principle, the Basic Law of Hong Kong is the regional constitution. The regional government is composed of three branches:\n Executive: The Chief Executive is responsible for enforcing regional law, can force reconsideration of legislation, and appoints Executive Council members and principal officials. Acting with the Executive Council, the Chief Executive-in-Council can propose new bills, issue subordinate legislation, and has authority to dissolve the legislature. In states of emergency or public danger, the Chief Executive-in-Council is further empowered to enact any regulation necessary to restore public order.\n Legislature: The unicameral Legislative Council enacts regional law, approves budgets, and has the power to impeach a sitting chief executive.\n Judiciary: The Court of Final Appeal and lower courts interpret laws and overturn those inconsistent with the Basic Law. Judges are appointed by the chief executive on the advice of a recommendation commission.\n\nThe chief executive is the head of government and serves for a maximum of two five-year terms. The State Council (led by the Premier of China) appoints the chief executive after nomination by the Election Committee, which is composed of 1,200 business, community, and government leaders.\n\nThe Legislative Council has 90 members, each serving a four-year term. Twenty are directly elected from geographical constituencies, thirty-five represent functional constituencies (FC), and forty are chosen by an election committee consisting of representatives appointed by the Chinese central government. Thirty FC councillors are selected from limited electorates representing sectors of the economy or special interest groups, and the remaining five members are nominated from sitting district council members and selected in region-wide double direct elections. All popularly elected members are chosen by proportional representation. The 30 limited electorate functional constituencies fill their seats using first-past-the-post or instant-runoff voting.\n\nTwenty-two political parties had representatives elected to the Legislative Council in the 2016 election. These parties have aligned themselves into three ideological groups: the pro-Beijing camp (the current government), the pro-democracy camp, and localist groups. The Chinese Communist Party does not have an official political presence in Hong Kong, and its members do not run in local elections. Hong Kong is represented in the National People's Congress by 36 deputies chosen through an electoral college and 203 delegates in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference appointed by the central government.\n\nChinese national law does not generally apply in the region, and Hong Kong is treated as a separate jurisdiction. Its judicial system is based on common law, continuing the legal tradition established during British rule. Local courts may refer to precedents set in English law and overseas jurisprudence. However, mainland criminal procedure law applies to cases investigated by the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the CPG in the HKSAR. Interpretative and amending power over the Basic Law and jurisdiction over acts of state lie with the central authority, making regional courts ultimately subordinate to the mainland's socialist civil law system. Decisions made by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress override any territorial judicial process. Furthermore, in circumstances where the Standing Committee declares a state of emergency in Hong Kong, the State Council may enforce national law in the region.\n\nThe territory's jurisdictional independence is most apparent in its immigration and taxation policies. The Immigration Department issues passports for permanent residents which differ from those of the mainland or Macau, and the region maintains a regulated border with the rest of the country. All travellers between Hong Kong and China and Macau must pass through border controls, regardless of nationality. Mainland Chinese citizens do not have right of abode in Hong Kong and are subject to immigration controls. Public finances are handled separately from the national government; taxes levied in Hong Kong do not fund the central authority.\n\nThe Hong Kong Garrison of the People's Liberation Army is responsible for the region's defence. Although the Chairman of the Central Military Commission is supreme commander of the armed forces, the regional government may request assistance from the garrison. Hong Kong residents are not required to perform military service, and current law has no provision for local enlistment, so its defence is composed entirely of non-Hongkongers.\n\nThe central government and Ministry of Foreign Affairs handle diplomatic matters, but Hong Kong retains the ability to maintain separate economic and cultural relations with foreign nations. The territory actively participates in the World Trade Organization, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the International Olympic Committee, and many United Nations agencies. The regional government maintains trade offices in Greater China and other nations.\n\nThe imposition of the Hong Kong national security law by the central government in Beijing in June 2020 resulted in the suspension of bilateral extradition treaties by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, and Ireland. The United States ended its preferential economic and trade treatment of Hong Kong in July 2020 because it was no longer able to distinguish Hong Kong as a separate entity from the People's Republic of China.\n\nAdministrative divisions \n\nThe territory is divided into 18 districts, each represented by a district council. These advise the government on local issues such as public facility provisioning, community programme maintenance, cultural promotion, and environmental policy. There are a total of 479 district council seats, 452 of which are directly elected. Rural committee chairmen, representing outlying villages and towns, fill the 27 non-elected seats.\n\nPolitical reforms and sociopolitical issues \n\nHong Kong is governed by a hybrid regime that is not fully representative of the population. Legislative Council members elected by functional constituencies composed of professional and special interest groups are accountable to these narrow corporate electorates and not the general public. This electoral arrangement has guaranteed a pro-establishment majority in the legislature since the transfer of sovereignty. Similarly, the chief executive is selected by establishment politicians and corporate members of the Election Committee rather than directly elected. Although universal suffrage for the chief executive and all Legislative Council elections are defined goals of Basic Law Articles 45 and 68, the legislature is only partially directly elected, and the executive continues to be nominated by an unrepresentative body. The government has been repeatedly petitioned to introduce direct elections for these positions.\n\nEthnic minorities (except those of European ancestry) have marginal representation in government and often experience discrimination in housing, education, and employment. Employment vacancies and public service appointments frequently have language requirements which minority job seekers do not meet, and language education resources remain inadequate for Chinese learners. Foreign domestic helpers, predominantly women from the Philippines and Indonesia, have little protection under regional law. Although they live and work in Hong Kong, these workers are not treated as ordinary residents and do not have the right of abode in the territory. Sex trafficking in Hong Kong is an issue. Local and foreign women and girls are often forced into prostitution in brothels, homes, and businesses in the city.\n\nThe Joint Declaration guarantees the Basic Law of Hong Kong for 50 years after the transfer of sovereignty. It does not specify how Hong Kong will be governed after 2047, and the central government's role in determining the territory's future system of government is the subject of political debate and speculation. Hong Kong's political and judicial systems may be integrated with China's at that time, or the territory may continue to be administered separately. However, in response to large-scale protests in 2019 and 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the controversial Hong Kong national security law. The law criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign elements and establishes the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the CPG in the HKSAR, an investigative office under Central People's Government authority immune from HKSAR jurisdiction. Some of the aforementioned acts were previously considered protected speech under Hong Kong law. The United Kingdom considers the law to be a serious violation of the Joint Declaration. In October 2020, Hong Kong police arrested seven pro-democracy politicians over tussles with pro-Beijing politicians in the Legislative Council in May. They were charged with contempt and interfering with members of the council, while none of the pro-Beijing lawmakers were detained. Annual commemorations of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre were also cancelled amidst fears of violating the national security law. In March 2021, the Chinese central government unilaterally changed Hong Kong's electoral system and established the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, which would be tasked with screening and evaluating political candidates for their \"patriotism\".\n\nGeography \n\nHong Kong is on China's southern coast, east of Macau, on the east side of the mouth of the Pearl River estuary. It is surrounded by the South China Sea on all sides except the north, which neighbours the Guangdong city of Shenzhen along the Sham Chun River. The territory's area (2754.97 km2 if the maritime area is included) consists of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories, Lantau Island, and over 200 other islands. Of the total area, is land and is water. The territory's highest point is Tai Mo Shan, above sea level. Urban development is concentrated on the Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong Island, and in new towns throughout the New Territories. Much of this is built on reclaimed land; (6% of the total land or about 25% of developed space in the territory) is reclaimed from the sea.\n\nUndeveloped terrain is hilly to mountainous, with very little flat land, and consists mostly of grassland, woodland, shrubland, or farmland. About 40% of the remaining land area is country parks and nature reserves. The territory has a diverse ecosystem; over 3,000 species of vascular plants occur in the region (300 of which are native to Hong Kong), and thousands of insect, avian, and marine species.\n\nClimate \nHong Kong has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa), characteristic of southern China, despite being located south of the Tropic of Cancer. Summers are long, hot and humid, with occasional showers and thunderstorms and warm air from the southwest. The humid nature of Hong Kong exacerbates the warmth of summer. Typhoons occur most often then, sometimes resulting in floods or landslides. Winters are short, mild and usually sunny at the beginning, becoming cloudy towards February. Frequent cold fronts bring strong, cooling winds from the north and occasionally result in chilly weather. Autumn is the sunniest season, whilst spring is generally cloudy. When there is snowfall, which is extremely rare, it is usually at high elevations. Hong Kong averages 1,709 hours of sunshine per year. Historic temperature extremes at the Hong Kong Observatory are on 22 August 2017 and on 18 January 1893. The highest and lowest recorded temperatures in all of Hong Kong are at Wetland Park on 22 August 2017, and at Tai Mo Shan on 24 January 2016.\n\nArchitecture \n\nHong Kong has the world's largest number of skyscrapers, with 482 towers taller than , and the third-largest number of high-rise buildings in the world. The lack of available space restricted development to high-density residential tenements and commercial complexes packed closely together on buildable land. Single-family detached homes are uncommon and generally only found in outlying areas. The International Commerce Centre and Two International Finance Centre are the tallest buildings in Hong Kong and are among the tallest in the Asia-Pacific region. Other distinctive buildings lining the Hong Kong Island skyline include the HSBC Main Building, the anemometer-topped triangular Central Plaza, the circular Hopewell Centre, and the sharp-edged Bank of China Tower.\n\nDemand for new construction has contributed to frequent demolition of older buildings, freeing space for modern high-rises. However, many examples of European and Lingnan architecture are still found throughout the territory. Older government buildings are examples of colonial architecture. The 1846 Flagstaff House, the former residence of the commanding British military officer, is the oldest Western-style building in Hong Kong. Some (including the Court of Final Appeal Building and the Hong Kong Observatory) retain their original function, and others have been adapted and reused; the Former Marine Police Headquarters was redeveloped into a commercial and retail complex, and Béthanie (built in 1875 as a sanatorium) houses the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. The Tin Hau Temple, dedicated to the sea goddess Mazu (originally built in 1012 and rebuilt in 1266), is the territory's oldest existing structure. The Ping Shan Heritage Trail has architectural examples of several imperial Chinese dynasties, including the Tsui Sing Lau Pagoda (Hong Kong's only remaining pagoda).\n\nTong lau, mixed-use tenement buildings constructed during the colonial era, blended southern Chinese architectural styles with European influences. These were especially prolific during the immediate post-war period, when many were rapidly built to house large numbers of Chinese migrants. Examples include Lui Seng Chun, the Blue House in Wan Chai, and the Shanghai Street shophouses in Mong Kok. Mass-produced public-housing estates, built since the 1960s, are mainly constructed in modernist style.\n\nDemographics \n\nThe Census and Statistics Department estimated Hong Kong's population at 7,413,070 in 2021. The overwhelming majority (91.6%) is Han Chinese, most of whom are Taishanese, Teochew, Hakka, and other Cantonese peoples. The remaining 8.4% are non-ethnic Chinese minorities, primarily Filipinos, Indonesians, and South Asians. However, most Filipinos and Indonesians in Hong Kong are short-term workers. According to a 2021 thematic report by the Hong Kong government, after excluding foreign domestic helpers, the real number of non-Chinese ethnic minorities in the city was 301,344, or 4% of Hong Kong's population. About half the population have some form of British nationality, a legacy of colonial rule; 3.4 million residents have British National (Overseas) status, and 260,000 British citizens live in the territory. The vast majority also hold Chinese nationality, automatically granted to all ethnic Chinese residents at the transfer of sovereignty. Headline population density exceeds 7,060 people/km2, and is the fourth-highest in the world.\n\nThe predominant language is Cantonese, a variety of Chinese originating in Guangdong. It is spoken by 93.7% of the population, 88.2% as a first language and 5.5% as a second language. Slightly over half the population (58.7%) speaks English, the other official language; 4.6% are native speakers, and 54.1% speak English as a second language. Code-switching, mixing English and Cantonese in informal conversation, is common among the bilingual population. Post-handover governments have promoted Mandarin, which is currently about as prevalent as English; 54.2% of the population speak Mandarin, with 2.3% native speakers and 51.9% as a second language. Traditional Chinese characters are used in writing, rather than the simplified characters used in the mainland.\n\nAmong the religious population, the traditional \"three teachings\" of China, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, have the most adherents (20%), followed by Christianity (12%) and Islam (4%). Followers of other religions, including Sikhism, Hinduism, and Judaism, generally originate from regions where their religion predominates.\n\nLife expectancy in Hong Kong was 82.38 years for males and 88.17 years for females in 2022, the highest in the world. Cancer, pneumonia, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and accidents are the territory's five leading causes of death. The universal public healthcare system is funded by general-tax revenue, and treatment is highly subsidised; on average, 95% of healthcare costs are covered by the government.\n\nThe city has a severe amount of Income inequality, which has risen since the transfer of sovereignty, as the region's ageing population has gradually added to the number of nonworking people. Although median household income steadily increased during the decade to 2016, the wage gap remained high; the 90th percentile of earners receive 41% of all income. The city has the most billionaires per capita, with one billionaire per 109,657 people, as well as the third-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world, the second-highest number of billionaires of any city in Asia, and the largest concentration of ultra high-net-worth individuals of any city in the world. Despite government efforts to reduce the growing disparity, median income for the top 10% of earners is 44 times that of the bottom 10%.\n\nEconomy \n\nOne of the world's most significant financial centres and commercial ports, Hong Kong has a market economy focused on services, characterised by low taxation, minimal government market intervention, and an established international financial market. It is the world's 35th-largest economy, with a nominal GDP of approximately US$373 billion. Hong Kong's economy ranked at the top of the Heritage Foundation's economic freedom index between 1995 and 2021. However, Hong Kong was removed from the index by the Heritage Foundation in 2021, with the Foundation citing a \"loss of political freedom and autonomy... [making Hong Kong] almost indistinguishable in many respects from other major Chinese commercial centers like Shanghai and Beijing\". Hong Kong is highly developed, and ranks fourth on the UN Human Development Index. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is the seventh-largest in the world, with a market capitalisation of HK$30.4 trillion (US$3.87 trillion) . Hong Kong is ranked as the 14th most innovative territory in the Global Innovation Index in 2022, and 3rd in the Global Financial Centres Index. The city is sometimes referred to as \"Silicon Harbor\", a nickname derived from Silicon Valley in California. Hong Kong hosts several high tech and innovation companies, including several multinational companies.\n\nHong Kong is the ninth- and eight-largest trading entity in exports and imports respectively (2021), trading more goods in value than its gross domestic product. Over half of its cargo throughput consists of transshipments (goods travelling through Hong Kong). Products from mainland China account for about 40% of that traffic. The city's location allowed it to establish a transportation and logistics infrastructure which includes the world's seventh-busiest container port and the busiest airport for international cargo. The territory's largest export markets are mainland China and the United States. Hong Kong is a key part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It has little arable land and few natural resources, importing most of its food and raw materials. More than 90% of Hong Kong's food is imported, including nearly all of its meat and rice. Agricultural activity is 0.1% of GDP and consists of growing premium food and flower varieties.\n\nAlthough the territory had one of Asia's largest manufacturing economies during the latter half of the colonial era, Hong Kong's economy is now dominated by the service sector. The sector generates 92.7% of economic output, with the public sector accounting for about 10%. Between 1961 and 1997 Hong Kong's gross domestic product increased by a factor of 180, and per capita GDP increased by a factor of 87. The territory's GDP relative to mainland China's peaked at 27% in 1993; it fell to less than 3% in 2017, as the mainland developed and liberalised its economy. Economic and infrastructure integration with China has increased significantly since the 1978 start of market liberalisation on the mainland. Since resumption of cross-boundary train service in 1979, many rail and road links have been improved and constructed, facilitating trade between regions. The Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement formalised a policy of free trade between the two areas, with each jurisdiction pledging to remove remaining obstacles to trade and cross-boundary investment. A similar economic partnership with Macau details the liberalisation of trade between the special administrative regions. Chinese companies have expanded their economic presence in the territory since the transfer of sovereignty. Mainland firms represent over half of the Hang Seng Index value, up from 5% in 1997.\n\nAs the mainland liberalised its economy, Hong Kong's shipping industry faced intense competition from other Chinese ports. Half of China's trade goods were routed through Hong Kong in 1997, dropping to about 13% by 2015. The territory's minimal taxation, common law system, and civil service attract overseas corporations wishing to establish a presence in Asia. The city has the second-highest number of corporate headquarters in the Asia-Pacific region. Hong Kong is a gateway for foreign direct investment in China, giving investors open access to mainland Chinese markets through direct links with the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The territory was the first market outside mainland China for renminbi-denominated bonds, and is one of the largest hubs for offshore renminbi trading. In November 2020, Hong Kong's Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau proposed a new law that will restrict cryptocurrency trading to professional investors only, leaving amateur traders (93% of Hong Kong's trading population) out of the market. The Hong Kong dollar, the local currency, is the eighth most traded currency in the world. Due to extremely compact house sizes and the extremely high housing density, the city has the most expensive housing market in the world.\n\nThe government has had a passive role in the economy. Colonial governments had little industrial policy and implemented almost no trade controls. Under the doctrine of \"positive non-interventionism\", post-war administrations deliberately avoided the direct allocation of resources; active intervention was considered detrimental to economic growth. While the economy transitioned to a service basis during the 1980s, late colonial governments introduced interventionist policies. Post-handover administrations continued and expanded these programmes, including export-credit guarantees, a compulsory pension scheme, a minimum wage, anti-discrimination laws, and a state mortgage backer.\n\nTourism is a major part of the economy, accounting for 5% of GDP. In 2016, 26.6 million visitors contributed HK$258 billion (US$32.9 billion) to the territory, making Hong Kong the 14th most popular destination for international tourists. It is the most popular Chinese city for tourists, receiving over 70% more visitors than its closest competitor (Macau). The city is ranked as one of the most expensive cities for expatriates. However, since 2020, there has been a sharp decline in incoming visitors due to tight COVID-19 travel restrictions. Additionally, due to the closure of Russian airspace in 2022, multiple airlines decided to cease their operations in Hong Kong. In an attempt to attract tourists back to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government announced plans to give away 500,000 free airline tickets in 2023.\n\nInfrastructure\n\nTransport \n\nHong Kong has a highly developed, sophisticated transport network. Over 90% of daily trips are made on public transport, the highest percentage in the world. The Octopus card, a contactless smart payment card, is widely accepted on railways, buses and ferries, and can be used for payment in most retail stores.\n\nThe Peak Tram, Hong Kong's first public transport system, has provided funicular rail transport between Central and Victoria Peak since 1888. The Central and Western District has an extensive system of escalators and moving pavements, including the Mid-Levels escalator (the world's longest outdoor covered escalator system). Hong Kong Tramways covers a portion of Hong Kong Island. The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is an extensive passenger rail network, connecting 93 metro stations throughout the territory. With a daily ridership of almost five million, the system serves 41% of all public transit passengers in the city and has an on-time rate of 99.9%. Cross-boundary train service to Shenzhen is offered by the East Rail line, and longer-distance inter-city trains to Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing are operated from Hung Hom station. Connecting service to the national high-speed rail system is provided at West Kowloon railway station.\n\nAlthough public transport systems handle most passenger traffic, there are over 500,000 private vehicles registered in Hong Kong. Automobiles drive on the left (unlike in mainland China), because of historical influence of the British Empire. Vehicle traffic is extremely congested in urban areas, exacerbated by limited space to expand roads and an increasing number of vehicles. More than 18,000 taxicabs, easily identifiable by their bright colour, are licensed to carry riders in the territory. Bus services operate more than 700 routes across the territory, with smaller public light buses (also known as minibuses) serving areas standard buses do not reach as frequently or directly. Highways, organised with the Hong Kong Strategic Route and Exit Number System, connect all major areas of the territory. The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge provides a direct route to the western side of the Pearl River estuary.\n\nHong Kong International Airport is the territory's primary airport. Over 100 airlines operate flights from the airport, including locally based Cathay Pacific (flag carrier), Hong Kong Airlines, low-cost airline HK Express and cargo airline Air Hong Kong. It is the eighth-busiest airport by passenger traffic pre-COVID and handles the most air-cargo traffic in the world. Most private recreational aviation traffic flies through Shek Kong Airfield, under the supervision of the Hong Kong Aviation Club.\n\nThe Star Ferry operates two lines across Victoria Harbour for its 53,000 daily passengers. Ferries also serve outlying islands inaccessible by other means. Smaller kai-to boats serve the most remote coastal settlements. Ferry travel to Macau and mainland China is also available. Junks, once common in Hong Kong waters, are no longer widely available and are used privately and for tourism.\nThe large size of the port gives Hong Kong the classification of Large-Port Metropolis.\n\nUtilities \n\nHong Kong generates most of its electricity locally. The vast majority of this energy comes from fossil fuels, with 46% from coal and 47% from petroleum. The rest is from other imports, including nuclear energy generated in mainland China. Renewable sources account for a negligible amount of energy generated for the territory. Small-scale wind-power sources have been developed, and a small number of private homes and public buildings have installed solar panels.\n\nWith few natural lakes and rivers, high population density, inaccessible groundwater sources, and extremely seasonal rainfall, the territory does not have a reliable source of freshwater. The Dongjiang River in Guangdong supplies 70% of the city's water, and the remaining demand is filled by harvesting rainwater. Toilets in most built-up areas of the territory flush with seawater, greatly reducing freshwater use.\n\nBroadband Internet access is widely available, with 92.6% of households connected. Connections over fibre-optic infrastructure are increasingly prevalent, contributing to the high regional average connection speed of 21.9 Mbit/s (the world's fourth-fastest). Mobile-phone use is ubiquitous; there are more than 18 million mobile-phone accounts, more than double the territory's population.\n\nCulture \n\nHong Kong is characterised as a hybrid of East and West. Traditional Chinese values emphasising family and education blend with Western ideals, including economic liberty and the rule of law. Although the vast majority of the population is ethnically Chinese, Hong Kong has developed a distinct identity. The territory diverged from the mainland through its long period of colonial administration and a different pace of economic, social, and cultural development. Mainstream culture is derived from immigrants originating from various parts of China. This was influenced by British-style education, a separate political system, and the territory's rapid development during the late 20th century. Most migrants of that era fled poverty and war, reflected in the prevailing attitude toward wealth; Hongkongers tend to link self-image and decision-making to material benefits. Residents' sense of local identity has markedly increased post-handover: The majority of the population (52%) identifies as \"Hongkongers\", while 11% describe themselves as \"Chinese\". The remaining population purport mixed identities, 23% as \"Hongkonger in China\" and 12% as \"Chinese in Hong Kong\".\n\nTraditional Chinese family values, including family honour, filial piety, and a preference for sons, are prevalent. Nuclear families are the most common households, although multi-generational and extended families are not unusual. Spiritual concepts such as feng shui are observed; large-scale construction projects often hire consultants to ensure proper building positioning and layout. The degree of its adherence to feng shui is believed to determine the success of a business. Bagua mirrors are regularly used to deflect evil spirits, and buildings often lack floor numbers with a 4; the number has a similar sound to the word for \"die\" in Cantonese.\n\nCuisine \n\nFood in Hong Kong is primarily based on Cantonese cuisine, despite the territory's exposure to foreign influences and its residents' varied origins. Rice is the staple food, and is usually served plain with other dishes. Freshness of ingredients is emphasised. Poultry and seafood are commonly sold live at wet markets, and ingredients are used as quickly as possible. There are five daily meals: breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and siu yeh. Dim sum, as part of yum cha (brunch), is a dining-out tradition with family and friends. Dishes include congee, cha siu bao, siu yuk, egg tarts, and mango pudding. Local versions of Western food are served at cha chaan teng (Hong Kong-style cafes). Common cha chaan teng menu items include macaroni in soup, deep-fried French toast, and Hong Kong-style milk tea.\n\nCinema \n\nHong Kong developed into a filmmaking hub during the late 1940s as a wave of Shanghai filmmakers migrated to the territory, and these movie veterans helped build the colony's entertainment industry over the next decade. By the 1960s, the city was well known to overseas audiences through films such as The World of Suzie Wong. When Bruce Lee's The Way of the Dragon was released in 1972, local productions became popular outside Hong Kong. During the 1980s, films such as A Better Tomorrow, As Tears Go By, and Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain expanded global interest beyond martial arts films; locally made gangster films, romantic dramas, and supernatural fantasies became popular. Hong Kong cinema continued to be internationally successful over the following decade with critically acclaimed dramas such as Farewell My Concubine, To Live, and Chungking Express. The city's martial arts film roots are evident in the roles of the most prolific Hong Kong actors. Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, and Michelle Yeoh frequently play action-oriented roles in foreign films. Hong Kong films have also grown popular in oversea markets such as Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, earning the city the moniker \"Hollywood of the East\". At the height of the local movie industry in the early 1990s, over 400 films were produced each year; since then, industry momentum shifted to mainland China. The number of films produced annually has declined to about 60 in 2017.\n\nMusic \n\nCantopop is a genre of Cantonese popular music which emerged in Hong Kong during the 1970s. Evolving from Shanghai-style shidaiqu, it is also influenced by Cantonese opera and Western pop. Local media featured songs by artists such as Sam Hui, Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, and Alan Tam; during the 1980s, exported films and shows exposed Cantopop to a global audience. The genre's popularity peaked in the 1990s, when the Four Heavenly Kings dominated Asian record charts. Despite a general decline since late in the decade, Cantopop remains dominant in Hong Kong; contemporary artists such as Eason Chan, Joey Yung, and Twins are popular in and beyond the territory.\n\nWestern classical music has historically had a strong presence in Hong Kong and remains a large part of local musical education. The publicly funded Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the territory's oldest professional symphony orchestra, frequently hosts musicians and conductors from overseas. The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, composed of classical Chinese instruments, is the leading Chinese ensemble and plays a significant role in promoting traditional music in the community.\n\nHong Kong has never had a separate national anthem to the country that controlled it; its current official national anthem is therefore that of China, March of the Volunteers. The song Glory to Hong Kong has been used by protestors as an unofficial national anthem.\n\nSport and recreation \n\nDespite its small area, the territory is home to a variety of sports and recreational facilities. The city has hosted numerous major sporting events, including the 2009 East Asian Games, the 2008 Summer Olympics equestrian events, and the 2007 Premier League Asia Trophy. The territory regularly hosts the Hong Kong Sevens, Hong Kong Marathon, Hong Kong Tennis Classic and Lunar New Year Cup, and hosted the inaugural AFC Asian Cup and the 1995 Dynasty Cup.\n\nHong Kong represents itself separately from mainland China, with its own sports teams in international competitions. The territory has participated in almost every Summer Olympics since 1952 and has earned nine medals. Lee Lai-shan won the territory's first Olympic gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and Cheung Ka Long won the second one in Tokyo 2020. Hong Kong athletes have won 126 medals at the Paralympic Games and 17 at the Commonwealth Games. No longer part of the Commonwealth of Nations, the city's last appearance in the latter was in 1994.\n\nDragon boat races originated as a religious ceremony conducted during the annual Tuen Ng Festival. The race was revived as a modern sport as part of the Tourism Board's efforts to promote Hong Kong's image abroad. The first modern competition was organised in 1976, and overseas teams began competing in the first international race in 1993.\n\nThe Hong Kong Jockey Club, the territory's largest taxpayer, has a monopoly on gambling and provides over 7% of government revenue. Three forms of gambling are legal in Hong Kong: lotteries, horse racing, and football.\n\nEducation \n\nEducation in Hong Kong is largely modelled after that of the United Kingdom, particularly the English system. Children are required to attend school from age 6 until completion of secondary education, generally at age 18. At the end of secondary schooling, all students take a public examination and awarded the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education on successful completion. Of residents aged 15 and older, 81% completed lower-secondary education, 66% graduated from an upper secondary school, 32% attended a non-degree tertiary program, and 24% earned a bachelor's degree or higher. Mandatory education has contributed to an adult literacy rate of 95.7%. The literacy rate is lower than that of other developed economies because of the influx of refugees from mainland China during the post-war colonial era; much of the elderly population were not formally educated because of war and poverty.\n\nComprehensive schools fall under three categories: public schools, which are government-run; subsidised schools, including government aid-and-grant schools; and private schools, often those run by religious organisations and that base admissions on academic merit. These schools are subject to the curriculum guidelines as provided by the Education Bureau. Private schools subsidised under the Direct Subsidy Scheme; international schools fall outside of this system and may elect to use differing curricula and teach using other languages.\n\nMedium of instruction \nAt primary and secondary school levels, the government maintains a policy of \"mother tongue instruction\"; most schools use Cantonese as the medium of instruction, with written education in both Chinese and English. Other languages being used as medium of instruction in non-international school education include English and Putonghua (Standard Mandarin Chinese). Secondary schools emphasise \"bi-literacy and tri-lingualism\", which has encouraged the proliferation of spoken Mandarin language education.\n\nEnglish is the official medium of instruction and assessments for most university programmes in Hong Kong, although use of Cantonese is predominant in informal discussions among local students and professors.\n\nTertiary education \nHong Kong has eleven universities. The University of Hong Kong (HKU) was founded as the city's first institute of higher education during the early colonial period in 1911. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) was established in 1963 to fill the need for a university that taught using Chinese as its primary language of instruction. Along with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) established in 1991, these universities are consistently ranked among the top 50 or top 100 universities worldwide. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and City University of Hong Kong (CityU), both granted university status in 1994, are consistently ranked among the top 100 or top 200 universities worldwide. The Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) was granted university status in 1994 and is a liberal arts institution. Lingnan University, Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Metropolitan University (formerly Open University of Hong Kong), Hong Kong Shue Yan University and Hang Seng University of Hong Kong all attained full university status in subsequent years.\n\nMedia \n\nMost of the newsapapers in Hong Kong are written in Chinese but there are also a few English-language newspapers. The major one is the South China Morning Post, with The Standard serving as a business-oriented alternative. A variety of Chinese-language newspapers are published daily; the most prominent are Ming Pao and Oriental Daily News. Local publications are often politically affiliated, with pro-Beijing or pro-democracy sympathies. The central government has a print-media presence in the territory through the state-owned Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po. Several international publications have regional operations in Hong Kong, including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The New York Times International Edition, USA Today, Yomiuri Shimbun, and The Nikkei.\n\nThree free-to-air television broadcasters operate in the territory; TVB, HKTVE, and Hong Kong Open TV air eight digital channels. TVB, Hong Kong's dominant television network, has an 80% viewer share. Pay TV services operated by Cable TV Hong Kong and PCCW offer hundreds of additional channels and cater to a variety of audiences. RTHK is the public broadcaster, providing seven radio channels and three television channels. Ten non-domestic broadcasters air programming for the territory's foreign population. Access to media and information over the Internet is not subject to mainland Chinese regulations, including the Great Firewall, yet local control applies.\n\nSee also \n\n Index of articles related to Hong Kong\n Outline of Hong Kong\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nCitations\n\nSources\n\nPrint \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Wasserstrom, Jeffrey. Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink (2020) Online review\n\nLegislation and case law\n\nAcademic publications\n\nInstitutional reports\n\nNews and magazine articles\n\nWebsites\n\nExternal links \n\n Hong Kong. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.\n Hong Kong from BBC News\n Key Development Forecasts for Hong Kong from International Futures\n Hong Kong in Transition (1995–2020), an open access photographic archive of recent Hong Kong history\nGovernment\n GovHK Hong Kong SAR government portal\n Discover Hong Kong Official site of the tourism board\nTrade\n World Bank Summary Trade Statistics Hong Kong\nMaps\n \n \n\n \nCategory:People's Republic of China\nCategory:1842 establishments in Asia\nCategory:Chinese-speaking countries and territories\nCategory:English-speaking countries and territories\nCategory:Metropolitan areas of China\nCategory:Pearl River Delta\nCategory:Populated coastal places in Hong Kong\nCategory:Populated places established in 1842\nCategory:Port cities and towns in China\nCategory:South China Sea\nCategory:Special administrative regions of China\nCategory:States and territories established in 1997\nCategory:Former Japanese colonies\nCategory:Former British colonies and protectorates in Asia",
"title": "Hong Kong"
}
] | [
"No, women did not have equal roles when it came to careers in Hong Kong. They have had to fight for work rights and face obstacles in the workplace such as gender stereotypes and a preference for male supervisors. They are under-represented in senior management roles, corporate boards, and politics.",
"The text does not provide specific information on the number of women trying to attain careers in the early 1920s.",
"Women in Hong Kong face several career obstacles including the need to sacrifice more than men for career success, a general preference for male supervisors, societal stereotypes and norms, under-representation in senior management roles, corporate boards, and politics, and a perceived threat to men's career prospects due to rising status of women.",
"The text does not provide specific information about the status of women in the workforce in Hong Kong in the 2000s.",
"The text notes some interesting percentages from surveys, such as 72.1% of females agreeing that an increasing number of successful women is positive for society, but only 59.6% of men sharing this view. It also highlights that while women make up 54% of the labor force, they only hold 11% of director roles and 33% of senior management positions. Additionally, they are under-represented in politics with only 12 out of 70 elected legislative council members being women.\n",
"Yes, women do hold political roles in Hong Kong, but they are under-represented. In the legislative council, there are only 12 female members out of 70 elected members.",
"The text does not provide specific information on whether any females hold an important political role in Hong Kong.",
"The text does not provide specific information on how female political figures are viewed in Hong Kong."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No"
] |
C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_1 | Roberto Orci | Orci was born in Mexico City on July 20, 1973, to a Mexican father and a Cuban mother. His mother immigrated to the United States with her parents after Fidel Castro came to power. Orci grew up in Mexico, and moved with his family to the United States at the age of 10. He was raised in Texas, Los Angeles and Canada. | Television and film screenwriting | Orci and Kurtzman began their writing collaboration on the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, after being hired by Sam Raimi. After actor Kevin Sorbo suffered a stroke, the duo were required to come up with inventive ideas to minimize his appearances on screen. Due to this work, they became show runners at the age of 24. They were also involved in the sister-series to Hercules, Xena: Warrior Princess. They sought to move to writing for a network-based television series, but found this difficult. After receiving a series of negative responses, they met with J. J. Abrams who was starting work on Alias at the time. The meeting went well, and resulted in them working on the series. They would go on to work together again on the Fox science fiction series Fringe where all three were listed as co-creators. Orci and Kurtzman received their break in writing for films in 2004, with the Michael Bay film The Island, for which they developed the spec script by Caspian Tredwell-Owen. When Kurtzman and Orci first met Bay, he asked the pair "Why should I trust you?", to which Orci replied "You shouldn't yet. Let's see what happens." While the film was not an overwhelming success, they were brought back for Bay's following film, Transformers, after producer Steven Spielberg asked them to come in for a meeting. The movie took in $710 million at the box office. Following their work on that film, the duo were brought in to revise the script for Zack Snyder's Watchmen, in an uncredited capacity. They worked once more with Abrams, on Mission: Impossible III. When they collaborated once more with Bay for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, they were under significant time pressures due to the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike. Kurtzman and Orci had two weeks to outline the film, and after the strike Bay had them moved into the Hotel Casa del Mar. The hotel was six blocks away from his office, enabling Bay to conduct surprise inspections. In the period between 2005 and 2011, the films written by Kurtzman and Orci grossed more than $3 billion, leading to Forbes describing them as "Hollywood's secret weapons". The busyness of their screenwriting careers required them to collaborate with other writers due to the number of projects they were involved in. For example, on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, they teamed up with Ehren Kruger, who took over from them on the writing duties for the Transfomers franchise from Transformers: Dark of the Moon onwards. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_1_q#0",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_1_q#1",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_1_q#2",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_1_q#3",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_1_q#4",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_1_q#5",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_1_q#6",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_1_q#7",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_1_q#8"
] | [
"What was the first screenplay he was involved in?",
"What happened during Hercules?",
"Did they pull it off?",
"What did they do next?",
"What did they do on Xena?",
"What project were they involved in next?",
"Did they work on Alias?",
"How did things go for them on Alias?",
"What project came after Alias?"
] | [
0,
0,
1,
0,
1,
0,
0,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
143
],
[
279
],
[
340
],
[
2503
],
[
518
],
[
637
],
[
2503
],
[
704
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Orci and Kurtzman began their writing collaboration on the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, after being hired by Sam Raimi."
],
[
"After actor Kevin Sorbo suffered a stroke, the duo were required to come up with inventive ideas to minimize his appearances on screen."
],
[
"Due to this work, they became show runners at the age of 24."
],
[
"They were also involved in the sister-series to Hercules, Xena: Warrior Princess."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"After receiving a series of negative responses, they met with J. J. Abrams who was starting work on Alias at the time."
],
[
"The meeting went well, and resulted in them working on the series."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"They would go on to work together again on the Fox science fiction series Fringe where all three were listed as co-creators."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
143,
279,
340,
2503,
518,
637,
2503,
704
],
"texts": [
"Orci and Kurtzman began their writing collaboration on the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, after being hired by Sam Raimi.",
"After actor Kevin Sorbo suffered a stroke, the duo were required to come up with inventive ideas to minimize his appearances on screen.",
"Due to this work, they became show runners at the age of 24.",
"They were also involved in the sister-series to Hercules, Xena: Warrior Princess.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"After receiving a series of negative responses, they met with J. J. Abrams who was starting work on Alias at the time.",
"The meeting went well, and resulted in them working on the series.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"They would go on to work together again on the Fox science fiction series Fringe where all three were listed as co-creators."
]
} | Roberto Gaston Orcí (born July 20, 1973) is a Mexican-American film and television screenwriter and producer. He began his longtime collaboration with Alex Kurtzman while at school in California. Together they have been employed on television series such as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. In 2008, together with J. J. Abrams, they created Fringe. In 2013, they created Sleepy Hollow alongside Phillip Iscove. Orci and Kurtzman's first film project was Michael Bay's The Island, and due to that partnership they went on to write the scripts for the first two films of the Transformers film series. Orci first became a film producer with 2008's Eagle Eye and again with 2009's The Proposal.
He and Kurtzman since returned to working with Abrams on Mission: Impossible III and both Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness. Between 2005 and 2011, Kurtzman and Orci's film projects took revenues of more than $3 billion. In April 2014, Orci and Kurtzman announced that they would only collaborate in television projects, and Orci worked on the third Star Trek film, Star Trek Beyond, until being replaced the following December. Orci created the television series Matador for the El Rey Network, but after this was initially renewed, it was cancelled at the end of the first season. Both Kurtzman and Orci continue to work as producers on the television series Limitless and Scorpion. Orci was awarded the Norman Lear Writer's Award and the Raul Julia Award for Excellence, in addition to shared awards and nominations including The George Pal Memorial Award.
Early life
Orci was born in Mexico City on July 20, 1973, to a Mexican father and a Cuban mother. Orci grew up in Mexico, and moved with his family to the United States at the age of 10. He was raised in Texas, Los Angeles and Canada.
He met his longtime friend and collaborator Alex Kurtzman when both were 17-year-old students at Crossroads, a privately funded school in Santa Monica, California. The first time they came across each other was in a film class, where they discovered each other's love for films and in particular the Steven Soderbergh film Sex, Lies, and Videotape. The duo found that they had a number of things in common, as Kurtzman had previously lived in Mexico City and the two could relate. Orci later called him an "honorary Hispanic". Orci went on to attend the University of Texas at Austin. The duo got together once again, and began to write scripts. These included one called Misfortune Cookies which Orci described as "loosely autobiographical", and Last Kiss, which Kurtzman said was their version of The Breakfast Club but was set in a lunatic asylum.
Career
Television and film screenwriting
Orci and Kurtzman began their writing collaboration on the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, after being hired by Sam Raimi. After actor Kevin Sorbo suffered a stroke, the duo were required to come up with inventive ideas to minimize his appearances on screen. Due to this work, they became show runners at the age of 24. They were also involved in the sister-series to Hercules, Xena: Warrior Princess. They sought to move to writing for a network-based television series, but found this difficult. After receiving a series of negative responses, they met with J. J. Abrams who was starting work on Alias at the time. The meeting went well, and resulted in them working on the series. They would go on to work together again on the Fox science fiction series Fringe where all three were listed as co-creators.
Orci and Kurtzman received their break in writing for films in 2004, with the Michael Bay film The Island, for which they developed the spec script by Caspian Tredwell-Owen. When Kurtzman and Orci first met Bay, he asked the pair "Why should I trust you?", to which Orci replied "You shouldn't yet. Let's see what happens." While the film was not an overwhelming success, they were brought back for Bay's following film, Transformers, after producer Steven Spielberg asked them to come in for a meeting. The movie took in $710 million at the box office.
Following their work on that film, the duo were brought in to revise the script for Zack Snyder's Watchmen, in an uncredited capacity. They worked once more with Abrams, on Mission: Impossible III. When they collaborated once more with Bay for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, they were under significant time pressures due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. Kurtzman and Orci had two weeks to outline the film, and after the strike Bay had them moved into the Hotel Casa del Mar. The hotel was six blocks away from his office, enabling Bay to conduct surprise inspections.
In the period between 2005 and 2011, the films written by Kurtzman and Orci grossed more than $3 billion, leading to Forbes describing them as "Hollywood's secret weapons". The busyness of their screenwriting careers required them to collaborate with other writers due to the number of projects they were involved in. For example, on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, they teamed up with Ehren Kruger, who took over from them on the writing duties for the Transfomers franchise from Transformers: Dark of the Moon onwards.
Becoming a producer
Orci's first credit solely as a producer came with the film Eagle Eye, where he worked once again alongside Kurtzman. He said in an interview with the magazine Extra that he had previously been involved in productions where the producers had writing backgrounds and had looked to them for help, and he was happy to provide that same support to the writers on Eagle Eye. The director of the film, D. J. Caruso, praised the duo saying that "What's unusually cool about them is that they have maintained the producer-writer power that they earned in television and carried that over into the feature film area, and that is extremely rare." Following their work on Eagle Eye, they were executive producers on the Sandra Bullock film, The Proposal.
Despite their film careers, Orci and Kurtzman continued to create television series. These included Sleepy Hollow, which they developed alongside Phillip Iscove. They pitched the series to a number of networks, and it was picked up by Fox. Orci took five years to bring the series Matador to television, with it originating from a conversation with his cousin Andrew. It was created for Robert Rodriguez's El Rey Network, and Rodriguez's one demand of the show was that he could direct the pilot episode. Orci later explained in an interview that it was an easy decision, and he needed to pretend to consider it.
Orci and Kurtzman also worked together as executive producers on the animated television series, Transformers: Prime, due to their involvement with the live action movies. Following the end of the series they were hopeful to be involved in a future animated series based on the premise, which Orci saw less like a reboot of the show and more of a continuation in a different guise. He felt that while Prime was sophisticated, there were concerns that it was leaving younger viewers behind because of its complexity and intensity.
Star Trek reboot
Orci and Kurtzman were asked to write the script for a new Star Trek film, but initially turned it down despite Orci being a fan of the series. Orci suggested rebooting the timeline as seen previously in the films and television series, and adding the return of Leonard Nimoy as Spock from Star Trek: The Original Series. He considered the first two films in the reboot series to be the origin story for the crew, and that the third film would start where the crew was at the beginning of Star Trek: The Original Series. Orci felt that the relationship between the James T. Kirk and the younger Spock was reflective of the partnership of himself and Kurtzman, he said that "We didn't even realize we were writing about ourselves until we were halfway through the script, that was a little embarrassing.
Star Trek was profitable at the domestic box-office, resulting in a sequel being greenlit by the studio and Kurtzman and Orci being asked to write it. The studio set aside a larger budget for the sequel, which was revealed by Orci in an interview with TrekMovie.com. Orci ruled out the "hero quitting" staple of a second movie, which had featured in the Transformers sequel, saying that the crew of the Enterprise were committed and that type of story does not have to apply to all sequels. During the buildup to the film, called Star Trek Into Darkness, Orci was one of the production team who did not give much away about the villain in the film and denied that Benedict Cumberbatch was to play Khan Noonian Singh.
Breakup of the partnership
In April 2014, Orci and Kurtzman confirmed to Variety that they are no longer going to work together on film projects but will still collaborate on television. Kurtzman wanted to work on the Spider-Man film franchise, while Orci was linked to the directorial role for Star Trek 3. Orci confirmed later that year in July that he was not involved in the production of The Amazing Spider-Man 3 alongside Kurtzman. Orci and Kurtzman's K/O Paper Products continues to operate as a production company within CBS Television Studios, and has created the series Scorpion inspired by the life of Walter O'Brien for the 2014-15 season and Limitless was created for the 2015-16 season from the 2011 film.
Prior to the split of Kurtzman and Orci, the duo were lined up to write the third film in the new Star Trek series. In May 2014, Skydance and Paramount Pictures announced that Orci was to direct the third installment of the Star Trek reboot franchise, after Abrams moved on to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This would have marked Orci's directorial debut, and he was to write the script alongside co-writers JD Payne and Patrick McKay. Due to his commitment to Star Trek 3, he dropped out of a new Power Rangers film, for which he would have been executive producer. But on December 5, it was announced he would no longer be directing the Star Trek film. He remains credited as a producer on the film, and was replaced by Doug Jung and cast member Simon Pegg as the script writers after Orci's initial script was dropped. Orci was replaced as director by Justin Lin, who had previously directed films in The Fast and the Furious franchise.
Orci created Matador with the idea that the main character would be a "soccer player by day who is a spy by night", and called him a "Latin James Bond". The series was broadcast on the El Rey Network created by Robert Rodriguez. It was renewed for a second season shortly before the pilot was broadcast, which had been directed by Rodriguez. But following the production of the first season, the series was cancelled despite the earlier renewal. This decision was blamed on poor international sales.
In March 2020, it was reported that Roberto Orci was hired by Sony to write a script for an untitled Marvel film that would be set in Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters
Personal life
Orci married actress and screenwriter Adele Heather Taylor on June 6, 2020 in a private ceremony. They work together as screenwriters and producers.
Awards and accolades
The Hollywood Reporter listed Orci as one of the 50 most powerful Latinos in Hollywood of 2007. His first solo accolade was the Norman Lear Writer's Award at the Imagen Awards in 2009. He described the experience of receiving an award without Kurtzman as "bizarre". Orci has also been awarded the Raul Julia Award for Excellence by the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts. Together with Kurtzman, Orci won The George Pal Memorial Award at the 2010 Saturn Awards.
Orci and Kurtzman were both honored by the nonprofit organization Chrysalis at the Butterfly Ball on June 8, 2013. The organization raises money for homeless people and low-income families, Orci said that "When you hear the life stories from people right here in our own community, who are clients at Chrysalis, and when you come to learn of their lowest moments and how Chrysalis has led to their proudest triumphs, it's easy to see why this local organization is so impactful."
In 2017, Orci was the recipient of the "Visionary Impact Award" by the National Hispanic Media Coalition. This award is given out by the organization for "Latinos making outstanding contributions to the positive portrayals of Latinos in film and TV".
Filmography
Films
Television credits
References
External links
Category:1973 births
Category:Living people
Category:Mexican emigrants to the United States
Category:American people of Cuban descent
Category:Television producers from California
Category:American television writers
Category:American male television writers
Category:Mexican people of Cuban descent
Category:Mexican screenwriters
Category:Writers from Mexico City
Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni
Category:Showrunners
Category:Crossroads School alumni
Category:Screenwriters from California
Category:20th-century American screenwriters
Category:20th-century American male writers | [] | [
"The first screenplay Orci and Kurtzman were involved in was for the Michael Bay film The Island in 2004.",
"During the production of the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, actor Kevin Sorbo suffered a stroke. This required Orci and Kurtzman, who were writers on the show, to come up with creative ideas to minimize his appearances on screen. Their work led to them becoming show runners at the age of 24.",
"The context does not provide specific information on whether Orci and Kurtzman successfully minimized Kevin Sorbo's appearances on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys after his stroke. However, it does mention that they became show runners at the age of 24, implying that they managed to handle the situation effectively.",
"After working on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and its sister-series, Xena: Warrior Princess, Orci and Kurtzman sought to move to writing for a network-based television series. However, after a series of rejections, they ended up meeting with J. J. Abrams and worked on his series Alias. They continued working with Abrams on the Fox science fiction series Fringe, where all three were listed as co-creators. Orci and Kurtzman broke into film writing in 2004 with the Michael Bay film The Island.",
"The context does not provide specific details about what Orci and Kurtzman did on the television series Xena: Warrior Princess. It only mentions that they were involved in the series.",
"After working on the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and its sister-series, Xena: Warrior Princess, Orci and Kurtzman ended up meeting with J. J. Abrams and worked on his series Alias. This was the next project they were involved in.",
"Yes, after meeting with J. J. Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman worked on the television series Alias.",
"The text does not provide specific details about how things went for Orci and Kurtzman on the television series Alias. However, it mentions that their meeting with J. J. Abrams went well and resulted in them working on the series.",
"After working on Alias, Orci and Kurtzman went on to work on the Fox science fiction series Fringe where all three, including J. J. Abrams, were listed as co-creators. They also worked on the film The Island in 2004."
] | [
"No",
"Yes",
"Neutral",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_0 | Roberto Orci | Orci was born in Mexico City on July 20, 1973, to a Mexican father and a Cuban mother. His mother immigrated to the United States with her parents after Fidel Castro came to power. Orci grew up in Mexico, and moved with his family to the United States at the age of 10. He was raised in Texas, Los Angeles and Canada. | Becoming a producer | Orci's first credit solely as a producer came with the film Eagle Eye, where he worked once again alongside Kurtzman. He said in an interview with the magazine Extra that he had previously been involved in productions where the producers had writing backgrounds and had looked to them for help, and he was happy to provide that same support to the writers on Eagle Eye. The director of the film, D. J. Caruso, praised the duo saying that "What's unusually cool about them is that they have maintained the producer-writer power that they earned in television and carried that over into the feature film area, and that is extremely rare." Following their work on Eagle Eye, they were executive producers on the Sandra Bullock film, The Proposal. Despite their film careers, Orci and Kurtzman continued to create television series. These included Sleepy Hollow, which they developed alongside Phillip Iscove. They pitched the series to a number of networks, and it was picked up by Fox. Orci took five years to bring the series Matador to television, with it originating from a conversation with his cousin Andrew. It was created for Robert Rodriguez's El Rey Network, and Rodriguez's one demand of the show was that he could direct the pilot episode. Orci later explained in an interview that it was an easy decision, and he needed to pretend to consider it. Orci and Kurtzman also worked together as executive producers on the animated television series, Transformers: Prime, due to their involvement with the live action movies. Following the end of the series they were hopeful to be involved in a future animated series based on the premise, which Orci saw less like a reboot of the show and more of a continuation in a different guise. He felt that while Prime was sophisticated, there were concerns that it was leaving younger viewers behind because of its complexity and intensity. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_0_q#0",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_0_q#1",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_0_q#2",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_0_q#3",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_0_q#4",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_0_q#5",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_0_q#6",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_0_q#7",
"C_28d6b4df2df24baa984a1ea2e224f44f_0_q#8"
] | [
"When did Orci become a producer",
"Was it a success",
"what did the producer-power do",
"What year was that",
"What happened during the production of the proposal",
"What else did he work on",
"what happened in sleepy hollow",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"why did it take 5 years"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
1,
1,
0,
1,
0,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
370
],
[
637
],
[
1889
],
[
1889
],
[
745
],
[
860
],
[
985
],
[
1889
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Orci's first credit solely as a producer came with the film Eagle Eye, where he worked once again alongside Kurtzman."
],
[
"The director of the film, D. J. Caruso, praised the duo saying that \"What's unusually cool about them is that they have maintained the producer-writer power that"
],
[
"Following their work on Eagle Eye, they were executive producers on the Sandra Bullock film, The Proposal."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Despite their film careers, Orci and Kurtzman continued to create television series. These included Sleepy Hollow, which"
],
[
"which they developed alongside Phillip Iscove. They pitched the series to a number of networks, and it was picked up by Fox."
],
[
"Orci took five years to bring the series Matador to television, with it originating from a conversation with his cousin Andrew."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
370,
637,
1889,
1889,
745,
860,
985,
1889
],
"texts": [
"Orci's first credit solely as a producer came with the film Eagle Eye, where he worked once again alongside Kurtzman.",
"The director of the film, D. J. Caruso, praised the duo saying that \"What's unusually cool about them is that they have maintained the producer-writer power that",
"Following their work on Eagle Eye, they were executive producers on the Sandra Bullock film, The Proposal.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Despite their film careers, Orci and Kurtzman continued to create television series. These included Sleepy Hollow, which",
"which they developed alongside Phillip Iscove. They pitched the series to a number of networks, and it was picked up by Fox.",
"Orci took five years to bring the series Matador to television, with it originating from a conversation with his cousin Andrew.",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Roberto Gaston Orcí (born July 20, 1973) is a Mexican-American film and television screenwriter and producer. He began his longtime collaboration with Alex Kurtzman while at school in California. Together they have been employed on television series such as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. In 2008, together with J. J. Abrams, they created Fringe. In 2013, they created Sleepy Hollow alongside Phillip Iscove. Orci and Kurtzman's first film project was Michael Bay's The Island, and due to that partnership they went on to write the scripts for the first two films of the Transformers film series. Orci first became a film producer with 2008's Eagle Eye and again with 2009's The Proposal.
He and Kurtzman since returned to working with Abrams on Mission: Impossible III and both Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness. Between 2005 and 2011, Kurtzman and Orci's film projects took revenues of more than $3 billion. In April 2014, Orci and Kurtzman announced that they would only collaborate in television projects, and Orci worked on the third Star Trek film, Star Trek Beyond, until being replaced the following December. Orci created the television series Matador for the El Rey Network, but after this was initially renewed, it was cancelled at the end of the first season. Both Kurtzman and Orci continue to work as producers on the television series Limitless and Scorpion. Orci was awarded the Norman Lear Writer's Award and the Raul Julia Award for Excellence, in addition to shared awards and nominations including The George Pal Memorial Award.
Early life
Orci was born in Mexico City on July 20, 1973, to a Mexican father and a Cuban mother. Orci grew up in Mexico, and moved with his family to the United States at the age of 10. He was raised in Texas, Los Angeles and Canada.
He met his longtime friend and collaborator Alex Kurtzman when both were 17-year-old students at Crossroads, a privately funded school in Santa Monica, California. The first time they came across each other was in a film class, where they discovered each other's love for films and in particular the Steven Soderbergh film Sex, Lies, and Videotape. The duo found that they had a number of things in common, as Kurtzman had previously lived in Mexico City and the two could relate. Orci later called him an "honorary Hispanic". Orci went on to attend the University of Texas at Austin. The duo got together once again, and began to write scripts. These included one called Misfortune Cookies which Orci described as "loosely autobiographical", and Last Kiss, which Kurtzman said was their version of The Breakfast Club but was set in a lunatic asylum.
Career
Television and film screenwriting
Orci and Kurtzman began their writing collaboration on the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, after being hired by Sam Raimi. After actor Kevin Sorbo suffered a stroke, the duo were required to come up with inventive ideas to minimize his appearances on screen. Due to this work, they became show runners at the age of 24. They were also involved in the sister-series to Hercules, Xena: Warrior Princess. They sought to move to writing for a network-based television series, but found this difficult. After receiving a series of negative responses, they met with J. J. Abrams who was starting work on Alias at the time. The meeting went well, and resulted in them working on the series. They would go on to work together again on the Fox science fiction series Fringe where all three were listed as co-creators.
Orci and Kurtzman received their break in writing for films in 2004, with the Michael Bay film The Island, for which they developed the spec script by Caspian Tredwell-Owen. When Kurtzman and Orci first met Bay, he asked the pair "Why should I trust you?", to which Orci replied "You shouldn't yet. Let's see what happens." While the film was not an overwhelming success, they were brought back for Bay's following film, Transformers, after producer Steven Spielberg asked them to come in for a meeting. The movie took in $710 million at the box office.
Following their work on that film, the duo were brought in to revise the script for Zack Snyder's Watchmen, in an uncredited capacity. They worked once more with Abrams, on Mission: Impossible III. When they collaborated once more with Bay for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, they were under significant time pressures due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. Kurtzman and Orci had two weeks to outline the film, and after the strike Bay had them moved into the Hotel Casa del Mar. The hotel was six blocks away from his office, enabling Bay to conduct surprise inspections.
In the period between 2005 and 2011, the films written by Kurtzman and Orci grossed more than $3 billion, leading to Forbes describing them as "Hollywood's secret weapons". The busyness of their screenwriting careers required them to collaborate with other writers due to the number of projects they were involved in. For example, on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, they teamed up with Ehren Kruger, who took over from them on the writing duties for the Transfomers franchise from Transformers: Dark of the Moon onwards.
Becoming a producer
Orci's first credit solely as a producer came with the film Eagle Eye, where he worked once again alongside Kurtzman. He said in an interview with the magazine Extra that he had previously been involved in productions where the producers had writing backgrounds and had looked to them for help, and he was happy to provide that same support to the writers on Eagle Eye. The director of the film, D. J. Caruso, praised the duo saying that "What's unusually cool about them is that they have maintained the producer-writer power that they earned in television and carried that over into the feature film area, and that is extremely rare." Following their work on Eagle Eye, they were executive producers on the Sandra Bullock film, The Proposal.
Despite their film careers, Orci and Kurtzman continued to create television series. These included Sleepy Hollow, which they developed alongside Phillip Iscove. They pitched the series to a number of networks, and it was picked up by Fox. Orci took five years to bring the series Matador to television, with it originating from a conversation with his cousin Andrew. It was created for Robert Rodriguez's El Rey Network, and Rodriguez's one demand of the show was that he could direct the pilot episode. Orci later explained in an interview that it was an easy decision, and he needed to pretend to consider it.
Orci and Kurtzman also worked together as executive producers on the animated television series, Transformers: Prime, due to their involvement with the live action movies. Following the end of the series they were hopeful to be involved in a future animated series based on the premise, which Orci saw less like a reboot of the show and more of a continuation in a different guise. He felt that while Prime was sophisticated, there were concerns that it was leaving younger viewers behind because of its complexity and intensity.
Star Trek reboot
Orci and Kurtzman were asked to write the script for a new Star Trek film, but initially turned it down despite Orci being a fan of the series. Orci suggested rebooting the timeline as seen previously in the films and television series, and adding the return of Leonard Nimoy as Spock from Star Trek: The Original Series. He considered the first two films in the reboot series to be the origin story for the crew, and that the third film would start where the crew was at the beginning of Star Trek: The Original Series. Orci felt that the relationship between the James T. Kirk and the younger Spock was reflective of the partnership of himself and Kurtzman, he said that "We didn't even realize we were writing about ourselves until we were halfway through the script, that was a little embarrassing.
Star Trek was profitable at the domestic box-office, resulting in a sequel being greenlit by the studio and Kurtzman and Orci being asked to write it. The studio set aside a larger budget for the sequel, which was revealed by Orci in an interview with TrekMovie.com. Orci ruled out the "hero quitting" staple of a second movie, which had featured in the Transformers sequel, saying that the crew of the Enterprise were committed and that type of story does not have to apply to all sequels. During the buildup to the film, called Star Trek Into Darkness, Orci was one of the production team who did not give much away about the villain in the film and denied that Benedict Cumberbatch was to play Khan Noonian Singh.
Breakup of the partnership
In April 2014, Orci and Kurtzman confirmed to Variety that they are no longer going to work together on film projects but will still collaborate on television. Kurtzman wanted to work on the Spider-Man film franchise, while Orci was linked to the directorial role for Star Trek 3. Orci confirmed later that year in July that he was not involved in the production of The Amazing Spider-Man 3 alongside Kurtzman. Orci and Kurtzman's K/O Paper Products continues to operate as a production company within CBS Television Studios, and has created the series Scorpion inspired by the life of Walter O'Brien for the 2014-15 season and Limitless was created for the 2015-16 season from the 2011 film.
Prior to the split of Kurtzman and Orci, the duo were lined up to write the third film in the new Star Trek series. In May 2014, Skydance and Paramount Pictures announced that Orci was to direct the third installment of the Star Trek reboot franchise, after Abrams moved on to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This would have marked Orci's directorial debut, and he was to write the script alongside co-writers JD Payne and Patrick McKay. Due to his commitment to Star Trek 3, he dropped out of a new Power Rangers film, for which he would have been executive producer. But on December 5, it was announced he would no longer be directing the Star Trek film. He remains credited as a producer on the film, and was replaced by Doug Jung and cast member Simon Pegg as the script writers after Orci's initial script was dropped. Orci was replaced as director by Justin Lin, who had previously directed films in The Fast and the Furious franchise.
Orci created Matador with the idea that the main character would be a "soccer player by day who is a spy by night", and called him a "Latin James Bond". The series was broadcast on the El Rey Network created by Robert Rodriguez. It was renewed for a second season shortly before the pilot was broadcast, which had been directed by Rodriguez. But following the production of the first season, the series was cancelled despite the earlier renewal. This decision was blamed on poor international sales.
In March 2020, it was reported that Roberto Orci was hired by Sony to write a script for an untitled Marvel film that would be set in Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters
Personal life
Orci married actress and screenwriter Adele Heather Taylor on June 6, 2020 in a private ceremony. They work together as screenwriters and producers.
Awards and accolades
The Hollywood Reporter listed Orci as one of the 50 most powerful Latinos in Hollywood of 2007. His first solo accolade was the Norman Lear Writer's Award at the Imagen Awards in 2009. He described the experience of receiving an award without Kurtzman as "bizarre". Orci has also been awarded the Raul Julia Award for Excellence by the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts. Together with Kurtzman, Orci won The George Pal Memorial Award at the 2010 Saturn Awards.
Orci and Kurtzman were both honored by the nonprofit organization Chrysalis at the Butterfly Ball on June 8, 2013. The organization raises money for homeless people and low-income families, Orci said that "When you hear the life stories from people right here in our own community, who are clients at Chrysalis, and when you come to learn of their lowest moments and how Chrysalis has led to their proudest triumphs, it's easy to see why this local organization is so impactful."
In 2017, Orci was the recipient of the "Visionary Impact Award" by the National Hispanic Media Coalition. This award is given out by the organization for "Latinos making outstanding contributions to the positive portrayals of Latinos in film and TV".
Filmography
Films
Television credits
References
External links
Category:1973 births
Category:Living people
Category:Mexican emigrants to the United States
Category:American people of Cuban descent
Category:Television producers from California
Category:American television writers
Category:American male television writers
Category:Mexican people of Cuban descent
Category:Mexican screenwriters
Category:Writers from Mexico City
Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni
Category:Showrunners
Category:Crossroads School alumni
Category:Screenwriters from California
Category:20th-century American screenwriters
Category:20th-century American male writers | [] | null | null |
C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_1 | Jacqueline Fernandez | Jacqueline Fernandez (born 11 August 1985) is a Sri Lankan actress, former model, and the winner of the Miss Sri Lanka Universe pageant of 2006. Born into a multiracial family of Canadian, Sri Lankan and Malaysian descent, Fernandez was raised in Bahrain. After graduating in mass communication from the University of Sydney and working as a television reporter in Sri Lanka, she joined the modeling industry. She was crowned the Miss Sri Lanka Universe 2006, and represented her country at Miss Universe 2006. | 2009-2013: Debut and breakthrough | In 2009, Fernandez traveled to India for a modeling assignment. She studied acting under the mentorship of theatre director Barry John, and successfully auditioned for Sujoy Ghosh's fantasy film Aladin (2009) her acting debut. She played the love interest of Riteish Deshmukh's character, a role based on the character of Princess Jasmine. and Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN felt that she was: "easy on the eyes and appears confident but has precious little to do". Although the film was a critical and commercial failure, she won the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year - Female. In 2010, Fernandez appeared opposite Deshmukh in the science fiction romantic comedy Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai. She was cast as a girl from Venus, who lands on Earth in search of love. The film, along with Fernandez's performance, received poor reviews; Rediff.com's Sukanya Verma noted: "She gamely makes a fool of herself whilst aping the actions of movie stars, ranging from Sridevi's Naagin dance, Mithun Chakravarthy's Disco Dancer moves, to Big B's violent headshake in Hum. Her Tara could be a keeper if only Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai wasn't so intent on turning her into a love-struck Barbie." Critic Anupama Chopra also criticized Fernandez, calling her "a pin-prick on a balloon". Later that year, she made a special appearance in the song "Dhanno" for Sajid Khan's comedy Housefull. Mahesh Bhatt's thriller Murder 2 was Fernandez's first commercial success and marked a turning point in her career. She took on the role of Priya, a lonely model who is in a confused relationship with Arjun Bhagwat (played by Emraan Hashmi). Fernandez was praised for her performance, and for the boldness and sex appeal she displayed in the film. Gaurav Malini of The Times of India stated that she was "tastefully tempting" but noted that her romance with Hashmi was "literally half-baked". The following year, Fernandez appeared in the ensemble comedy Housefull 2 alongside Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, and Asin. It became one of the top grossing productions of India that year and earned Rs1.86 billion (US$28 million) worldwide. Fernandez received mostly negative reviews for her performance. While Gaurav Malini praised her for her looks, NDTV called her a "blathering bimbo" who "find[s] no pleasure in [her role]". Despite the negative reviews, Fernandez received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 14th IIFA Awards for her performance. Fernandez's first release of 2013 was Race 2, an ensemble action thriller (alongside Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham and Deepika Padukone), described as the "cinematic equivalent of a trashy novel" by critic Rajeev Masand. She played Omisha, a femme fatale, a role which required her learn fencing and some acrobatics. The film emerged as a commercial success, with the domestic gross of more than Rs1 billion (US$15 million). In a particularly scathing review, Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV wrote that both Fernandez and Padukone "strut around like wound-up automatons that are all decked-up but have nowhere to go." Also that year, Fernandez appeared in an item number, titled, "Jaadu Ki Jhappi", for Prabhu Deva's romantic comedy Ramaiya Vasta Vaiya. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_1_q#0",
"C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_1_q#1",
"C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_1_q#2",
"C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_1_q#3",
"C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_1_q#4"
] | [
"What is most memorable about Jacqueline Fernandez's career?",
"Is there any thing interesting about Jacqueline Fernandez's career?",
"What makes Jacqueline Fernandez unique?",
"What year is most memorable for Fernandez?",
"When did Fernandez have her breakthrough?"
] | [
2,
1,
1,
1,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1369
],
[
2287
],
[
2166
],
[
2452
],
[
1369
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Mahesh Bhatt's thriller Murder 2 was Fernandez's first commercial success and marked a turning point in her career."
],
[
"]\". Despite the negative reviews, Fernandez received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 14th IIFA Awards for her performance."
],
[
"While Gaurav Malini praised her for her looks, NDTV called her a \"blathering bimbo\" who \"find[s] no pleasure in [her role]\"."
],
[
"2013"
],
[
"Mahesh Bhatt's thriller Murder 2 was Fernandez's first commercial success and marked a turning point in her career."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1369,
2287,
2166,
2452,
1369
],
"texts": [
"Mahesh Bhatt's thriller Murder 2 was Fernandez's first commercial success and marked a turning point in her career.",
"]\". Despite the negative reviews, Fernandez received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 14th IIFA Awards for her performance.",
"While Gaurav Malini praised her for her looks, NDTV called her a \"blathering bimbo\" who \"find[s] no pleasure in [her role]\".",
"2013",
"Mahesh Bhatt's thriller Murder 2 was Fernandez's first commercial success and marked a turning point in her career."
]
} | Jacqueline Fernandez (born 11 August 1985) is a Sri Lankan actress and model. She has worked in Indian films, predominantly in Hindi, besides appearing in reality shows and music videos. Debuting with Aladin in 2009, she has since then established a career in the Hindi film industry. Fernandez was born and raised in Bahrain to a multiracial Eurasian family of Sri Lankan Burgher, Canadian, and Malaysian descent. After graduating in mass communication from the University of Sydney and working as a television reporter in Sri Lanka, she joined the modeling industry. She was crowned Miss Universe Sri Lanka in 2006, and represented her country at Miss Universe 2006.
While on a modelling assignment in India in 2009, Fernandez successfully auditioned for Sujoy Ghosh's fantasy drama Aladin, which marked her acting debut. Fernandez had her breakthrough role with the psychological thriller Murder 2 (2011), her first commercial success. This was followed by glamorous roles in the commercially successful ensemble-comedy Housefull 2 (2012) and the action thriller Race 2 (2013), which garnered her an IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination. Fernandez went on to star in the top-grossing action films Kick (2014) and Vikrant Rona (2022), and the comedies Housefull 3 (2016) and Judwaa 2 (2017).
Alongside her screen acting career, Fernandez has worked as a judge in the ninth season of the dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (2016–2017), is a popular celebrity endorser for various brands and products, has participated in stage shows, and is active in humanitarian work.
Early life and modeling career
Jacqueline Fernandez was born on 11 August 1985, in Manama, Bahrain, and was raised in a multi-ethnic family. Her father, Elroy Fernandez, is a Sri Lankan Burgher, and her mother, Kim, is of Malaysian and Canadian descent. Her maternal grandfather is Canadian and her great-grandparents were from Goa in India. Her father, who was a musician in Sri Lanka, moved to Bahrain in the 1980s to escape civil unrest between the Sinhalese and Tamils and subsequently met her mother, who was an air hostess. She is the youngest of four children with one elder sister and two elder brothers. After receiving her early education in Bahrain at Sacred Heart School, she studied mass communication at the University of Sydney in Australia. After graduating she did a couple of television shows in Sri Lanka. She also attended the Berlitz school of languages, where she learned Spanish and improved her French and Arabic.
According to Fernandez, she had aspired to become an actress at a young age and fantasized about becoming a Hollywood movie star. She received some training at the John School of Acting. Although, she was a television reporter, she accepted offers in the modeling industry, which came as a result of her pageant success. In 2006, she was crowned the winner of the Miss Universe Sri Lanka pageant and represented Sri Lanka at the world Miss Universe 2006 pageant held in Los Angeles. In a 2015 interview, Fernandez described the modeling industry as "a good training ground" and said: "It is a medium that is about shedding your inhibitions, knowing your body, confidence". In 2006, she appeared in a music video for the song "O Sathi" by music duo Bathiya and Santhush and young female singer Umaria Sinhawansa.
Acting career
2009–2013: Debut and breakthrough
In 2009, Fernandez traveled to India for a modeling assignment. She successfully auditioned for Sujoy Ghosh's fantasy film Aladin (2009) her acting debut. She played the love interest of Riteish Deshmukh's character, a role based on the character of Princess Jasmine. and Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN felt that she was: "easy on the eyes and appears confident but has precious little to do". Although the film was a critical and commercial failure, she won the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year – Female.
In 2010, Fernandez appeared opposite Deshmukh in the science fiction romantic comedy Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai. She was cast as a girl from Venus, who lands on Earth in search of love. The film, along with Fernandez's performance, received poor reviews; Rediff.com's Sukanya Verma noted: "She gamely makes a fool of herself whilst aping the actions of movie stars, ranging from Sridevi's Naagin dance, Mithun Chakravarthy's Disco Dancer moves, to Big B's violent headshake in Hum. Her Tara could be a keeper if only Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai wasn't so intent on turning her into a love-struck Barbie." Critic Anupama Chopra also criticized Fernandez, calling her "a pin-prick on a balloon". Later that year, she made a special appearance in the song "Dhanno" for Sajid Khan's comedy Housefull.
Mahesh Bhatt's thriller Murder 2 was Fernandez's first commercial success and marked a turning point in her career. She took on the role of Priya, a lonely model who is in a confused relationship with Arjun Bhagwat (played by Emraan Hashmi). Fernandez was praised for her performance, and for the boldness and sex appeal she displayed in the film. Gaurav Malini of The Times of India stated that she was "tastefully tempting" but noted that her romance with Hashmi was "literally half-baked". The following year, Fernandez appeared in the ensemble comedy Housefull 2 alongside Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, and Asin. It became one of the top grossing productions of India that year and earned worldwide. Fernandez received mostly negative reviews for her performance. While Gaurav Malini praised her for her looks, NDTV called her a "blathering bimbo" who "find[s] no pleasure in [her role]". Despite the negative reviews, Fernandez received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 14th IIFA Awards for her performance.
Fernandez's first release of 2013 was Race 2, an ensemble action thriller (alongside Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham and Deepika Padukone), described as the "cinematic equivalent of a trashy novel" by critic Rajeev Masand. She played Omisha, a femme fatale, a role which required her learn fencing and some acrobatics. The film emerged as a commercial success, with the worldwide gross of more than and a net domestically of over . In a particularly scathing review, Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV wrote that both Fernandez and Padukone "strut around like wound-up automatons that are all decked-up but have nowhere to go." Also that year, Fernandez appeared in an item number, titled, "Jaadu Ki Jhappi", for Prabhu Deva's romantic comedy Ramaiya Vastavaiya.
2014–present: Commercial success
In 2014, Fernandez appeared in Sajid Nadiadwala's directorial debut—the action film Kick, a remake of a 2009 Telugu film of same name. She starred opposite Salman Khan, playing Shaina, a psychiatrist. She retained her real voice for the first time in Kick. While Sneha May Francis commented that she is: "incredibly dazzling, and moves like a magic", Raja Sen of Rediff.com was more critical of her dialogue delivery, calling it "unfortunate." The film received mixed reviews from critics, but with worldwide revenue of over , it became the fourth highest-grossing Bollywood film. The film established Fernandez as one of the most popular Bollywood actresses.
In 2015, Fernandez featured in Vicky Singh's Roy, a romantic thriller, which critic Sarita A. Tanwar described as a "boring, exhausting and pretentious" film. Fernandez played dual roles, Ayesha Aamir, a filmmaker in a relationship with another filmmaker (played by Arjun Rampal) and Tia Desai, a girl in love with a thief (played by Ranbir Kapoor). While India TV called it "her best act till date", critic Rajeev Masand felt that she "appears miscast in a part that required greater range." Roy failed to meet its box-office expectations, and was a commercial failure. Later that year, she appeared in a guest appearance for the comedy-satire Bangistan.
Karan Malhotra's action drama Brothers was Fernandez's next release. Co-starring alongside Akshay Kumar and Sidharth Malhotra, Fernandez played Jenny, a fearless mother struggling for her child, a role which she described as "challenging", "intense", and "difficult". The role marked a departure from the glamorous characters that she had a reputation for portraying. Dhriti Sharma of Zee News called her character "soft, timid and promising", and praised her for: "convincingly pull[ing] off a pleasing character of a street fighter's wife". Film critic Subhash K. Jha noted that she: "...in a limited role gives her finest emotive shot", while critic Raja Sen remarked: "[she] plays Kumar's long-sobbing wife who gets so deliriously happy on seeing a text message that it may well have contained news about a Kick sequel." Later that year, she starred in the horror thriller Definition of Fear, which marked her Hollywood debut.
Fernandez began 2016 with a role in Housefull 3 which is the third installment to the Housefull Series's. The ensemble comedy film paired her with Akshay Kumar as her love interest. The critic for Firstpost was disappointed with the picture and criticized Fernandez for her inclination towards a film, where she is treated as nothing more than a "visual attraction". Nevertheless, the film was a commercial success, grossing worldwide. Her next film—the action adventure Dishoom—also grossed worldwide at the box-office. Later that year, she served as a judge to the ninth season of the dance show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa.
In 2017, Fernandez appeared in Chandran Rutnam's English-Sri Lankan crime-thriller According to Matthew. The film was her maiden cinematic appearance in Sri Lankan cinema as well. The film was released in Sri Lanka on 7 April 2017 in CEL Theatres with the title Anuragini. Her next film was the action-comedy A Gentleman, with Siddharth Malhotra from the director duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. The film was poorly received by critics and was a box-office flop. Later that year, she appeared in David Dhawan's comedy film Judwaa 2, opposite Varun Dhawan and Taapsee Pannu. It was a sequel to the 1997 comedy film Judwaa. The film proved to be a box-office success earning worldwide. In 2018, she starred alongside Salman Khan in Race 3, the third addition to the Race Franchise. Race 3 was a box office success earning more than worldwide despite mixed reviews.
Fernandez is filming Tarun Mansukhani's next, Drive opposite Sushant Singh Rajput. She is set to star in the Netflix original film, Mrs. Serial Killer, directed by Shirish Kunder. She is also set to feature with Akshay Kumar for the fourth time in a gangster drama Bachchhan Paandey.
Personal life and other work
Fernandez shares a close bond with her family, and admits that she misses being around them. She says: "I miss them so much everyday. You don't realise when you live away from home how difficult life can be [...] At the same time, staying away from them has taught me to be more responsible. It has taught me so many things about myself, about priorities and time management."
In 2008, Fernandez started dating Bahraini prince Hassan bin Rashid Al Khalifa, whom she met at a mutual friend's party; they separated in 2011. While filming Housefull 2 in 2011, Fernandez began a romantic relationship with director Sajid Khan. The relationship attracted media coverage in India and there was speculation of an impending wedding. However, the relationship ended in May 2013.
Fernandez has supported charitable organisations and a number of causes. For advocating the welfare of animals, Fernandez was named "Woman Of The Year" by PETA (India) in 2014. Fernandez is a vegan.
Fernandez has participated in several concert tours and televised award ceremonies. In 2013, she performed at the Temptations Reloaded in Auckland, Perth, and Sydney alongside Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, and Madhuri Dixit. She also performed at the live talent show "Got Talent World Stage Live" with Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Varun Dhawan the following year. In July 2014, Fernandez opened a restaurant in Colombo, Kaema Sutra, in collaboration with chef Dharshan Munidasa, which specialises in contemporary Sri Lankan cuisine. In July 2018, Fernandez co-founded her activewear clothing line-up, Just F. In March 2022, Fernandez danced to instant hit "Arabic Kuthu" song alongside other actresses on a TV show.
In the media
In 2008 and 2011, Fernandez featured in the UK magazine Eastern Eye "World's Sexiest Asian Women" list, ranking twelfth. She was ranked third on The Times of India listing of the "Most Desirable Woman" in 2013 and 2014, after being ranked eighth, seventh and fourteenth, respectively, in the preceding three years. In 2013, Rediff.com placed her on their list of "Bollywood's Best Dressed Actresses". The following year, she held the sixty second position in the Indian edition of the Forbes Celebrity 100, a list based on the income and popularity of India's celebrities.
In early 2013, Fernandez became the ambassador for HTC One, which she endorses in India. She was the face of Indian Bridal Fashion Week—IBFW of 2013.
Later that year, she became the spokesperson for Gareth Pugh's designed Forevermark Diamonds in Mumbai, and was at the inaugural opening of the Forever 21 store in Mumbai.
That year, she also launched Gillette Shaving System with Arbaaz Khan and Aditya Roy Kapur. While analysing Fernandez's career, India TV noted: "Slowly and steadily Jacqueline Fernandez is climbing up the ladder of success [...] Jacqueline is comfortably grasping every aspect of the work, which an actress is required to do and is accordingly giving results." On the contrary, Charu Thakur of India Today criticized her acting skills, but remarked that: "[she has] managed to find her feet in Bollywood now by banking on glamorous roles".
In 2017, Fernandez invested in Rakyan Beverages' Raw Pressery. The company claim that with this investment, Fernandez became India's first celebrity to part-finance a consumer products firm.
Controversy
Since December 2021, Fernandez has been subjected to an investigation into a money laundering case involving ₹200 crore. The investigation is being carried out by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) who questioned Fernandez for 10 hours in relation to the case on 9 December 2021. On 22 December, ED rejected Fernandez's request to downgrade the Lookout Circular (LOC) which was issued against her in the case which blocks her to travel outside India.
Fernandez was removed from the upcoming movie The Ghost which will star Nagarjuna. It is speculated that the eviction from the movie happened due to the money laundering case.
On 17 August 2022, The Enforcement Directorate named Jacqueline Fernandez as an accused in the same money-laundering case involving Sukesh Chandrashekhar. In response, she furnished said that FDs were made before having any links with the conman and all her income was legal and tax was also paid on it.
On 26 September 2022, At the request of Jacqueline's lawyer, the court granted interim bail to Jacqueline on a bail bond of ₹50,000.
Filmography
Films
All films are in Hindi unless otherwise noted.
Television
Music videos
Awards and nominations
Fernandez has won numerous awards mainly for her works in Housefull 2, its sequel Housefull 3, Murder 2, and Race 3.
References
Further reading
External links
Category:1985 births
Category:Living people
Category:People from Manama
Category:Sri Lankan film actresses
Category:Sri Lankan female models
Category:Sri Lankan expatriates in Bahrain
Category:Sri Lankan beauty pageant winners
Category:Miss Universe 2006 contestants
Category:Actresses in Hindi cinema
Category:Actresses in Tamil cinema
Category:Actresses in Telugu cinema
Category:Actresses in Kannada cinema
Category:Sri Lankan expatriates in India
Category:Expatriate actresses in India
Category:International Indian Film Academy Awards winners
Category:Burgher models
Category:Sri Lankan people of Malaysian descent
Category:Sri Lankan people of Canadian descent
Category:Sri Lankan people of Dutch descent
Category:Sri Lankan Malays
Category:Sri Lankan Roman Catholics
Category:Sri Lankan expatriates in Australia
Category:University of Sydney alumni
Category:21st-century Sri Lankan actresses | [] | [
"The text does not provide information on what is the most memorable about Jacqueline Fernandez's career.",
"Yes, Jacqueline Fernandez's career is marked by several interesting points. She made her acting debut in a fantasy film called Aladin in 2009. Despite the film's failure, Fernandez won the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year - Female. Her first commercial success came two years later with the thriller Murder 2, which marked a significant turning point in her career. In 2012, she acted in an ensemble comedy, Housefull 2, which was among India's top-grossing productions for the year. Despite negative reviews of her performance in Housefull 2, she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 14th IIFA Awards.",
"From the given context, Jacqueline Fernandez appears to be unique due to her resilience and growth despite critical reviews in the initial part of her career. She was awarded for her debut role in 'Aladin', she played in various genres including a fantasy movie, science fiction romantic comedy, a thriller, and comedy. Her role as Priya in 'Murder 2' established as a milestone in her career. Her ability to take on diverse roles, like playing a girl from Venus in one movie and a lonely model in another, may be viewed as a unique aspect of her artistic range. Further, she successfully made a transition from modeling to acting and made a name for herself in a highly competitive industry.",
"The text does not provide enough information to determine a specific most memorable year for Fernandez. However, it mentions that her career took a notable turn in 2011 with the commercial success of the thriller \"Murder 2\". This could be considered a significant year for her.",
"Fernandez had her career breakthrough in 2011 with Mahesh Bhatt's thriller \"Murder 2\". This film was Fernandez's first commercial success and marked a turning point in her career."
] | [
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_0 | Jacqueline Fernandez | Jacqueline Fernandez (born 11 August 1985) is a Sri Lankan actress, former model, and the winner of the Miss Sri Lanka Universe pageant of 2006. Born into a multiracial family of Canadian, Sri Lankan and Malaysian descent, Fernandez was raised in Bahrain. After graduating in mass communication from the University of Sydney and working as a television reporter in Sri Lanka, she joined the modeling industry. She was crowned the Miss Sri Lanka Universe 2006, and represented her country at Miss Universe 2006. | Personal life and other work | Fernandez shares a close bond with her family, and admits that she misses being around them. She says: "I miss them so much everyday. You don't realise when you live away from home how difficult life can be [...] At the same time, staying away from them has taught me to be more responsible. It has taught me so many things about myself, about priorities and time management." In March 2012, Fernandez turned vegetarian for a 40-day period to observe Lent, a period from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. In 2008, Fernandez started dating Bahraini prince Hassan bin Rashid Al Khalifa, whom she met at a mutual friend's party; they separated in 2011. While filming Housefull 2 in 2011, Fernandez began a romantic relationship with director Sajid Khan. The relationship attracted media coverage in India and there was speculation of an impending wedding. However, the relationship ended in May 2013. In addition to acting in films, Fernandez has supported charitable organisations and a number of causes. In 2011, on the behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), she sent a letter to the Mumbai Municipal Commissioner asking for an end to horse-drawn carriage rides in Mumbai. In early 2013, she asked the consulate general of the Philippines, William John T Perera in Colombo, to hasten the transfer of an elephant from its inadequate housing at the Manila Zoo to a humane sanctuary. Later that year, she auctioned a breakfast in Mayfair, London, where she raised around PS4000 for the Pratham NGO, which helps children's primary education. In 2014, Fernandez was named "Woman Of The Year" by PETA (India) for advocating the protection of animals. The following year, she auctioned her outfits on an online portal for a philanthropic cause. Some of her outfits included the ones she wore in the song "Party On My Mind" (from Race 2) and "Hangover" (from Kick). In March 2016, she was part of "Jacqueline Builds" campaign that raised funds for the victims of the 2015 South Indian floods. In April 2017, Jacqueline Fernandez collaborated with Rakyan Beverages by investing in their juice products. Fernandez has participated in several concert tours and televised award ceremonies. In 2013, she performed at the Temptations Reloaded in Auckland, Perth, and Sydney alongside Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, and Madhuri Dixit. She also performed at the live talent show "Got Talent World Stage Live" with Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Varun Dhawan the following year. In July 2014, Fernandez opened a restaurant in Colombo, Kaema Sutra, in collaboration with chef Dharshan Munidasa, which specialises in contemporary Sri Lankan cuisine. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_0_q#0",
"C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_0_q#1",
"C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_0_q#2",
"C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_0_q#3",
"C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_0_q#4",
"C_315a72ed09284397a027f03df3228888_0_q#5"
] | [
"What did Jacqueline do as a career?",
"What does she like to do in her free time?",
"Where is she from?",
"What other types of work did she do besides acting?",
"Did she ever go to college?",
"What nationality is she?"
] | [
1,
0,
1,
2,
1,
1
] | [
1,
1,
2,
1,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
913
],
[
0
],
[
2648
],
[
2117
],
[
2648
],
[
2648
]
],
"texts": [
[
"acting in films, Fernandez has supported charitable organisations and a number of causes."
],
[
"Fernandez shares a close bond with her family, and admits that she misses being around them."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Fernandez has participated in several concert tours and televised award ceremonies."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
913,
0,
2648,
2117,
2648,
2648
],
"texts": [
"acting in films, Fernandez has supported charitable organisations and a number of causes.",
"Fernandez shares a close bond with her family, and admits that she misses being around them.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Fernandez has participated in several concert tours and televised award ceremonies.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Jacqueline Fernandez (born 11 August 1985) is a Sri Lankan actress and model. She has worked in Indian films, predominantly in Hindi, besides appearing in reality shows and music videos. Debuting with Aladin in 2009, she has since then established a career in the Hindi film industry. Fernandez was born and raised in Bahrain to a multiracial Eurasian family of Sri Lankan Burgher, Canadian, and Malaysian descent. After graduating in mass communication from the University of Sydney and working as a television reporter in Sri Lanka, she joined the modeling industry. She was crowned Miss Universe Sri Lanka in 2006, and represented her country at Miss Universe 2006.
While on a modelling assignment in India in 2009, Fernandez successfully auditioned for Sujoy Ghosh's fantasy drama Aladin, which marked her acting debut. Fernandez had her breakthrough role with the psychological thriller Murder 2 (2011), her first commercial success. This was followed by glamorous roles in the commercially successful ensemble-comedy Housefull 2 (2012) and the action thriller Race 2 (2013), which garnered her an IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination. Fernandez went on to star in the top-grossing action films Kick (2014) and Vikrant Rona (2022), and the comedies Housefull 3 (2016) and Judwaa 2 (2017).
Alongside her screen acting career, Fernandez has worked as a judge in the ninth season of the dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (2016–2017), is a popular celebrity endorser for various brands and products, has participated in stage shows, and is active in humanitarian work.
Early life and modeling career
Jacqueline Fernandez was born on 11 August 1985, in Manama, Bahrain, and was raised in a multi-ethnic family. Her father, Elroy Fernandez, is a Sri Lankan Burgher, and her mother, Kim, is of Malaysian and Canadian descent. Her maternal grandfather is Canadian and her great-grandparents were from Goa in India. Her father, who was a musician in Sri Lanka, moved to Bahrain in the 1980s to escape civil unrest between the Sinhalese and Tamils and subsequently met her mother, who was an air hostess. She is the youngest of four children with one elder sister and two elder brothers. After receiving her early education in Bahrain at Sacred Heart School, she studied mass communication at the University of Sydney in Australia. After graduating she did a couple of television shows in Sri Lanka. She also attended the Berlitz school of languages, where she learned Spanish and improved her French and Arabic.
According to Fernandez, she had aspired to become an actress at a young age and fantasized about becoming a Hollywood movie star. She received some training at the John School of Acting. Although, she was a television reporter, she accepted offers in the modeling industry, which came as a result of her pageant success. In 2006, she was crowned the winner of the Miss Universe Sri Lanka pageant and represented Sri Lanka at the world Miss Universe 2006 pageant held in Los Angeles. In a 2015 interview, Fernandez described the modeling industry as "a good training ground" and said: "It is a medium that is about shedding your inhibitions, knowing your body, confidence". In 2006, she appeared in a music video for the song "O Sathi" by music duo Bathiya and Santhush and young female singer Umaria Sinhawansa.
Acting career
2009–2013: Debut and breakthrough
In 2009, Fernandez traveled to India for a modeling assignment. She successfully auditioned for Sujoy Ghosh's fantasy film Aladin (2009) her acting debut. She played the love interest of Riteish Deshmukh's character, a role based on the character of Princess Jasmine. and Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN felt that she was: "easy on the eyes and appears confident but has precious little to do". Although the film was a critical and commercial failure, she won the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year – Female.
In 2010, Fernandez appeared opposite Deshmukh in the science fiction romantic comedy Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai. She was cast as a girl from Venus, who lands on Earth in search of love. The film, along with Fernandez's performance, received poor reviews; Rediff.com's Sukanya Verma noted: "She gamely makes a fool of herself whilst aping the actions of movie stars, ranging from Sridevi's Naagin dance, Mithun Chakravarthy's Disco Dancer moves, to Big B's violent headshake in Hum. Her Tara could be a keeper if only Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai wasn't so intent on turning her into a love-struck Barbie." Critic Anupama Chopra also criticized Fernandez, calling her "a pin-prick on a balloon". Later that year, she made a special appearance in the song "Dhanno" for Sajid Khan's comedy Housefull.
Mahesh Bhatt's thriller Murder 2 was Fernandez's first commercial success and marked a turning point in her career. She took on the role of Priya, a lonely model who is in a confused relationship with Arjun Bhagwat (played by Emraan Hashmi). Fernandez was praised for her performance, and for the boldness and sex appeal she displayed in the film. Gaurav Malini of The Times of India stated that she was "tastefully tempting" but noted that her romance with Hashmi was "literally half-baked". The following year, Fernandez appeared in the ensemble comedy Housefull 2 alongside Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, and Asin. It became one of the top grossing productions of India that year and earned worldwide. Fernandez received mostly negative reviews for her performance. While Gaurav Malini praised her for her looks, NDTV called her a "blathering bimbo" who "find[s] no pleasure in [her role]". Despite the negative reviews, Fernandez received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 14th IIFA Awards for her performance.
Fernandez's first release of 2013 was Race 2, an ensemble action thriller (alongside Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham and Deepika Padukone), described as the "cinematic equivalent of a trashy novel" by critic Rajeev Masand. She played Omisha, a femme fatale, a role which required her learn fencing and some acrobatics. The film emerged as a commercial success, with the worldwide gross of more than and a net domestically of over . In a particularly scathing review, Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV wrote that both Fernandez and Padukone "strut around like wound-up automatons that are all decked-up but have nowhere to go." Also that year, Fernandez appeared in an item number, titled, "Jaadu Ki Jhappi", for Prabhu Deva's romantic comedy Ramaiya Vastavaiya.
2014–present: Commercial success
In 2014, Fernandez appeared in Sajid Nadiadwala's directorial debut—the action film Kick, a remake of a 2009 Telugu film of same name. She starred opposite Salman Khan, playing Shaina, a psychiatrist. She retained her real voice for the first time in Kick. While Sneha May Francis commented that she is: "incredibly dazzling, and moves like a magic", Raja Sen of Rediff.com was more critical of her dialogue delivery, calling it "unfortunate." The film received mixed reviews from critics, but with worldwide revenue of over , it became the fourth highest-grossing Bollywood film. The film established Fernandez as one of the most popular Bollywood actresses.
In 2015, Fernandez featured in Vicky Singh's Roy, a romantic thriller, which critic Sarita A. Tanwar described as a "boring, exhausting and pretentious" film. Fernandez played dual roles, Ayesha Aamir, a filmmaker in a relationship with another filmmaker (played by Arjun Rampal) and Tia Desai, a girl in love with a thief (played by Ranbir Kapoor). While India TV called it "her best act till date", critic Rajeev Masand felt that she "appears miscast in a part that required greater range." Roy failed to meet its box-office expectations, and was a commercial failure. Later that year, she appeared in a guest appearance for the comedy-satire Bangistan.
Karan Malhotra's action drama Brothers was Fernandez's next release. Co-starring alongside Akshay Kumar and Sidharth Malhotra, Fernandez played Jenny, a fearless mother struggling for her child, a role which she described as "challenging", "intense", and "difficult". The role marked a departure from the glamorous characters that she had a reputation for portraying. Dhriti Sharma of Zee News called her character "soft, timid and promising", and praised her for: "convincingly pull[ing] off a pleasing character of a street fighter's wife". Film critic Subhash K. Jha noted that she: "...in a limited role gives her finest emotive shot", while critic Raja Sen remarked: "[she] plays Kumar's long-sobbing wife who gets so deliriously happy on seeing a text message that it may well have contained news about a Kick sequel." Later that year, she starred in the horror thriller Definition of Fear, which marked her Hollywood debut.
Fernandez began 2016 with a role in Housefull 3 which is the third installment to the Housefull Series's. The ensemble comedy film paired her with Akshay Kumar as her love interest. The critic for Firstpost was disappointed with the picture and criticized Fernandez for her inclination towards a film, where she is treated as nothing more than a "visual attraction". Nevertheless, the film was a commercial success, grossing worldwide. Her next film—the action adventure Dishoom—also grossed worldwide at the box-office. Later that year, she served as a judge to the ninth season of the dance show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa.
In 2017, Fernandez appeared in Chandran Rutnam's English-Sri Lankan crime-thriller According to Matthew. The film was her maiden cinematic appearance in Sri Lankan cinema as well. The film was released in Sri Lanka on 7 April 2017 in CEL Theatres with the title Anuragini. Her next film was the action-comedy A Gentleman, with Siddharth Malhotra from the director duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. The film was poorly received by critics and was a box-office flop. Later that year, she appeared in David Dhawan's comedy film Judwaa 2, opposite Varun Dhawan and Taapsee Pannu. It was a sequel to the 1997 comedy film Judwaa. The film proved to be a box-office success earning worldwide. In 2018, she starred alongside Salman Khan in Race 3, the third addition to the Race Franchise. Race 3 was a box office success earning more than worldwide despite mixed reviews.
Fernandez is filming Tarun Mansukhani's next, Drive opposite Sushant Singh Rajput. She is set to star in the Netflix original film, Mrs. Serial Killer, directed by Shirish Kunder. She is also set to feature with Akshay Kumar for the fourth time in a gangster drama Bachchhan Paandey.
Personal life and other work
Fernandez shares a close bond with her family, and admits that she misses being around them. She says: "I miss them so much everyday. You don't realise when you live away from home how difficult life can be [...] At the same time, staying away from them has taught me to be more responsible. It has taught me so many things about myself, about priorities and time management."
In 2008, Fernandez started dating Bahraini prince Hassan bin Rashid Al Khalifa, whom she met at a mutual friend's party; they separated in 2011. While filming Housefull 2 in 2011, Fernandez began a romantic relationship with director Sajid Khan. The relationship attracted media coverage in India and there was speculation of an impending wedding. However, the relationship ended in May 2013.
Fernandez has supported charitable organisations and a number of causes. For advocating the welfare of animals, Fernandez was named "Woman Of The Year" by PETA (India) in 2014. Fernandez is a vegan.
Fernandez has participated in several concert tours and televised award ceremonies. In 2013, she performed at the Temptations Reloaded in Auckland, Perth, and Sydney alongside Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, and Madhuri Dixit. She also performed at the live talent show "Got Talent World Stage Live" with Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Varun Dhawan the following year. In July 2014, Fernandez opened a restaurant in Colombo, Kaema Sutra, in collaboration with chef Dharshan Munidasa, which specialises in contemporary Sri Lankan cuisine. In July 2018, Fernandez co-founded her activewear clothing line-up, Just F. In March 2022, Fernandez danced to instant hit "Arabic Kuthu" song alongside other actresses on a TV show.
In the media
In 2008 and 2011, Fernandez featured in the UK magazine Eastern Eye "World's Sexiest Asian Women" list, ranking twelfth. She was ranked third on The Times of India listing of the "Most Desirable Woman" in 2013 and 2014, after being ranked eighth, seventh and fourteenth, respectively, in the preceding three years. In 2013, Rediff.com placed her on their list of "Bollywood's Best Dressed Actresses". The following year, she held the sixty second position in the Indian edition of the Forbes Celebrity 100, a list based on the income and popularity of India's celebrities.
In early 2013, Fernandez became the ambassador for HTC One, which she endorses in India. She was the face of Indian Bridal Fashion Week—IBFW of 2013.
Later that year, she became the spokesperson for Gareth Pugh's designed Forevermark Diamonds in Mumbai, and was at the inaugural opening of the Forever 21 store in Mumbai.
That year, she also launched Gillette Shaving System with Arbaaz Khan and Aditya Roy Kapur. While analysing Fernandez's career, India TV noted: "Slowly and steadily Jacqueline Fernandez is climbing up the ladder of success [...] Jacqueline is comfortably grasping every aspect of the work, which an actress is required to do and is accordingly giving results." On the contrary, Charu Thakur of India Today criticized her acting skills, but remarked that: "[she has] managed to find her feet in Bollywood now by banking on glamorous roles".
In 2017, Fernandez invested in Rakyan Beverages' Raw Pressery. The company claim that with this investment, Fernandez became India's first celebrity to part-finance a consumer products firm.
Controversy
Since December 2021, Fernandez has been subjected to an investigation into a money laundering case involving ₹200 crore. The investigation is being carried out by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) who questioned Fernandez for 10 hours in relation to the case on 9 December 2021. On 22 December, ED rejected Fernandez's request to downgrade the Lookout Circular (LOC) which was issued against her in the case which blocks her to travel outside India.
Fernandez was removed from the upcoming movie The Ghost which will star Nagarjuna. It is speculated that the eviction from the movie happened due to the money laundering case.
On 17 August 2022, The Enforcement Directorate named Jacqueline Fernandez as an accused in the same money-laundering case involving Sukesh Chandrashekhar. In response, she furnished said that FDs were made before having any links with the conman and all her income was legal and tax was also paid on it.
On 26 September 2022, At the request of Jacqueline's lawyer, the court granted interim bail to Jacqueline on a bail bond of ₹50,000.
Filmography
Films
All films are in Hindi unless otherwise noted.
Television
Music videos
Awards and nominations
Fernandez has won numerous awards mainly for her works in Housefull 2, its sequel Housefull 3, Murder 2, and Race 3.
References
Further reading
External links
Category:1985 births
Category:Living people
Category:People from Manama
Category:Sri Lankan film actresses
Category:Sri Lankan female models
Category:Sri Lankan expatriates in Bahrain
Category:Sri Lankan beauty pageant winners
Category:Miss Universe 2006 contestants
Category:Actresses in Hindi cinema
Category:Actresses in Tamil cinema
Category:Actresses in Telugu cinema
Category:Actresses in Kannada cinema
Category:Sri Lankan expatriates in India
Category:Expatriate actresses in India
Category:International Indian Film Academy Awards winners
Category:Burgher models
Category:Sri Lankan people of Malaysian descent
Category:Sri Lankan people of Canadian descent
Category:Sri Lankan people of Dutch descent
Category:Sri Lankan Malays
Category:Sri Lankan Roman Catholics
Category:Sri Lankan expatriates in Australia
Category:University of Sydney alumni
Category:21st-century Sri Lankan actresses | [] | [
"Jacqueline Fernandez is an actress. She also performed in concert tours and televised award ceremonies.",
"The text does not provide specific information on what Jacqueline Fernandez likes to do in her free time.",
"The text does not provide information on where Jacqueline Fernandez is from.",
"Besides acting, Jacqueline Fernandez has participated in several concert tours and televised award ceremonies, and opened a restaurant in Colombo which specialises in contemporary Sri Lankan cuisine. She also became involved in philanthropic activities, including supporting charitable organisations and causes, such as advocating for the protection of animals, and fundraising for education and disaster relief.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Jacqueline Fernandez attended college.",
"The text does not provide information on Jacqueline Fernandez's nationality."
] | [
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_0 | Red Skelton | Richard "Red" Skelton (July 18, 1913 - September 17, 1997) was an American comedy entertainer. He was best known for his national radio and television acts between 1937 and 1971, and as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist. Skelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. | Radio, divorce and remarriage (1937-1951) | Performing the "Doughnut Dunkers" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallee's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallee's program had a talent show segment and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallee also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year. On October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers: selecting material from them, adding her own and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients. Skelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_0_q#0",
"C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_0_q#1",
"C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_0_q#2",
"C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_0_q#3",
"C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_0_q#4",
"C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_0_q#5"
] | [
"Was Red on radio",
"Did he do ads on radio or shows?",
"Was the show popular",
"How was his personal life",
"Was he married?",
"Did he get divorced?"
] | [
0,
0,
2,
2,
1,
1
] | [
0,
0,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1202
],
[
1321
],
[
1423
],
[
1038
],
[
1597
],
[
1597
]
],
"texts": [
[
"A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients."
],
[
"Skelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program,"
],
[
"The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard,"
],
[
"Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio show offer; between films, he promoted himself"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1202,
1321,
1423,
1038,
1597,
1597
],
"texts": [
"A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.",
" Skelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program,",
"The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard,",
"Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio show offer; between films, he promoted himself",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.
Skelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The "Doughnut Dunkers" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).
Skelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was canceled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971. He spent his time after that making as many as 125 personal appearances a year and working on his paintings.
Skelton's paintings of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife Georgia persuaded him to show them at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful, and he also sold prints and lithographs, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer said he thought that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television performances.
Skelton believed that his life's work was to make people laugh; he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything. He had a 70-year-long career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans. His widow donated many of his personal and professional effects to Vincennes University, including prints of his artwork. They are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes, Indiana.
Biography
Early years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929)
According to some sources, Skelton was born Richard Red Skelton on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. In a 1983 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Skelton claimed his middle name was really "Red" and that he had made up the middle name Bernard, from the name of a local store, Bernard Clothiers, to satisfy a schoolteacher who would not believe his middle name was "Red".
Skelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future.
Because of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing other odd jobs to help his family, who had lost the family store and their home. He quickly learned the newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. According to later accounts, Skelton's early interest in becoming an entertainer stemmed from an incident that took place in Vincennes around 1923, when a stranger, supposedly the comedian Ed Wynn, approached Skelton, who was the newsboy selling papers outside a Vincennes theater. When the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town. The man purchased every paper Skelton had, providing enough money for the boy to purchase a ticket for himself. The stranger turned out to be one of the show's stars, who later took the boy backstage to introduce him to the other performers. The experience prompted Skelton, who had already shown comedic tendencies, to pursue a career as a performer.
Skelton discovered at an early age that he could make people laugh. He dropped out of school around 1926 or 1927, when he was 13 or 14 years old, but he already had some experience performing in minstrel shows in Vincennes, and on a showboat, The Cotton Blossom, that plied the Ohio and Missouri rivers. He enjoyed his work on the riverboat, moving on only after he realized that showboat entertainment was coming to an end. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, "Help! I'm backing into heaven!" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. At the age of 15, Skelton did some early work on the burlesque circuit, and reportedly spent four months with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1929, when he was 16 years old.
Ida Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son had run away from home to become an entertainer, but "his destiny had caught up with him at an early age". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the Great Depression, and it may have meant one less child for her to feed. Around 1929, while Skelton was still a teen, he joined "Doc" R.E. Lewis's traveling medicine show as an errand boy who sold bottles of medicine to the audience. During one show, when Skelton accidentally fell from the stage, breaking several bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. Both Lewis and Skelton realized one could earn a living with this ability and the fall was worked into the show. He also told jokes and sang in the medicine show during his four years there. Skelton earned ten dollars a week, and sent all of it home to his mother. When she worried that he was keeping nothing for his own needs, Skelton reassured her: "We get plenty to eat, and we sleep in the wagon."
Burlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937)
As burlesque comedy material became progressively more ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; "I just didn't think the lines were funny". He became a sought-after master of ceremonies for dance marathons (known as "walkathons" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. When they learned that Skelton's salary was to be cut, Edna went to see the boss; Red resented the interference, until she came away with not only a raise, but additional considerations as well. Since he had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbooks and taught him what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree.
The couple put together an act and began booking it at small midwestern theaters. When an offer came for an engagement in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, some 2,000 miles from Kansas City, they were pleased to get it because of its proximity to their ultimate goal, the vaudeville houses of New York City. To get to Massachusetts they bought a used car and borrowed five dollars from Edna's mother, but by the time they arrived in St. Louis they had only fifty cents. Skelton asked Edna to collect empty cigarette packs; she thought he was joking, but did as he asked. He then spent their fifty cents on bars of soap, which they cut into small cubes and wrapped with the tinfoil from the cigarette packs. By selling their products for fifty cents each as fog remover for eyeglasses, the Skeltons were able to afford a hotel room every night as they worked their way to Harwich Port.
"Doughnut Dunkers"
Skelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.
Skelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the "Doughnut Dunkers" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee.
The couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly-written material and began performing the "Doughnut Dunkers" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, "Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once." His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward.
Film work
Skelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1938, he made his film debut for RKO Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time. He appeared in two short subjects for Vitaphone in 1939: Seeing Red and The Broadway Buckaroo. Actor Mickey Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films after seeing him perform his "Doughnut Dunkers" act at President Roosevelt's 1940 birthday party. For his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as "Guzzler's Gin", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. "Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney.
Skelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided comic relief as a lieutenant in Frank Borzage's war drama Flight Command, opposite Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in Harold S. Bucquet's Dr. Kildare medical dramas, Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective "The Fox", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark (1941) in which he began working with director S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, and Robert Young in Norman Z. McLeod's Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in Edward Buzzell's Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's Panama Hattie.
In 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King Louis XV of France in a dream opposite Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in Roy Del Ruth's Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy, I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick. Keaton was so convinced of Skelton's comedic talent that he approached MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer with a request to create a small company within MGM for himself and Skelton, where the two could work on film projects. Keaton offered to forgo his salary if the films made by the company were not box-office hits; Mayer chose to decline the request. In 1944, Skelton starred opposite Esther Williams in George Sidney's musical comedy Bathing Beauty, playing a songwriter with romantic difficulties. He next had a relatively minor role as a "TV announcer who, in the course of demonstrating a brand of gin, progresses from mild inebriation through messy drunkenness to full-blown stupor" in the "When Television Comes" segment of Ziegfeld Follies, which featured William Powell and Judy Garland in the main roles. In 1946, Skelton played boastful clerk J. Aubrey Piper opposite Marilyn Maxwell and Marjorie Main in Harry Beaumont's comedy picture The Show-Off.
Skelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. Skelton asked for a release from MGM after learning he could not raise the $750,000 needed to buy out the remainder of his contract. He also voiced frustration with the film scripts he was offered while on the set of The Fuller Brush Man, saying, "Movies are not my field. Radio and television are." He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show.
Skelton's ability to successfully ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits.
Skelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as Jack Donohue's The Yellow Cab Man (1950), Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's Excuse My Dust (1951), Charles Walters' Texas Carnival (1951), Mervyn LeRoy's Lovely to Look At (1952), Robert Z. Leonard's The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).
Radio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951)
Performing the "Doughnut Dunkers" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.
On October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.
Skelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.
"I dood it!"
Skelton introduced the first two of his many characters during The Raleigh Cigarette Program's first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or "Junior", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. "Junior" would say things like, "If I dood it, I gets a whipping.", followed moments later by the statement, "I dood it!" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname "Junior" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1943 movie of the same name, but did not play "Junior" in the film.
The phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase "Doolittle Dood It" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber "We Dood It!" In 1986, Soviet newspaper Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.
Skelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called "Mellow Cigars", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine "Guzzler's Gin", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his "Guzzler's Gin" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.
Divorce from Edna, marriage to Georgia
In 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving Skelton, but would continue to manage his career and write material for him. He did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce through NBC. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.
The divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
By 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry him, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Edna's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career; Edna stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her former husband.
He was on army furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.
A cast of characters
Skelton served in the United States Army during World War II. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. He had a nervous collapse while in the Army, following which he developed a stutter. While recovering at an army hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, he met a soldier who had been severely wounded and was not expected to survive. Skelton devoted a lot of time and effort to trying to make the man laugh. As a result of this effort, his stutter reduced; his army friend's condition also improved, and he was no longer on the critical list. He was released from his army duties in September 1945. "I've been told I'm the only celebrity who entered the Army as a private and came out a private," he told reporters. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.
Upon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a "loudmouthed braggart"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air.
On April 22, 1947, Skelton was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer Rod O'Connor and he began talking about Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word "diaper". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.
Skelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. After his network radio contract was over, he signed a three-year contract with Ziv Radio for a syndicated radio program in 1954. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.
Television (1951–1970)
Skelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. On May 4, 1951, he signed a contract for television with NBC; Procter and Gamble was his sponsor. He said he would be performing the same characters on television that he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951.
His television debut, The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening monologue, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943 instrumental hit by David Rose, called "Holiday for Strings", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His "Freddie the Freeloader" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of "Good night and may God bless."
During the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing.
Skelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company.
By 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times
between 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.
Richard's illness and death
At the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. He returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers.
The Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a "cardiac-asthma" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, "if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958.
Richard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family. Life magazine, profiling "The Invincible Red" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still "racked [sic]" by his son’s death. In 1962, the Skelton family moved to Palm Springs, and Skelton used the Bel Air home only on the two days a week when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping.
The Red Skelton Hour
In early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios and updated it for videotape recording. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his "Junior" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program.
Skelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the "Silent Spot". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character.
Skelton's season premiere for the 1960–1961 television season was a tribute to the United Nations. About 600 people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. The program was entirely done in pantomime, as UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, "They join a parade and start marching." In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator.
In 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single on Columbia Records. A year later, he performed the monologue for President Richard Nixon at the first "Evening at the White House", a series of entertainment events honoring the recently inaugurated president.
Off the air and bitterness (1970–1983)
As the 1970s began, the networks began a major campaign to discontinue long-running shows that they considered stale, dominated by older demographics, and/or becoming too expensive due to escalating costs. Despite Skelton's continued strong overall viewership, CBS saw his show as fitting into this category and cancelled the program along with other comedy and variety shows hosted by veterans such as Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, "My heart has been broken." His program had been one of the top-10, highest-rated shows for 17 of the 20 years he was on television.
Skelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his television career, and he returned to live performances. In an effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and proved popular with the audiences.
Skelton was bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he accused CBS of bowing to the antiestablishment, antiwar faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative political and social views caused the network to turn against him. He had invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and Senate Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the war, to appear on his program.
Personal, as well as professional, changes occurred in Skelton's life at this time. He divorced Georgia in 1971 and married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, on October 7, 1973. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was cancelled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May of 1978.
Skelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. In 1980, he was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a report that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, "Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983, Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.
Red Skelton onstage
Skelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as "palaces"; he also likened them to his "living room", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, "Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone."
Skelton was invited to play a four-week date at the London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, "You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine." Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year.
Though Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. He often arrived days early for his engagement and would serve as his own promotion staff, making the rounds of the local shopping malls. Before the show, his audiences received a ballot listing about 100 of his many routines and were asked to tick off their favorites. The venue's ushers would collect the ballots and tally the votes. Skelton's performance on that given day was based on the skits his audience selected. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.
Later years and death
In 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1956. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well. George Burns and Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film.
In 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces series of specials. He gave a Royal Command Performance for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1984, which was later shown in the U.S. on HBO. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime.
Skelton died on September 17, 1997, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, after what was described as "a long, undisclosed illness". He is interred in the Skelton Family Tomb, the family's private room, alongside his son, Richard Freeman Skelton, Jr., and his second wife, Georgia Maureen Davis Skelton, in the Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland Skelton; his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso; and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.
Art and other interests
Artwork
Skelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at painting after visiting a large Chicago department store that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one, which Skelton described as "a bunch of blotches", he was told, "Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one." He told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife Georgia, a former art student, persuaded him to have his first public showing of his work in 1964 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was performing at the time. Skelton believed painting was an asset to his comedy work, as it helped him to better visualize the imaginary props used in his pantomime routines.
In addition to his originals, Skelton also sold reproductions and prints through his own mail-order business. He made his work available to art galleries by selling them franchises to display and sell his paintings. He once estimated the sale of his lithographs earned him $2.5 million per year. Shortly after his death, his art dealer said he believed that Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work. At the time of his death, Skelton had produced over 1,000 oil paintings of clowns. When asked why his artwork focused on clowns, he said at first, "I don't know why it's always clowns." He continued after thinking a moment by saying "No, that's not true—I do know why. I just don't feel like thinking about it ..." At the time of Skelton's death, his originals were priced at $80,000 and upward.
Other interests
Skelton was a prolific writer of both short stories and music. After sleeping only four or five hours a night, he would wake up at 5 am and begin writing stories, composing music, and painting pictures. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies by the time of his death. He wrote commercials for Skoal tobacco and sold many of his compositions to Muzak, a company that specialized in providing background music to stores and other businesses. Skelton was also interested in photography; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the film to newspaper reporters waiting outside. He was never without a miniature camera, and kept a photographic record of all his paintings. Skelton was also an avid gardener, who created his own Japanese and Italian gardens and cultivated bonsai trees at his home in Palm Springs. He owned a horse ranch in the Anza Valley.
Fraternity and honors
Skelton was a Freemason, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish and the York Rites. He was a recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a $5 bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown. He was also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as a Shriner in Los Angeles.
Skelton was made an honorary brother of Phi Sigma Kappa at Truman State University. In 1961, he became an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity of Emerson College, when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college at the same ceremony. Skelton received an honorary high-school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity; Skelton had composed many marches, which were used by more than 10,000 high-school and college bands. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University.
The Red Skelton Memorial Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near Skelton's home town of Vincennes. He attended the dedication ceremonies in 1963.
Awards and recognition
In 1952, Skelton received Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Program and Best Comedian. He also received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for his noncomedic performance in Playhouse 90's presentation of "The Big Slide". Skelton and his writers won another Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. He was named an honorary faculty member of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1968 and 1969.
Skelton's first major post-television recognition came in 1978, when the Golden Globe Awards named him as the recipient for their Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given to honor outstanding contributions in entertainment. His excitement was so great upon receiving the award and a standing ovation, that he clutched it tightly enough to break the statuette. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. "I want to thank you for sitting down", he said when the ovation subsided. "I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me." The honor came 16 years after his television program left the airwaves.
Skelton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1987, and in 1988, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame. He was one of the International Clown Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1989. Skelton and Katharine Hepburn were honored with lifetime achievement awards by the American Comedy Awards in the same year. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Skelton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio and television work.
Legacy and tributes
Skelton preferred to be described as a clown rather than a comic: "A comedian goes out and hits people right on. A clown uses pathos. He can be funny, then turn right around and reach people and touch them with what life is like." "I just want to be known as a clown", he said, "because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh." His purpose in life, he believed, was to make people laugh.
In Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton "the most unacclaimed clown in show business", and "the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialogue and props. "With one prop, a soft battered hat", Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, "he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red." He added that Skelton also "plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors." In late 1965, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, reminiscing about the entertainment business, singled out Skelton for high praise. "It's all so very different today. The whole business of comedy has changed — from 15 minutes of quality to quantity. We had a lot of very funny people around, from Charley Chase to Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. The last one of that breed is Red Skelton." Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures also praised Skelton, saying, "He's a clown in the old tradition. He doesn't need punch lines. He's got heart."
Skelton and Marcel Marceau shared a long friendship and admiration of each other's work. Marceau appeared on Skelton's CBS television show three times, including one turn as the host in 1961 as Skelton recovered from surgery. He was also a guest on the three Funny Faces specials that Skelton produced for HBO. In a TV Guide interview after Skelton's death, Marceau said, "Red, you are eternal for me and the millions of people you made laugh and cry. May God bless you forever, my great and precious companion. I will never forget that silent world we created together." CBS issued the following statement upon his death: "Red's audience had no age limits. He was the consummate family entertainer—a winsome clown, a storyteller without peer, a superb mime, a singer, and a dancer."
The Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in February 2006 on the campus of Vincennes University, one block from the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and dressing rooms. Its grand foyer is a gallery for Skelton's paintings, statues, and film posters. The theater hosts theatrical and musical productions by Vincennes University, as well as special events, convocations, and conventions. The adjacent Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened on July 18, 2013, on what would have been Skelton's 100th birthday. It houses his personal and professional materials, which he had collected since the age of 10, in accordance with his wishes that they be made available in his hometown for the public's enjoyment. Skelton's widow, Lothian, noted that he expressed no interest in any sort of Hollywood memorial. The museum is funded jointly by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation and the Indiana Historical Society. Other foundation projects include a fund that provides new clothes to Vincennes children from low-income families. The foundation also purchased Skelton's birthplace. On July 15, 2017, the state of Indiana unveiled a state historic marker at the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born.
The town of Vincennes has held an annual Red Skelton Festival since 2005. A "Parade of a Thousand Clowns", billed as the largest clown parade in the Midwest, is followed by family-oriented activities and live music performances.
Filmography
Features
Short subjects
Box-office ranking
Based on rankings of the amount of money earned in box-office receipts for film showings, for a number of years Skelton was among the most popular stars in the country:
1944 – 16th-largest box-office draw
1949 – 13th
1951 – 14th
1952 – 21st
Published works
Notes
References
Sources cited
External links
Red Skelton Biography
Red Skelton Foundation
Red Skelton Museum and Education Center
Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University
Edna and Red Skelton Collection at the Indiana Historical Society
RED-EO Video Production Company, article and photo, The Broadcast Archive
List of Red Skelton TV Episodes 1951–1971, The Classic TV Archive
Literature on Red Skelton
Red Skelton at the Internet Archive
"Edna Stillwell and the 'Real Making of Red'”, Indiana Historical Bureau
Category:1913 births
Category:1997 deaths
Category:20th-century American comedians
Category:20th-century American composers
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:20th-century American male musicians
Category:20th-century American painters
Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Category:American burlesque performers
Category:American clowns
Category:American male comedians
Category:American male composers
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male painters
Category:American male radio actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:American radio personalities
Category:American sketch comedians
Category:Television personalities from California
Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Category:California Republicans
Red Skelton
Category:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners
Category:Comedians from California
Category:Conservatism in the United States
Category:Indiana Historical Society
Category:Indiana Republicans
Category:Deaths from pneumonia in California
Category:Male actors from Indiana
Category:Male actors from Palm Springs, California
Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
Red Skelton
Category:Painters from Indiana
Category:Painters from California
Category:People from Vincennes, Indiana
Category:Primetime Emmy Award winners
Category:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award
Category:United States Army personnel of World War II
Category:United States Army soldiers
Category:Vaudeville performers
Category:20th-century American male artists | [
{
"text": "Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.\n\nSkelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The \"Doughnut Dunkers\" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).\n\nSkelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was canceled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971. He spent his time after that making as many as 125 personal appearances a year and working on his paintings.\n\nSkelton's paintings of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife Georgia persuaded him to show them at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful, and he also sold prints and lithographs, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer said he thought that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television performances.\n\nSkelton believed that his life's work was to make people laugh; he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything. He had a 70-year-long career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans. His widow donated many of his personal and professional effects to Vincennes University, including prints of his artwork. They are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes, Indiana.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929)\nAccording to some sources, Skelton was born Richard Red Skelton on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. In a 1983 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Skelton claimed his middle name was really \"Red\" and that he had made up the middle name Bernard, from the name of a local store, Bernard Clothiers, to satisfy a schoolteacher who would not believe his middle name was \"Red\".\n\nSkelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future.\n\nBecause of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing other odd jobs to help his family, who had lost the family store and their home. He quickly learned the newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. According to later accounts, Skelton's early interest in becoming an entertainer stemmed from an incident that took place in Vincennes around 1923, when a stranger, supposedly the comedian Ed Wynn, approached Skelton, who was the newsboy selling papers outside a Vincennes theater. When the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town. The man purchased every paper Skelton had, providing enough money for the boy to purchase a ticket for himself. The stranger turned out to be one of the show's stars, who later took the boy backstage to introduce him to the other performers. The experience prompted Skelton, who had already shown comedic tendencies, to pursue a career as a performer.\n\nSkelton discovered at an early age that he could make people laugh. He dropped out of school around 1926 or 1927, when he was 13 or 14 years old, but he already had some experience performing in minstrel shows in Vincennes, and on a showboat, The Cotton Blossom, that plied the Ohio and Missouri rivers. He enjoyed his work on the riverboat, moving on only after he realized that showboat entertainment was coming to an end. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, \"Help! I'm backing into heaven!\" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. At the age of 15, Skelton did some early work on the burlesque circuit, and reportedly spent four months with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1929, when he was 16 years old.\n\nIda Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son had run away from home to become an entertainer, but \"his destiny had caught up with him at an early age\". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the Great Depression, and it may have meant one less child for her to feed. Around 1929, while Skelton was still a teen, he joined \"Doc\" R.E. Lewis's traveling medicine show as an errand boy who sold bottles of medicine to the audience. During one show, when Skelton accidentally fell from the stage, breaking several bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. Both Lewis and Skelton realized one could earn a living with this ability and the fall was worked into the show. He also told jokes and sang in the medicine show during his four years there. Skelton earned ten dollars a week, and sent all of it home to his mother. When she worried that he was keeping nothing for his own needs, Skelton reassured her: \"We get plenty to eat, and we sleep in the wagon.\"\n\nBurlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937)\n\nAs burlesque comedy material became progressively more ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; \"I just didn't think the lines were funny\". He became a sought-after master of ceremonies for dance marathons (known as \"walkathons\" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. When they learned that Skelton's salary was to be cut, Edna went to see the boss; Red resented the interference, until she came away with not only a raise, but additional considerations as well. Since he had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbooks and taught him what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree.\n\nThe couple put together an act and began booking it at small midwestern theaters. When an offer came for an engagement in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, some 2,000 miles from Kansas City, they were pleased to get it because of its proximity to their ultimate goal, the vaudeville houses of New York City. To get to Massachusetts they bought a used car and borrowed five dollars from Edna's mother, but by the time they arrived in St. Louis they had only fifty cents. Skelton asked Edna to collect empty cigarette packs; she thought he was joking, but did as he asked. He then spent their fifty cents on bars of soap, which they cut into small cubes and wrapped with the tinfoil from the cigarette packs. By selling their products for fifty cents each as fog remover for eyeglasses, the Skeltons were able to afford a hotel room every night as they worked their way to Harwich Port.\n\n\"Doughnut Dunkers\"\n\nSkelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.\n\nSkelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee.\n\nThe couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly-written material and began performing the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, \"Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once.\" His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward.\n\nFilm work\n\nSkelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1938, he made his film debut for RKO Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time. He appeared in two short subjects for Vitaphone in 1939: Seeing Red and The Broadway Buckaroo. Actor Mickey Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films after seeing him perform his \"Doughnut Dunkers\" act at President Roosevelt's 1940 birthday party. For his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as \"Guzzler's Gin\", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. \"Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying\" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney.\n\nSkelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided comic relief as a lieutenant in Frank Borzage's war drama Flight Command, opposite Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in Harold S. Bucquet's Dr. Kildare medical dramas, Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective \"The Fox\", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark (1941) in which he began working with director S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, and Robert Young in Norman Z. McLeod's Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in Edward Buzzell's Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's Panama Hattie.\n\nIn 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King Louis XV of France in a dream opposite Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in Roy Del Ruth's Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy, I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick. Keaton was so convinced of Skelton's comedic talent that he approached MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer with a request to create a small company within MGM for himself and Skelton, where the two could work on film projects. Keaton offered to forgo his salary if the films made by the company were not box-office hits; Mayer chose to decline the request. In 1944, Skelton starred opposite Esther Williams in George Sidney's musical comedy Bathing Beauty, playing a songwriter with romantic difficulties. He next had a relatively minor role as a \"TV announcer who, in the course of demonstrating a brand of gin, progresses from mild inebriation through messy drunkenness to full-blown stupor\" in the \"When Television Comes\" segment of Ziegfeld Follies, which featured William Powell and Judy Garland in the main roles. In 1946, Skelton played boastful clerk J. Aubrey Piper opposite Marilyn Maxwell and Marjorie Main in Harry Beaumont's comedy picture The Show-Off.\n\nSkelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. Skelton asked for a release from MGM after learning he could not raise the $750,000 needed to buy out the remainder of his contract. He also voiced frustration with the film scripts he was offered while on the set of The Fuller Brush Man, saying, \"Movies are not my field. Radio and television are.\" He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show.\n\nSkelton's ability to successfully ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits.\n\nSkelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as Jack Donohue's The Yellow Cab Man (1950), Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's Excuse My Dust (1951), Charles Walters' Texas Carnival (1951), Mervyn LeRoy's Lovely to Look At (1952), Robert Z. Leonard's The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).\n\nRadio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951)\nPerforming the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.\n\nOn October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.\n\nSkelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.\n\n\"I dood it!\"\n\nSkelton introduced the first two of his many characters during The Raleigh Cigarette Program's first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or \"Junior\", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. \"Junior\" would say things like, \"If I dood it, I gets a whipping.\", followed moments later by the statement, \"I dood it!\" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname \"Junior\" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1943 movie of the same name, but did not play \"Junior\" in the film.\n\nThe phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase \"Doolittle Dood It\" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber \"We Dood It!\" In 1986, Soviet newspaper Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.\n\nSkelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called \"Mellow Cigars\", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine \"Guzzler's Gin\", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his \"Guzzler's Gin\" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.\n\nDivorce from Edna, marriage to Georgia\nIn 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving Skelton, but would continue to manage his career and write material for him. He did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce through NBC. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.\n\nThe divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.\n\nBy 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry him, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Edna's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career; Edna stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her former husband.\nHe was on army furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.\n\nA cast of characters\n\nSkelton served in the United States Army during World War II. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. He had a nervous collapse while in the Army, following which he developed a stutter. While recovering at an army hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, he met a soldier who had been severely wounded and was not expected to survive. Skelton devoted a lot of time and effort to trying to make the man laugh. As a result of this effort, his stutter reduced; his army friend's condition also improved, and he was no longer on the critical list. He was released from his army duties in September 1945. \"I've been told I'm the only celebrity who entered the Army as a private and came out a private,\" he told reporters. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.\n\nUpon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a \"loudmouthed braggart\"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air.\n\nOn April 22, 1947, Skelton was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer Rod O'Connor and he began talking about Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word \"diaper\". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.\n\nSkelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. After his network radio contract was over, he signed a three-year contract with Ziv Radio for a syndicated radio program in 1954. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.\n\nTelevision (1951–1970)\nSkelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. On May 4, 1951, he signed a contract for television with NBC; Procter and Gamble was his sponsor. He said he would be performing the same characters on television that he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951.\n\nHis television debut, The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening monologue, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943 instrumental hit by David Rose, called \"Holiday for Strings\", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His \"Freddie the Freeloader\" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of \"Good night and may God bless.\"\n\nDuring the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing.\n\nSkelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company.\n\nBy 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times\nbetween 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.\n\nRichard's illness and death\n\nAt the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. He returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers.\n\nThe Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a \"cardiac-asthma\" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, \"if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived\". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958.\n\nRichard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family. Life magazine, profiling \"The Invincible Red\" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still \"racked [sic]\" by his son’s death. In 1962, the Skelton family moved to Palm Springs, and Skelton used the Bel Air home only on the two days a week when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping.\n\nThe Red Skelton Hour\nIn early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios and updated it for videotape recording. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his \"Junior\" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program.\n\nSkelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the \"Silent Spot\". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character.\n\nSkelton's season premiere for the 1960–1961 television season was a tribute to the United Nations. About 600 people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. The program was entirely done in pantomime, as UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, \"They join a parade and start marching.\" In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator.\n\nIn 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single on Columbia Records. A year later, he performed the monologue for President Richard Nixon at the first \"Evening at the White House\", a series of entertainment events honoring the recently inaugurated president.\n\nOff the air and bitterness (1970–1983)\nAs the 1970s began, the networks began a major campaign to discontinue long-running shows that they considered stale, dominated by older demographics, and/or becoming too expensive due to escalating costs. Despite Skelton's continued strong overall viewership, CBS saw his show as fitting into this category and cancelled the program along with other comedy and variety shows hosted by veterans such as Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, \"My heart has been broken.\" His program had been one of the top-10, highest-rated shows for 17 of the 20 years he was on television. \n\nSkelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his television career, and he returned to live performances. In an effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and proved popular with the audiences.\nSkelton was bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he accused CBS of bowing to the antiestablishment, antiwar faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative political and social views caused the network to turn against him. He had invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and Senate Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the war, to appear on his program.\n\nPersonal, as well as professional, changes occurred in Skelton's life at this time. He divorced Georgia in 1971 and married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, on October 7, 1973. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was cancelled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May of 1978.\n\nSkelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. In 1980, he was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a report that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, \"Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?\" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983, Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.\n\nRed Skelton onstage\nSkelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as \"palaces\"; he also likened them to his \"living room\", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, \"Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone.\"\n\nSkelton was invited to play a four-week date at the London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, \"You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine.\" Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year.\n\nThough Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. He often arrived days early for his engagement and would serve as his own promotion staff, making the rounds of the local shopping malls. Before the show, his audiences received a ballot listing about 100 of his many routines and were asked to tick off their favorites. The venue's ushers would collect the ballots and tally the votes. Skelton's performance on that given day was based on the skits his audience selected. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.\n\nLater years and death\n\nIn 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1956. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well. George Burns and Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film.\n\nIn 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces series of specials. He gave a Royal Command Performance for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1984, which was later shown in the U.S. on HBO. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime.\n\nSkelton died on September 17, 1997, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, after what was described as \"a long, undisclosed illness\". He is interred in the Skelton Family Tomb, the family's private room, alongside his son, Richard Freeman Skelton, Jr., and his second wife, Georgia Maureen Davis Skelton, in the Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland Skelton; his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso; and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.\n\nArt and other interests\n\nArtwork\n\nSkelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at painting after visiting a large Chicago department store that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one, which Skelton described as \"a bunch of blotches\", he was told, \"Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one.\" He told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife Georgia, a former art student, persuaded him to have his first public showing of his work in 1964 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was performing at the time. Skelton believed painting was an asset to his comedy work, as it helped him to better visualize the imaginary props used in his pantomime routines.\n\nIn addition to his originals, Skelton also sold reproductions and prints through his own mail-order business. He made his work available to art galleries by selling them franchises to display and sell his paintings. He once estimated the sale of his lithographs earned him $2.5 million per year. Shortly after his death, his art dealer said he believed that Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work. At the time of his death, Skelton had produced over 1,000 oil paintings of clowns. When asked why his artwork focused on clowns, he said at first, \"I don't know why it's always clowns.\" He continued after thinking a moment by saying \"No, that's not true—I do know why. I just don't feel like thinking about it ...\" At the time of Skelton's death, his originals were priced at $80,000 and upward.\n\nOther interests\nSkelton was a prolific writer of both short stories and music. After sleeping only four or five hours a night, he would wake up at 5 am and begin writing stories, composing music, and painting pictures. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies by the time of his death. He wrote commercials for Skoal tobacco and sold many of his compositions to Muzak, a company that specialized in providing background music to stores and other businesses. Skelton was also interested in photography; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the film to newspaper reporters waiting outside. He was never without a miniature camera, and kept a photographic record of all his paintings. Skelton was also an avid gardener, who created his own Japanese and Italian gardens and cultivated bonsai trees at his home in Palm Springs. He owned a horse ranch in the Anza Valley.\n\nFraternity and honors\nSkelton was a Freemason, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish and the York Rites. He was a recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a $5 bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown. He was also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as a Shriner in Los Angeles.\n\nSkelton was made an honorary brother of Phi Sigma Kappa at Truman State University. In 1961, he became an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity of Emerson College, when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college at the same ceremony. Skelton received an honorary high-school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity; Skelton had composed many marches, which were used by more than 10,000 high-school and college bands. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University.\n\nThe Red Skelton Memorial Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near Skelton's home town of Vincennes. He attended the dedication ceremonies in 1963.\n\nAwards and recognition\n\nIn 1952, Skelton received Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Program and Best Comedian. He also received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for his noncomedic performance in Playhouse 90's presentation of \"The Big Slide\". Skelton and his writers won another Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. He was named an honorary faculty member of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1968 and 1969.\n\nSkelton's first major post-television recognition came in 1978, when the Golden Globe Awards named him as the recipient for their Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given to honor outstanding contributions in entertainment. His excitement was so great upon receiving the award and a standing ovation, that he clutched it tightly enough to break the statuette. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. \"I want to thank you for sitting down\", he said when the ovation subsided. \"I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me.\" The honor came 16 years after his television program left the airwaves.\n\nSkelton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1987, and in 1988, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame. He was one of the International Clown Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1989. Skelton and Katharine Hepburn were honored with lifetime achievement awards by the American Comedy Awards in the same year. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Skelton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio and television work.\n\nLegacy and tributes\nSkelton preferred to be described as a clown rather than a comic: \"A comedian goes out and hits people right on. A clown uses pathos. He can be funny, then turn right around and reach people and touch them with what life is like.\" \"I just want to be known as a clown\", he said, \"because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh.\" His purpose in life, he believed, was to make people laugh.\n\nIn Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton \"the most unacclaimed clown in show business\", and \"the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin\", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialogue and props. \"With one prop, a soft battered hat\", Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, \"he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red.\" He added that Skelton also \"plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors.\" In late 1965, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, reminiscing about the entertainment business, singled out Skelton for high praise. \"It's all so very different today. The whole business of comedy has changed — from 15 minutes of quality to quantity. We had a lot of very funny people around, from Charley Chase to Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. The last one of that breed is Red Skelton.\" Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures also praised Skelton, saying, \"He's a clown in the old tradition. He doesn't need punch lines. He's got heart.\"\n\nSkelton and Marcel Marceau shared a long friendship and admiration of each other's work. Marceau appeared on Skelton's CBS television show three times, including one turn as the host in 1961 as Skelton recovered from surgery. He was also a guest on the three Funny Faces specials that Skelton produced for HBO. In a TV Guide interview after Skelton's death, Marceau said, \"Red, you are eternal for me and the millions of people you made laugh and cry. May God bless you forever, my great and precious companion. I will never forget that silent world we created together.\" CBS issued the following statement upon his death: \"Red's audience had no age limits. He was the consummate family entertainer—a winsome clown, a storyteller without peer, a superb mime, a singer, and a dancer.\"\n\nThe Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in February 2006 on the campus of Vincennes University, one block from the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and dressing rooms. Its grand foyer is a gallery for Skelton's paintings, statues, and film posters. The theater hosts theatrical and musical productions by Vincennes University, as well as special events, convocations, and conventions. The adjacent Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened on July 18, 2013, on what would have been Skelton's 100th birthday. It houses his personal and professional materials, which he had collected since the age of 10, in accordance with his wishes that they be made available in his hometown for the public's enjoyment. Skelton's widow, Lothian, noted that he expressed no interest in any sort of Hollywood memorial. The museum is funded jointly by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation and the Indiana Historical Society. Other foundation projects include a fund that provides new clothes to Vincennes children from low-income families. The foundation also purchased Skelton's birthplace. On July 15, 2017, the state of Indiana unveiled a state historic marker at the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born.\n\nThe town of Vincennes has held an annual Red Skelton Festival since 2005. A \"Parade of a Thousand Clowns\", billed as the largest clown parade in the Midwest, is followed by family-oriented activities and live music performances.\n\nFilmography\n\nFeatures\n\nShort subjects\n\nBox-office ranking\nBased on rankings of the amount of money earned in box-office receipts for film showings, for a number of years Skelton was among the most popular stars in the country:\n1944 – 16th-largest box-office draw\n1949 – 13th\n1951 – 14th\n1952 – 21st\n\nPublished works\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nSources cited\n\nExternal links\n\n Red Skelton Biography\n Red Skelton Foundation \n Red Skelton Museum and Education Center\n Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University\n Edna and Red Skelton Collection at the Indiana Historical Society\n RED-EO Video Production Company, article and photo, The Broadcast Archive\n List of Red Skelton TV Episodes 1951–1971, The Classic TV Archive\n Literature on Red Skelton\n Red Skelton at the Internet Archive\n \"Edna Stillwell and the 'Real Making of Red'”, Indiana Historical Bureau\n\nCategory:1913 births\nCategory:1997 deaths\nCategory:20th-century American comedians\nCategory:20th-century American composers\nCategory:20th-century American male actors\nCategory:20th-century American male musicians\nCategory:20th-century American painters\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nCategory:American burlesque performers\nCategory:American clowns\nCategory:American male comedians\nCategory:American male composers\nCategory:American male film actors\nCategory:American male painters\nCategory:American male radio actors\nCategory:American male television actors\nCategory:American radio personalities\nCategory:American sketch comedians\nCategory:Television personalities from California\nCategory:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)\nCategory:California Republicans\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners\nCategory:Comedians from California\nCategory:Conservatism in the United States\nCategory:Indiana Historical Society\nCategory:Indiana Republicans\nCategory:Deaths from pneumonia in California\nCategory:Male actors from Indiana\nCategory:Male actors from Palm Springs, California\nCategory:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Painters from Indiana\nCategory:Painters from California\nCategory:People from Vincennes, Indiana\nCategory:Primetime Emmy Award winners\nCategory:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award\nCategory:United States Army personnel of World War II\nCategory:United States Army soldiers\nCategory:Vaudeville performers\nCategory:20th-century American male artists",
"title": "Red Skelton"
},
{
"text": "Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.\n\nSkelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The \"Doughnut Dunkers\" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).\n\nSkelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was canceled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971. He spent his time after that making as many as 125 personal appearances a year and working on his paintings.\n\nSkelton's paintings of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife Georgia persuaded him to show them at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful, and he also sold prints and lithographs, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer said he thought that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television performances.\n\nSkelton believed that his life's work was to make people laugh; he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything. He had a 70-year-long career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans. His widow donated many of his personal and professional effects to Vincennes University, including prints of his artwork. They are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes, Indiana.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929)\nAccording to some sources, Skelton was born Richard Red Skelton on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. In a 1983 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Skelton claimed his middle name was really \"Red\" and that he had made up the middle name Bernard, from the name of a local store, Bernard Clothiers, to satisfy a schoolteacher who would not believe his middle name was \"Red\".\n\nSkelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future.\n\nBecause of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing other odd jobs to help his family, who had lost the family store and their home. He quickly learned the newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. According to later accounts, Skelton's early interest in becoming an entertainer stemmed from an incident that took place in Vincennes around 1923, when a stranger, supposedly the comedian Ed Wynn, approached Skelton, who was the newsboy selling papers outside a Vincennes theater. When the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town. The man purchased every paper Skelton had, providing enough money for the boy to purchase a ticket for himself. The stranger turned out to be one of the show's stars, who later took the boy backstage to introduce him to the other performers. The experience prompted Skelton, who had already shown comedic tendencies, to pursue a career as a performer.\n\nSkelton discovered at an early age that he could make people laugh. He dropped out of school around 1926 or 1927, when he was 13 or 14 years old, but he already had some experience performing in minstrel shows in Vincennes, and on a showboat, The Cotton Blossom, that plied the Ohio and Missouri rivers. He enjoyed his work on the riverboat, moving on only after he realized that showboat entertainment was coming to an end. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, \"Help! I'm backing into heaven!\" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. At the age of 15, Skelton did some early work on the burlesque circuit, and reportedly spent four months with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1929, when he was 16 years old.\n\nIda Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son had run away from home to become an entertainer, but \"his destiny had caught up with him at an early age\". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the Great Depression, and it may have meant one less child for her to feed. Around 1929, while Skelton was still a teen, he joined \"Doc\" R.E. Lewis's traveling medicine show as an errand boy who sold bottles of medicine to the audience. During one show, when Skelton accidentally fell from the stage, breaking several bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. Both Lewis and Skelton realized one could earn a living with this ability and the fall was worked into the show. He also told jokes and sang in the medicine show during his four years there. Skelton earned ten dollars a week, and sent all of it home to his mother. When she worried that he was keeping nothing for his own needs, Skelton reassured her: \"We get plenty to eat, and we sleep in the wagon.\"\n\nBurlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937)\n\nAs burlesque comedy material became progressively more ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; \"I just didn't think the lines were funny\". He became a sought-after master of ceremonies for dance marathons (known as \"walkathons\" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. When they learned that Skelton's salary was to be cut, Edna went to see the boss; Red resented the interference, until she came away with not only a raise, but additional considerations as well. Since he had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbooks and taught him what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree.\n\nThe couple put together an act and began booking it at small midwestern theaters. When an offer came for an engagement in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, some 2,000 miles from Kansas City, they were pleased to get it because of its proximity to their ultimate goal, the vaudeville houses of New York City. To get to Massachusetts they bought a used car and borrowed five dollars from Edna's mother, but by the time they arrived in St. Louis they had only fifty cents. Skelton asked Edna to collect empty cigarette packs; she thought he was joking, but did as he asked. He then spent their fifty cents on bars of soap, which they cut into small cubes and wrapped with the tinfoil from the cigarette packs. By selling their products for fifty cents each as fog remover for eyeglasses, the Skeltons were able to afford a hotel room every night as they worked their way to Harwich Port.\n\n\"Doughnut Dunkers\"\n\nSkelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.\n\nSkelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee.\n\nThe couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly-written material and began performing the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, \"Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once.\" His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward.\n\nFilm work\n\nSkelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1938, he made his film debut for RKO Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time. He appeared in two short subjects for Vitaphone in 1939: Seeing Red and The Broadway Buckaroo. Actor Mickey Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films after seeing him perform his \"Doughnut Dunkers\" act at President Roosevelt's 1940 birthday party. For his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as \"Guzzler's Gin\", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. \"Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying\" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney.\n\nSkelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided comic relief as a lieutenant in Frank Borzage's war drama Flight Command, opposite Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in Harold S. Bucquet's Dr. Kildare medical dramas, Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective \"The Fox\", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark (1941) in which he began working with director S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, and Robert Young in Norman Z. McLeod's Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in Edward Buzzell's Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's Panama Hattie.\n\nIn 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King Louis XV of France in a dream opposite Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in Roy Del Ruth's Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy, I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick. Keaton was so convinced of Skelton's comedic talent that he approached MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer with a request to create a small company within MGM for himself and Skelton, where the two could work on film projects. Keaton offered to forgo his salary if the films made by the company were not box-office hits; Mayer chose to decline the request. In 1944, Skelton starred opposite Esther Williams in George Sidney's musical comedy Bathing Beauty, playing a songwriter with romantic difficulties. He next had a relatively minor role as a \"TV announcer who, in the course of demonstrating a brand of gin, progresses from mild inebriation through messy drunkenness to full-blown stupor\" in the \"When Television Comes\" segment of Ziegfeld Follies, which featured William Powell and Judy Garland in the main roles. In 1946, Skelton played boastful clerk J. Aubrey Piper opposite Marilyn Maxwell and Marjorie Main in Harry Beaumont's comedy picture The Show-Off.\n\nSkelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. Skelton asked for a release from MGM after learning he could not raise the $750,000 needed to buy out the remainder of his contract. He also voiced frustration with the film scripts he was offered while on the set of The Fuller Brush Man, saying, \"Movies are not my field. Radio and television are.\" He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show.\n\nSkelton's ability to successfully ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits.\n\nSkelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as Jack Donohue's The Yellow Cab Man (1950), Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's Excuse My Dust (1951), Charles Walters' Texas Carnival (1951), Mervyn LeRoy's Lovely to Look At (1952), Robert Z. Leonard's The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).\n\nRadio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951)\nPerforming the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.\n\nOn October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.\n\nSkelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.\n\n\"I dood it!\"\n\nSkelton introduced the first two of his many characters during The Raleigh Cigarette Program's first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or \"Junior\", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. \"Junior\" would say things like, \"If I dood it, I gets a whipping.\", followed moments later by the statement, \"I dood it!\" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname \"Junior\" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1943 movie of the same name, but did not play \"Junior\" in the film.\n\nThe phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase \"Doolittle Dood It\" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber \"We Dood It!\" In 1986, Soviet newspaper Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.\n\nSkelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called \"Mellow Cigars\", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine \"Guzzler's Gin\", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his \"Guzzler's Gin\" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.\n\nDivorce from Edna, marriage to Georgia\nIn 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving Skelton, but would continue to manage his career and write material for him. He did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce through NBC. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.\n\nThe divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.\n\nBy 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry him, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Edna's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career; Edna stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her former husband.\nHe was on army furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.\n\nA cast of characters\n\nSkelton served in the United States Army during World War II. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. He had a nervous collapse while in the Army, following which he developed a stutter. While recovering at an army hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, he met a soldier who had been severely wounded and was not expected to survive. Skelton devoted a lot of time and effort to trying to make the man laugh. As a result of this effort, his stutter reduced; his army friend's condition also improved, and he was no longer on the critical list. He was released from his army duties in September 1945. \"I've been told I'm the only celebrity who entered the Army as a private and came out a private,\" he told reporters. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.\n\nUpon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a \"loudmouthed braggart\"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air.\n\nOn April 22, 1947, Skelton was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer Rod O'Connor and he began talking about Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word \"diaper\". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.\n\nSkelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. After his network radio contract was over, he signed a three-year contract with Ziv Radio for a syndicated radio program in 1954. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.\n\nTelevision (1951–1970)\nSkelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. On May 4, 1951, he signed a contract for television with NBC; Procter and Gamble was his sponsor. He said he would be performing the same characters on television that he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951.\n\nHis television debut, The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening monologue, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943 instrumental hit by David Rose, called \"Holiday for Strings\", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His \"Freddie the Freeloader\" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of \"Good night and may God bless.\"\n\nDuring the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing.\n\nSkelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company.\n\nBy 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times\nbetween 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.\n\nRichard's illness and death\n\nAt the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. He returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers.\n\nThe Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a \"cardiac-asthma\" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, \"if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived\". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958.\n\nRichard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family. Life magazine, profiling \"The Invincible Red\" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still \"racked [sic]\" by his son’s death. In 1962, the Skelton family moved to Palm Springs, and Skelton used the Bel Air home only on the two days a week when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping.\n\nThe Red Skelton Hour\nIn early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios and updated it for videotape recording. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his \"Junior\" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program.\n\nSkelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the \"Silent Spot\". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character.\n\nSkelton's season premiere for the 1960–1961 television season was a tribute to the United Nations. About 600 people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. The program was entirely done in pantomime, as UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, \"They join a parade and start marching.\" In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator.\n\nIn 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single on Columbia Records. A year later, he performed the monologue for President Richard Nixon at the first \"Evening at the White House\", a series of entertainment events honoring the recently inaugurated president.\n\nOff the air and bitterness (1970–1983)\nAs the 1970s began, the networks began a major campaign to discontinue long-running shows that they considered stale, dominated by older demographics, and/or becoming too expensive due to escalating costs. Despite Skelton's continued strong overall viewership, CBS saw his show as fitting into this category and cancelled the program along with other comedy and variety shows hosted by veterans such as Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, \"My heart has been broken.\" His program had been one of the top-10, highest-rated shows for 17 of the 20 years he was on television. \n\nSkelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his television career, and he returned to live performances. In an effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and proved popular with the audiences.\nSkelton was bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he accused CBS of bowing to the antiestablishment, antiwar faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative political and social views caused the network to turn against him. He had invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and Senate Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the war, to appear on his program.\n\nPersonal, as well as professional, changes occurred in Skelton's life at this time. He divorced Georgia in 1971 and married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, on October 7, 1973. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was cancelled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May of 1978.\n\nSkelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. In 1980, he was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a report that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, \"Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?\" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983, Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.\n\nRed Skelton onstage\nSkelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as \"palaces\"; he also likened them to his \"living room\", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, \"Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone.\"\n\nSkelton was invited to play a four-week date at the London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, \"You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine.\" Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year.\n\nThough Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. He often arrived days early for his engagement and would serve as his own promotion staff, making the rounds of the local shopping malls. Before the show, his audiences received a ballot listing about 100 of his many routines and were asked to tick off their favorites. The venue's ushers would collect the ballots and tally the votes. Skelton's performance on that given day was based on the skits his audience selected. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.\n\nLater years and death\n\nIn 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1956. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well. George Burns and Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film.\n\nIn 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces series of specials. He gave a Royal Command Performance for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1984, which was later shown in the U.S. on HBO. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime.\n\nSkelton died on September 17, 1997, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, after what was described as \"a long, undisclosed illness\". He is interred in the Skelton Family Tomb, the family's private room, alongside his son, Richard Freeman Skelton, Jr., and his second wife, Georgia Maureen Davis Skelton, in the Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland Skelton; his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso; and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.\n\nArt and other interests\n\nArtwork\n\nSkelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at painting after visiting a large Chicago department store that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one, which Skelton described as \"a bunch of blotches\", he was told, \"Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one.\" He told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife Georgia, a former art student, persuaded him to have his first public showing of his work in 1964 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was performing at the time. Skelton believed painting was an asset to his comedy work, as it helped him to better visualize the imaginary props used in his pantomime routines.\n\nIn addition to his originals, Skelton also sold reproductions and prints through his own mail-order business. He made his work available to art galleries by selling them franchises to display and sell his paintings. He once estimated the sale of his lithographs earned him $2.5 million per year. Shortly after his death, his art dealer said he believed that Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work. At the time of his death, Skelton had produced over 1,000 oil paintings of clowns. When asked why his artwork focused on clowns, he said at first, \"I don't know why it's always clowns.\" He continued after thinking a moment by saying \"No, that's not true—I do know why. I just don't feel like thinking about it ...\" At the time of Skelton's death, his originals were priced at $80,000 and upward.\n\nOther interests\nSkelton was a prolific writer of both short stories and music. After sleeping only four or five hours a night, he would wake up at 5 am and begin writing stories, composing music, and painting pictures. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies by the time of his death. He wrote commercials for Skoal tobacco and sold many of his compositions to Muzak, a company that specialized in providing background music to stores and other businesses. Skelton was also interested in photography; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the film to newspaper reporters waiting outside. He was never without a miniature camera, and kept a photographic record of all his paintings. Skelton was also an avid gardener, who created his own Japanese and Italian gardens and cultivated bonsai trees at his home in Palm Springs. He owned a horse ranch in the Anza Valley.\n\nFraternity and honors\nSkelton was a Freemason, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish and the York Rites. He was a recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a $5 bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown. He was also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as a Shriner in Los Angeles.\n\nSkelton was made an honorary brother of Phi Sigma Kappa at Truman State University. In 1961, he became an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity of Emerson College, when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college at the same ceremony. Skelton received an honorary high-school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity; Skelton had composed many marches, which were used by more than 10,000 high-school and college bands. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University.\n\nThe Red Skelton Memorial Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near Skelton's home town of Vincennes. He attended the dedication ceremonies in 1963.\n\nAwards and recognition\n\nIn 1952, Skelton received Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Program and Best Comedian. He also received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for his noncomedic performance in Playhouse 90's presentation of \"The Big Slide\". Skelton and his writers won another Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. He was named an honorary faculty member of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1968 and 1969.\n\nSkelton's first major post-television recognition came in 1978, when the Golden Globe Awards named him as the recipient for their Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given to honor outstanding contributions in entertainment. His excitement was so great upon receiving the award and a standing ovation, that he clutched it tightly enough to break the statuette. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. \"I want to thank you for sitting down\", he said when the ovation subsided. \"I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me.\" The honor came 16 years after his television program left the airwaves.\n\nSkelton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1987, and in 1988, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame. He was one of the International Clown Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1989. Skelton and Katharine Hepburn were honored with lifetime achievement awards by the American Comedy Awards in the same year. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Skelton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio and television work.\n\nLegacy and tributes\nSkelton preferred to be described as a clown rather than a comic: \"A comedian goes out and hits people right on. A clown uses pathos. He can be funny, then turn right around and reach people and touch them with what life is like.\" \"I just want to be known as a clown\", he said, \"because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh.\" His purpose in life, he believed, was to make people laugh.\n\nIn Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton \"the most unacclaimed clown in show business\", and \"the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin\", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialogue and props. \"With one prop, a soft battered hat\", Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, \"he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red.\" He added that Skelton also \"plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors.\" In late 1965, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, reminiscing about the entertainment business, singled out Skelton for high praise. \"It's all so very different today. The whole business of comedy has changed — from 15 minutes of quality to quantity. We had a lot of very funny people around, from Charley Chase to Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. The last one of that breed is Red Skelton.\" Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures also praised Skelton, saying, \"He's a clown in the old tradition. He doesn't need punch lines. He's got heart.\"\n\nSkelton and Marcel Marceau shared a long friendship and admiration of each other's work. Marceau appeared on Skelton's CBS television show three times, including one turn as the host in 1961 as Skelton recovered from surgery. He was also a guest on the three Funny Faces specials that Skelton produced for HBO. In a TV Guide interview after Skelton's death, Marceau said, \"Red, you are eternal for me and the millions of people you made laugh and cry. May God bless you forever, my great and precious companion. I will never forget that silent world we created together.\" CBS issued the following statement upon his death: \"Red's audience had no age limits. He was the consummate family entertainer—a winsome clown, a storyteller without peer, a superb mime, a singer, and a dancer.\"\n\nThe Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in February 2006 on the campus of Vincennes University, one block from the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and dressing rooms. Its grand foyer is a gallery for Skelton's paintings, statues, and film posters. The theater hosts theatrical and musical productions by Vincennes University, as well as special events, convocations, and conventions. The adjacent Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened on July 18, 2013, on what would have been Skelton's 100th birthday. It houses his personal and professional materials, which he had collected since the age of 10, in accordance with his wishes that they be made available in his hometown for the public's enjoyment. Skelton's widow, Lothian, noted that he expressed no interest in any sort of Hollywood memorial. The museum is funded jointly by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation and the Indiana Historical Society. Other foundation projects include a fund that provides new clothes to Vincennes children from low-income families. The foundation also purchased Skelton's birthplace. On July 15, 2017, the state of Indiana unveiled a state historic marker at the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born.\n\nThe town of Vincennes has held an annual Red Skelton Festival since 2005. A \"Parade of a Thousand Clowns\", billed as the largest clown parade in the Midwest, is followed by family-oriented activities and live music performances.\n\nFilmography\n\nFeatures\n\nShort subjects\n\nBox-office ranking\nBased on rankings of the amount of money earned in box-office receipts for film showings, for a number of years Skelton was among the most popular stars in the country:\n1944 – 16th-largest box-office draw\n1949 – 13th\n1951 – 14th\n1952 – 21st\n\nPublished works\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nSources cited\n\nExternal links\n\n Red Skelton Biography\n Red Skelton Foundation \n Red Skelton Museum and Education Center\n Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University\n Edna and Red Skelton Collection at the Indiana Historical Society\n RED-EO Video Production Company, article and photo, The Broadcast Archive\n List of Red Skelton TV Episodes 1951–1971, The Classic TV Archive\n Literature on Red Skelton\n Red Skelton at the Internet Archive\n \"Edna Stillwell and the 'Real Making of Red'”, Indiana Historical Bureau\n\nCategory:1913 births\nCategory:1997 deaths\nCategory:20th-century American comedians\nCategory:20th-century American composers\nCategory:20th-century American male actors\nCategory:20th-century American male musicians\nCategory:20th-century American painters\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nCategory:American burlesque performers\nCategory:American clowns\nCategory:American male comedians\nCategory:American male composers\nCategory:American male film actors\nCategory:American male painters\nCategory:American male radio actors\nCategory:American male television actors\nCategory:American radio personalities\nCategory:American sketch comedians\nCategory:Television personalities from California\nCategory:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)\nCategory:California Republicans\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners\nCategory:Comedians from California\nCategory:Conservatism in the United States\nCategory:Indiana Historical Society\nCategory:Indiana Republicans\nCategory:Deaths from pneumonia in California\nCategory:Male actors from Indiana\nCategory:Male actors from Palm Springs, California\nCategory:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Painters from Indiana\nCategory:Painters from California\nCategory:People from Vincennes, Indiana\nCategory:Primetime Emmy Award winners\nCategory:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award\nCategory:United States Army personnel of World War II\nCategory:United States Army soldiers\nCategory:Vaudeville performers\nCategory:20th-century American male artists",
"title": "Red Skelton"
},
{
"text": "Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.\n\nSkelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The \"Doughnut Dunkers\" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).\n\nSkelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was canceled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971. He spent his time after that making as many as 125 personal appearances a year and working on his paintings.\n\nSkelton's paintings of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife Georgia persuaded him to show them at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful, and he also sold prints and lithographs, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer said he thought that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television performances.\n\nSkelton believed that his life's work was to make people laugh; he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything. He had a 70-year-long career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans. His widow donated many of his personal and professional effects to Vincennes University, including prints of his artwork. They are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes, Indiana.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929)\nAccording to some sources, Skelton was born Richard Red Skelton on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. In a 1983 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Skelton claimed his middle name was really \"Red\" and that he had made up the middle name Bernard, from the name of a local store, Bernard Clothiers, to satisfy a schoolteacher who would not believe his middle name was \"Red\".\n\nSkelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future.\n\nBecause of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing other odd jobs to help his family, who had lost the family store and their home. He quickly learned the newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. According to later accounts, Skelton's early interest in becoming an entertainer stemmed from an incident that took place in Vincennes around 1923, when a stranger, supposedly the comedian Ed Wynn, approached Skelton, who was the newsboy selling papers outside a Vincennes theater. When the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town. The man purchased every paper Skelton had, providing enough money for the boy to purchase a ticket for himself. The stranger turned out to be one of the show's stars, who later took the boy backstage to introduce him to the other performers. The experience prompted Skelton, who had already shown comedic tendencies, to pursue a career as a performer.\n\nSkelton discovered at an early age that he could make people laugh. He dropped out of school around 1926 or 1927, when he was 13 or 14 years old, but he already had some experience performing in minstrel shows in Vincennes, and on a showboat, The Cotton Blossom, that plied the Ohio and Missouri rivers. He enjoyed his work on the riverboat, moving on only after he realized that showboat entertainment was coming to an end. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, \"Help! I'm backing into heaven!\" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. At the age of 15, Skelton did some early work on the burlesque circuit, and reportedly spent four months with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1929, when he was 16 years old.\n\nIda Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son had run away from home to become an entertainer, but \"his destiny had caught up with him at an early age\". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the Great Depression, and it may have meant one less child for her to feed. Around 1929, while Skelton was still a teen, he joined \"Doc\" R.E. Lewis's traveling medicine show as an errand boy who sold bottles of medicine to the audience. During one show, when Skelton accidentally fell from the stage, breaking several bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. Both Lewis and Skelton realized one could earn a living with this ability and the fall was worked into the show. He also told jokes and sang in the medicine show during his four years there. Skelton earned ten dollars a week, and sent all of it home to his mother. When she worried that he was keeping nothing for his own needs, Skelton reassured her: \"We get plenty to eat, and we sleep in the wagon.\"\n\nBurlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937)\n\nAs burlesque comedy material became progressively more ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; \"I just didn't think the lines were funny\". He became a sought-after master of ceremonies for dance marathons (known as \"walkathons\" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. When they learned that Skelton's salary was to be cut, Edna went to see the boss; Red resented the interference, until she came away with not only a raise, but additional considerations as well. Since he had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbooks and taught him what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree.\n\nThe couple put together an act and began booking it at small midwestern theaters. When an offer came for an engagement in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, some 2,000 miles from Kansas City, they were pleased to get it because of its proximity to their ultimate goal, the vaudeville houses of New York City. To get to Massachusetts they bought a used car and borrowed five dollars from Edna's mother, but by the time they arrived in St. Louis they had only fifty cents. Skelton asked Edna to collect empty cigarette packs; she thought he was joking, but did as he asked. He then spent their fifty cents on bars of soap, which they cut into small cubes and wrapped with the tinfoil from the cigarette packs. By selling their products for fifty cents each as fog remover for eyeglasses, the Skeltons were able to afford a hotel room every night as they worked their way to Harwich Port.\n\n\"Doughnut Dunkers\"\n\nSkelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.\n\nSkelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee.\n\nThe couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly-written material and began performing the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, \"Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once.\" His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward.\n\nFilm work\n\nSkelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1938, he made his film debut for RKO Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time. He appeared in two short subjects for Vitaphone in 1939: Seeing Red and The Broadway Buckaroo. Actor Mickey Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films after seeing him perform his \"Doughnut Dunkers\" act at President Roosevelt's 1940 birthday party. For his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as \"Guzzler's Gin\", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. \"Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying\" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney.\n\nSkelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided comic relief as a lieutenant in Frank Borzage's war drama Flight Command, opposite Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in Harold S. Bucquet's Dr. Kildare medical dramas, Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective \"The Fox\", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark (1941) in which he began working with director S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, and Robert Young in Norman Z. McLeod's Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in Edward Buzzell's Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's Panama Hattie.\n\nIn 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King Louis XV of France in a dream opposite Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in Roy Del Ruth's Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy, I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick. Keaton was so convinced of Skelton's comedic talent that he approached MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer with a request to create a small company within MGM for himself and Skelton, where the two could work on film projects. Keaton offered to forgo his salary if the films made by the company were not box-office hits; Mayer chose to decline the request. In 1944, Skelton starred opposite Esther Williams in George Sidney's musical comedy Bathing Beauty, playing a songwriter with romantic difficulties. He next had a relatively minor role as a \"TV announcer who, in the course of demonstrating a brand of gin, progresses from mild inebriation through messy drunkenness to full-blown stupor\" in the \"When Television Comes\" segment of Ziegfeld Follies, which featured William Powell and Judy Garland in the main roles. In 1946, Skelton played boastful clerk J. Aubrey Piper opposite Marilyn Maxwell and Marjorie Main in Harry Beaumont's comedy picture The Show-Off.\n\nSkelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. Skelton asked for a release from MGM after learning he could not raise the $750,000 needed to buy out the remainder of his contract. He also voiced frustration with the film scripts he was offered while on the set of The Fuller Brush Man, saying, \"Movies are not my field. Radio and television are.\" He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show.\n\nSkelton's ability to successfully ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits.\n\nSkelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as Jack Donohue's The Yellow Cab Man (1950), Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's Excuse My Dust (1951), Charles Walters' Texas Carnival (1951), Mervyn LeRoy's Lovely to Look At (1952), Robert Z. Leonard's The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).\n\nRadio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951)\nPerforming the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.\n\nOn October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.\n\nSkelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.\n\n\"I dood it!\"\n\nSkelton introduced the first two of his many characters during The Raleigh Cigarette Program's first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or \"Junior\", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. \"Junior\" would say things like, \"If I dood it, I gets a whipping.\", followed moments later by the statement, \"I dood it!\" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname \"Junior\" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1943 movie of the same name, but did not play \"Junior\" in the film.\n\nThe phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase \"Doolittle Dood It\" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber \"We Dood It!\" In 1986, Soviet newspaper Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.\n\nSkelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called \"Mellow Cigars\", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine \"Guzzler's Gin\", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his \"Guzzler's Gin\" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.\n\nDivorce from Edna, marriage to Georgia\nIn 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving Skelton, but would continue to manage his career and write material for him. He did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce through NBC. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.\n\nThe divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.\n\nBy 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry him, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Edna's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career; Edna stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her former husband.\nHe was on army furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.\n\nA cast of characters\n\nSkelton served in the United States Army during World War II. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. He had a nervous collapse while in the Army, following which he developed a stutter. While recovering at an army hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, he met a soldier who had been severely wounded and was not expected to survive. Skelton devoted a lot of time and effort to trying to make the man laugh. As a result of this effort, his stutter reduced; his army friend's condition also improved, and he was no longer on the critical list. He was released from his army duties in September 1945. \"I've been told I'm the only celebrity who entered the Army as a private and came out a private,\" he told reporters. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.\n\nUpon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a \"loudmouthed braggart\"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air.\n\nOn April 22, 1947, Skelton was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer Rod O'Connor and he began talking about Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word \"diaper\". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.\n\nSkelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. After his network radio contract was over, he signed a three-year contract with Ziv Radio for a syndicated radio program in 1954. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.\n\nTelevision (1951–1970)\nSkelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. On May 4, 1951, he signed a contract for television with NBC; Procter and Gamble was his sponsor. He said he would be performing the same characters on television that he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951.\n\nHis television debut, The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening monologue, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943 instrumental hit by David Rose, called \"Holiday for Strings\", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His \"Freddie the Freeloader\" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of \"Good night and may God bless.\"\n\nDuring the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing.\n\nSkelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company.\n\nBy 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times\nbetween 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.\n\nRichard's illness and death\n\nAt the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. He returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers.\n\nThe Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a \"cardiac-asthma\" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, \"if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived\". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958.\n\nRichard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family. Life magazine, profiling \"The Invincible Red\" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still \"racked [sic]\" by his son’s death. In 1962, the Skelton family moved to Palm Springs, and Skelton used the Bel Air home only on the two days a week when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping.\n\nThe Red Skelton Hour\nIn early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios and updated it for videotape recording. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his \"Junior\" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program.\n\nSkelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the \"Silent Spot\". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character.\n\nSkelton's season premiere for the 1960–1961 television season was a tribute to the United Nations. About 600 people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. The program was entirely done in pantomime, as UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, \"They join a parade and start marching.\" In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator.\n\nIn 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single on Columbia Records. A year later, he performed the monologue for President Richard Nixon at the first \"Evening at the White House\", a series of entertainment events honoring the recently inaugurated president.\n\nOff the air and bitterness (1970–1983)\nAs the 1970s began, the networks began a major campaign to discontinue long-running shows that they considered stale, dominated by older demographics, and/or becoming too expensive due to escalating costs. Despite Skelton's continued strong overall viewership, CBS saw his show as fitting into this category and cancelled the program along with other comedy and variety shows hosted by veterans such as Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, \"My heart has been broken.\" His program had been one of the top-10, highest-rated shows for 17 of the 20 years he was on television. \n\nSkelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his television career, and he returned to live performances. In an effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and proved popular with the audiences.\nSkelton was bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he accused CBS of bowing to the antiestablishment, antiwar faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative political and social views caused the network to turn against him. He had invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and Senate Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the war, to appear on his program.\n\nPersonal, as well as professional, changes occurred in Skelton's life at this time. He divorced Georgia in 1971 and married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, on October 7, 1973. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was cancelled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May of 1978.\n\nSkelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. In 1980, he was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a report that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, \"Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?\" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983, Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.\n\nRed Skelton onstage\nSkelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as \"palaces\"; he also likened them to his \"living room\", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, \"Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone.\"\n\nSkelton was invited to play a four-week date at the London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, \"You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine.\" Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year.\n\nThough Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. He often arrived days early for his engagement and would serve as his own promotion staff, making the rounds of the local shopping malls. Before the show, his audiences received a ballot listing about 100 of his many routines and were asked to tick off their favorites. The venue's ushers would collect the ballots and tally the votes. Skelton's performance on that given day was based on the skits his audience selected. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.\n\nLater years and death\n\nIn 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1956. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well. George Burns and Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film.\n\nIn 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces series of specials. He gave a Royal Command Performance for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1984, which was later shown in the U.S. on HBO. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime.\n\nSkelton died on September 17, 1997, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, after what was described as \"a long, undisclosed illness\". He is interred in the Skelton Family Tomb, the family's private room, alongside his son, Richard Freeman Skelton, Jr., and his second wife, Georgia Maureen Davis Skelton, in the Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland Skelton; his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso; and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.\n\nArt and other interests\n\nArtwork\n\nSkelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at painting after visiting a large Chicago department store that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one, which Skelton described as \"a bunch of blotches\", he was told, \"Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one.\" He told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife Georgia, a former art student, persuaded him to have his first public showing of his work in 1964 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was performing at the time. Skelton believed painting was an asset to his comedy work, as it helped him to better visualize the imaginary props used in his pantomime routines.\n\nIn addition to his originals, Skelton also sold reproductions and prints through his own mail-order business. He made his work available to art galleries by selling them franchises to display and sell his paintings. He once estimated the sale of his lithographs earned him $2.5 million per year. Shortly after his death, his art dealer said he believed that Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work. At the time of his death, Skelton had produced over 1,000 oil paintings of clowns. When asked why his artwork focused on clowns, he said at first, \"I don't know why it's always clowns.\" He continued after thinking a moment by saying \"No, that's not true—I do know why. I just don't feel like thinking about it ...\" At the time of Skelton's death, his originals were priced at $80,000 and upward.\n\nOther interests\nSkelton was a prolific writer of both short stories and music. After sleeping only four or five hours a night, he would wake up at 5 am and begin writing stories, composing music, and painting pictures. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies by the time of his death. He wrote commercials for Skoal tobacco and sold many of his compositions to Muzak, a company that specialized in providing background music to stores and other businesses. Skelton was also interested in photography; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the film to newspaper reporters waiting outside. He was never without a miniature camera, and kept a photographic record of all his paintings. Skelton was also an avid gardener, who created his own Japanese and Italian gardens and cultivated bonsai trees at his home in Palm Springs. He owned a horse ranch in the Anza Valley.\n\nFraternity and honors\nSkelton was a Freemason, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish and the York Rites. He was a recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a $5 bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown. He was also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as a Shriner in Los Angeles.\n\nSkelton was made an honorary brother of Phi Sigma Kappa at Truman State University. In 1961, he became an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity of Emerson College, when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college at the same ceremony. Skelton received an honorary high-school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity; Skelton had composed many marches, which were used by more than 10,000 high-school and college bands. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University.\n\nThe Red Skelton Memorial Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near Skelton's home town of Vincennes. He attended the dedication ceremonies in 1963.\n\nAwards and recognition\n\nIn 1952, Skelton received Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Program and Best Comedian. He also received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for his noncomedic performance in Playhouse 90's presentation of \"The Big Slide\". Skelton and his writers won another Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. He was named an honorary faculty member of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1968 and 1969.\n\nSkelton's first major post-television recognition came in 1978, when the Golden Globe Awards named him as the recipient for their Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given to honor outstanding contributions in entertainment. His excitement was so great upon receiving the award and a standing ovation, that he clutched it tightly enough to break the statuette. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. \"I want to thank you for sitting down\", he said when the ovation subsided. \"I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me.\" The honor came 16 years after his television program left the airwaves.\n\nSkelton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1987, and in 1988, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame. He was one of the International Clown Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1989. Skelton and Katharine Hepburn were honored with lifetime achievement awards by the American Comedy Awards in the same year. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Skelton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio and television work.\n\nLegacy and tributes\nSkelton preferred to be described as a clown rather than a comic: \"A comedian goes out and hits people right on. A clown uses pathos. He can be funny, then turn right around and reach people and touch them with what life is like.\" \"I just want to be known as a clown\", he said, \"because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh.\" His purpose in life, he believed, was to make people laugh.\n\nIn Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton \"the most unacclaimed clown in show business\", and \"the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin\", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialogue and props. \"With one prop, a soft battered hat\", Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, \"he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red.\" He added that Skelton also \"plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors.\" In late 1965, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, reminiscing about the entertainment business, singled out Skelton for high praise. \"It's all so very different today. The whole business of comedy has changed — from 15 minutes of quality to quantity. We had a lot of very funny people around, from Charley Chase to Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. The last one of that breed is Red Skelton.\" Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures also praised Skelton, saying, \"He's a clown in the old tradition. He doesn't need punch lines. He's got heart.\"\n\nSkelton and Marcel Marceau shared a long friendship and admiration of each other's work. Marceau appeared on Skelton's CBS television show three times, including one turn as the host in 1961 as Skelton recovered from surgery. He was also a guest on the three Funny Faces specials that Skelton produced for HBO. In a TV Guide interview after Skelton's death, Marceau said, \"Red, you are eternal for me and the millions of people you made laugh and cry. May God bless you forever, my great and precious companion. I will never forget that silent world we created together.\" CBS issued the following statement upon his death: \"Red's audience had no age limits. He was the consummate family entertainer—a winsome clown, a storyteller without peer, a superb mime, a singer, and a dancer.\"\n\nThe Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in February 2006 on the campus of Vincennes University, one block from the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and dressing rooms. Its grand foyer is a gallery for Skelton's paintings, statues, and film posters. The theater hosts theatrical and musical productions by Vincennes University, as well as special events, convocations, and conventions. The adjacent Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened on July 18, 2013, on what would have been Skelton's 100th birthday. It houses his personal and professional materials, which he had collected since the age of 10, in accordance with his wishes that they be made available in his hometown for the public's enjoyment. Skelton's widow, Lothian, noted that he expressed no interest in any sort of Hollywood memorial. The museum is funded jointly by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation and the Indiana Historical Society. Other foundation projects include a fund that provides new clothes to Vincennes children from low-income families. The foundation also purchased Skelton's birthplace. On July 15, 2017, the state of Indiana unveiled a state historic marker at the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born.\n\nThe town of Vincennes has held an annual Red Skelton Festival since 2005. A \"Parade of a Thousand Clowns\", billed as the largest clown parade in the Midwest, is followed by family-oriented activities and live music performances.\n\nFilmography\n\nFeatures\n\nShort subjects\n\nBox-office ranking\nBased on rankings of the amount of money earned in box-office receipts for film showings, for a number of years Skelton was among the most popular stars in the country:\n1944 – 16th-largest box-office draw\n1949 – 13th\n1951 – 14th\n1952 – 21st\n\nPublished works\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nSources cited\n\nExternal links\n\n Red Skelton Biography\n Red Skelton Foundation \n Red Skelton Museum and Education Center\n Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University\n Edna and Red Skelton Collection at the Indiana Historical Society\n RED-EO Video Production Company, article and photo, The Broadcast Archive\n List of Red Skelton TV Episodes 1951–1971, The Classic TV Archive\n Literature on Red Skelton\n Red Skelton at the Internet Archive\n \"Edna Stillwell and the 'Real Making of Red'”, Indiana Historical Bureau\n\nCategory:1913 births\nCategory:1997 deaths\nCategory:20th-century American comedians\nCategory:20th-century American composers\nCategory:20th-century American male actors\nCategory:20th-century American male musicians\nCategory:20th-century American painters\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nCategory:American burlesque performers\nCategory:American clowns\nCategory:American male comedians\nCategory:American male composers\nCategory:American male film actors\nCategory:American male painters\nCategory:American male radio actors\nCategory:American male television actors\nCategory:American radio personalities\nCategory:American sketch comedians\nCategory:Television personalities from California\nCategory:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)\nCategory:California Republicans\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners\nCategory:Comedians from California\nCategory:Conservatism in the United States\nCategory:Indiana Historical Society\nCategory:Indiana Republicans\nCategory:Deaths from pneumonia in California\nCategory:Male actors from Indiana\nCategory:Male actors from Palm Springs, California\nCategory:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Painters from Indiana\nCategory:Painters from California\nCategory:People from Vincennes, Indiana\nCategory:Primetime Emmy Award winners\nCategory:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award\nCategory:United States Army personnel of World War II\nCategory:United States Army soldiers\nCategory:Vaudeville performers\nCategory:20th-century American male artists",
"title": "Red Skelton"
},
{
"text": "Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.\n\nSkelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The \"Doughnut Dunkers\" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).\n\nSkelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was canceled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971. He spent his time after that making as many as 125 personal appearances a year and working on his paintings.\n\nSkelton's paintings of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife Georgia persuaded him to show them at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful, and he also sold prints and lithographs, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer said he thought that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television performances.\n\nSkelton believed that his life's work was to make people laugh; he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything. He had a 70-year-long career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans. His widow donated many of his personal and professional effects to Vincennes University, including prints of his artwork. They are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes, Indiana.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929)\nAccording to some sources, Skelton was born Richard Red Skelton on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. In a 1983 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Skelton claimed his middle name was really \"Red\" and that he had made up the middle name Bernard, from the name of a local store, Bernard Clothiers, to satisfy a schoolteacher who would not believe his middle name was \"Red\".\n\nSkelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future.\n\nBecause of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing other odd jobs to help his family, who had lost the family store and their home. He quickly learned the newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. According to later accounts, Skelton's early interest in becoming an entertainer stemmed from an incident that took place in Vincennes around 1923, when a stranger, supposedly the comedian Ed Wynn, approached Skelton, who was the newsboy selling papers outside a Vincennes theater. When the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town. The man purchased every paper Skelton had, providing enough money for the boy to purchase a ticket for himself. The stranger turned out to be one of the show's stars, who later took the boy backstage to introduce him to the other performers. The experience prompted Skelton, who had already shown comedic tendencies, to pursue a career as a performer.\n\nSkelton discovered at an early age that he could make people laugh. He dropped out of school around 1926 or 1927, when he was 13 or 14 years old, but he already had some experience performing in minstrel shows in Vincennes, and on a showboat, The Cotton Blossom, that plied the Ohio and Missouri rivers. He enjoyed his work on the riverboat, moving on only after he realized that showboat entertainment was coming to an end. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, \"Help! I'm backing into heaven!\" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. At the age of 15, Skelton did some early work on the burlesque circuit, and reportedly spent four months with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1929, when he was 16 years old.\n\nIda Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son had run away from home to become an entertainer, but \"his destiny had caught up with him at an early age\". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the Great Depression, and it may have meant one less child for her to feed. Around 1929, while Skelton was still a teen, he joined \"Doc\" R.E. Lewis's traveling medicine show as an errand boy who sold bottles of medicine to the audience. During one show, when Skelton accidentally fell from the stage, breaking several bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. Both Lewis and Skelton realized one could earn a living with this ability and the fall was worked into the show. He also told jokes and sang in the medicine show during his four years there. Skelton earned ten dollars a week, and sent all of it home to his mother. When she worried that he was keeping nothing for his own needs, Skelton reassured her: \"We get plenty to eat, and we sleep in the wagon.\"\n\nBurlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937)\n\nAs burlesque comedy material became progressively more ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; \"I just didn't think the lines were funny\". He became a sought-after master of ceremonies for dance marathons (known as \"walkathons\" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. When they learned that Skelton's salary was to be cut, Edna went to see the boss; Red resented the interference, until she came away with not only a raise, but additional considerations as well. Since he had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbooks and taught him what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree.\n\nThe couple put together an act and began booking it at small midwestern theaters. When an offer came for an engagement in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, some 2,000 miles from Kansas City, they were pleased to get it because of its proximity to their ultimate goal, the vaudeville houses of New York City. To get to Massachusetts they bought a used car and borrowed five dollars from Edna's mother, but by the time they arrived in St. Louis they had only fifty cents. Skelton asked Edna to collect empty cigarette packs; she thought he was joking, but did as he asked. He then spent their fifty cents on bars of soap, which they cut into small cubes and wrapped with the tinfoil from the cigarette packs. By selling their products for fifty cents each as fog remover for eyeglasses, the Skeltons were able to afford a hotel room every night as they worked their way to Harwich Port.\n\n\"Doughnut Dunkers\"\n\nSkelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.\n\nSkelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee.\n\nThe couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly-written material and began performing the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, \"Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once.\" His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward.\n\nFilm work\n\nSkelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1938, he made his film debut for RKO Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time. He appeared in two short subjects for Vitaphone in 1939: Seeing Red and The Broadway Buckaroo. Actor Mickey Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films after seeing him perform his \"Doughnut Dunkers\" act at President Roosevelt's 1940 birthday party. For his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as \"Guzzler's Gin\", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. \"Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying\" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney.\n\nSkelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided comic relief as a lieutenant in Frank Borzage's war drama Flight Command, opposite Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in Harold S. Bucquet's Dr. Kildare medical dramas, Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective \"The Fox\", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark (1941) in which he began working with director S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, and Robert Young in Norman Z. McLeod's Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in Edward Buzzell's Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's Panama Hattie.\n\nIn 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King Louis XV of France in a dream opposite Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in Roy Del Ruth's Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy, I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick. Keaton was so convinced of Skelton's comedic talent that he approached MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer with a request to create a small company within MGM for himself and Skelton, where the two could work on film projects. Keaton offered to forgo his salary if the films made by the company were not box-office hits; Mayer chose to decline the request. In 1944, Skelton starred opposite Esther Williams in George Sidney's musical comedy Bathing Beauty, playing a songwriter with romantic difficulties. He next had a relatively minor role as a \"TV announcer who, in the course of demonstrating a brand of gin, progresses from mild inebriation through messy drunkenness to full-blown stupor\" in the \"When Television Comes\" segment of Ziegfeld Follies, which featured William Powell and Judy Garland in the main roles. In 1946, Skelton played boastful clerk J. Aubrey Piper opposite Marilyn Maxwell and Marjorie Main in Harry Beaumont's comedy picture The Show-Off.\n\nSkelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. Skelton asked for a release from MGM after learning he could not raise the $750,000 needed to buy out the remainder of his contract. He also voiced frustration with the film scripts he was offered while on the set of The Fuller Brush Man, saying, \"Movies are not my field. Radio and television are.\" He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show.\n\nSkelton's ability to successfully ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits.\n\nSkelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as Jack Donohue's The Yellow Cab Man (1950), Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's Excuse My Dust (1951), Charles Walters' Texas Carnival (1951), Mervyn LeRoy's Lovely to Look At (1952), Robert Z. Leonard's The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).\n\nRadio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951)\nPerforming the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.\n\nOn October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.\n\nSkelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.\n\n\"I dood it!\"\n\nSkelton introduced the first two of his many characters during The Raleigh Cigarette Program's first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or \"Junior\", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. \"Junior\" would say things like, \"If I dood it, I gets a whipping.\", followed moments later by the statement, \"I dood it!\" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname \"Junior\" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1943 movie of the same name, but did not play \"Junior\" in the film.\n\nThe phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase \"Doolittle Dood It\" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber \"We Dood It!\" In 1986, Soviet newspaper Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.\n\nSkelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called \"Mellow Cigars\", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine \"Guzzler's Gin\", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his \"Guzzler's Gin\" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.\n\nDivorce from Edna, marriage to Georgia\nIn 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving Skelton, but would continue to manage his career and write material for him. He did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce through NBC. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.\n\nThe divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.\n\nBy 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry him, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Edna's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career; Edna stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her former husband.\nHe was on army furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.\n\nA cast of characters\n\nSkelton served in the United States Army during World War II. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. He had a nervous collapse while in the Army, following which he developed a stutter. While recovering at an army hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, he met a soldier who had been severely wounded and was not expected to survive. Skelton devoted a lot of time and effort to trying to make the man laugh. As a result of this effort, his stutter reduced; his army friend's condition also improved, and he was no longer on the critical list. He was released from his army duties in September 1945. \"I've been told I'm the only celebrity who entered the Army as a private and came out a private,\" he told reporters. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.\n\nUpon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a \"loudmouthed braggart\"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air.\n\nOn April 22, 1947, Skelton was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer Rod O'Connor and he began talking about Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word \"diaper\". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.\n\nSkelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. After his network radio contract was over, he signed a three-year contract with Ziv Radio for a syndicated radio program in 1954. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.\n\nTelevision (1951–1970)\nSkelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. On May 4, 1951, he signed a contract for television with NBC; Procter and Gamble was his sponsor. He said he would be performing the same characters on television that he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951.\n\nHis television debut, The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening monologue, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943 instrumental hit by David Rose, called \"Holiday for Strings\", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His \"Freddie the Freeloader\" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of \"Good night and may God bless.\"\n\nDuring the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing.\n\nSkelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company.\n\nBy 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times\nbetween 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.\n\nRichard's illness and death\n\nAt the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. He returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers.\n\nThe Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a \"cardiac-asthma\" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, \"if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived\". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958.\n\nRichard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family. Life magazine, profiling \"The Invincible Red\" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still \"racked [sic]\" by his son’s death. In 1962, the Skelton family moved to Palm Springs, and Skelton used the Bel Air home only on the two days a week when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping.\n\nThe Red Skelton Hour\nIn early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios and updated it for videotape recording. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his \"Junior\" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program.\n\nSkelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the \"Silent Spot\". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character.\n\nSkelton's season premiere for the 1960–1961 television season was a tribute to the United Nations. About 600 people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. The program was entirely done in pantomime, as UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, \"They join a parade and start marching.\" In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator.\n\nIn 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single on Columbia Records. A year later, he performed the monologue for President Richard Nixon at the first \"Evening at the White House\", a series of entertainment events honoring the recently inaugurated president.\n\nOff the air and bitterness (1970–1983)\nAs the 1970s began, the networks began a major campaign to discontinue long-running shows that they considered stale, dominated by older demographics, and/or becoming too expensive due to escalating costs. Despite Skelton's continued strong overall viewership, CBS saw his show as fitting into this category and cancelled the program along with other comedy and variety shows hosted by veterans such as Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, \"My heart has been broken.\" His program had been one of the top-10, highest-rated shows for 17 of the 20 years he was on television. \n\nSkelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his television career, and he returned to live performances. In an effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and proved popular with the audiences.\nSkelton was bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he accused CBS of bowing to the antiestablishment, antiwar faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative political and social views caused the network to turn against him. He had invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and Senate Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the war, to appear on his program.\n\nPersonal, as well as professional, changes occurred in Skelton's life at this time. He divorced Georgia in 1971 and married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, on October 7, 1973. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was cancelled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May of 1978.\n\nSkelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. In 1980, he was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a report that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, \"Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?\" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983, Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.\n\nRed Skelton onstage\nSkelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as \"palaces\"; he also likened them to his \"living room\", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, \"Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone.\"\n\nSkelton was invited to play a four-week date at the London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, \"You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine.\" Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year.\n\nThough Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. He often arrived days early for his engagement and would serve as his own promotion staff, making the rounds of the local shopping malls. Before the show, his audiences received a ballot listing about 100 of his many routines and were asked to tick off their favorites. The venue's ushers would collect the ballots and tally the votes. Skelton's performance on that given day was based on the skits his audience selected. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.\n\nLater years and death\n\nIn 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1956. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well. George Burns and Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film.\n\nIn 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces series of specials. He gave a Royal Command Performance for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1984, which was later shown in the U.S. on HBO. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime.\n\nSkelton died on September 17, 1997, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, after what was described as \"a long, undisclosed illness\". He is interred in the Skelton Family Tomb, the family's private room, alongside his son, Richard Freeman Skelton, Jr., and his second wife, Georgia Maureen Davis Skelton, in the Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland Skelton; his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso; and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.\n\nArt and other interests\n\nArtwork\n\nSkelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at painting after visiting a large Chicago department store that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one, which Skelton described as \"a bunch of blotches\", he was told, \"Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one.\" He told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife Georgia, a former art student, persuaded him to have his first public showing of his work in 1964 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was performing at the time. Skelton believed painting was an asset to his comedy work, as it helped him to better visualize the imaginary props used in his pantomime routines.\n\nIn addition to his originals, Skelton also sold reproductions and prints through his own mail-order business. He made his work available to art galleries by selling them franchises to display and sell his paintings. He once estimated the sale of his lithographs earned him $2.5 million per year. Shortly after his death, his art dealer said he believed that Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work. At the time of his death, Skelton had produced over 1,000 oil paintings of clowns. When asked why his artwork focused on clowns, he said at first, \"I don't know why it's always clowns.\" He continued after thinking a moment by saying \"No, that's not true—I do know why. I just don't feel like thinking about it ...\" At the time of Skelton's death, his originals were priced at $80,000 and upward.\n\nOther interests\nSkelton was a prolific writer of both short stories and music. After sleeping only four or five hours a night, he would wake up at 5 am and begin writing stories, composing music, and painting pictures. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies by the time of his death. He wrote commercials for Skoal tobacco and sold many of his compositions to Muzak, a company that specialized in providing background music to stores and other businesses. Skelton was also interested in photography; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the film to newspaper reporters waiting outside. He was never without a miniature camera, and kept a photographic record of all his paintings. Skelton was also an avid gardener, who created his own Japanese and Italian gardens and cultivated bonsai trees at his home in Palm Springs. He owned a horse ranch in the Anza Valley.\n\nFraternity and honors\nSkelton was a Freemason, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish and the York Rites. He was a recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a $5 bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown. He was also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as a Shriner in Los Angeles.\n\nSkelton was made an honorary brother of Phi Sigma Kappa at Truman State University. In 1961, he became an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity of Emerson College, when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college at the same ceremony. Skelton received an honorary high-school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity; Skelton had composed many marches, which were used by more than 10,000 high-school and college bands. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University.\n\nThe Red Skelton Memorial Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near Skelton's home town of Vincennes. He attended the dedication ceremonies in 1963.\n\nAwards and recognition\n\nIn 1952, Skelton received Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Program and Best Comedian. He also received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for his noncomedic performance in Playhouse 90's presentation of \"The Big Slide\". Skelton and his writers won another Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. He was named an honorary faculty member of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1968 and 1969.\n\nSkelton's first major post-television recognition came in 1978, when the Golden Globe Awards named him as the recipient for their Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given to honor outstanding contributions in entertainment. His excitement was so great upon receiving the award and a standing ovation, that he clutched it tightly enough to break the statuette. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. \"I want to thank you for sitting down\", he said when the ovation subsided. \"I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me.\" The honor came 16 years after his television program left the airwaves.\n\nSkelton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1987, and in 1988, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame. He was one of the International Clown Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1989. Skelton and Katharine Hepburn were honored with lifetime achievement awards by the American Comedy Awards in the same year. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Skelton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio and television work.\n\nLegacy and tributes\nSkelton preferred to be described as a clown rather than a comic: \"A comedian goes out and hits people right on. A clown uses pathos. He can be funny, then turn right around and reach people and touch them with what life is like.\" \"I just want to be known as a clown\", he said, \"because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh.\" His purpose in life, he believed, was to make people laugh.\n\nIn Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton \"the most unacclaimed clown in show business\", and \"the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin\", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialogue and props. \"With one prop, a soft battered hat\", Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, \"he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red.\" He added that Skelton also \"plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors.\" In late 1965, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, reminiscing about the entertainment business, singled out Skelton for high praise. \"It's all so very different today. The whole business of comedy has changed — from 15 minutes of quality to quantity. We had a lot of very funny people around, from Charley Chase to Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. The last one of that breed is Red Skelton.\" Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures also praised Skelton, saying, \"He's a clown in the old tradition. He doesn't need punch lines. He's got heart.\"\n\nSkelton and Marcel Marceau shared a long friendship and admiration of each other's work. Marceau appeared on Skelton's CBS television show three times, including one turn as the host in 1961 as Skelton recovered from surgery. He was also a guest on the three Funny Faces specials that Skelton produced for HBO. In a TV Guide interview after Skelton's death, Marceau said, \"Red, you are eternal for me and the millions of people you made laugh and cry. May God bless you forever, my great and precious companion. I will never forget that silent world we created together.\" CBS issued the following statement upon his death: \"Red's audience had no age limits. He was the consummate family entertainer—a winsome clown, a storyteller without peer, a superb mime, a singer, and a dancer.\"\n\nThe Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in February 2006 on the campus of Vincennes University, one block from the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and dressing rooms. Its grand foyer is a gallery for Skelton's paintings, statues, and film posters. The theater hosts theatrical and musical productions by Vincennes University, as well as special events, convocations, and conventions. The adjacent Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened on July 18, 2013, on what would have been Skelton's 100th birthday. It houses his personal and professional materials, which he had collected since the age of 10, in accordance with his wishes that they be made available in his hometown for the public's enjoyment. Skelton's widow, Lothian, noted that he expressed no interest in any sort of Hollywood memorial. The museum is funded jointly by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation and the Indiana Historical Society. Other foundation projects include a fund that provides new clothes to Vincennes children from low-income families. The foundation also purchased Skelton's birthplace. On July 15, 2017, the state of Indiana unveiled a state historic marker at the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born.\n\nThe town of Vincennes has held an annual Red Skelton Festival since 2005. A \"Parade of a Thousand Clowns\", billed as the largest clown parade in the Midwest, is followed by family-oriented activities and live music performances.\n\nFilmography\n\nFeatures\n\nShort subjects\n\nBox-office ranking\nBased on rankings of the amount of money earned in box-office receipts for film showings, for a number of years Skelton was among the most popular stars in the country:\n1944 – 16th-largest box-office draw\n1949 – 13th\n1951 – 14th\n1952 – 21st\n\nPublished works\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nSources cited\n\nExternal links\n\n Red Skelton Biography\n Red Skelton Foundation \n Red Skelton Museum and Education Center\n Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University\n Edna and Red Skelton Collection at the Indiana Historical Society\n RED-EO Video Production Company, article and photo, The Broadcast Archive\n List of Red Skelton TV Episodes 1951–1971, The Classic TV Archive\n Literature on Red Skelton\n Red Skelton at the Internet Archive\n \"Edna Stillwell and the 'Real Making of Red'”, Indiana Historical Bureau\n\nCategory:1913 births\nCategory:1997 deaths\nCategory:20th-century American comedians\nCategory:20th-century American composers\nCategory:20th-century American male actors\nCategory:20th-century American male musicians\nCategory:20th-century American painters\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nCategory:American burlesque performers\nCategory:American clowns\nCategory:American male comedians\nCategory:American male composers\nCategory:American male film actors\nCategory:American male painters\nCategory:American male radio actors\nCategory:American male television actors\nCategory:American radio personalities\nCategory:American sketch comedians\nCategory:Television personalities from California\nCategory:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)\nCategory:California Republicans\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners\nCategory:Comedians from California\nCategory:Conservatism in the United States\nCategory:Indiana Historical Society\nCategory:Indiana Republicans\nCategory:Deaths from pneumonia in California\nCategory:Male actors from Indiana\nCategory:Male actors from Palm Springs, California\nCategory:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Painters from Indiana\nCategory:Painters from California\nCategory:People from Vincennes, Indiana\nCategory:Primetime Emmy Award winners\nCategory:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award\nCategory:United States Army personnel of World War II\nCategory:United States Army soldiers\nCategory:Vaudeville performers\nCategory:20th-century American male artists",
"title": "Red Skelton"
},
{
"text": "Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.\n\nSkelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The \"Doughnut Dunkers\" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).\n\nSkelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was canceled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971. He spent his time after that making as many as 125 personal appearances a year and working on his paintings.\n\nSkelton's paintings of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife Georgia persuaded him to show them at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful, and he also sold prints and lithographs, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer said he thought that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television performances.\n\nSkelton believed that his life's work was to make people laugh; he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything. He had a 70-year-long career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans. His widow donated many of his personal and professional effects to Vincennes University, including prints of his artwork. They are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes, Indiana.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929)\nAccording to some sources, Skelton was born Richard Red Skelton on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. In a 1983 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Skelton claimed his middle name was really \"Red\" and that he had made up the middle name Bernard, from the name of a local store, Bernard Clothiers, to satisfy a schoolteacher who would not believe his middle name was \"Red\".\n\nSkelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future.\n\nBecause of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing other odd jobs to help his family, who had lost the family store and their home. He quickly learned the newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. According to later accounts, Skelton's early interest in becoming an entertainer stemmed from an incident that took place in Vincennes around 1923, when a stranger, supposedly the comedian Ed Wynn, approached Skelton, who was the newsboy selling papers outside a Vincennes theater. When the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town. The man purchased every paper Skelton had, providing enough money for the boy to purchase a ticket for himself. The stranger turned out to be one of the show's stars, who later took the boy backstage to introduce him to the other performers. The experience prompted Skelton, who had already shown comedic tendencies, to pursue a career as a performer.\n\nSkelton discovered at an early age that he could make people laugh. He dropped out of school around 1926 or 1927, when he was 13 or 14 years old, but he already had some experience performing in minstrel shows in Vincennes, and on a showboat, The Cotton Blossom, that plied the Ohio and Missouri rivers. He enjoyed his work on the riverboat, moving on only after he realized that showboat entertainment was coming to an end. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, \"Help! I'm backing into heaven!\" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. At the age of 15, Skelton did some early work on the burlesque circuit, and reportedly spent four months with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1929, when he was 16 years old.\n\nIda Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son had run away from home to become an entertainer, but \"his destiny had caught up with him at an early age\". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the Great Depression, and it may have meant one less child for her to feed. Around 1929, while Skelton was still a teen, he joined \"Doc\" R.E. Lewis's traveling medicine show as an errand boy who sold bottles of medicine to the audience. During one show, when Skelton accidentally fell from the stage, breaking several bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. Both Lewis and Skelton realized one could earn a living with this ability and the fall was worked into the show. He also told jokes and sang in the medicine show during his four years there. Skelton earned ten dollars a week, and sent all of it home to his mother. When she worried that he was keeping nothing for his own needs, Skelton reassured her: \"We get plenty to eat, and we sleep in the wagon.\"\n\nBurlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937)\n\nAs burlesque comedy material became progressively more ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; \"I just didn't think the lines were funny\". He became a sought-after master of ceremonies for dance marathons (known as \"walkathons\" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. When they learned that Skelton's salary was to be cut, Edna went to see the boss; Red resented the interference, until she came away with not only a raise, but additional considerations as well. Since he had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbooks and taught him what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree.\n\nThe couple put together an act and began booking it at small midwestern theaters. When an offer came for an engagement in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, some 2,000 miles from Kansas City, they were pleased to get it because of its proximity to their ultimate goal, the vaudeville houses of New York City. To get to Massachusetts they bought a used car and borrowed five dollars from Edna's mother, but by the time they arrived in St. Louis they had only fifty cents. Skelton asked Edna to collect empty cigarette packs; she thought he was joking, but did as he asked. He then spent their fifty cents on bars of soap, which they cut into small cubes and wrapped with the tinfoil from the cigarette packs. By selling their products for fifty cents each as fog remover for eyeglasses, the Skeltons were able to afford a hotel room every night as they worked their way to Harwich Port.\n\n\"Doughnut Dunkers\"\n\nSkelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.\n\nSkelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee.\n\nThe couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly-written material and began performing the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, \"Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once.\" His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward.\n\nFilm work\n\nSkelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1938, he made his film debut for RKO Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time. He appeared in two short subjects for Vitaphone in 1939: Seeing Red and The Broadway Buckaroo. Actor Mickey Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films after seeing him perform his \"Doughnut Dunkers\" act at President Roosevelt's 1940 birthday party. For his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as \"Guzzler's Gin\", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. \"Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying\" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney.\n\nSkelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided comic relief as a lieutenant in Frank Borzage's war drama Flight Command, opposite Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in Harold S. Bucquet's Dr. Kildare medical dramas, Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective \"The Fox\", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark (1941) in which he began working with director S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, and Robert Young in Norman Z. McLeod's Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in Edward Buzzell's Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's Panama Hattie.\n\nIn 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King Louis XV of France in a dream opposite Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in Roy Del Ruth's Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy, I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick. Keaton was so convinced of Skelton's comedic talent that he approached MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer with a request to create a small company within MGM for himself and Skelton, where the two could work on film projects. Keaton offered to forgo his salary if the films made by the company were not box-office hits; Mayer chose to decline the request. In 1944, Skelton starred opposite Esther Williams in George Sidney's musical comedy Bathing Beauty, playing a songwriter with romantic difficulties. He next had a relatively minor role as a \"TV announcer who, in the course of demonstrating a brand of gin, progresses from mild inebriation through messy drunkenness to full-blown stupor\" in the \"When Television Comes\" segment of Ziegfeld Follies, which featured William Powell and Judy Garland in the main roles. In 1946, Skelton played boastful clerk J. Aubrey Piper opposite Marilyn Maxwell and Marjorie Main in Harry Beaumont's comedy picture The Show-Off.\n\nSkelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. Skelton asked for a release from MGM after learning he could not raise the $750,000 needed to buy out the remainder of his contract. He also voiced frustration with the film scripts he was offered while on the set of The Fuller Brush Man, saying, \"Movies are not my field. Radio and television are.\" He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show.\n\nSkelton's ability to successfully ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits.\n\nSkelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as Jack Donohue's The Yellow Cab Man (1950), Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's Excuse My Dust (1951), Charles Walters' Texas Carnival (1951), Mervyn LeRoy's Lovely to Look At (1952), Robert Z. Leonard's The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).\n\nRadio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951)\nPerforming the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.\n\nOn October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.\n\nSkelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.\n\n\"I dood it!\"\n\nSkelton introduced the first two of his many characters during The Raleigh Cigarette Program's first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or \"Junior\", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. \"Junior\" would say things like, \"If I dood it, I gets a whipping.\", followed moments later by the statement, \"I dood it!\" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname \"Junior\" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1943 movie of the same name, but did not play \"Junior\" in the film.\n\nThe phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase \"Doolittle Dood It\" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber \"We Dood It!\" In 1986, Soviet newspaper Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.\n\nSkelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called \"Mellow Cigars\", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine \"Guzzler's Gin\", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his \"Guzzler's Gin\" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.\n\nDivorce from Edna, marriage to Georgia\nIn 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving Skelton, but would continue to manage his career and write material for him. He did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce through NBC. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.\n\nThe divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.\n\nBy 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry him, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Edna's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career; Edna stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her former husband.\nHe was on army furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.\n\nA cast of characters\n\nSkelton served in the United States Army during World War II. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. He had a nervous collapse while in the Army, following which he developed a stutter. While recovering at an army hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, he met a soldier who had been severely wounded and was not expected to survive. Skelton devoted a lot of time and effort to trying to make the man laugh. As a result of this effort, his stutter reduced; his army friend's condition also improved, and he was no longer on the critical list. He was released from his army duties in September 1945. \"I've been told I'm the only celebrity who entered the Army as a private and came out a private,\" he told reporters. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.\n\nUpon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a \"loudmouthed braggart\"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air.\n\nOn April 22, 1947, Skelton was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer Rod O'Connor and he began talking about Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word \"diaper\". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.\n\nSkelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. After his network radio contract was over, he signed a three-year contract with Ziv Radio for a syndicated radio program in 1954. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.\n\nTelevision (1951–1970)\nSkelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. On May 4, 1951, he signed a contract for television with NBC; Procter and Gamble was his sponsor. He said he would be performing the same characters on television that he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951.\n\nHis television debut, The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening monologue, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943 instrumental hit by David Rose, called \"Holiday for Strings\", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His \"Freddie the Freeloader\" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of \"Good night and may God bless.\"\n\nDuring the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing.\n\nSkelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company.\n\nBy 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times\nbetween 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.\n\nRichard's illness and death\n\nAt the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. He returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers.\n\nThe Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a \"cardiac-asthma\" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, \"if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived\". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958.\n\nRichard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family. Life magazine, profiling \"The Invincible Red\" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still \"racked [sic]\" by his son’s death. In 1962, the Skelton family moved to Palm Springs, and Skelton used the Bel Air home only on the two days a week when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping.\n\nThe Red Skelton Hour\nIn early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios and updated it for videotape recording. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his \"Junior\" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program.\n\nSkelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the \"Silent Spot\". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character.\n\nSkelton's season premiere for the 1960–1961 television season was a tribute to the United Nations. About 600 people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. The program was entirely done in pantomime, as UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, \"They join a parade and start marching.\" In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator.\n\nIn 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single on Columbia Records. A year later, he performed the monologue for President Richard Nixon at the first \"Evening at the White House\", a series of entertainment events honoring the recently inaugurated president.\n\nOff the air and bitterness (1970–1983)\nAs the 1970s began, the networks began a major campaign to discontinue long-running shows that they considered stale, dominated by older demographics, and/or becoming too expensive due to escalating costs. Despite Skelton's continued strong overall viewership, CBS saw his show as fitting into this category and cancelled the program along with other comedy and variety shows hosted by veterans such as Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, \"My heart has been broken.\" His program had been one of the top-10, highest-rated shows for 17 of the 20 years he was on television. \n\nSkelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his television career, and he returned to live performances. In an effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and proved popular with the audiences.\nSkelton was bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he accused CBS of bowing to the antiestablishment, antiwar faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative political and social views caused the network to turn against him. He had invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and Senate Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the war, to appear on his program.\n\nPersonal, as well as professional, changes occurred in Skelton's life at this time. He divorced Georgia in 1971 and married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, on October 7, 1973. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was cancelled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May of 1978.\n\nSkelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. In 1980, he was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a report that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, \"Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?\" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983, Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.\n\nRed Skelton onstage\nSkelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as \"palaces\"; he also likened them to his \"living room\", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, \"Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone.\"\n\nSkelton was invited to play a four-week date at the London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, \"You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine.\" Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year.\n\nThough Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. He often arrived days early for his engagement and would serve as his own promotion staff, making the rounds of the local shopping malls. Before the show, his audiences received a ballot listing about 100 of his many routines and were asked to tick off their favorites. The venue's ushers would collect the ballots and tally the votes. Skelton's performance on that given day was based on the skits his audience selected. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.\n\nLater years and death\n\nIn 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1956. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well. George Burns and Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film.\n\nIn 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces series of specials. He gave a Royal Command Performance for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1984, which was later shown in the U.S. on HBO. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime.\n\nSkelton died on September 17, 1997, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, after what was described as \"a long, undisclosed illness\". He is interred in the Skelton Family Tomb, the family's private room, alongside his son, Richard Freeman Skelton, Jr., and his second wife, Georgia Maureen Davis Skelton, in the Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland Skelton; his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso; and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.\n\nArt and other interests\n\nArtwork\n\nSkelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at painting after visiting a large Chicago department store that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one, which Skelton described as \"a bunch of blotches\", he was told, \"Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one.\" He told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife Georgia, a former art student, persuaded him to have his first public showing of his work in 1964 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was performing at the time. Skelton believed painting was an asset to his comedy work, as it helped him to better visualize the imaginary props used in his pantomime routines.\n\nIn addition to his originals, Skelton also sold reproductions and prints through his own mail-order business. He made his work available to art galleries by selling them franchises to display and sell his paintings. He once estimated the sale of his lithographs earned him $2.5 million per year. Shortly after his death, his art dealer said he believed that Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work. At the time of his death, Skelton had produced over 1,000 oil paintings of clowns. When asked why his artwork focused on clowns, he said at first, \"I don't know why it's always clowns.\" He continued after thinking a moment by saying \"No, that's not true—I do know why. I just don't feel like thinking about it ...\" At the time of Skelton's death, his originals were priced at $80,000 and upward.\n\nOther interests\nSkelton was a prolific writer of both short stories and music. After sleeping only four or five hours a night, he would wake up at 5 am and begin writing stories, composing music, and painting pictures. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies by the time of his death. He wrote commercials for Skoal tobacco and sold many of his compositions to Muzak, a company that specialized in providing background music to stores and other businesses. Skelton was also interested in photography; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the film to newspaper reporters waiting outside. He was never without a miniature camera, and kept a photographic record of all his paintings. Skelton was also an avid gardener, who created his own Japanese and Italian gardens and cultivated bonsai trees at his home in Palm Springs. He owned a horse ranch in the Anza Valley.\n\nFraternity and honors\nSkelton was a Freemason, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish and the York Rites. He was a recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a $5 bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown. He was also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as a Shriner in Los Angeles.\n\nSkelton was made an honorary brother of Phi Sigma Kappa at Truman State University. In 1961, he became an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity of Emerson College, when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college at the same ceremony. Skelton received an honorary high-school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity; Skelton had composed many marches, which were used by more than 10,000 high-school and college bands. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University.\n\nThe Red Skelton Memorial Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near Skelton's home town of Vincennes. He attended the dedication ceremonies in 1963.\n\nAwards and recognition\n\nIn 1952, Skelton received Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Program and Best Comedian. He also received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for his noncomedic performance in Playhouse 90's presentation of \"The Big Slide\". Skelton and his writers won another Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. He was named an honorary faculty member of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1968 and 1969.\n\nSkelton's first major post-television recognition came in 1978, when the Golden Globe Awards named him as the recipient for their Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given to honor outstanding contributions in entertainment. His excitement was so great upon receiving the award and a standing ovation, that he clutched it tightly enough to break the statuette. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. \"I want to thank you for sitting down\", he said when the ovation subsided. \"I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me.\" The honor came 16 years after his television program left the airwaves.\n\nSkelton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1987, and in 1988, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame. He was one of the International Clown Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1989. Skelton and Katharine Hepburn were honored with lifetime achievement awards by the American Comedy Awards in the same year. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Skelton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio and television work.\n\nLegacy and tributes\nSkelton preferred to be described as a clown rather than a comic: \"A comedian goes out and hits people right on. A clown uses pathos. He can be funny, then turn right around and reach people and touch them with what life is like.\" \"I just want to be known as a clown\", he said, \"because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh.\" His purpose in life, he believed, was to make people laugh.\n\nIn Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton \"the most unacclaimed clown in show business\", and \"the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin\", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialogue and props. \"With one prop, a soft battered hat\", Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, \"he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red.\" He added that Skelton also \"plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors.\" In late 1965, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, reminiscing about the entertainment business, singled out Skelton for high praise. \"It's all so very different today. The whole business of comedy has changed — from 15 minutes of quality to quantity. We had a lot of very funny people around, from Charley Chase to Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. The last one of that breed is Red Skelton.\" Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures also praised Skelton, saying, \"He's a clown in the old tradition. He doesn't need punch lines. He's got heart.\"\n\nSkelton and Marcel Marceau shared a long friendship and admiration of each other's work. Marceau appeared on Skelton's CBS television show three times, including one turn as the host in 1961 as Skelton recovered from surgery. He was also a guest on the three Funny Faces specials that Skelton produced for HBO. In a TV Guide interview after Skelton's death, Marceau said, \"Red, you are eternal for me and the millions of people you made laugh and cry. May God bless you forever, my great and precious companion. I will never forget that silent world we created together.\" CBS issued the following statement upon his death: \"Red's audience had no age limits. He was the consummate family entertainer—a winsome clown, a storyteller without peer, a superb mime, a singer, and a dancer.\"\n\nThe Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in February 2006 on the campus of Vincennes University, one block from the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and dressing rooms. Its grand foyer is a gallery for Skelton's paintings, statues, and film posters. The theater hosts theatrical and musical productions by Vincennes University, as well as special events, convocations, and conventions. The adjacent Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened on July 18, 2013, on what would have been Skelton's 100th birthday. It houses his personal and professional materials, which he had collected since the age of 10, in accordance with his wishes that they be made available in his hometown for the public's enjoyment. Skelton's widow, Lothian, noted that he expressed no interest in any sort of Hollywood memorial. The museum is funded jointly by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation and the Indiana Historical Society. Other foundation projects include a fund that provides new clothes to Vincennes children from low-income families. The foundation also purchased Skelton's birthplace. On July 15, 2017, the state of Indiana unveiled a state historic marker at the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born.\n\nThe town of Vincennes has held an annual Red Skelton Festival since 2005. A \"Parade of a Thousand Clowns\", billed as the largest clown parade in the Midwest, is followed by family-oriented activities and live music performances.\n\nFilmography\n\nFeatures\n\nShort subjects\n\nBox-office ranking\nBased on rankings of the amount of money earned in box-office receipts for film showings, for a number of years Skelton was among the most popular stars in the country:\n1944 – 16th-largest box-office draw\n1949 – 13th\n1951 – 14th\n1952 – 21st\n\nPublished works\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nSources cited\n\nExternal links\n\n Red Skelton Biography\n Red Skelton Foundation \n Red Skelton Museum and Education Center\n Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University\n Edna and Red Skelton Collection at the Indiana Historical Society\n RED-EO Video Production Company, article and photo, The Broadcast Archive\n List of Red Skelton TV Episodes 1951–1971, The Classic TV Archive\n Literature on Red Skelton\n Red Skelton at the Internet Archive\n \"Edna Stillwell and the 'Real Making of Red'”, Indiana Historical Bureau\n\nCategory:1913 births\nCategory:1997 deaths\nCategory:20th-century American comedians\nCategory:20th-century American composers\nCategory:20th-century American male actors\nCategory:20th-century American male musicians\nCategory:20th-century American painters\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nCategory:American burlesque performers\nCategory:American clowns\nCategory:American male comedians\nCategory:American male composers\nCategory:American male film actors\nCategory:American male painters\nCategory:American male radio actors\nCategory:American male television actors\nCategory:American radio personalities\nCategory:American sketch comedians\nCategory:Television personalities from California\nCategory:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)\nCategory:California Republicans\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners\nCategory:Comedians from California\nCategory:Conservatism in the United States\nCategory:Indiana Historical Society\nCategory:Indiana Republicans\nCategory:Deaths from pneumonia in California\nCategory:Male actors from Indiana\nCategory:Male actors from Palm Springs, California\nCategory:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Painters from Indiana\nCategory:Painters from California\nCategory:People from Vincennes, Indiana\nCategory:Primetime Emmy Award winners\nCategory:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award\nCategory:United States Army personnel of World War II\nCategory:United States Army soldiers\nCategory:Vaudeville performers\nCategory:20th-century American male artists",
"title": "Red Skelton"
}
] | [
"Yes, Red Skelton was on radio. He initially appeared on Rudy Vallee's program, The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, then later hosted Avalon Time on NBC, and had his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program.",
"Red Skelton hosted radio shows, such as Avalon Time on NBC and The Raleigh Cigarette Program. Though the text does not explicitly mention him doing ads on radio, it does imply that he promoted himself and MGM via appearances at banquets.",
"The text doesn't provide specific information on the popularity of Red Skelton's radio shows. However, it does mention that after his performance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, the show received enough fan mail to invite him back multiple times, suggesting that he had a positive reception.",
"The text does not provide information about Red Skelton's personal life.",
"The text mentions a person named Edna, who joined the cast of Avalon Time under her maiden name and worked with Red Skelton. However, the text does not explicitly state that Edna was Skelton's wife.",
"The text does not provide information about Red Skelton getting divorced."
] | [
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_1 | Red Skelton | Richard "Red" Skelton (July 18, 1913 - September 17, 1997) was an American comedy entertainer. He was best known for his national radio and television acts between 1937 and 1971, and as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist. Skelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. | "Doughnut Dunkers" | Skelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada. Skelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the "Doughnut Dunkers" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee. The couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly written material and began performing the "Doughnut Dunkers" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, "Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once." His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_1_q#0",
"C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_1_q#1",
"C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_1_q#2",
"C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_1_q#3",
"C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_1_q#4",
"C_d6375edfbf57404b88c47daa80fb83f0_1_q#5"
] | [
"What is the Doughnut Dunkers?",
"Who is Red Skelton's female partner?",
"Where did they do the routine at?",
"When did they do this?",
"Did they play other venues?",
"Did this lead to bigger adventures?"
] | [
0,
2,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
827
],
[
0
],
[
199
],
[
58
],
[
469
],
[
1093
]
],
"texts": [
[
"she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine,"
],
[
"Skelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey,"
],
[
"Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada."
],
[
"and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934"
],
[
"While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre."
],
[
"The couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
827,
0,
199,
58,
469,
1093
],
"texts": [
"she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine,",
"Skelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey,",
"Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.",
"and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934",
"While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre.",
"The couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance."
]
} | Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.
Skelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The "Doughnut Dunkers" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).
Skelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was canceled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971. He spent his time after that making as many as 125 personal appearances a year and working on his paintings.
Skelton's paintings of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife Georgia persuaded him to show them at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful, and he also sold prints and lithographs, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer said he thought that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television performances.
Skelton believed that his life's work was to make people laugh; he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything. He had a 70-year-long career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans. His widow donated many of his personal and professional effects to Vincennes University, including prints of his artwork. They are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes, Indiana.
Biography
Early years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929)
According to some sources, Skelton was born Richard Red Skelton on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. In a 1983 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Skelton claimed his middle name was really "Red" and that he had made up the middle name Bernard, from the name of a local store, Bernard Clothiers, to satisfy a schoolteacher who would not believe his middle name was "Red".
Skelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future.
Because of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing other odd jobs to help his family, who had lost the family store and their home. He quickly learned the newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. According to later accounts, Skelton's early interest in becoming an entertainer stemmed from an incident that took place in Vincennes around 1923, when a stranger, supposedly the comedian Ed Wynn, approached Skelton, who was the newsboy selling papers outside a Vincennes theater. When the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town. The man purchased every paper Skelton had, providing enough money for the boy to purchase a ticket for himself. The stranger turned out to be one of the show's stars, who later took the boy backstage to introduce him to the other performers. The experience prompted Skelton, who had already shown comedic tendencies, to pursue a career as a performer.
Skelton discovered at an early age that he could make people laugh. He dropped out of school around 1926 or 1927, when he was 13 or 14 years old, but he already had some experience performing in minstrel shows in Vincennes, and on a showboat, The Cotton Blossom, that plied the Ohio and Missouri rivers. He enjoyed his work on the riverboat, moving on only after he realized that showboat entertainment was coming to an end. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, "Help! I'm backing into heaven!" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. At the age of 15, Skelton did some early work on the burlesque circuit, and reportedly spent four months with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1929, when he was 16 years old.
Ida Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son had run away from home to become an entertainer, but "his destiny had caught up with him at an early age". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the Great Depression, and it may have meant one less child for her to feed. Around 1929, while Skelton was still a teen, he joined "Doc" R.E. Lewis's traveling medicine show as an errand boy who sold bottles of medicine to the audience. During one show, when Skelton accidentally fell from the stage, breaking several bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. Both Lewis and Skelton realized one could earn a living with this ability and the fall was worked into the show. He also told jokes and sang in the medicine show during his four years there. Skelton earned ten dollars a week, and sent all of it home to his mother. When she worried that he was keeping nothing for his own needs, Skelton reassured her: "We get plenty to eat, and we sleep in the wagon."
Burlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937)
As burlesque comedy material became progressively more ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; "I just didn't think the lines were funny". He became a sought-after master of ceremonies for dance marathons (known as "walkathons" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. When they learned that Skelton's salary was to be cut, Edna went to see the boss; Red resented the interference, until she came away with not only a raise, but additional considerations as well. Since he had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbooks and taught him what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree.
The couple put together an act and began booking it at small midwestern theaters. When an offer came for an engagement in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, some 2,000 miles from Kansas City, they were pleased to get it because of its proximity to their ultimate goal, the vaudeville houses of New York City. To get to Massachusetts they bought a used car and borrowed five dollars from Edna's mother, but by the time they arrived in St. Louis they had only fifty cents. Skelton asked Edna to collect empty cigarette packs; she thought he was joking, but did as he asked. He then spent their fifty cents on bars of soap, which they cut into small cubes and wrapped with the tinfoil from the cigarette packs. By selling their products for fifty cents each as fog remover for eyeglasses, the Skeltons were able to afford a hotel room every night as they worked their way to Harwich Port.
"Doughnut Dunkers"
Skelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.
Skelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the "Doughnut Dunkers" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee.
The couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly-written material and began performing the "Doughnut Dunkers" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, "Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once." His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward.
Film work
Skelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1938, he made his film debut for RKO Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time. He appeared in two short subjects for Vitaphone in 1939: Seeing Red and The Broadway Buckaroo. Actor Mickey Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films after seeing him perform his "Doughnut Dunkers" act at President Roosevelt's 1940 birthday party. For his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as "Guzzler's Gin", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. "Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney.
Skelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided comic relief as a lieutenant in Frank Borzage's war drama Flight Command, opposite Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in Harold S. Bucquet's Dr. Kildare medical dramas, Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective "The Fox", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark (1941) in which he began working with director S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, and Robert Young in Norman Z. McLeod's Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in Edward Buzzell's Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's Panama Hattie.
In 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King Louis XV of France in a dream opposite Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in Roy Del Ruth's Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy, I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick. Keaton was so convinced of Skelton's comedic talent that he approached MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer with a request to create a small company within MGM for himself and Skelton, where the two could work on film projects. Keaton offered to forgo his salary if the films made by the company were not box-office hits; Mayer chose to decline the request. In 1944, Skelton starred opposite Esther Williams in George Sidney's musical comedy Bathing Beauty, playing a songwriter with romantic difficulties. He next had a relatively minor role as a "TV announcer who, in the course of demonstrating a brand of gin, progresses from mild inebriation through messy drunkenness to full-blown stupor" in the "When Television Comes" segment of Ziegfeld Follies, which featured William Powell and Judy Garland in the main roles. In 1946, Skelton played boastful clerk J. Aubrey Piper opposite Marilyn Maxwell and Marjorie Main in Harry Beaumont's comedy picture The Show-Off.
Skelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. Skelton asked for a release from MGM after learning he could not raise the $750,000 needed to buy out the remainder of his contract. He also voiced frustration with the film scripts he was offered while on the set of The Fuller Brush Man, saying, "Movies are not my field. Radio and television are." He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show.
Skelton's ability to successfully ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits.
Skelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as Jack Donohue's The Yellow Cab Man (1950), Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's Excuse My Dust (1951), Charles Walters' Texas Carnival (1951), Mervyn LeRoy's Lovely to Look At (1952), Robert Z. Leonard's The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).
Radio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951)
Performing the "Doughnut Dunkers" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.
On October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.
Skelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.
"I dood it!"
Skelton introduced the first two of his many characters during The Raleigh Cigarette Program's first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or "Junior", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. "Junior" would say things like, "If I dood it, I gets a whipping.", followed moments later by the statement, "I dood it!" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname "Junior" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1943 movie of the same name, but did not play "Junior" in the film.
The phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase "Doolittle Dood It" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber "We Dood It!" In 1986, Soviet newspaper Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.
Skelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called "Mellow Cigars", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine "Guzzler's Gin", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his "Guzzler's Gin" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.
Divorce from Edna, marriage to Georgia
In 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving Skelton, but would continue to manage his career and write material for him. He did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce through NBC. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.
The divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
By 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry him, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Edna's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career; Edna stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her former husband.
He was on army furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.
A cast of characters
Skelton served in the United States Army during World War II. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. He had a nervous collapse while in the Army, following which he developed a stutter. While recovering at an army hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, he met a soldier who had been severely wounded and was not expected to survive. Skelton devoted a lot of time and effort to trying to make the man laugh. As a result of this effort, his stutter reduced; his army friend's condition also improved, and he was no longer on the critical list. He was released from his army duties in September 1945. "I've been told I'm the only celebrity who entered the Army as a private and came out a private," he told reporters. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.
Upon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a "loudmouthed braggart"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air.
On April 22, 1947, Skelton was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer Rod O'Connor and he began talking about Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word "diaper". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.
Skelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. After his network radio contract was over, he signed a three-year contract with Ziv Radio for a syndicated radio program in 1954. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.
Television (1951–1970)
Skelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. On May 4, 1951, he signed a contract for television with NBC; Procter and Gamble was his sponsor. He said he would be performing the same characters on television that he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951.
His television debut, The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening monologue, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943 instrumental hit by David Rose, called "Holiday for Strings", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His "Freddie the Freeloader" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of "Good night and may God bless."
During the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing.
Skelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company.
By 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times
between 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.
Richard's illness and death
At the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. He returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers.
The Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a "cardiac-asthma" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, "if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958.
Richard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family. Life magazine, profiling "The Invincible Red" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still "racked [sic]" by his son’s death. In 1962, the Skelton family moved to Palm Springs, and Skelton used the Bel Air home only on the two days a week when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping.
The Red Skelton Hour
In early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios and updated it for videotape recording. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his "Junior" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program.
Skelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the "Silent Spot". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character.
Skelton's season premiere for the 1960–1961 television season was a tribute to the United Nations. About 600 people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. The program was entirely done in pantomime, as UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, "They join a parade and start marching." In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator.
In 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single on Columbia Records. A year later, he performed the monologue for President Richard Nixon at the first "Evening at the White House", a series of entertainment events honoring the recently inaugurated president.
Off the air and bitterness (1970–1983)
As the 1970s began, the networks began a major campaign to discontinue long-running shows that they considered stale, dominated by older demographics, and/or becoming too expensive due to escalating costs. Despite Skelton's continued strong overall viewership, CBS saw his show as fitting into this category and cancelled the program along with other comedy and variety shows hosted by veterans such as Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, "My heart has been broken." His program had been one of the top-10, highest-rated shows for 17 of the 20 years he was on television.
Skelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his television career, and he returned to live performances. In an effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and proved popular with the audiences.
Skelton was bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he accused CBS of bowing to the antiestablishment, antiwar faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative political and social views caused the network to turn against him. He had invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and Senate Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the war, to appear on his program.
Personal, as well as professional, changes occurred in Skelton's life at this time. He divorced Georgia in 1971 and married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, on October 7, 1973. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was cancelled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May of 1978.
Skelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. In 1980, he was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a report that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, "Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983, Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.
Red Skelton onstage
Skelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as "palaces"; he also likened them to his "living room", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, "Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone."
Skelton was invited to play a four-week date at the London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, "You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine." Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year.
Though Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. He often arrived days early for his engagement and would serve as his own promotion staff, making the rounds of the local shopping malls. Before the show, his audiences received a ballot listing about 100 of his many routines and were asked to tick off their favorites. The venue's ushers would collect the ballots and tally the votes. Skelton's performance on that given day was based on the skits his audience selected. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.
Later years and death
In 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1956. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well. George Burns and Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film.
In 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces series of specials. He gave a Royal Command Performance for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1984, which was later shown in the U.S. on HBO. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime.
Skelton died on September 17, 1997, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, after what was described as "a long, undisclosed illness". He is interred in the Skelton Family Tomb, the family's private room, alongside his son, Richard Freeman Skelton, Jr., and his second wife, Georgia Maureen Davis Skelton, in the Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland Skelton; his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso; and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.
Art and other interests
Artwork
Skelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at painting after visiting a large Chicago department store that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one, which Skelton described as "a bunch of blotches", he was told, "Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one." He told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife Georgia, a former art student, persuaded him to have his first public showing of his work in 1964 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was performing at the time. Skelton believed painting was an asset to his comedy work, as it helped him to better visualize the imaginary props used in his pantomime routines.
In addition to his originals, Skelton also sold reproductions and prints through his own mail-order business. He made his work available to art galleries by selling them franchises to display and sell his paintings. He once estimated the sale of his lithographs earned him $2.5 million per year. Shortly after his death, his art dealer said he believed that Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work. At the time of his death, Skelton had produced over 1,000 oil paintings of clowns. When asked why his artwork focused on clowns, he said at first, "I don't know why it's always clowns." He continued after thinking a moment by saying "No, that's not true—I do know why. I just don't feel like thinking about it ..." At the time of Skelton's death, his originals were priced at $80,000 and upward.
Other interests
Skelton was a prolific writer of both short stories and music. After sleeping only four or five hours a night, he would wake up at 5 am and begin writing stories, composing music, and painting pictures. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies by the time of his death. He wrote commercials for Skoal tobacco and sold many of his compositions to Muzak, a company that specialized in providing background music to stores and other businesses. Skelton was also interested in photography; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the film to newspaper reporters waiting outside. He was never without a miniature camera, and kept a photographic record of all his paintings. Skelton was also an avid gardener, who created his own Japanese and Italian gardens and cultivated bonsai trees at his home in Palm Springs. He owned a horse ranch in the Anza Valley.
Fraternity and honors
Skelton was a Freemason, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish and the York Rites. He was a recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a $5 bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown. He was also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as a Shriner in Los Angeles.
Skelton was made an honorary brother of Phi Sigma Kappa at Truman State University. In 1961, he became an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity of Emerson College, when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college at the same ceremony. Skelton received an honorary high-school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity; Skelton had composed many marches, which were used by more than 10,000 high-school and college bands. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University.
The Red Skelton Memorial Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near Skelton's home town of Vincennes. He attended the dedication ceremonies in 1963.
Awards and recognition
In 1952, Skelton received Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Program and Best Comedian. He also received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for his noncomedic performance in Playhouse 90's presentation of "The Big Slide". Skelton and his writers won another Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. He was named an honorary faculty member of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1968 and 1969.
Skelton's first major post-television recognition came in 1978, when the Golden Globe Awards named him as the recipient for their Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given to honor outstanding contributions in entertainment. His excitement was so great upon receiving the award and a standing ovation, that he clutched it tightly enough to break the statuette. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. "I want to thank you for sitting down", he said when the ovation subsided. "I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me." The honor came 16 years after his television program left the airwaves.
Skelton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1987, and in 1988, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame. He was one of the International Clown Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1989. Skelton and Katharine Hepburn were honored with lifetime achievement awards by the American Comedy Awards in the same year. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Skelton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio and television work.
Legacy and tributes
Skelton preferred to be described as a clown rather than a comic: "A comedian goes out and hits people right on. A clown uses pathos. He can be funny, then turn right around and reach people and touch them with what life is like." "I just want to be known as a clown", he said, "because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh." His purpose in life, he believed, was to make people laugh.
In Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton "the most unacclaimed clown in show business", and "the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialogue and props. "With one prop, a soft battered hat", Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, "he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red." He added that Skelton also "plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors." In late 1965, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, reminiscing about the entertainment business, singled out Skelton for high praise. "It's all so very different today. The whole business of comedy has changed — from 15 minutes of quality to quantity. We had a lot of very funny people around, from Charley Chase to Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. The last one of that breed is Red Skelton." Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures also praised Skelton, saying, "He's a clown in the old tradition. He doesn't need punch lines. He's got heart."
Skelton and Marcel Marceau shared a long friendship and admiration of each other's work. Marceau appeared on Skelton's CBS television show three times, including one turn as the host in 1961 as Skelton recovered from surgery. He was also a guest on the three Funny Faces specials that Skelton produced for HBO. In a TV Guide interview after Skelton's death, Marceau said, "Red, you are eternal for me and the millions of people you made laugh and cry. May God bless you forever, my great and precious companion. I will never forget that silent world we created together." CBS issued the following statement upon his death: "Red's audience had no age limits. He was the consummate family entertainer—a winsome clown, a storyteller without peer, a superb mime, a singer, and a dancer."
The Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in February 2006 on the campus of Vincennes University, one block from the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and dressing rooms. Its grand foyer is a gallery for Skelton's paintings, statues, and film posters. The theater hosts theatrical and musical productions by Vincennes University, as well as special events, convocations, and conventions. The adjacent Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened on July 18, 2013, on what would have been Skelton's 100th birthday. It houses his personal and professional materials, which he had collected since the age of 10, in accordance with his wishes that they be made available in his hometown for the public's enjoyment. Skelton's widow, Lothian, noted that he expressed no interest in any sort of Hollywood memorial. The museum is funded jointly by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation and the Indiana Historical Society. Other foundation projects include a fund that provides new clothes to Vincennes children from low-income families. The foundation also purchased Skelton's birthplace. On July 15, 2017, the state of Indiana unveiled a state historic marker at the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born.
The town of Vincennes has held an annual Red Skelton Festival since 2005. A "Parade of a Thousand Clowns", billed as the largest clown parade in the Midwest, is followed by family-oriented activities and live music performances.
Filmography
Features
Short subjects
Box-office ranking
Based on rankings of the amount of money earned in box-office receipts for film showings, for a number of years Skelton was among the most popular stars in the country:
1944 – 16th-largest box-office draw
1949 – 13th
1951 – 14th
1952 – 21st
Published works
Notes
References
Sources cited
External links
Red Skelton Biography
Red Skelton Foundation
Red Skelton Museum and Education Center
Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University
Edna and Red Skelton Collection at the Indiana Historical Society
RED-EO Video Production Company, article and photo, The Broadcast Archive
List of Red Skelton TV Episodes 1951–1971, The Classic TV Archive
Literature on Red Skelton
Red Skelton at the Internet Archive
"Edna Stillwell and the 'Real Making of Red'”, Indiana Historical Bureau
Category:1913 births
Category:1997 deaths
Category:20th-century American comedians
Category:20th-century American composers
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:20th-century American male musicians
Category:20th-century American painters
Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Category:American burlesque performers
Category:American clowns
Category:American male comedians
Category:American male composers
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male painters
Category:American male radio actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:American radio personalities
Category:American sketch comedians
Category:Television personalities from California
Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Category:California Republicans
Red Skelton
Category:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners
Category:Comedians from California
Category:Conservatism in the United States
Category:Indiana Historical Society
Category:Indiana Republicans
Category:Deaths from pneumonia in California
Category:Male actors from Indiana
Category:Male actors from Palm Springs, California
Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
Red Skelton
Category:Painters from Indiana
Category:Painters from California
Category:People from Vincennes, Indiana
Category:Primetime Emmy Award winners
Category:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award
Category:United States Army personnel of World War II
Category:United States Army soldiers
Category:Vaudeville performers
Category:20th-century American male artists | [
{
"text": "Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.\n\nSkelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The \"Doughnut Dunkers\" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).\n\nSkelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was canceled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971. He spent his time after that making as many as 125 personal appearances a year and working on his paintings.\n\nSkelton's paintings of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife Georgia persuaded him to show them at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful, and he also sold prints and lithographs, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer said he thought that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television performances.\n\nSkelton believed that his life's work was to make people laugh; he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything. He had a 70-year-long career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans. His widow donated many of his personal and professional effects to Vincennes University, including prints of his artwork. They are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes, Indiana.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929)\nAccording to some sources, Skelton was born Richard Red Skelton on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. In a 1983 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Skelton claimed his middle name was really \"Red\" and that he had made up the middle name Bernard, from the name of a local store, Bernard Clothiers, to satisfy a schoolteacher who would not believe his middle name was \"Red\".\n\nSkelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future.\n\nBecause of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing other odd jobs to help his family, who had lost the family store and their home. He quickly learned the newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. According to later accounts, Skelton's early interest in becoming an entertainer stemmed from an incident that took place in Vincennes around 1923, when a stranger, supposedly the comedian Ed Wynn, approached Skelton, who was the newsboy selling papers outside a Vincennes theater. When the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town. The man purchased every paper Skelton had, providing enough money for the boy to purchase a ticket for himself. The stranger turned out to be one of the show's stars, who later took the boy backstage to introduce him to the other performers. The experience prompted Skelton, who had already shown comedic tendencies, to pursue a career as a performer.\n\nSkelton discovered at an early age that he could make people laugh. He dropped out of school around 1926 or 1927, when he was 13 or 14 years old, but he already had some experience performing in minstrel shows in Vincennes, and on a showboat, The Cotton Blossom, that plied the Ohio and Missouri rivers. He enjoyed his work on the riverboat, moving on only after he realized that showboat entertainment was coming to an end. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, \"Help! I'm backing into heaven!\" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. At the age of 15, Skelton did some early work on the burlesque circuit, and reportedly spent four months with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1929, when he was 16 years old.\n\nIda Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son had run away from home to become an entertainer, but \"his destiny had caught up with him at an early age\". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the Great Depression, and it may have meant one less child for her to feed. Around 1929, while Skelton was still a teen, he joined \"Doc\" R.E. Lewis's traveling medicine show as an errand boy who sold bottles of medicine to the audience. During one show, when Skelton accidentally fell from the stage, breaking several bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. Both Lewis and Skelton realized one could earn a living with this ability and the fall was worked into the show. He also told jokes and sang in the medicine show during his four years there. Skelton earned ten dollars a week, and sent all of it home to his mother. When she worried that he was keeping nothing for his own needs, Skelton reassured her: \"We get plenty to eat, and we sleep in the wagon.\"\n\nBurlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937)\n\nAs burlesque comedy material became progressively more ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; \"I just didn't think the lines were funny\". He became a sought-after master of ceremonies for dance marathons (known as \"walkathons\" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. When they learned that Skelton's salary was to be cut, Edna went to see the boss; Red resented the interference, until she came away with not only a raise, but additional considerations as well. Since he had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbooks and taught him what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree.\n\nThe couple put together an act and began booking it at small midwestern theaters. When an offer came for an engagement in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, some 2,000 miles from Kansas City, they were pleased to get it because of its proximity to their ultimate goal, the vaudeville houses of New York City. To get to Massachusetts they bought a used car and borrowed five dollars from Edna's mother, but by the time they arrived in St. Louis they had only fifty cents. Skelton asked Edna to collect empty cigarette packs; she thought he was joking, but did as he asked. He then spent their fifty cents on bars of soap, which they cut into small cubes and wrapped with the tinfoil from the cigarette packs. By selling their products for fifty cents each as fog remover for eyeglasses, the Skeltons were able to afford a hotel room every night as they worked their way to Harwich Port.\n\n\"Doughnut Dunkers\"\n\nSkelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.\n\nSkelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee.\n\nThe couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly-written material and began performing the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, \"Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once.\" His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward.\n\nFilm work\n\nSkelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1938, he made his film debut for RKO Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time. He appeared in two short subjects for Vitaphone in 1939: Seeing Red and The Broadway Buckaroo. Actor Mickey Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films after seeing him perform his \"Doughnut Dunkers\" act at President Roosevelt's 1940 birthday party. For his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as \"Guzzler's Gin\", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. \"Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying\" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney.\n\nSkelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided comic relief as a lieutenant in Frank Borzage's war drama Flight Command, opposite Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in Harold S. Bucquet's Dr. Kildare medical dramas, Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective \"The Fox\", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark (1941) in which he began working with director S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, and Robert Young in Norman Z. McLeod's Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in Edward Buzzell's Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's Panama Hattie.\n\nIn 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King Louis XV of France in a dream opposite Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in Roy Del Ruth's Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy, I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick. Keaton was so convinced of Skelton's comedic talent that he approached MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer with a request to create a small company within MGM for himself and Skelton, where the two could work on film projects. Keaton offered to forgo his salary if the films made by the company were not box-office hits; Mayer chose to decline the request. In 1944, Skelton starred opposite Esther Williams in George Sidney's musical comedy Bathing Beauty, playing a songwriter with romantic difficulties. He next had a relatively minor role as a \"TV announcer who, in the course of demonstrating a brand of gin, progresses from mild inebriation through messy drunkenness to full-blown stupor\" in the \"When Television Comes\" segment of Ziegfeld Follies, which featured William Powell and Judy Garland in the main roles. In 1946, Skelton played boastful clerk J. Aubrey Piper opposite Marilyn Maxwell and Marjorie Main in Harry Beaumont's comedy picture The Show-Off.\n\nSkelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. Skelton asked for a release from MGM after learning he could not raise the $750,000 needed to buy out the remainder of his contract. He also voiced frustration with the film scripts he was offered while on the set of The Fuller Brush Man, saying, \"Movies are not my field. Radio and television are.\" He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show.\n\nSkelton's ability to successfully ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits.\n\nSkelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as Jack Donohue's The Yellow Cab Man (1950), Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's Excuse My Dust (1951), Charles Walters' Texas Carnival (1951), Mervyn LeRoy's Lovely to Look At (1952), Robert Z. Leonard's The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).\n\nRadio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951)\nPerforming the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.\n\nOn October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.\n\nSkelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.\n\n\"I dood it!\"\n\nSkelton introduced the first two of his many characters during The Raleigh Cigarette Program's first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or \"Junior\", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. \"Junior\" would say things like, \"If I dood it, I gets a whipping.\", followed moments later by the statement, \"I dood it!\" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname \"Junior\" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1943 movie of the same name, but did not play \"Junior\" in the film.\n\nThe phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase \"Doolittle Dood It\" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber \"We Dood It!\" In 1986, Soviet newspaper Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.\n\nSkelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called \"Mellow Cigars\", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine \"Guzzler's Gin\", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his \"Guzzler's Gin\" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.\n\nDivorce from Edna, marriage to Georgia\nIn 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving Skelton, but would continue to manage his career and write material for him. He did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce through NBC. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.\n\nThe divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.\n\nBy 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry him, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Edna's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career; Edna stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her former husband.\nHe was on army furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.\n\nA cast of characters\n\nSkelton served in the United States Army during World War II. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. He had a nervous collapse while in the Army, following which he developed a stutter. While recovering at an army hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, he met a soldier who had been severely wounded and was not expected to survive. Skelton devoted a lot of time and effort to trying to make the man laugh. As a result of this effort, his stutter reduced; his army friend's condition also improved, and he was no longer on the critical list. He was released from his army duties in September 1945. \"I've been told I'm the only celebrity who entered the Army as a private and came out a private,\" he told reporters. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.\n\nUpon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a \"loudmouthed braggart\"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air.\n\nOn April 22, 1947, Skelton was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer Rod O'Connor and he began talking about Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word \"diaper\". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.\n\nSkelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. After his network radio contract was over, he signed a three-year contract with Ziv Radio for a syndicated radio program in 1954. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.\n\nTelevision (1951–1970)\nSkelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. On May 4, 1951, he signed a contract for television with NBC; Procter and Gamble was his sponsor. He said he would be performing the same characters on television that he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951.\n\nHis television debut, The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening monologue, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943 instrumental hit by David Rose, called \"Holiday for Strings\", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His \"Freddie the Freeloader\" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of \"Good night and may God bless.\"\n\nDuring the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing.\n\nSkelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company.\n\nBy 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times\nbetween 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.\n\nRichard's illness and death\n\nAt the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. He returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers.\n\nThe Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a \"cardiac-asthma\" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, \"if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived\". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958.\n\nRichard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family. Life magazine, profiling \"The Invincible Red\" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still \"racked [sic]\" by his son’s death. In 1962, the Skelton family moved to Palm Springs, and Skelton used the Bel Air home only on the two days a week when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping.\n\nThe Red Skelton Hour\nIn early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios and updated it for videotape recording. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his \"Junior\" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program.\n\nSkelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the \"Silent Spot\". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character.\n\nSkelton's season premiere for the 1960–1961 television season was a tribute to the United Nations. About 600 people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. The program was entirely done in pantomime, as UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, \"They join a parade and start marching.\" In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator.\n\nIn 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single on Columbia Records. A year later, he performed the monologue for President Richard Nixon at the first \"Evening at the White House\", a series of entertainment events honoring the recently inaugurated president.\n\nOff the air and bitterness (1970–1983)\nAs the 1970s began, the networks began a major campaign to discontinue long-running shows that they considered stale, dominated by older demographics, and/or becoming too expensive due to escalating costs. Despite Skelton's continued strong overall viewership, CBS saw his show as fitting into this category and cancelled the program along with other comedy and variety shows hosted by veterans such as Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, \"My heart has been broken.\" His program had been one of the top-10, highest-rated shows for 17 of the 20 years he was on television. \n\nSkelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his television career, and he returned to live performances. In an effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and proved popular with the audiences.\nSkelton was bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he accused CBS of bowing to the antiestablishment, antiwar faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative political and social views caused the network to turn against him. He had invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and Senate Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the war, to appear on his program.\n\nPersonal, as well as professional, changes occurred in Skelton's life at this time. He divorced Georgia in 1971 and married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, on October 7, 1973. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was cancelled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May of 1978.\n\nSkelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. In 1980, he was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a report that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, \"Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?\" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983, Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.\n\nRed Skelton onstage\nSkelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as \"palaces\"; he also likened them to his \"living room\", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, \"Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone.\"\n\nSkelton was invited to play a four-week date at the London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, \"You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine.\" Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year.\n\nThough Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. He often arrived days early for his engagement and would serve as his own promotion staff, making the rounds of the local shopping malls. Before the show, his audiences received a ballot listing about 100 of his many routines and were asked to tick off their favorites. The venue's ushers would collect the ballots and tally the votes. Skelton's performance on that given day was based on the skits his audience selected. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.\n\nLater years and death\n\nIn 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1956. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well. George Burns and Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film.\n\nIn 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces series of specials. He gave a Royal Command Performance for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1984, which was later shown in the U.S. on HBO. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime.\n\nSkelton died on September 17, 1997, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, after what was described as \"a long, undisclosed illness\". He is interred in the Skelton Family Tomb, the family's private room, alongside his son, Richard Freeman Skelton, Jr., and his second wife, Georgia Maureen Davis Skelton, in the Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland Skelton; his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso; and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.\n\nArt and other interests\n\nArtwork\n\nSkelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at painting after visiting a large Chicago department store that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one, which Skelton described as \"a bunch of blotches\", he was told, \"Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one.\" He told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife Georgia, a former art student, persuaded him to have his first public showing of his work in 1964 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was performing at the time. Skelton believed painting was an asset to his comedy work, as it helped him to better visualize the imaginary props used in his pantomime routines.\n\nIn addition to his originals, Skelton also sold reproductions and prints through his own mail-order business. He made his work available to art galleries by selling them franchises to display and sell his paintings. He once estimated the sale of his lithographs earned him $2.5 million per year. Shortly after his death, his art dealer said he believed that Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work. At the time of his death, Skelton had produced over 1,000 oil paintings of clowns. When asked why his artwork focused on clowns, he said at first, \"I don't know why it's always clowns.\" He continued after thinking a moment by saying \"No, that's not true—I do know why. I just don't feel like thinking about it ...\" At the time of Skelton's death, his originals were priced at $80,000 and upward.\n\nOther interests\nSkelton was a prolific writer of both short stories and music. After sleeping only four or five hours a night, he would wake up at 5 am and begin writing stories, composing music, and painting pictures. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies by the time of his death. He wrote commercials for Skoal tobacco and sold many of his compositions to Muzak, a company that specialized in providing background music to stores and other businesses. Skelton was also interested in photography; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the film to newspaper reporters waiting outside. He was never without a miniature camera, and kept a photographic record of all his paintings. Skelton was also an avid gardener, who created his own Japanese and Italian gardens and cultivated bonsai trees at his home in Palm Springs. He owned a horse ranch in the Anza Valley.\n\nFraternity and honors\nSkelton was a Freemason, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish and the York Rites. He was a recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a $5 bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown. He was also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as a Shriner in Los Angeles.\n\nSkelton was made an honorary brother of Phi Sigma Kappa at Truman State University. In 1961, he became an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity of Emerson College, when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college at the same ceremony. Skelton received an honorary high-school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity; Skelton had composed many marches, which were used by more than 10,000 high-school and college bands. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University.\n\nThe Red Skelton Memorial Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near Skelton's home town of Vincennes. He attended the dedication ceremonies in 1963.\n\nAwards and recognition\n\nIn 1952, Skelton received Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Program and Best Comedian. He also received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for his noncomedic performance in Playhouse 90's presentation of \"The Big Slide\". Skelton and his writers won another Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. He was named an honorary faculty member of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1968 and 1969.\n\nSkelton's first major post-television recognition came in 1978, when the Golden Globe Awards named him as the recipient for their Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given to honor outstanding contributions in entertainment. His excitement was so great upon receiving the award and a standing ovation, that he clutched it tightly enough to break the statuette. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. \"I want to thank you for sitting down\", he said when the ovation subsided. \"I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me.\" The honor came 16 years after his television program left the airwaves.\n\nSkelton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1987, and in 1988, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame. He was one of the International Clown Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1989. Skelton and Katharine Hepburn were honored with lifetime achievement awards by the American Comedy Awards in the same year. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Skelton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio and television work.\n\nLegacy and tributes\nSkelton preferred to be described as a clown rather than a comic: \"A comedian goes out and hits people right on. A clown uses pathos. He can be funny, then turn right around and reach people and touch them with what life is like.\" \"I just want to be known as a clown\", he said, \"because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh.\" His purpose in life, he believed, was to make people laugh.\n\nIn Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton \"the most unacclaimed clown in show business\", and \"the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin\", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialogue and props. \"With one prop, a soft battered hat\", Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, \"he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red.\" He added that Skelton also \"plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors.\" In late 1965, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, reminiscing about the entertainment business, singled out Skelton for high praise. \"It's all so very different today. The whole business of comedy has changed — from 15 minutes of quality to quantity. We had a lot of very funny people around, from Charley Chase to Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. The last one of that breed is Red Skelton.\" Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures also praised Skelton, saying, \"He's a clown in the old tradition. He doesn't need punch lines. He's got heart.\"\n\nSkelton and Marcel Marceau shared a long friendship and admiration of each other's work. Marceau appeared on Skelton's CBS television show three times, including one turn as the host in 1961 as Skelton recovered from surgery. He was also a guest on the three Funny Faces specials that Skelton produced for HBO. In a TV Guide interview after Skelton's death, Marceau said, \"Red, you are eternal for me and the millions of people you made laugh and cry. May God bless you forever, my great and precious companion. I will never forget that silent world we created together.\" CBS issued the following statement upon his death: \"Red's audience had no age limits. He was the consummate family entertainer—a winsome clown, a storyteller without peer, a superb mime, a singer, and a dancer.\"\n\nThe Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in February 2006 on the campus of Vincennes University, one block from the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and dressing rooms. Its grand foyer is a gallery for Skelton's paintings, statues, and film posters. The theater hosts theatrical and musical productions by Vincennes University, as well as special events, convocations, and conventions. The adjacent Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened on July 18, 2013, on what would have been Skelton's 100th birthday. It houses his personal and professional materials, which he had collected since the age of 10, in accordance with his wishes that they be made available in his hometown for the public's enjoyment. Skelton's widow, Lothian, noted that he expressed no interest in any sort of Hollywood memorial. The museum is funded jointly by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation and the Indiana Historical Society. Other foundation projects include a fund that provides new clothes to Vincennes children from low-income families. The foundation also purchased Skelton's birthplace. On July 15, 2017, the state of Indiana unveiled a state historic marker at the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born.\n\nThe town of Vincennes has held an annual Red Skelton Festival since 2005. A \"Parade of a Thousand Clowns\", billed as the largest clown parade in the Midwest, is followed by family-oriented activities and live music performances.\n\nFilmography\n\nFeatures\n\nShort subjects\n\nBox-office ranking\nBased on rankings of the amount of money earned in box-office receipts for film showings, for a number of years Skelton was among the most popular stars in the country:\n1944 – 16th-largest box-office draw\n1949 – 13th\n1951 – 14th\n1952 – 21st\n\nPublished works\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nSources cited\n\nExternal links\n\n Red Skelton Biography\n Red Skelton Foundation \n Red Skelton Museum and Education Center\n Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University\n Edna and Red Skelton Collection at the Indiana Historical Society\n RED-EO Video Production Company, article and photo, The Broadcast Archive\n List of Red Skelton TV Episodes 1951–1971, The Classic TV Archive\n Literature on Red Skelton\n Red Skelton at the Internet Archive\n \"Edna Stillwell and the 'Real Making of Red'”, Indiana Historical Bureau\n\nCategory:1913 births\nCategory:1997 deaths\nCategory:20th-century American comedians\nCategory:20th-century American composers\nCategory:20th-century American male actors\nCategory:20th-century American male musicians\nCategory:20th-century American painters\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nCategory:American burlesque performers\nCategory:American clowns\nCategory:American male comedians\nCategory:American male composers\nCategory:American male film actors\nCategory:American male painters\nCategory:American male radio actors\nCategory:American male television actors\nCategory:American radio personalities\nCategory:American sketch comedians\nCategory:Television personalities from California\nCategory:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)\nCategory:California Republicans\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners\nCategory:Comedians from California\nCategory:Conservatism in the United States\nCategory:Indiana Historical Society\nCategory:Indiana Republicans\nCategory:Deaths from pneumonia in California\nCategory:Male actors from Indiana\nCategory:Male actors from Palm Springs, California\nCategory:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Painters from Indiana\nCategory:Painters from California\nCategory:People from Vincennes, Indiana\nCategory:Primetime Emmy Award winners\nCategory:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award\nCategory:United States Army personnel of World War II\nCategory:United States Army soldiers\nCategory:Vaudeville performers\nCategory:20th-century American male artists",
"title": "Red Skelton"
},
{
"text": "Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.\n\nSkelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The \"Doughnut Dunkers\" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).\n\nSkelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was canceled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971. He spent his time after that making as many as 125 personal appearances a year and working on his paintings.\n\nSkelton's paintings of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife Georgia persuaded him to show them at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful, and he also sold prints and lithographs, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer said he thought that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television performances.\n\nSkelton believed that his life's work was to make people laugh; he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything. He had a 70-year-long career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans. His widow donated many of his personal and professional effects to Vincennes University, including prints of his artwork. They are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes, Indiana.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929)\nAccording to some sources, Skelton was born Richard Red Skelton on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. In a 1983 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Skelton claimed his middle name was really \"Red\" and that he had made up the middle name Bernard, from the name of a local store, Bernard Clothiers, to satisfy a schoolteacher who would not believe his middle name was \"Red\".\n\nSkelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future.\n\nBecause of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing other odd jobs to help his family, who had lost the family store and their home. He quickly learned the newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. According to later accounts, Skelton's early interest in becoming an entertainer stemmed from an incident that took place in Vincennes around 1923, when a stranger, supposedly the comedian Ed Wynn, approached Skelton, who was the newsboy selling papers outside a Vincennes theater. When the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town. The man purchased every paper Skelton had, providing enough money for the boy to purchase a ticket for himself. The stranger turned out to be one of the show's stars, who later took the boy backstage to introduce him to the other performers. The experience prompted Skelton, who had already shown comedic tendencies, to pursue a career as a performer.\n\nSkelton discovered at an early age that he could make people laugh. He dropped out of school around 1926 or 1927, when he was 13 or 14 years old, but he already had some experience performing in minstrel shows in Vincennes, and on a showboat, The Cotton Blossom, that plied the Ohio and Missouri rivers. He enjoyed his work on the riverboat, moving on only after he realized that showboat entertainment was coming to an end. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, \"Help! I'm backing into heaven!\" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. At the age of 15, Skelton did some early work on the burlesque circuit, and reportedly spent four months with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1929, when he was 16 years old.\n\nIda Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son had run away from home to become an entertainer, but \"his destiny had caught up with him at an early age\". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the Great Depression, and it may have meant one less child for her to feed. Around 1929, while Skelton was still a teen, he joined \"Doc\" R.E. Lewis's traveling medicine show as an errand boy who sold bottles of medicine to the audience. During one show, when Skelton accidentally fell from the stage, breaking several bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. Both Lewis and Skelton realized one could earn a living with this ability and the fall was worked into the show. He also told jokes and sang in the medicine show during his four years there. Skelton earned ten dollars a week, and sent all of it home to his mother. When she worried that he was keeping nothing for his own needs, Skelton reassured her: \"We get plenty to eat, and we sleep in the wagon.\"\n\nBurlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937)\n\nAs burlesque comedy material became progressively more ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; \"I just didn't think the lines were funny\". He became a sought-after master of ceremonies for dance marathons (known as \"walkathons\" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. When they learned that Skelton's salary was to be cut, Edna went to see the boss; Red resented the interference, until she came away with not only a raise, but additional considerations as well. Since he had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbooks and taught him what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree.\n\nThe couple put together an act and began booking it at small midwestern theaters. When an offer came for an engagement in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, some 2,000 miles from Kansas City, they were pleased to get it because of its proximity to their ultimate goal, the vaudeville houses of New York City. To get to Massachusetts they bought a used car and borrowed five dollars from Edna's mother, but by the time they arrived in St. Louis they had only fifty cents. Skelton asked Edna to collect empty cigarette packs; she thought he was joking, but did as he asked. He then spent their fifty cents on bars of soap, which they cut into small cubes and wrapped with the tinfoil from the cigarette packs. By selling their products for fifty cents each as fog remover for eyeglasses, the Skeltons were able to afford a hotel room every night as they worked their way to Harwich Port.\n\n\"Doughnut Dunkers\"\n\nSkelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.\n\nSkelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee.\n\nThe couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly-written material and began performing the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, \"Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once.\" His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward.\n\nFilm work\n\nSkelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1938, he made his film debut for RKO Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time. He appeared in two short subjects for Vitaphone in 1939: Seeing Red and The Broadway Buckaroo. Actor Mickey Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films after seeing him perform his \"Doughnut Dunkers\" act at President Roosevelt's 1940 birthday party. For his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as \"Guzzler's Gin\", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. \"Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying\" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney.\n\nSkelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided comic relief as a lieutenant in Frank Borzage's war drama Flight Command, opposite Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in Harold S. Bucquet's Dr. Kildare medical dramas, Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective \"The Fox\", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark (1941) in which he began working with director S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, and Robert Young in Norman Z. McLeod's Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in Edward Buzzell's Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's Panama Hattie.\n\nIn 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King Louis XV of France in a dream opposite Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in Roy Del Ruth's Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy, I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick. Keaton was so convinced of Skelton's comedic talent that he approached MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer with a request to create a small company within MGM for himself and Skelton, where the two could work on film projects. Keaton offered to forgo his salary if the films made by the company were not box-office hits; Mayer chose to decline the request. In 1944, Skelton starred opposite Esther Williams in George Sidney's musical comedy Bathing Beauty, playing a songwriter with romantic difficulties. He next had a relatively minor role as a \"TV announcer who, in the course of demonstrating a brand of gin, progresses from mild inebriation through messy drunkenness to full-blown stupor\" in the \"When Television Comes\" segment of Ziegfeld Follies, which featured William Powell and Judy Garland in the main roles. In 1946, Skelton played boastful clerk J. Aubrey Piper opposite Marilyn Maxwell and Marjorie Main in Harry Beaumont's comedy picture The Show-Off.\n\nSkelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. Skelton asked for a release from MGM after learning he could not raise the $750,000 needed to buy out the remainder of his contract. He also voiced frustration with the film scripts he was offered while on the set of The Fuller Brush Man, saying, \"Movies are not my field. Radio and television are.\" He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show.\n\nSkelton's ability to successfully ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits.\n\nSkelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as Jack Donohue's The Yellow Cab Man (1950), Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's Excuse My Dust (1951), Charles Walters' Texas Carnival (1951), Mervyn LeRoy's Lovely to Look At (1952), Robert Z. Leonard's The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).\n\nRadio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951)\nPerforming the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.\n\nOn October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.\n\nSkelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.\n\n\"I dood it!\"\n\nSkelton introduced the first two of his many characters during The Raleigh Cigarette Program's first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or \"Junior\", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. \"Junior\" would say things like, \"If I dood it, I gets a whipping.\", followed moments later by the statement, \"I dood it!\" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname \"Junior\" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1943 movie of the same name, but did not play \"Junior\" in the film.\n\nThe phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase \"Doolittle Dood It\" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber \"We Dood It!\" In 1986, Soviet newspaper Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.\n\nSkelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called \"Mellow Cigars\", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine \"Guzzler's Gin\", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his \"Guzzler's Gin\" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.\n\nDivorce from Edna, marriage to Georgia\nIn 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving Skelton, but would continue to manage his career and write material for him. He did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce through NBC. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.\n\nThe divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.\n\nBy 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry him, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Edna's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career; Edna stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her former husband.\nHe was on army furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.\n\nA cast of characters\n\nSkelton served in the United States Army during World War II. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. He had a nervous collapse while in the Army, following which he developed a stutter. While recovering at an army hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, he met a soldier who had been severely wounded and was not expected to survive. Skelton devoted a lot of time and effort to trying to make the man laugh. As a result of this effort, his stutter reduced; his army friend's condition also improved, and he was no longer on the critical list. He was released from his army duties in September 1945. \"I've been told I'm the only celebrity who entered the Army as a private and came out a private,\" he told reporters. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.\n\nUpon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a \"loudmouthed braggart\"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air.\n\nOn April 22, 1947, Skelton was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer Rod O'Connor and he began talking about Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word \"diaper\". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.\n\nSkelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. After his network radio contract was over, he signed a three-year contract with Ziv Radio for a syndicated radio program in 1954. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.\n\nTelevision (1951–1970)\nSkelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. On May 4, 1951, he signed a contract for television with NBC; Procter and Gamble was his sponsor. He said he would be performing the same characters on television that he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951.\n\nHis television debut, The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening monologue, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943 instrumental hit by David Rose, called \"Holiday for Strings\", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His \"Freddie the Freeloader\" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of \"Good night and may God bless.\"\n\nDuring the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing.\n\nSkelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company.\n\nBy 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times\nbetween 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.\n\nRichard's illness and death\n\nAt the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. He returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers.\n\nThe Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a \"cardiac-asthma\" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, \"if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived\". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958.\n\nRichard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family. Life magazine, profiling \"The Invincible Red\" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still \"racked [sic]\" by his son’s death. In 1962, the Skelton family moved to Palm Springs, and Skelton used the Bel Air home only on the two days a week when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping.\n\nThe Red Skelton Hour\nIn early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios and updated it for videotape recording. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his \"Junior\" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program.\n\nSkelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the \"Silent Spot\". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character.\n\nSkelton's season premiere for the 1960–1961 television season was a tribute to the United Nations. About 600 people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. The program was entirely done in pantomime, as UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, \"They join a parade and start marching.\" In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator.\n\nIn 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single on Columbia Records. A year later, he performed the monologue for President Richard Nixon at the first \"Evening at the White House\", a series of entertainment events honoring the recently inaugurated president.\n\nOff the air and bitterness (1970–1983)\nAs the 1970s began, the networks began a major campaign to discontinue long-running shows that they considered stale, dominated by older demographics, and/or becoming too expensive due to escalating costs. Despite Skelton's continued strong overall viewership, CBS saw his show as fitting into this category and cancelled the program along with other comedy and variety shows hosted by veterans such as Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, \"My heart has been broken.\" His program had been one of the top-10, highest-rated shows for 17 of the 20 years he was on television. \n\nSkelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his television career, and he returned to live performances. In an effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and proved popular with the audiences.\nSkelton was bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he accused CBS of bowing to the antiestablishment, antiwar faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative political and social views caused the network to turn against him. He had invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and Senate Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the war, to appear on his program.\n\nPersonal, as well as professional, changes occurred in Skelton's life at this time. He divorced Georgia in 1971 and married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, on October 7, 1973. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was cancelled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May of 1978.\n\nSkelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. In 1980, he was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a report that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, \"Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?\" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983, Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.\n\nRed Skelton onstage\nSkelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as \"palaces\"; he also likened them to his \"living room\", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, \"Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone.\"\n\nSkelton was invited to play a four-week date at the London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, \"You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine.\" Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year.\n\nThough Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. He often arrived days early for his engagement and would serve as his own promotion staff, making the rounds of the local shopping malls. Before the show, his audiences received a ballot listing about 100 of his many routines and were asked to tick off their favorites. The venue's ushers would collect the ballots and tally the votes. Skelton's performance on that given day was based on the skits his audience selected. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.\n\nLater years and death\n\nIn 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1956. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well. George Burns and Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film.\n\nIn 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces series of specials. He gave a Royal Command Performance for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1984, which was later shown in the U.S. on HBO. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime.\n\nSkelton died on September 17, 1997, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, after what was described as \"a long, undisclosed illness\". He is interred in the Skelton Family Tomb, the family's private room, alongside his son, Richard Freeman Skelton, Jr., and his second wife, Georgia Maureen Davis Skelton, in the Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland Skelton; his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso; and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.\n\nArt and other interests\n\nArtwork\n\nSkelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at painting after visiting a large Chicago department store that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one, which Skelton described as \"a bunch of blotches\", he was told, \"Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one.\" He told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife Georgia, a former art student, persuaded him to have his first public showing of his work in 1964 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was performing at the time. Skelton believed painting was an asset to his comedy work, as it helped him to better visualize the imaginary props used in his pantomime routines.\n\nIn addition to his originals, Skelton also sold reproductions and prints through his own mail-order business. He made his work available to art galleries by selling them franchises to display and sell his paintings. He once estimated the sale of his lithographs earned him $2.5 million per year. Shortly after his death, his art dealer said he believed that Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work. At the time of his death, Skelton had produced over 1,000 oil paintings of clowns. When asked why his artwork focused on clowns, he said at first, \"I don't know why it's always clowns.\" He continued after thinking a moment by saying \"No, that's not true—I do know why. I just don't feel like thinking about it ...\" At the time of Skelton's death, his originals were priced at $80,000 and upward.\n\nOther interests\nSkelton was a prolific writer of both short stories and music. After sleeping only four or five hours a night, he would wake up at 5 am and begin writing stories, composing music, and painting pictures. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies by the time of his death. He wrote commercials for Skoal tobacco and sold many of his compositions to Muzak, a company that specialized in providing background music to stores and other businesses. Skelton was also interested in photography; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the film to newspaper reporters waiting outside. He was never without a miniature camera, and kept a photographic record of all his paintings. Skelton was also an avid gardener, who created his own Japanese and Italian gardens and cultivated bonsai trees at his home in Palm Springs. He owned a horse ranch in the Anza Valley.\n\nFraternity and honors\nSkelton was a Freemason, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish and the York Rites. He was a recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a $5 bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown. He was also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as a Shriner in Los Angeles.\n\nSkelton was made an honorary brother of Phi Sigma Kappa at Truman State University. In 1961, he became an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity of Emerson College, when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college at the same ceremony. Skelton received an honorary high-school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity; Skelton had composed many marches, which were used by more than 10,000 high-school and college bands. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University.\n\nThe Red Skelton Memorial Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near Skelton's home town of Vincennes. He attended the dedication ceremonies in 1963.\n\nAwards and recognition\n\nIn 1952, Skelton received Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Program and Best Comedian. He also received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for his noncomedic performance in Playhouse 90's presentation of \"The Big Slide\". Skelton and his writers won another Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. He was named an honorary faculty member of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1968 and 1969.\n\nSkelton's first major post-television recognition came in 1978, when the Golden Globe Awards named him as the recipient for their Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given to honor outstanding contributions in entertainment. His excitement was so great upon receiving the award and a standing ovation, that he clutched it tightly enough to break the statuette. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. \"I want to thank you for sitting down\", he said when the ovation subsided. \"I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me.\" The honor came 16 years after his television program left the airwaves.\n\nSkelton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1987, and in 1988, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame. He was one of the International Clown Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1989. Skelton and Katharine Hepburn were honored with lifetime achievement awards by the American Comedy Awards in the same year. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Skelton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio and television work.\n\nLegacy and tributes\nSkelton preferred to be described as a clown rather than a comic: \"A comedian goes out and hits people right on. A clown uses pathos. He can be funny, then turn right around and reach people and touch them with what life is like.\" \"I just want to be known as a clown\", he said, \"because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh.\" His purpose in life, he believed, was to make people laugh.\n\nIn Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton \"the most unacclaimed clown in show business\", and \"the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin\", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialogue and props. \"With one prop, a soft battered hat\", Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, \"he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red.\" He added that Skelton also \"plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors.\" In late 1965, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, reminiscing about the entertainment business, singled out Skelton for high praise. \"It's all so very different today. The whole business of comedy has changed — from 15 minutes of quality to quantity. We had a lot of very funny people around, from Charley Chase to Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. The last one of that breed is Red Skelton.\" Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures also praised Skelton, saying, \"He's a clown in the old tradition. He doesn't need punch lines. He's got heart.\"\n\nSkelton and Marcel Marceau shared a long friendship and admiration of each other's work. Marceau appeared on Skelton's CBS television show three times, including one turn as the host in 1961 as Skelton recovered from surgery. He was also a guest on the three Funny Faces specials that Skelton produced for HBO. In a TV Guide interview after Skelton's death, Marceau said, \"Red, you are eternal for me and the millions of people you made laugh and cry. May God bless you forever, my great and precious companion. I will never forget that silent world we created together.\" CBS issued the following statement upon his death: \"Red's audience had no age limits. He was the consummate family entertainer—a winsome clown, a storyteller without peer, a superb mime, a singer, and a dancer.\"\n\nThe Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in February 2006 on the campus of Vincennes University, one block from the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and dressing rooms. Its grand foyer is a gallery for Skelton's paintings, statues, and film posters. The theater hosts theatrical and musical productions by Vincennes University, as well as special events, convocations, and conventions. The adjacent Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened on July 18, 2013, on what would have been Skelton's 100th birthday. It houses his personal and professional materials, which he had collected since the age of 10, in accordance with his wishes that they be made available in his hometown for the public's enjoyment. Skelton's widow, Lothian, noted that he expressed no interest in any sort of Hollywood memorial. The museum is funded jointly by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation and the Indiana Historical Society. Other foundation projects include a fund that provides new clothes to Vincennes children from low-income families. The foundation also purchased Skelton's birthplace. On July 15, 2017, the state of Indiana unveiled a state historic marker at the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born.\n\nThe town of Vincennes has held an annual Red Skelton Festival since 2005. A \"Parade of a Thousand Clowns\", billed as the largest clown parade in the Midwest, is followed by family-oriented activities and live music performances.\n\nFilmography\n\nFeatures\n\nShort subjects\n\nBox-office ranking\nBased on rankings of the amount of money earned in box-office receipts for film showings, for a number of years Skelton was among the most popular stars in the country:\n1944 – 16th-largest box-office draw\n1949 – 13th\n1951 – 14th\n1952 – 21st\n\nPublished works\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nSources cited\n\nExternal links\n\n Red Skelton Biography\n Red Skelton Foundation \n Red Skelton Museum and Education Center\n Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University\n Edna and Red Skelton Collection at the Indiana Historical Society\n RED-EO Video Production Company, article and photo, The Broadcast Archive\n List of Red Skelton TV Episodes 1951–1971, The Classic TV Archive\n Literature on Red Skelton\n Red Skelton at the Internet Archive\n \"Edna Stillwell and the 'Real Making of Red'”, Indiana Historical Bureau\n\nCategory:1913 births\nCategory:1997 deaths\nCategory:20th-century American comedians\nCategory:20th-century American composers\nCategory:20th-century American male actors\nCategory:20th-century American male musicians\nCategory:20th-century American painters\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nCategory:American burlesque performers\nCategory:American clowns\nCategory:American male comedians\nCategory:American male composers\nCategory:American male film actors\nCategory:American male painters\nCategory:American male radio actors\nCategory:American male television actors\nCategory:American radio personalities\nCategory:American sketch comedians\nCategory:Television personalities from California\nCategory:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)\nCategory:California Republicans\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners\nCategory:Comedians from California\nCategory:Conservatism in the United States\nCategory:Indiana Historical Society\nCategory:Indiana Republicans\nCategory:Deaths from pneumonia in California\nCategory:Male actors from Indiana\nCategory:Male actors from Palm Springs, California\nCategory:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Painters from Indiana\nCategory:Painters from California\nCategory:People from Vincennes, Indiana\nCategory:Primetime Emmy Award winners\nCategory:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award\nCategory:United States Army personnel of World War II\nCategory:United States Army soldiers\nCategory:Vaudeville performers\nCategory:20th-century American male artists",
"title": "Red Skelton"
},
{
"text": "Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.\n\nSkelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The \"Doughnut Dunkers\" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).\n\nSkelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was canceled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971. He spent his time after that making as many as 125 personal appearances a year and working on his paintings.\n\nSkelton's paintings of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife Georgia persuaded him to show them at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful, and he also sold prints and lithographs, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer said he thought that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television performances.\n\nSkelton believed that his life's work was to make people laugh; he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything. He had a 70-year-long career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans. His widow donated many of his personal and professional effects to Vincennes University, including prints of his artwork. They are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes, Indiana.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929)\nAccording to some sources, Skelton was born Richard Red Skelton on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. In a 1983 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Skelton claimed his middle name was really \"Red\" and that he had made up the middle name Bernard, from the name of a local store, Bernard Clothiers, to satisfy a schoolteacher who would not believe his middle name was \"Red\".\n\nSkelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future.\n\nBecause of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing other odd jobs to help his family, who had lost the family store and their home. He quickly learned the newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. According to later accounts, Skelton's early interest in becoming an entertainer stemmed from an incident that took place in Vincennes around 1923, when a stranger, supposedly the comedian Ed Wynn, approached Skelton, who was the newsboy selling papers outside a Vincennes theater. When the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town. The man purchased every paper Skelton had, providing enough money for the boy to purchase a ticket for himself. The stranger turned out to be one of the show's stars, who later took the boy backstage to introduce him to the other performers. The experience prompted Skelton, who had already shown comedic tendencies, to pursue a career as a performer.\n\nSkelton discovered at an early age that he could make people laugh. He dropped out of school around 1926 or 1927, when he was 13 or 14 years old, but he already had some experience performing in minstrel shows in Vincennes, and on a showboat, The Cotton Blossom, that plied the Ohio and Missouri rivers. He enjoyed his work on the riverboat, moving on only after he realized that showboat entertainment was coming to an end. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, \"Help! I'm backing into heaven!\" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. At the age of 15, Skelton did some early work on the burlesque circuit, and reportedly spent four months with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1929, when he was 16 years old.\n\nIda Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son had run away from home to become an entertainer, but \"his destiny had caught up with him at an early age\". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the Great Depression, and it may have meant one less child for her to feed. Around 1929, while Skelton was still a teen, he joined \"Doc\" R.E. Lewis's traveling medicine show as an errand boy who sold bottles of medicine to the audience. During one show, when Skelton accidentally fell from the stage, breaking several bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. Both Lewis and Skelton realized one could earn a living with this ability and the fall was worked into the show. He also told jokes and sang in the medicine show during his four years there. Skelton earned ten dollars a week, and sent all of it home to his mother. When she worried that he was keeping nothing for his own needs, Skelton reassured her: \"We get plenty to eat, and we sleep in the wagon.\"\n\nBurlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937)\n\nAs burlesque comedy material became progressively more ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; \"I just didn't think the lines were funny\". He became a sought-after master of ceremonies for dance marathons (known as \"walkathons\" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. When they learned that Skelton's salary was to be cut, Edna went to see the boss; Red resented the interference, until she came away with not only a raise, but additional considerations as well. Since he had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbooks and taught him what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree.\n\nThe couple put together an act and began booking it at small midwestern theaters. When an offer came for an engagement in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, some 2,000 miles from Kansas City, they were pleased to get it because of its proximity to their ultimate goal, the vaudeville houses of New York City. To get to Massachusetts they bought a used car and borrowed five dollars from Edna's mother, but by the time they arrived in St. Louis they had only fifty cents. Skelton asked Edna to collect empty cigarette packs; she thought he was joking, but did as he asked. He then spent their fifty cents on bars of soap, which they cut into small cubes and wrapped with the tinfoil from the cigarette packs. By selling their products for fifty cents each as fog remover for eyeglasses, the Skeltons were able to afford a hotel room every night as they worked their way to Harwich Port.\n\n\"Doughnut Dunkers\"\n\nSkelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.\n\nSkelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee.\n\nThe couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly-written material and began performing the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, \"Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once.\" His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward.\n\nFilm work\n\nSkelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1938, he made his film debut for RKO Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time. He appeared in two short subjects for Vitaphone in 1939: Seeing Red and The Broadway Buckaroo. Actor Mickey Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films after seeing him perform his \"Doughnut Dunkers\" act at President Roosevelt's 1940 birthday party. For his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as \"Guzzler's Gin\", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. \"Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying\" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney.\n\nSkelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided comic relief as a lieutenant in Frank Borzage's war drama Flight Command, opposite Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in Harold S. Bucquet's Dr. Kildare medical dramas, Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective \"The Fox\", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark (1941) in which he began working with director S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, and Robert Young in Norman Z. McLeod's Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in Edward Buzzell's Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's Panama Hattie.\n\nIn 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King Louis XV of France in a dream opposite Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in Roy Del Ruth's Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy, I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick. Keaton was so convinced of Skelton's comedic talent that he approached MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer with a request to create a small company within MGM for himself and Skelton, where the two could work on film projects. Keaton offered to forgo his salary if the films made by the company were not box-office hits; Mayer chose to decline the request. In 1944, Skelton starred opposite Esther Williams in George Sidney's musical comedy Bathing Beauty, playing a songwriter with romantic difficulties. He next had a relatively minor role as a \"TV announcer who, in the course of demonstrating a brand of gin, progresses from mild inebriation through messy drunkenness to full-blown stupor\" in the \"When Television Comes\" segment of Ziegfeld Follies, which featured William Powell and Judy Garland in the main roles. In 1946, Skelton played boastful clerk J. Aubrey Piper opposite Marilyn Maxwell and Marjorie Main in Harry Beaumont's comedy picture The Show-Off.\n\nSkelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. Skelton asked for a release from MGM after learning he could not raise the $750,000 needed to buy out the remainder of his contract. He also voiced frustration with the film scripts he was offered while on the set of The Fuller Brush Man, saying, \"Movies are not my field. Radio and television are.\" He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show.\n\nSkelton's ability to successfully ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits.\n\nSkelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as Jack Donohue's The Yellow Cab Man (1950), Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's Excuse My Dust (1951), Charles Walters' Texas Carnival (1951), Mervyn LeRoy's Lovely to Look At (1952), Robert Z. Leonard's The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).\n\nRadio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951)\nPerforming the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.\n\nOn October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.\n\nSkelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.\n\n\"I dood it!\"\n\nSkelton introduced the first two of his many characters during The Raleigh Cigarette Program's first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or \"Junior\", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. \"Junior\" would say things like, \"If I dood it, I gets a whipping.\", followed moments later by the statement, \"I dood it!\" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname \"Junior\" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1943 movie of the same name, but did not play \"Junior\" in the film.\n\nThe phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase \"Doolittle Dood It\" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber \"We Dood It!\" In 1986, Soviet newspaper Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.\n\nSkelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called \"Mellow Cigars\", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine \"Guzzler's Gin\", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his \"Guzzler's Gin\" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.\n\nDivorce from Edna, marriage to Georgia\nIn 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving Skelton, but would continue to manage his career and write material for him. He did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce through NBC. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.\n\nThe divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.\n\nBy 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry him, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Edna's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career; Edna stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her former husband.\nHe was on army furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.\n\nA cast of characters\n\nSkelton served in the United States Army during World War II. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. He had a nervous collapse while in the Army, following which he developed a stutter. While recovering at an army hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, he met a soldier who had been severely wounded and was not expected to survive. Skelton devoted a lot of time and effort to trying to make the man laugh. As a result of this effort, his stutter reduced; his army friend's condition also improved, and he was no longer on the critical list. He was released from his army duties in September 1945. \"I've been told I'm the only celebrity who entered the Army as a private and came out a private,\" he told reporters. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.\n\nUpon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a \"loudmouthed braggart\"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air.\n\nOn April 22, 1947, Skelton was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer Rod O'Connor and he began talking about Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word \"diaper\". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.\n\nSkelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. After his network radio contract was over, he signed a three-year contract with Ziv Radio for a syndicated radio program in 1954. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.\n\nTelevision (1951–1970)\nSkelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. On May 4, 1951, he signed a contract for television with NBC; Procter and Gamble was his sponsor. He said he would be performing the same characters on television that he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951.\n\nHis television debut, The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening monologue, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943 instrumental hit by David Rose, called \"Holiday for Strings\", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His \"Freddie the Freeloader\" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of \"Good night and may God bless.\"\n\nDuring the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing.\n\nSkelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company.\n\nBy 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times\nbetween 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.\n\nRichard's illness and death\n\nAt the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. He returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers.\n\nThe Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a \"cardiac-asthma\" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, \"if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived\". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958.\n\nRichard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family. Life magazine, profiling \"The Invincible Red\" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still \"racked [sic]\" by his son’s death. In 1962, the Skelton family moved to Palm Springs, and Skelton used the Bel Air home only on the two days a week when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping.\n\nThe Red Skelton Hour\nIn early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios and updated it for videotape recording. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his \"Junior\" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program.\n\nSkelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the \"Silent Spot\". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character.\n\nSkelton's season premiere for the 1960–1961 television season was a tribute to the United Nations. About 600 people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. The program was entirely done in pantomime, as UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, \"They join a parade and start marching.\" In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator.\n\nIn 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single on Columbia Records. A year later, he performed the monologue for President Richard Nixon at the first \"Evening at the White House\", a series of entertainment events honoring the recently inaugurated president.\n\nOff the air and bitterness (1970–1983)\nAs the 1970s began, the networks began a major campaign to discontinue long-running shows that they considered stale, dominated by older demographics, and/or becoming too expensive due to escalating costs. Despite Skelton's continued strong overall viewership, CBS saw his show as fitting into this category and cancelled the program along with other comedy and variety shows hosted by veterans such as Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, \"My heart has been broken.\" His program had been one of the top-10, highest-rated shows for 17 of the 20 years he was on television. \n\nSkelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his television career, and he returned to live performances. In an effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and proved popular with the audiences.\nSkelton was bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he accused CBS of bowing to the antiestablishment, antiwar faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative political and social views caused the network to turn against him. He had invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and Senate Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the war, to appear on his program.\n\nPersonal, as well as professional, changes occurred in Skelton's life at this time. He divorced Georgia in 1971 and married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, on October 7, 1973. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was cancelled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May of 1978.\n\nSkelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. In 1980, he was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a report that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, \"Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?\" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983, Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.\n\nRed Skelton onstage\nSkelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as \"palaces\"; he also likened them to his \"living room\", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, \"Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone.\"\n\nSkelton was invited to play a four-week date at the London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, \"You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine.\" Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year.\n\nThough Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. He often arrived days early for his engagement and would serve as his own promotion staff, making the rounds of the local shopping malls. Before the show, his audiences received a ballot listing about 100 of his many routines and were asked to tick off their favorites. The venue's ushers would collect the ballots and tally the votes. Skelton's performance on that given day was based on the skits his audience selected. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.\n\nLater years and death\n\nIn 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1956. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well. George Burns and Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film.\n\nIn 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces series of specials. He gave a Royal Command Performance for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1984, which was later shown in the U.S. on HBO. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime.\n\nSkelton died on September 17, 1997, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, after what was described as \"a long, undisclosed illness\". He is interred in the Skelton Family Tomb, the family's private room, alongside his son, Richard Freeman Skelton, Jr., and his second wife, Georgia Maureen Davis Skelton, in the Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland Skelton; his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso; and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.\n\nArt and other interests\n\nArtwork\n\nSkelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at painting after visiting a large Chicago department store that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one, which Skelton described as \"a bunch of blotches\", he was told, \"Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one.\" He told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife Georgia, a former art student, persuaded him to have his first public showing of his work in 1964 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was performing at the time. Skelton believed painting was an asset to his comedy work, as it helped him to better visualize the imaginary props used in his pantomime routines.\n\nIn addition to his originals, Skelton also sold reproductions and prints through his own mail-order business. He made his work available to art galleries by selling them franchises to display and sell his paintings. He once estimated the sale of his lithographs earned him $2.5 million per year. Shortly after his death, his art dealer said he believed that Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work. At the time of his death, Skelton had produced over 1,000 oil paintings of clowns. When asked why his artwork focused on clowns, he said at first, \"I don't know why it's always clowns.\" He continued after thinking a moment by saying \"No, that's not true—I do know why. I just don't feel like thinking about it ...\" At the time of Skelton's death, his originals were priced at $80,000 and upward.\n\nOther interests\nSkelton was a prolific writer of both short stories and music. After sleeping only four or five hours a night, he would wake up at 5 am and begin writing stories, composing music, and painting pictures. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies by the time of his death. He wrote commercials for Skoal tobacco and sold many of his compositions to Muzak, a company that specialized in providing background music to stores and other businesses. Skelton was also interested in photography; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the film to newspaper reporters waiting outside. He was never without a miniature camera, and kept a photographic record of all his paintings. Skelton was also an avid gardener, who created his own Japanese and Italian gardens and cultivated bonsai trees at his home in Palm Springs. He owned a horse ranch in the Anza Valley.\n\nFraternity and honors\nSkelton was a Freemason, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish and the York Rites. He was a recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a $5 bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown. He was also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as a Shriner in Los Angeles.\n\nSkelton was made an honorary brother of Phi Sigma Kappa at Truman State University. In 1961, he became an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity of Emerson College, when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college at the same ceremony. Skelton received an honorary high-school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity; Skelton had composed many marches, which were used by more than 10,000 high-school and college bands. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University.\n\nThe Red Skelton Memorial Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near Skelton's home town of Vincennes. He attended the dedication ceremonies in 1963.\n\nAwards and recognition\n\nIn 1952, Skelton received Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Program and Best Comedian. He also received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for his noncomedic performance in Playhouse 90's presentation of \"The Big Slide\". Skelton and his writers won another Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. He was named an honorary faculty member of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1968 and 1969.\n\nSkelton's first major post-television recognition came in 1978, when the Golden Globe Awards named him as the recipient for their Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given to honor outstanding contributions in entertainment. His excitement was so great upon receiving the award and a standing ovation, that he clutched it tightly enough to break the statuette. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. \"I want to thank you for sitting down\", he said when the ovation subsided. \"I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me.\" The honor came 16 years after his television program left the airwaves.\n\nSkelton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1987, and in 1988, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame. He was one of the International Clown Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1989. Skelton and Katharine Hepburn were honored with lifetime achievement awards by the American Comedy Awards in the same year. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Skelton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio and television work.\n\nLegacy and tributes\nSkelton preferred to be described as a clown rather than a comic: \"A comedian goes out and hits people right on. A clown uses pathos. He can be funny, then turn right around and reach people and touch them with what life is like.\" \"I just want to be known as a clown\", he said, \"because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh.\" His purpose in life, he believed, was to make people laugh.\n\nIn Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton \"the most unacclaimed clown in show business\", and \"the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin\", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialogue and props. \"With one prop, a soft battered hat\", Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, \"he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red.\" He added that Skelton also \"plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors.\" In late 1965, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, reminiscing about the entertainment business, singled out Skelton for high praise. \"It's all so very different today. The whole business of comedy has changed — from 15 minutes of quality to quantity. We had a lot of very funny people around, from Charley Chase to Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. The last one of that breed is Red Skelton.\" Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures also praised Skelton, saying, \"He's a clown in the old tradition. He doesn't need punch lines. He's got heart.\"\n\nSkelton and Marcel Marceau shared a long friendship and admiration of each other's work. Marceau appeared on Skelton's CBS television show three times, including one turn as the host in 1961 as Skelton recovered from surgery. He was also a guest on the three Funny Faces specials that Skelton produced for HBO. In a TV Guide interview after Skelton's death, Marceau said, \"Red, you are eternal for me and the millions of people you made laugh and cry. May God bless you forever, my great and precious companion. I will never forget that silent world we created together.\" CBS issued the following statement upon his death: \"Red's audience had no age limits. He was the consummate family entertainer—a winsome clown, a storyteller without peer, a superb mime, a singer, and a dancer.\"\n\nThe Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in February 2006 on the campus of Vincennes University, one block from the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and dressing rooms. Its grand foyer is a gallery for Skelton's paintings, statues, and film posters. The theater hosts theatrical and musical productions by Vincennes University, as well as special events, convocations, and conventions. The adjacent Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened on July 18, 2013, on what would have been Skelton's 100th birthday. It houses his personal and professional materials, which he had collected since the age of 10, in accordance with his wishes that they be made available in his hometown for the public's enjoyment. Skelton's widow, Lothian, noted that he expressed no interest in any sort of Hollywood memorial. The museum is funded jointly by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation and the Indiana Historical Society. Other foundation projects include a fund that provides new clothes to Vincennes children from low-income families. The foundation also purchased Skelton's birthplace. On July 15, 2017, the state of Indiana unveiled a state historic marker at the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born.\n\nThe town of Vincennes has held an annual Red Skelton Festival since 2005. A \"Parade of a Thousand Clowns\", billed as the largest clown parade in the Midwest, is followed by family-oriented activities and live music performances.\n\nFilmography\n\nFeatures\n\nShort subjects\n\nBox-office ranking\nBased on rankings of the amount of money earned in box-office receipts for film showings, for a number of years Skelton was among the most popular stars in the country:\n1944 – 16th-largest box-office draw\n1949 – 13th\n1951 – 14th\n1952 – 21st\n\nPublished works\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nSources cited\n\nExternal links\n\n Red Skelton Biography\n Red Skelton Foundation \n Red Skelton Museum and Education Center\n Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University\n Edna and Red Skelton Collection at the Indiana Historical Society\n RED-EO Video Production Company, article and photo, The Broadcast Archive\n List of Red Skelton TV Episodes 1951–1971, The Classic TV Archive\n Literature on Red Skelton\n Red Skelton at the Internet Archive\n \"Edna Stillwell and the 'Real Making of Red'”, Indiana Historical Bureau\n\nCategory:1913 births\nCategory:1997 deaths\nCategory:20th-century American comedians\nCategory:20th-century American composers\nCategory:20th-century American male actors\nCategory:20th-century American male musicians\nCategory:20th-century American painters\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nCategory:American burlesque performers\nCategory:American clowns\nCategory:American male comedians\nCategory:American male composers\nCategory:American male film actors\nCategory:American male painters\nCategory:American male radio actors\nCategory:American male television actors\nCategory:American radio personalities\nCategory:American sketch comedians\nCategory:Television personalities from California\nCategory:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)\nCategory:California Republicans\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners\nCategory:Comedians from California\nCategory:Conservatism in the United States\nCategory:Indiana Historical Society\nCategory:Indiana Republicans\nCategory:Deaths from pneumonia in California\nCategory:Male actors from Indiana\nCategory:Male actors from Palm Springs, California\nCategory:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Painters from Indiana\nCategory:Painters from California\nCategory:People from Vincennes, Indiana\nCategory:Primetime Emmy Award winners\nCategory:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award\nCategory:United States Army personnel of World War II\nCategory:United States Army soldiers\nCategory:Vaudeville performers\nCategory:20th-century American male artists",
"title": "Red Skelton"
},
{
"text": "Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.\n\nSkelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The \"Doughnut Dunkers\" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).\n\nSkelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was canceled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971. He spent his time after that making as many as 125 personal appearances a year and working on his paintings.\n\nSkelton's paintings of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife Georgia persuaded him to show them at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful, and he also sold prints and lithographs, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer said he thought that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television performances.\n\nSkelton believed that his life's work was to make people laugh; he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything. He had a 70-year-long career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans. His widow donated many of his personal and professional effects to Vincennes University, including prints of his artwork. They are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes, Indiana.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929)\nAccording to some sources, Skelton was born Richard Red Skelton on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. In a 1983 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Skelton claimed his middle name was really \"Red\" and that he had made up the middle name Bernard, from the name of a local store, Bernard Clothiers, to satisfy a schoolteacher who would not believe his middle name was \"Red\".\n\nSkelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future.\n\nBecause of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing other odd jobs to help his family, who had lost the family store and their home. He quickly learned the newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. According to later accounts, Skelton's early interest in becoming an entertainer stemmed from an incident that took place in Vincennes around 1923, when a stranger, supposedly the comedian Ed Wynn, approached Skelton, who was the newsboy selling papers outside a Vincennes theater. When the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town. The man purchased every paper Skelton had, providing enough money for the boy to purchase a ticket for himself. The stranger turned out to be one of the show's stars, who later took the boy backstage to introduce him to the other performers. The experience prompted Skelton, who had already shown comedic tendencies, to pursue a career as a performer.\n\nSkelton discovered at an early age that he could make people laugh. He dropped out of school around 1926 or 1927, when he was 13 or 14 years old, but he already had some experience performing in minstrel shows in Vincennes, and on a showboat, The Cotton Blossom, that plied the Ohio and Missouri rivers. He enjoyed his work on the riverboat, moving on only after he realized that showboat entertainment was coming to an end. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, \"Help! I'm backing into heaven!\" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. At the age of 15, Skelton did some early work on the burlesque circuit, and reportedly spent four months with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1929, when he was 16 years old.\n\nIda Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son had run away from home to become an entertainer, but \"his destiny had caught up with him at an early age\". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the Great Depression, and it may have meant one less child for her to feed. Around 1929, while Skelton was still a teen, he joined \"Doc\" R.E. Lewis's traveling medicine show as an errand boy who sold bottles of medicine to the audience. During one show, when Skelton accidentally fell from the stage, breaking several bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. Both Lewis and Skelton realized one could earn a living with this ability and the fall was worked into the show. He also told jokes and sang in the medicine show during his four years there. Skelton earned ten dollars a week, and sent all of it home to his mother. When she worried that he was keeping nothing for his own needs, Skelton reassured her: \"We get plenty to eat, and we sleep in the wagon.\"\n\nBurlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937)\n\nAs burlesque comedy material became progressively more ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; \"I just didn't think the lines were funny\". He became a sought-after master of ceremonies for dance marathons (known as \"walkathons\" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. When they learned that Skelton's salary was to be cut, Edna went to see the boss; Red resented the interference, until she came away with not only a raise, but additional considerations as well. Since he had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbooks and taught him what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree.\n\nThe couple put together an act and began booking it at small midwestern theaters. When an offer came for an engagement in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, some 2,000 miles from Kansas City, they were pleased to get it because of its proximity to their ultimate goal, the vaudeville houses of New York City. To get to Massachusetts they bought a used car and borrowed five dollars from Edna's mother, but by the time they arrived in St. Louis they had only fifty cents. Skelton asked Edna to collect empty cigarette packs; she thought he was joking, but did as he asked. He then spent their fifty cents on bars of soap, which they cut into small cubes and wrapped with the tinfoil from the cigarette packs. By selling their products for fifty cents each as fog remover for eyeglasses, the Skeltons were able to afford a hotel room every night as they worked their way to Harwich Port.\n\n\"Doughnut Dunkers\"\n\nSkelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.\n\nSkelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee.\n\nThe couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly-written material and began performing the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, \"Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once.\" His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward.\n\nFilm work\n\nSkelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1938, he made his film debut for RKO Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time. He appeared in two short subjects for Vitaphone in 1939: Seeing Red and The Broadway Buckaroo. Actor Mickey Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films after seeing him perform his \"Doughnut Dunkers\" act at President Roosevelt's 1940 birthday party. For his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as \"Guzzler's Gin\", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. \"Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying\" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney.\n\nSkelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided comic relief as a lieutenant in Frank Borzage's war drama Flight Command, opposite Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in Harold S. Bucquet's Dr. Kildare medical dramas, Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective \"The Fox\", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark (1941) in which he began working with director S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, and Robert Young in Norman Z. McLeod's Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in Edward Buzzell's Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's Panama Hattie.\n\nIn 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King Louis XV of France in a dream opposite Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in Roy Del Ruth's Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy, I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick. Keaton was so convinced of Skelton's comedic talent that he approached MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer with a request to create a small company within MGM for himself and Skelton, where the two could work on film projects. Keaton offered to forgo his salary if the films made by the company were not box-office hits; Mayer chose to decline the request. In 1944, Skelton starred opposite Esther Williams in George Sidney's musical comedy Bathing Beauty, playing a songwriter with romantic difficulties. He next had a relatively minor role as a \"TV announcer who, in the course of demonstrating a brand of gin, progresses from mild inebriation through messy drunkenness to full-blown stupor\" in the \"When Television Comes\" segment of Ziegfeld Follies, which featured William Powell and Judy Garland in the main roles. In 1946, Skelton played boastful clerk J. Aubrey Piper opposite Marilyn Maxwell and Marjorie Main in Harry Beaumont's comedy picture The Show-Off.\n\nSkelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. Skelton asked for a release from MGM after learning he could not raise the $750,000 needed to buy out the remainder of his contract. He also voiced frustration with the film scripts he was offered while on the set of The Fuller Brush Man, saying, \"Movies are not my field. Radio and television are.\" He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show.\n\nSkelton's ability to successfully ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits.\n\nSkelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as Jack Donohue's The Yellow Cab Man (1950), Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's Excuse My Dust (1951), Charles Walters' Texas Carnival (1951), Mervyn LeRoy's Lovely to Look At (1952), Robert Z. Leonard's The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).\n\nRadio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951)\nPerforming the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.\n\nOn October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.\n\nSkelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.\n\n\"I dood it!\"\n\nSkelton introduced the first two of his many characters during The Raleigh Cigarette Program's first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or \"Junior\", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. \"Junior\" would say things like, \"If I dood it, I gets a whipping.\", followed moments later by the statement, \"I dood it!\" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname \"Junior\" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1943 movie of the same name, but did not play \"Junior\" in the film.\n\nThe phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase \"Doolittle Dood It\" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber \"We Dood It!\" In 1986, Soviet newspaper Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.\n\nSkelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called \"Mellow Cigars\", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine \"Guzzler's Gin\", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his \"Guzzler's Gin\" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.\n\nDivorce from Edna, marriage to Georgia\nIn 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving Skelton, but would continue to manage his career and write material for him. He did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce through NBC. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.\n\nThe divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.\n\nBy 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry him, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Edna's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career; Edna stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her former husband.\nHe was on army furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.\n\nA cast of characters\n\nSkelton served in the United States Army during World War II. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. He had a nervous collapse while in the Army, following which he developed a stutter. While recovering at an army hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, he met a soldier who had been severely wounded and was not expected to survive. Skelton devoted a lot of time and effort to trying to make the man laugh. As a result of this effort, his stutter reduced; his army friend's condition also improved, and he was no longer on the critical list. He was released from his army duties in September 1945. \"I've been told I'm the only celebrity who entered the Army as a private and came out a private,\" he told reporters. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.\n\nUpon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a \"loudmouthed braggart\"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air.\n\nOn April 22, 1947, Skelton was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer Rod O'Connor and he began talking about Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word \"diaper\". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.\n\nSkelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. After his network radio contract was over, he signed a three-year contract with Ziv Radio for a syndicated radio program in 1954. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.\n\nTelevision (1951–1970)\nSkelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. On May 4, 1951, he signed a contract for television with NBC; Procter and Gamble was his sponsor. He said he would be performing the same characters on television that he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951.\n\nHis television debut, The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening monologue, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943 instrumental hit by David Rose, called \"Holiday for Strings\", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His \"Freddie the Freeloader\" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of \"Good night and may God bless.\"\n\nDuring the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing.\n\nSkelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company.\n\nBy 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times\nbetween 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.\n\nRichard's illness and death\n\nAt the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. He returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers.\n\nThe Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a \"cardiac-asthma\" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, \"if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived\". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958.\n\nRichard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family. Life magazine, profiling \"The Invincible Red\" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still \"racked [sic]\" by his son’s death. In 1962, the Skelton family moved to Palm Springs, and Skelton used the Bel Air home only on the two days a week when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping.\n\nThe Red Skelton Hour\nIn early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios and updated it for videotape recording. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his \"Junior\" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program.\n\nSkelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the \"Silent Spot\". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character.\n\nSkelton's season premiere for the 1960–1961 television season was a tribute to the United Nations. About 600 people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. The program was entirely done in pantomime, as UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, \"They join a parade and start marching.\" In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator.\n\nIn 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single on Columbia Records. A year later, he performed the monologue for President Richard Nixon at the first \"Evening at the White House\", a series of entertainment events honoring the recently inaugurated president.\n\nOff the air and bitterness (1970–1983)\nAs the 1970s began, the networks began a major campaign to discontinue long-running shows that they considered stale, dominated by older demographics, and/or becoming too expensive due to escalating costs. Despite Skelton's continued strong overall viewership, CBS saw his show as fitting into this category and cancelled the program along with other comedy and variety shows hosted by veterans such as Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, \"My heart has been broken.\" His program had been one of the top-10, highest-rated shows for 17 of the 20 years he was on television. \n\nSkelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his television career, and he returned to live performances. In an effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and proved popular with the audiences.\nSkelton was bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he accused CBS of bowing to the antiestablishment, antiwar faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative political and social views caused the network to turn against him. He had invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and Senate Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the war, to appear on his program.\n\nPersonal, as well as professional, changes occurred in Skelton's life at this time. He divorced Georgia in 1971 and married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, on October 7, 1973. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was cancelled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May of 1978.\n\nSkelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. In 1980, he was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a report that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, \"Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?\" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983, Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.\n\nRed Skelton onstage\nSkelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as \"palaces\"; he also likened them to his \"living room\", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, \"Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone.\"\n\nSkelton was invited to play a four-week date at the London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, \"You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine.\" Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year.\n\nThough Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. He often arrived days early for his engagement and would serve as his own promotion staff, making the rounds of the local shopping malls. Before the show, his audiences received a ballot listing about 100 of his many routines and were asked to tick off their favorites. The venue's ushers would collect the ballots and tally the votes. Skelton's performance on that given day was based on the skits his audience selected. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.\n\nLater years and death\n\nIn 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1956. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well. George Burns and Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film.\n\nIn 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces series of specials. He gave a Royal Command Performance for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1984, which was later shown in the U.S. on HBO. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime.\n\nSkelton died on September 17, 1997, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, after what was described as \"a long, undisclosed illness\". He is interred in the Skelton Family Tomb, the family's private room, alongside his son, Richard Freeman Skelton, Jr., and his second wife, Georgia Maureen Davis Skelton, in the Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland Skelton; his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso; and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.\n\nArt and other interests\n\nArtwork\n\nSkelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at painting after visiting a large Chicago department store that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one, which Skelton described as \"a bunch of blotches\", he was told, \"Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one.\" He told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife Georgia, a former art student, persuaded him to have his first public showing of his work in 1964 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was performing at the time. Skelton believed painting was an asset to his comedy work, as it helped him to better visualize the imaginary props used in his pantomime routines.\n\nIn addition to his originals, Skelton also sold reproductions and prints through his own mail-order business. He made his work available to art galleries by selling them franchises to display and sell his paintings. He once estimated the sale of his lithographs earned him $2.5 million per year. Shortly after his death, his art dealer said he believed that Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work. At the time of his death, Skelton had produced over 1,000 oil paintings of clowns. When asked why his artwork focused on clowns, he said at first, \"I don't know why it's always clowns.\" He continued after thinking a moment by saying \"No, that's not true—I do know why. I just don't feel like thinking about it ...\" At the time of Skelton's death, his originals were priced at $80,000 and upward.\n\nOther interests\nSkelton was a prolific writer of both short stories and music. After sleeping only four or five hours a night, he would wake up at 5 am and begin writing stories, composing music, and painting pictures. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies by the time of his death. He wrote commercials for Skoal tobacco and sold many of his compositions to Muzak, a company that specialized in providing background music to stores and other businesses. Skelton was also interested in photography; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the film to newspaper reporters waiting outside. He was never without a miniature camera, and kept a photographic record of all his paintings. Skelton was also an avid gardener, who created his own Japanese and Italian gardens and cultivated bonsai trees at his home in Palm Springs. He owned a horse ranch in the Anza Valley.\n\nFraternity and honors\nSkelton was a Freemason, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish and the York Rites. He was a recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a $5 bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown. He was also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as a Shriner in Los Angeles.\n\nSkelton was made an honorary brother of Phi Sigma Kappa at Truman State University. In 1961, he became an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity of Emerson College, when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college at the same ceremony. Skelton received an honorary high-school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity; Skelton had composed many marches, which were used by more than 10,000 high-school and college bands. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University.\n\nThe Red Skelton Memorial Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near Skelton's home town of Vincennes. He attended the dedication ceremonies in 1963.\n\nAwards and recognition\n\nIn 1952, Skelton received Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Program and Best Comedian. He also received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for his noncomedic performance in Playhouse 90's presentation of \"The Big Slide\". Skelton and his writers won another Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. He was named an honorary faculty member of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1968 and 1969.\n\nSkelton's first major post-television recognition came in 1978, when the Golden Globe Awards named him as the recipient for their Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given to honor outstanding contributions in entertainment. His excitement was so great upon receiving the award and a standing ovation, that he clutched it tightly enough to break the statuette. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. \"I want to thank you for sitting down\", he said when the ovation subsided. \"I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me.\" The honor came 16 years after his television program left the airwaves.\n\nSkelton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1987, and in 1988, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame. He was one of the International Clown Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1989. Skelton and Katharine Hepburn were honored with lifetime achievement awards by the American Comedy Awards in the same year. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Skelton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio and television work.\n\nLegacy and tributes\nSkelton preferred to be described as a clown rather than a comic: \"A comedian goes out and hits people right on. A clown uses pathos. He can be funny, then turn right around and reach people and touch them with what life is like.\" \"I just want to be known as a clown\", he said, \"because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh.\" His purpose in life, he believed, was to make people laugh.\n\nIn Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton \"the most unacclaimed clown in show business\", and \"the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin\", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialogue and props. \"With one prop, a soft battered hat\", Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, \"he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red.\" He added that Skelton also \"plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors.\" In late 1965, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, reminiscing about the entertainment business, singled out Skelton for high praise. \"It's all so very different today. The whole business of comedy has changed — from 15 minutes of quality to quantity. We had a lot of very funny people around, from Charley Chase to Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. The last one of that breed is Red Skelton.\" Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures also praised Skelton, saying, \"He's a clown in the old tradition. He doesn't need punch lines. He's got heart.\"\n\nSkelton and Marcel Marceau shared a long friendship and admiration of each other's work. Marceau appeared on Skelton's CBS television show three times, including one turn as the host in 1961 as Skelton recovered from surgery. He was also a guest on the three Funny Faces specials that Skelton produced for HBO. In a TV Guide interview after Skelton's death, Marceau said, \"Red, you are eternal for me and the millions of people you made laugh and cry. May God bless you forever, my great and precious companion. I will never forget that silent world we created together.\" CBS issued the following statement upon his death: \"Red's audience had no age limits. He was the consummate family entertainer—a winsome clown, a storyteller without peer, a superb mime, a singer, and a dancer.\"\n\nThe Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in February 2006 on the campus of Vincennes University, one block from the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and dressing rooms. Its grand foyer is a gallery for Skelton's paintings, statues, and film posters. The theater hosts theatrical and musical productions by Vincennes University, as well as special events, convocations, and conventions. The adjacent Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened on July 18, 2013, on what would have been Skelton's 100th birthday. It houses his personal and professional materials, which he had collected since the age of 10, in accordance with his wishes that they be made available in his hometown for the public's enjoyment. Skelton's widow, Lothian, noted that he expressed no interest in any sort of Hollywood memorial. The museum is funded jointly by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation and the Indiana Historical Society. Other foundation projects include a fund that provides new clothes to Vincennes children from low-income families. The foundation also purchased Skelton's birthplace. On July 15, 2017, the state of Indiana unveiled a state historic marker at the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born.\n\nThe town of Vincennes has held an annual Red Skelton Festival since 2005. A \"Parade of a Thousand Clowns\", billed as the largest clown parade in the Midwest, is followed by family-oriented activities and live music performances.\n\nFilmography\n\nFeatures\n\nShort subjects\n\nBox-office ranking\nBased on rankings of the amount of money earned in box-office receipts for film showings, for a number of years Skelton was among the most popular stars in the country:\n1944 – 16th-largest box-office draw\n1949 – 13th\n1951 – 14th\n1952 – 21st\n\nPublished works\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nSources cited\n\nExternal links\n\n Red Skelton Biography\n Red Skelton Foundation \n Red Skelton Museum and Education Center\n Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University\n Edna and Red Skelton Collection at the Indiana Historical Society\n RED-EO Video Production Company, article and photo, The Broadcast Archive\n List of Red Skelton TV Episodes 1951–1971, The Classic TV Archive\n Literature on Red Skelton\n Red Skelton at the Internet Archive\n \"Edna Stillwell and the 'Real Making of Red'”, Indiana Historical Bureau\n\nCategory:1913 births\nCategory:1997 deaths\nCategory:20th-century American comedians\nCategory:20th-century American composers\nCategory:20th-century American male actors\nCategory:20th-century American male musicians\nCategory:20th-century American painters\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nCategory:American burlesque performers\nCategory:American clowns\nCategory:American male comedians\nCategory:American male composers\nCategory:American male film actors\nCategory:American male painters\nCategory:American male radio actors\nCategory:American male television actors\nCategory:American radio personalities\nCategory:American sketch comedians\nCategory:Television personalities from California\nCategory:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)\nCategory:California Republicans\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners\nCategory:Comedians from California\nCategory:Conservatism in the United States\nCategory:Indiana Historical Society\nCategory:Indiana Republicans\nCategory:Deaths from pneumonia in California\nCategory:Male actors from Indiana\nCategory:Male actors from Palm Springs, California\nCategory:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Painters from Indiana\nCategory:Painters from California\nCategory:People from Vincennes, Indiana\nCategory:Primetime Emmy Award winners\nCategory:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award\nCategory:United States Army personnel of World War II\nCategory:United States Army soldiers\nCategory:Vaudeville performers\nCategory:20th-century American male artists",
"title": "Red Skelton"
},
{
"text": "Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.\n\nSkelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The \"Doughnut Dunkers\" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941, on which many of his comedy characters were created, and he had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his film debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Alfred Santell's Having Wonderful Time, and would appear in numerous musical and comedy films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with starring roles in 19 films, including Ship Ahoy (1941), I Dood It (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), and The Clown (1953).\n\nSkelton was eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy. The Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30, 1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skelton's program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour and renamed The Red Skelton Hour in 1962. Despite high ratings, the show was canceled by CBS in 1970, as the network believed that more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled television show in 1971. He spent his time after that making as many as 125 personal appearances a year and working on his paintings.\n\nSkelton's paintings of clowns remained a hobby until 1964, when his wife Georgia persuaded him to show them at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while he was performing there. Sales of his originals were successful, and he also sold prints and lithographs, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer said he thought that Skelton had earned more money through his paintings than from his television performances.\n\nSkelton believed that his life's work was to make people laugh; he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything. He had a 70-year-long career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans. His widow donated many of his personal and professional effects to Vincennes University, including prints of his artwork. They are part of the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy at Vincennes, Indiana.\n\nBiography\n\nEarly years, the medicine show and the circus (1913–1929)\nAccording to some sources, Skelton was born Richard Red Skelton on July 18, 1913, in Vincennes, Indiana. In a 1983 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Skelton claimed his middle name was really \"Red\" and that he had made up the middle name Bernard, from the name of a local store, Bernard Clothiers, to satisfy a schoolteacher who would not believe his middle name was \"Red\".\n\nSkelton was the fourth son and youngest child of Joseph Elmer and Ida Mae (née Fields) Skelton. He had three older brothers: Denny Ishmael Skelton (1905–1943), Christopher M. Skelton (1907–1977) and Paul Fred Skelton (1910–1989). Joseph Skelton, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born; he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. His birth certificate surname was that of his father's stepfather. During Skelton's lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth. Author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Vincennes neighbors described the Skelton family as being extremely poor; a childhood friend remembered that her parents broke up a youthful romance between her sister and Skelton because they thought he had no future.\n\nBecause of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing other odd jobs to help his family, who had lost the family store and their home. He quickly learned the newsboy's patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him. According to later accounts, Skelton's early interest in becoming an entertainer stemmed from an incident that took place in Vincennes around 1923, when a stranger, supposedly the comedian Ed Wynn, approached Skelton, who was the newsboy selling papers outside a Vincennes theater. When the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town. The man purchased every paper Skelton had, providing enough money for the boy to purchase a ticket for himself. The stranger turned out to be one of the show's stars, who later took the boy backstage to introduce him to the other performers. The experience prompted Skelton, who had already shown comedic tendencies, to pursue a career as a performer.\n\nSkelton discovered at an early age that he could make people laugh. He dropped out of school around 1926 or 1927, when he was 13 or 14 years old, but he already had some experience performing in minstrel shows in Vincennes, and on a showboat, The Cotton Blossom, that plied the Ohio and Missouri rivers. He enjoyed his work on the riverboat, moving on only after he realized that showboat entertainment was coming to an end. Skelton, who was interested in all forms of acting, took a dramatic role with the John Lawrence stock theater company, but was unable to deliver his lines in a serious manner; the audience laughed instead. In another incident, while performing in Uncle Tom's Cabin, Skelton was on an unseen treadmill; when it malfunctioned and began working in reverse, the frightened young actor called out, \"Help! I'm backing into heaven!\" He was fired before completing a week's work in the role. At the age of 15, Skelton did some early work on the burlesque circuit, and reportedly spent four months with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1929, when he was 16 years old.\n\nIda Skelton, who held multiple jobs to support her family after the death of her husband, did not suggest that her youngest son had run away from home to become an entertainer, but \"his destiny had caught up with him at an early age\". She let him go with her blessing. Times were tough during the Great Depression, and it may have meant one less child for her to feed. Around 1929, while Skelton was still a teen, he joined \"Doc\" R.E. Lewis's traveling medicine show as an errand boy who sold bottles of medicine to the audience. During one show, when Skelton accidentally fell from the stage, breaking several bottles of medicine as he fell, people laughed. Both Lewis and Skelton realized one could earn a living with this ability and the fall was worked into the show. He also told jokes and sang in the medicine show during his four years there. Skelton earned ten dollars a week, and sent all of it home to his mother. When she worried that he was keeping nothing for his own needs, Skelton reassured her: \"We get plenty to eat, and we sleep in the wagon.\"\n\nBurlesque to vaudeville (1929–1937)\n\nAs burlesque comedy material became progressively more ribald, Skelton moved on. He insisted that he was no prude; \"I just didn't think the lines were funny\". He became a sought-after master of ceremonies for dance marathons (known as \"walkathons\" at the time), a popular fad in the 1930s. The winner of one of the marathons was Edna Stillwell, an usher at the old Pantages Theater. She approached Skelton after winning the contest and told him that she did not like his jokes; he asked if she could do better. They married in 1931 in Kansas City, and Edna began writing his material. At the time of their marriage Skelton was one month away from his 18th birthday; Edna was 16. When they learned that Skelton's salary was to be cut, Edna went to see the boss; Red resented the interference, until she came away with not only a raise, but additional considerations as well. Since he had left school at an early age, his wife bought textbooks and taught him what he had missed. With Edna's help, Skelton received a high school equivalency degree.\n\nThe couple put together an act and began booking it at small midwestern theaters. When an offer came for an engagement in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, some 2,000 miles from Kansas City, they were pleased to get it because of its proximity to their ultimate goal, the vaudeville houses of New York City. To get to Massachusetts they bought a used car and borrowed five dollars from Edna's mother, but by the time they arrived in St. Louis they had only fifty cents. Skelton asked Edna to collect empty cigarette packs; she thought he was joking, but did as he asked. He then spent their fifty cents on bars of soap, which they cut into small cubes and wrapped with the tinfoil from the cigarette packs. By selling their products for fifty cents each as fog remover for eyeglasses, the Skeltons were able to afford a hotel room every night as they worked their way to Harwich Port.\n\n\"Doughnut Dunkers\"\n\nSkelton and Edna worked for a year in Camden, New Jersey, and were able to get an engagement at Montreal's Lido Club in 1934 through a friend who managed the chorus lines at New York's Roxy Theatre. Despite an initial rocky start, the act was a success, and brought them more theater dates throughout Canada.\n\nSkelton's performances in Canada led to new opportunities and the inspiration for a new, innovative routine that brought him recognition in the years to come. While performing in Montreal, the Skeltons met Harry Anger, a vaudeville producer for New York City's Loew's State Theatre. Anger promised the pair a booking as a headlining act at Loew's, but they would need to come up with new material for the engagement. While the Skeltons were having breakfast in a Montreal diner, Edna had an idea for a new routine as she and Skelton observed the other patrons eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. They devised the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine, with Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. The skit won them the Loew's State engagement and a handsome fee.\n\nThe couple viewed the Loew's State engagement in 1937 as Skelton's big chance. They hired New York comedy writers to prepare material for the engagement, believing they needed more sophisticated jokes and skits than the routines Skelton normally performed. However, his New York audience did not laugh or applaud until Skelton abandoned the newly-written material and began performing the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" and his older routines. The doughnut-dunking routine also helped Skelton rise to celebrity status. In 1937, while he was entertaining at the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Skelton to perform at a White House luncheon. During one of the official toasts, Skelton grabbed Roosevelt's glass, saying, \"Careful what you drink, Mr. President. I got rolled in a place like this once.\" His humor appealed to FDR and Skelton became the master of ceremonies for Roosevelt's official birthday celebration for many years afterward.\n\nFilm work\n\nSkelton's first contact with Hollywood came in the form of a failed 1932 screen test. In 1938, he made his film debut for RKO Pictures in the supporting role of a camp counselor in Having Wonderful Time. He appeared in two short subjects for Vitaphone in 1939: Seeing Red and The Broadway Buckaroo. Actor Mickey Rooney contacted Skelton, urging him to try for work in films after seeing him perform his \"Doughnut Dunkers\" act at President Roosevelt's 1940 birthday party. For his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) screen test, Skelton performed many of his more popular skits, such as \"Guzzler's Gin\", but added some impromptu pantomimes as the cameras were rolling. \"Imitation of Movie Heroes Dying\" were Skelton's impressions of the cinema deaths of stars such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and James Cagney.\n\nSkelton appeared in numerous films for MGM throughout the 1940s. In 1940, he provided comic relief as a lieutenant in Frank Borzage's war drama Flight Command, opposite Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1941, he also provided comic relief in Harold S. Bucquet's Dr. Kildare medical dramas, Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day and The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Skelton was soon starring in comedy features as inept radio detective \"The Fox\", the first of which was Whistling in the Dark (1941) in which he began working with director S. Sylvan Simon, who became his favorite director. He reprised the same role opposite Ann Rutherford in Simon's other pictures, including Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). In 1941, Skelton began appearing in musical comedies, starring opposite Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, and Robert Young in Norman Z. McLeod's Lady Be Good. In 1942, Skelton again starred opposite Eleanor Powell in Edward Buzzell's Ship Ahoy, and alongside Ann Sothern in McLeod's Panama Hattie.\n\nIn 1943, after a memorable role as a nightclub hatcheck attendant who becomes King Louis XV of France in a dream opposite Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in Roy Del Ruth's Du Barry Was a Lady, Skelton starred as Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a hotel valet besotted with Broadway starlet Constance Shaw (Powell) in Vincente Minnelli's romantic musical comedy, I Dood It. The film was largely a remake of Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage; Keaton, who had become a comedy consultant to MGM after his film career had diminished, began coaching Skelton on set during the filming. Keaton worked in this capacity on several of Skelton's films, and his 1926 film The General was also later rewritten to become Skelton's A Southern Yankee (1948), under directors S. Sylvan Simon and Edward Sedgwick. Keaton was so convinced of Skelton's comedic talent that he approached MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer with a request to create a small company within MGM for himself and Skelton, where the two could work on film projects. Keaton offered to forgo his salary if the films made by the company were not box-office hits; Mayer chose to decline the request. In 1944, Skelton starred opposite Esther Williams in George Sidney's musical comedy Bathing Beauty, playing a songwriter with romantic difficulties. He next had a relatively minor role as a \"TV announcer who, in the course of demonstrating a brand of gin, progresses from mild inebriation through messy drunkenness to full-blown stupor\" in the \"When Television Comes\" segment of Ziegfeld Follies, which featured William Powell and Judy Garland in the main roles. In 1946, Skelton played boastful clerk J. Aubrey Piper opposite Marilyn Maxwell and Marjorie Main in Harry Beaumont's comedy picture The Show-Off.\n\nSkelton's contract called for MGM's approval prior to his radio shows and other appearances. When he renegotiated his long-term contract with MGM, he wanted a clause that permitted him to remain working in radio and to be able to work on television, which was then largely experimental. At the time, the major work in the medium was centered in New York; Skelton had worked there for some time, and was able to determine that he would find success with his physical comedy through the medium. By 1947, Skelton's work interests were focused not on films, but on radio and television. His MGM contract was rigid enough to require the studio's written consent for his weekly radio shows, as well as any benefit or similar appearances he made; radio offered fewer restrictions, more creative control, and a higher salary. Skelton asked for a release from MGM after learning he could not raise the $750,000 needed to buy out the remainder of his contract. He also voiced frustration with the film scripts he was offered while on the set of The Fuller Brush Man, saying, \"Movies are not my field. Radio and television are.\" He did not receive the desired television clause nor a release from his MGM contract. In 1948, columnist Sheilah Graham printed that Skelton's wishes were to make only one film a year, spending the rest of the time traveling the U.S. with his radio show.\n\nSkelton's ability to successfully ad lib often meant that the way the script was written was not always the way it was recorded on film. Some directors were delighted with the creativity, but others were often frustrated by it. S. Sylvan Simon, who became a close friend, allowed Skelton free rein when directing him. MGM became annoyed with Simon during the filming of The Fuller Brush Man, as the studio contended that Skelton should have been playing romantic leads instead of performing slapstick. Simon and MGM parted company when he was not asked to direct retakes of Skelton's A Southern Yankee; Simon asked that his name be removed from the film's credits.\n\nSkelton was willing to negotiate with MGM to extend the agreement provided he would receive the right to pursue television. This time, the studio was willing to grant it, making Skelton the only major MGM personality with the privilege. The 1950 negotiations allowed him to begin working in television beginning September 30, 1951. During the last portion of his contract with the studio, Skelton was working in radio and on television in addition to films. He went on to appear in films such as Jack Donohue's The Yellow Cab Man (1950), Roy Rowland and Buster Keaton's Excuse My Dust (1951), Charles Walters' Texas Carnival (1951), Mervyn LeRoy's Lovely to Look At (1952), Robert Z. Leonard's The Clown (1953), and The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), and Norman Z. McLeod's poorly received Public Pigeon No. 1 (1957), his last major film role, which originated incidentally from an episode of the television anthology series Climax!. In a 1956 interview, he said he would never work simultaneously in all three media again. As a result, Skelton would make only a few appearances in films after this, including playing a saloon drunk in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), a fictional version of himself as a gambler in Ocean's 11 (1960), and a Neanderthal man in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).\n\nRadio, divorce, and remarriage (1937–1951)\nPerforming the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine led to Skelton's first appearance on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent-show segment, and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic and fellow Indiana native Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two Hoosiers proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.\n\nOn October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of Avalon Time on NBC; Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name. She developed a system for working with the show's writers – selecting material from them, adding her own, and filing the unused bits and lines for future use; the Skeltons worked on Avalon Time until late 1939. Skelton's work in films led to a new regular radio-show offer; between films, he promoted himself and MGM by appearing without charge at Los Angeles-area banquets. A radio advertising agent was a guest at one of his banquet performances and recommended Skelton to one of his clients.\n\nSkelton went on the air with his own radio show, The Raleigh Cigarette Program, on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.\n\n\"I dood it!\"\n\nSkelton introduced the first two of his many characters during The Raleigh Cigarette Program's first season. The character of Clem Kadiddlehopper was based on a Vincennes neighbor named Carl Hopper, who was hard of hearing. After the cartoon character Bullwinkle was introduced, Skelton contemplated filing a lawsuit against Bill Scott, who voiced the cartoon moose, because he found it similar to his voice pattern for Clem. The second character, the Mean Widdle Kid, or \"Junior\", was a young boy full of mischief, who typically did things he was told not to do. \"Junior\" would say things like, \"If I dood it, I gets a whipping.\", followed moments later by the statement, \"I dood it!\" Skelton performed the character at home with Edna, giving him the nickname \"Junior\" long before it was heard by a radio audience. While the phrase was Skelton's, the idea of using the character on the radio show was Edna's. Skelton starred in a 1943 movie of the same name, but did not play \"Junior\" in the film.\n\nThe phrase was such a part of national culture at the time that, when General Doolittle conducted the bombing of Tokyo in 1942, many newspapers used the phrase \"Doolittle Dood It\" as a headline. After a talk with President Roosevelt in 1943, Skelton used his radio show to collect funds for a Douglas A-20 Havoc to be given to the Soviet Army to help fight World War II. Asking children to send in their spare change, he raised enough money for the aircraft in two weeks; he named the bomber \"We Dood It!\" In 1986, Soviet newspaper Pravda offered praise to Skelton for his 1943 gift, and in 1993, the pilot of the plane was able to meet Skelton and thank him for the bomber.\n\nSkelton also added a routine he had been performing since 1928. Originally called \"Mellow Cigars\", the skit was about an announcer who became ill as he smoked his sponsor's product. Brown and Williamson, the makers of cigarettes, asked Skelton to change some aspects of the skit; he renamed the routine \"Guzzler's Gin\", where the announcer became inebriated while sampling and touting the imaginary sponsor's wares. While the traditional radio program called for its cast to do an audience warm-up in preparation for the broadcast, Skelton did just the opposite. After the regular radio program had ended, the show's audience was treated to a post-program performance. He then performed his \"Guzzler's Gin\" or any of more than 350 routines for those who had come to the radio show. He updated and revised his post-show routines as diligently as those for his radio program. As a result, studio audience tickets for Skelton's radio show were in high demand; at times, up to 300 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.\n\nDivorce from Edna, marriage to Georgia\nIn 1942, Edna announced that she was leaving Skelton, but would continue to manage his career and write material for him. He did not realize she was serious until Edna issued a statement about the impending divorce through NBC. They were divorced in 1943, leaving the courtroom arm in arm. The couple did not discuss the reasons for their divorce, and Edna initially prepared to work as a script writer for other radio programs. When the divorce was finalized, she went to New York, leaving her former husband three fully-prepared show scripts. Skelton and those associated with him sent telegrams and called her, asking her to come back to him in a professional capacity. Edna remained the manager of the couple's funds because Skelton spent money too easily. An attempt at managing his own checking account that began with a $5,000 balance, ended five days later after a call to Edna saying the account was overdrawn. Skelton had a weekly allowance of $75, with Edna making investments for him, choosing real estate and other relatively-stable assets. She remained an advisor on his career until 1952, receiving a generous weekly salary for life for her efforts.\n\nThe divorce meant that Skelton had lost his married man's deferment; he was once again classified as 1-A for service. He was drafted into the Army in early 1944; both MGM and his radio sponsor tried to obtain a deferment for the comedian, but to no avail. His last Raleigh radio show was on June 6, 1944, the day before he was formally inducted as a private; he was not assigned to Special Services at that time. Without its star, the program was discontinued, and the opportunity presented itself for the Nelsons to begin a radio show of their own, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.\n\nBy 1944, Skelton was engaged to actress Muriel Morris, who was also known as Muriel Chase; the couple had obtained a marriage license and told the press they intended to marry within a few days. At the last minute, the actress decided not to marry him, initially saying she intended to marry a wealthy businessman in Mexico City. She later recanted the story about marrying the businessman, but continued to say that her relationship with Skelton was over. The actress further denied that the reason for the breakup was Edna's continuing to manage her ex-husband's career; Edna stated that she had no intention of either getting in the middle of the relationship or reconciling with her former husband.\nHe was on army furlough for throat discomfort when he married actress Georgia Maureen Davis in Beverly Hills, California, on March 9, 1945; the couple met on the MGM lot. Skelton traveled to Los Angeles from the eastern army base where he was assigned for the wedding. He knew he would possibly be assigned overseas soon, and wanted the marriage to take place first. After the wedding, he entered the hospital to have his tonsils removed. The couple had two children; Valentina, a daughter, was born May 5, 1947, and a son, Richard, was born May 20, 1948.\n\nA cast of characters\n\nSkelton served in the United States Army during World War II. After being assigned to the Special Services, Skelton performed as many as 12 shows per day before troops in both the United States and in Europe. The pressure of his workload caused him to suffer exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. He had a nervous collapse while in the Army, following which he developed a stutter. While recovering at an army hospital at Camp Pickett, Virginia, he met a soldier who had been severely wounded and was not expected to survive. Skelton devoted a lot of time and effort to trying to make the man laugh. As a result of this effort, his stutter reduced; his army friend's condition also improved, and he was no longer on the critical list. He was released from his army duties in September 1945. \"I've been told I'm the only celebrity who entered the Army as a private and came out a private,\" he told reporters. His sponsor was eager to have him back on the air, and Skelton's program began anew on NBC on December 4, 1945.\n\nUpon returning to radio, Skelton brought with him many new characters that were added to his repertoire: Bolivar Shagnasty, described as a \"loudmouthed braggart\"; Cauliflower McPugg, a boxer; Deadeye, a cowboy; Willie Lump-Lump, a fellow who drank too much; and San Fernando Red, a confidence man with political aspirations. By 1947, Skelton's musical conductor was David Rose, who went on to television with him; he had worked with Rose during his time in the Army and wanted Rose to join him on the radio show when it went back on the air.\n\nOn April 22, 1947, Skelton was censored by NBC two minutes into his radio show. When his announcer Rod O'Connor and he began talking about Fred Allen being censored the previous week, they were silenced for 15 seconds; comedian Bob Hope was given the same treatment once he began referring to the censoring of Allen. Skelton forged on with his lines for his studio audience's benefit; the material he insisted on using had been edited from the script by the network before the broadcast. He had been briefly censored the previous month for the use of the word \"diaper\". After the April incidents, NBC indicated it would no longer pull the plug for similar reasons.\n\nSkelton changed sponsors in 1948; Brown & Williamson, owners of Raleigh cigarettes, withdrew due to program production costs. His new sponsor was Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent. The next year, he changed networks, going from NBC to CBS, where his radio show aired until May 1953. After his network radio contract was over, he signed a three-year contract with Ziv Radio for a syndicated radio program in 1954. His syndicated radio program was offered as a daily show; it included segments of his older network radio programs, and new material done for the syndication. He was able to use portions of his older radio shows because he owned the rights for rebroadcasting them.\n\nTelevision (1951–1970)\nSkelton was unable to work in television until the end of his 1951 MGM movie contract; a renegotiation to extend the pact provided permission after that point. On May 4, 1951, he signed a contract for television with NBC; Procter and Gamble was his sponsor. He said he would be performing the same characters on television that he had been doing on radio. The MGM agreement with Skelton for television performances did not allow him to go on the air before September 30, 1951.\n\nHis television debut, The Red Skelton Show, premiered on that date: At the end of his opening monologue, two men backstage grabbed his ankles from behind the set curtain, hauling him offstage face down. A 1943 instrumental hit by David Rose, called \"Holiday for Strings\", became Skelton's TV theme song. The move to television allowed him to create two nonhuman characters, seagulls Gertrude and Heathcliffe, which he performed while the pair were flying by, tucking his thumbs under his arms to represent wings and shaping his hat to look like a bird's bill. He patterned his meek, henpecked television character of George Appleby after his radio character, J. Newton Numbskull, who had similar characteristics. His \"Freddie the Freeloader\" clown was introduced on the program in 1952, with Skelton copying his father's makeup for the character. (He learned how to duplicate his father's makeup and perform his routines through his mother's recollections.) A ritual was established for the end of every program, with Skelton's shy, boyish wave and words of \"Good night and may God bless.\"\n\nDuring the 1951–1952 season, the program was broadcast from a converted NBC radio studio. The first year of the television show was done live; this led to problems, because not enough time was available for costume changes; Skelton was on camera for most of the half hour, including the delivery of a commercial that was written into one of the show's skits. In early 1952, Skelton had an idea for a television sketch about someone who had been drinking not knowing which way is up. The script was completed, and he had the show's production crew build a set that was perpendicular to the stage, so it would give the illusion that someone was walking on walls. The skit, starring his character Willie Lump-Lump, called for the character's wife to hire a carpenter to redo the living room in an effort to teach her husband a lesson about his drinking. When Willie wakes up there after a night of drinking, he is misled into believing he is not lying on the floor, but on the living room wall. Willie's wife goes about the house normally, but to Willie, she appears to be walking on a wall. Within an hour after the broadcast, the NBC switchboard had received 350 calls regarding the show, and Skelton had received more than 2,500 letters about the skit within a week of its airing.\n\nSkelton was delivering an intense performance live each week, and the strain showed in physical illness. In 1952, he was drinking heavily due to the constant physical pain of a diaphragmatic hernia and the emotional distress of marital problems. He thought about divorcing Georgia. NBC agreed to film his shows in the 1952–1953 season at Eagle Lion Studios, next to the Sam Goldwyn Studio, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, the show was moved to the new NBC television studios in Burbank. Procter and Gamble was unhappy with the filming of the television show, and insisted that Skelton return to live broadcasts. The situation made him think about leaving television. Declining ratings prompted sponsor Procter & Gamble to cancel his show in the spring of 1953. Skelton announced that any of his future television programs would be variety shows, where he would not have the almost constant burden of performing. Beginning with the 1953–1954 season, he switched to CBS, where he remained until 1970. For the initial move to CBS, he had no sponsor. The network gambled by covering all expenses for the program on a sustaining basis: His first CBS sponsor was Geritol. He curtailed his drinking and his ratings at CBS began to improve, especially after he began appearing on Tuesday nights for co-sponsors Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk Company.\n\nBy 1955, Skelton was broadcasting some of his weekly programs in color, which was the case about 100 times\nbetween 1955 and 1960. He tried to encourage CBS to do other shows in color at the facility, but CBS mostly avoided color broadcasting after the network's television-set manufacturing division was discontinued in 1951. By 1959, Skelton was the only comedian with a weekly variety television show. Others who remained on the air, such as Danny Thomas, were performing their routines as part of situation comedy programs. He performed a preview show for a studio audience on Mondays, using their reactions to determine which skits required editing for the Tuesday program. For the Tuesday afternoon run-through prior to the actual show, he ignored the script for the most part, ad-libbing through it at will. The run-through was well attended by CBS Television City employees. Sometimes during live telecasts and taped programs, Skelton would break up or cause his guest stars to laugh.\n\nRichard's illness and death\n\nAt the height of Skelton's popularity, his 9-year-old son Richard was diagnosed with leukemia and was given a year to live. While the network told him to take as much time off as necessary, Skelton felt that unless he went back to his television show, he would be unable to be at ease and make his son's life a happy one. He returned to his television show on January 15, 1957, with guest star Mickey Rooney helping to lift his spirits. In happier times, he had frequently mentioned his children on his program, but he found it extremely difficult to do this after Richard became ill. Skelton resumed this practice only after his son asked him to do so. After his son's diagnosis, Skelton took his family on an extended trip, so Richard could see as much of the world as possible. The Skeltons had an audience with Pope Pius XII on July 22, 1957. According to an International News Service article that appeared in the August 1, 1957, issue of the St.Joseph, Missouri News Press, Richard said that the audience with the Pope was the high point of the trip so far. The Skeltons cut their travels short and returned to the United States after an encounter with an aggressive reporter in London and relentlessly negative reports in British newspapers.\n\nThe Skelton family received support from CBS management and from the public following the announcement of Richard's illness. In November, Skelton fell down stairs and injured an ankle, and he nearly died after a \"cardiac-asthma\" attack on December 30, 1957. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where, his doctors said, \"if there were ten steps to death, Red Skelton had taken nine of them by the time he had arrived\". Skelton later said he was working on some notes for television and the next thing he remembered, he was in a hospital bed; he did not know how serious his illness was until he read about it himself in the newspapers. His illness and recovery kept him off the air for a full month; Skelton returned to his television show on January 28, 1958.\n\nRichard died on May 10, 1958, 10 days before his 10th birthday. Skelton was scheduled to do his weekly television show on the day his son was buried. Though recordings of some older programs were available that the network could have run, he asked that guest performers be used, instead. His friends in the television, film and music industries organized The Friends Of Red Skelton Variety Show, which they performed to replace The Red Skelton Show for that week; by May 27, 1958, Skelton had returned to his program. Richard‘s death had a profound effect on the family. Life magazine, profiling \"The Invincible Red\" on April 21, 1961, observed that Skelton was still \"racked [sic]\" by his son’s death. In 1962, the Skelton family moved to Palm Springs, and Skelton used the Bel Air home only on the two days a week when he was in Los Angeles for his television show taping.\n\nThe Red Skelton Hour\nIn early 1960, Skelton purchased the old Charlie Chaplin Studios and updated it for videotape recording. With a recently purchased three-truck mobile color television unit, he recorded a number of his series episodes and specials in color. Even with his color facilities, CBS discontinued color broadcasts on a regular basis and Skelton shortly thereafter sold the studio to CBS and the mobile unit to local station KTLA. Prior to this, he had been filming at Desilu Productions. Skelton then moved back to the network's Television City facilities, where he taped his programs until he left the network. In the fall of 1962, CBS expanded his program to a full hour, retitling it The Red Skelton Hour. Although it was a staple of his radio programs, he did not perform his \"Junior\" character on television until 1962, after extending the length of his program.\n\nSkelton frequently employed the art of pantomime for his characters; a segment of his weekly program was called the \"Silent Spot\". He attributed his liking for pantomime and for using few props to the early days when he did not want to have a lot of luggage. He explained that having the right hat was the key to getting into character.\n\nSkelton's season premiere for the 1960–1961 television season was a tribute to the United Nations. About 600 people from the organization, including diplomats, were invited to be part of the audience for the show. The program was entirely done in pantomime, as UN representatives from 39 nations were in the studio audience. One of the sketches he performed for the UN was that of the old man watching the parade. The sketch had its origins in a question Skelton's son, Richard, asked his father about what happens when people die. He told his son, \"They join a parade and start marching.\" In 1965, Skelton did another show completely in pantomime. This time, he was joined by Marcel Marceau; the two artists alternated performances for the hour-long program, sharing the stage to perform Pinocchio. The only person who spoke during the hour was Maurice Chevalier, who served as the show's narrator.\n\nIn 1969, Skelton wrote and performed a monologue about the Pledge of Allegiance. In the speech, he commented on the meaning of each phrase of the pledge. He credited one of his Vincennes grammar-school teachers, Mr. Laswell, with the original speech. The teacher had grown tired of hearing his students monotonously recite the pledge each morning; he then demonstrated to them how it should be recited, along with comments about the meaning behind each phrase. CBS received 200,000 requests for copies; the company subsequently released the monologue as a single on Columbia Records. A year later, he performed the monologue for President Richard Nixon at the first \"Evening at the White House\", a series of entertainment events honoring the recently inaugurated president.\n\nOff the air and bitterness (1970–1983)\nAs the 1970s began, the networks began a major campaign to discontinue long-running shows that they considered stale, dominated by older demographics, and/or becoming too expensive due to escalating costs. Despite Skelton's continued strong overall viewership, CBS saw his show as fitting into this category and cancelled the program along with other comedy and variety shows hosted by veterans such as Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan. Performing in Las Vegas when he got the news of his CBS cancellation, Skelton said, \"My heart has been broken.\" His program had been one of the top-10, highest-rated shows for 17 of the 20 years he was on television. \n\nSkelton moved to NBC in 1970 in a half-hour Monday-night version of his former show. Its cancellation after one season ended his television career, and he returned to live performances. In an effort to prove the networks wrong, he gave many of these at colleges and proved popular with the audiences.\nSkelton was bitter about CBS's cancellation for many years afterwards. Believing the demographic and salary issues to be irrelevant, he accused CBS of bowing to the antiestablishment, antiwar faction at the height of the Vietnam War, saying his conservative political and social views caused the network to turn against him. He had invited prominent Republicans, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and Senate Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of the war, to appear on his program.\n\nPersonal, as well as professional, changes occurred in Skelton's life at this time. He divorced Georgia in 1971 and married Lothian Toland, daughter of cinematographer Gregg Toland, on October 7, 1973. While he disassociated himself from television soon after his show was cancelled, his bitterness had subsided enough for him to appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on July 11, 1975; it was his first television appearance since the cancellation of his television program. (Johnny Carson, one of his former writers, began his rise to network television prominence when he substituted for Skelton after a dress rehearsal injury in 1954.) Skelton was also a guest on The Merv Griffin Show in October of the same year. Hopes he may have had that he could ease back into television through the talk-show circuit were ended on May 10, 1976, when Georgia Skelton committed suicide by gunshot on the 18th anniversary of Richard Skelton's death. Georgia was 54 and had been in poor health for some time. He put all professional activities on hold for some months as he mourned his former wife's death. Despite his anger at CBS, Skelton participated in the CBS 50th anniversary specials in April and May of 1978.\n\nSkelton made plans in 1977 to sell the rights to his old television programs as part of a package that would bring him back to regular television appearances. The package called for him to produce one new television show for every three older episodes; this did not materialize. In 1980, he was taken to court by 13 of his former writers over a report that his will called for the destruction of recordings of all his old television shows upon his death. Skelton contended his remarks were made at a time when he was very unhappy with the television industry and were taken out of context. He said at the time, \"Would you burn the only monument you've built in over 20 years?\" As the owner of the television shows, Skelton initially refused to allow them to be syndicated as reruns during his lifetime. In 1983, Group W announced that it had come to terms with him for the rights to rebroadcast some of his original television programs from 1966 through 1970; some of his earlier shows were made available after Skelton's death.\n\nRed Skelton onstage\nSkelton's 70-year career as an entertainer began as a stage performer. He retained a fondness for theaters, and referred to them as \"palaces\"; he also likened them to his \"living room\", where he would privately entertain guests. At the end of a performance, he would look at the empty stage where there was now no laughter or applause and tell himself, \"Tomorrow I must start again. One hour ago, I was a big man. I was important out there. Now it's empty. It's all gone.\"\n\nSkelton was invited to play a four-week date at the London Palladium in July 1951. While flying to the engagement, Skelton, Georgia and Father Edward J. Carney, were on a plane from Rome with passengers from an assortment of countries that included 11 children. The plane lost the use of two of its four engines and seemed destined to lose the rest, meaning that the plane would crash over Mont Blanc. The priest readied himself to administer last rites. As he did so, he told Skelton, \"You take care of your department, Red, and I'll take care of mine.\" Skelton diverted the attention of the passengers with pantomimes while Father Carney prayed. They ultimately landed at a small airstrip in Lyon, France. He received both an enthusiastic reception and an invitation to return for the Palladium's Christmas show of that year.\n\nThough Skelton had always done live engagements at Nevada hotels and appearances such as state fairs during his television show's hiatus, he focused his time and energy on live performances after he was no longer on the air, performing up to 125 dates a year. He often arrived days early for his engagement and would serve as his own promotion staff, making the rounds of the local shopping malls. Before the show, his audiences received a ballot listing about 100 of his many routines and were asked to tick off their favorites. The venue's ushers would collect the ballots and tally the votes. Skelton's performance on that given day was based on the skits his audience selected. After he learned that his performances were popular with the hearing-impaired because of his heavy use of pantomimes, Skelton hired a sign language interpreter to translate the non-pantomime portions of his act for all his shows. He continued performing live until 1993, when he celebrated his 80th birthday.\n\nLater years and death\n\nIn 1974, Skelton's interest in film work was rekindled with the news that Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys would become a movie; his last significant film appearance had been in Public Pigeon No. 1 in 1956. He screen tested for the role of Willy Clark with Jack Benny, who had been cast as Al Lewis. Although Simon had planned to cast Jack Albertson, who played Willy on Broadway, in the same role for the film, Skelton's screen test impressed him enough to change his mind. Skelton declined the part, however, reportedly due to an inadequate financial offer, and Benny's final illness forced him to withdraw, as well. George Burns and Walter Matthau ultimately starred in the film.\n\nIn 1981, Skelton made several specials for HBO, including Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981) and the Funny Faces series of specials. He gave a Royal Command Performance for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1984, which was later shown in the U.S. on HBO. A portion of one of his last interviews, conducted by Steven F. Zambo, was broadcast as part of the 2005 PBS special The Pioneers of Primetime.\n\nSkelton died on September 17, 1997, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84, after what was described as \"a long, undisclosed illness\". He is interred in the Skelton Family Tomb, the family's private room, alongside his son, Richard Freeman Skelton, Jr., and his second wife, Georgia Maureen Davis Skelton, in the Great Mausoleum's Sanctuary of Benediction at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Skelton was survived by his widow, Lothian Toland Skelton; his daughter, Valentina Marie Skelton Alonso; and granddaughter Sabrina Maureen Alonso.\n\nArt and other interests\n\nArtwork\n\nSkelton began producing artwork in 1943, but kept his works private for many years. He said he was inspired to try his hand at painting after visiting a large Chicago department store that had various paintings on display. Inquiring as to the price of one, which Skelton described as \"a bunch of blotches\", he was told, \"Ten thousand wouldn't buy that one.\" He told the clerk he was one of the ten thousand who would not buy the painting, instead buying his own art materials. His wife Georgia, a former art student, persuaded him to have his first public showing of his work in 1964 at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was performing at the time. Skelton believed painting was an asset to his comedy work, as it helped him to better visualize the imaginary props used in his pantomime routines.\n\nIn addition to his originals, Skelton also sold reproductions and prints through his own mail-order business. He made his work available to art galleries by selling them franchises to display and sell his paintings. He once estimated the sale of his lithographs earned him $2.5 million per year. Shortly after his death, his art dealer said he believed that Skelton made more money on his paintings than from his television work. At the time of his death, Skelton had produced over 1,000 oil paintings of clowns. When asked why his artwork focused on clowns, he said at first, \"I don't know why it's always clowns.\" He continued after thinking a moment by saying \"No, that's not true—I do know why. I just don't feel like thinking about it ...\" At the time of Skelton's death, his originals were priced at $80,000 and upward.\n\nOther interests\nSkelton was a prolific writer of both short stories and music. After sleeping only four or five hours a night, he would wake up at 5 am and begin writing stories, composing music, and painting pictures. He wrote at least one short story a week and had composed over 8,000 songs and symphonies by the time of his death. He wrote commercials for Skoal tobacco and sold many of his compositions to Muzak, a company that specialized in providing background music to stores and other businesses. Skelton was also interested in photography; when attending Hollywood parties, he would take photos and give the film to newspaper reporters waiting outside. He was never without a miniature camera, and kept a photographic record of all his paintings. Skelton was also an avid gardener, who created his own Japanese and Italian gardens and cultivated bonsai trees at his home in Palm Springs. He owned a horse ranch in the Anza Valley.\n\nFraternity and honors\nSkelton was a Freemason, a member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, in Indiana. He also was a member of both the Scottish and the York Rites. He was a recipient of the Gold Medal of the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for Distinguished Service in the Arts and Sciences. On September 24, 1969, he received the honorary 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite and was a Gourgas Medal recipient in 1995. Skelton became interested in Masonry as a small boy selling newspapers in Vincennes, when a man bought a paper from him with a $5 bill and told him to keep the change. The young Skelton asked his benefactor why he had given him so much money; the man explained that he was a Mason and Masons are taught to give. Skelton decided to become one also when he was grown. He was also member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as a Shriner in Los Angeles.\n\nSkelton was made an honorary brother of Phi Sigma Kappa at Truman State University. In 1961, he became an honorary brother of the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity of Emerson College, when he was awarded the Joseph E. Connor Award for excellence in the field of communications. He also received an honorary degree from the college at the same ceremony. Skelton received an honorary high-school diploma from Vincennes High School. He was also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity; Skelton had composed many marches, which were used by more than 10,000 high-school and college bands. In 1986, Skelton received an honorary degree from Ball State University.\n\nThe Red Skelton Memorial Bridge spans the Wabash River and provides the highway link between Illinois and Indiana on U.S. Route 50, near Skelton's home town of Vincennes. He attended the dedication ceremonies in 1963.\n\nAwards and recognition\n\nIn 1952, Skelton received Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Program and Best Comedian. He also received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for his noncomedic performance in Playhouse 90's presentation of \"The Big Slide\". Skelton and his writers won another Emmy in 1961 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. He was named an honorary faculty member of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1968 and 1969.\n\nSkelton's first major post-television recognition came in 1978, when the Golden Globe Awards named him as the recipient for their Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is given to honor outstanding contributions in entertainment. His excitement was so great upon receiving the award and a standing ovation, that he clutched it tightly enough to break the statuette. When he was presented with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Governor's Award in 1986, Skelton received a standing ovation. \"I want to thank you for sitting down\", he said when the ovation subsided. \"I thought you were pulling a CBS and walking out on me.\" The honor came 16 years after his television program left the airwaves.\n\nSkelton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1987, and in 1988, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Television Hall of Fame. He was one of the International Clown Hall of Fame's first inductees in 1989. Skelton and Katharine Hepburn were honored with lifetime achievement awards by the American Comedy Awards in the same year. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Skelton also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his radio and television work.\n\nLegacy and tributes\nSkelton preferred to be described as a clown rather than a comic: \"A comedian goes out and hits people right on. A clown uses pathos. He can be funny, then turn right around and reach people and touch them with what life is like.\" \"I just want to be known as a clown\", he said, \"because to me that's the height of my profession. It means you can do everything—sing, dance and above all, make people laugh.\" His purpose in life, he believed, was to make people laugh.\n\nIn Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton \"the most unacclaimed clown in show business\", and \"the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin\", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of dialogue and props. \"With one prop, a soft battered hat\", Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, \"he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red.\" He added that Skelton also \"plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors.\" In late 1965, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, reminiscing about the entertainment business, singled out Skelton for high praise. \"It's all so very different today. The whole business of comedy has changed — from 15 minutes of quality to quantity. We had a lot of very funny people around, from Charley Chase to Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. The last one of that breed is Red Skelton.\" Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures also praised Skelton, saying, \"He's a clown in the old tradition. He doesn't need punch lines. He's got heart.\"\n\nSkelton and Marcel Marceau shared a long friendship and admiration of each other's work. Marceau appeared on Skelton's CBS television show three times, including one turn as the host in 1961 as Skelton recovered from surgery. He was also a guest on the three Funny Faces specials that Skelton produced for HBO. In a TV Guide interview after Skelton's death, Marceau said, \"Red, you are eternal for me and the millions of people you made laugh and cry. May God bless you forever, my great and precious companion. I will never forget that silent world we created together.\" CBS issued the following statement upon his death: \"Red's audience had no age limits. He was the consummate family entertainer—a winsome clown, a storyteller without peer, a superb mime, a singer, and a dancer.\"\n\nThe Red Skelton Performing Arts Center was dedicated in February 2006 on the campus of Vincennes University, one block from the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born. The building includes an 850-seat theater, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and dressing rooms. Its grand foyer is a gallery for Skelton's paintings, statues, and film posters. The theater hosts theatrical and musical productions by Vincennes University, as well as special events, convocations, and conventions. The adjacent Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy opened on July 18, 2013, on what would have been Skelton's 100th birthday. It houses his personal and professional materials, which he had collected since the age of 10, in accordance with his wishes that they be made available in his hometown for the public's enjoyment. Skelton's widow, Lothian, noted that he expressed no interest in any sort of Hollywood memorial. The museum is funded jointly by the Red Skelton Museum Foundation and the Indiana Historical Society. Other foundation projects include a fund that provides new clothes to Vincennes children from low-income families. The foundation also purchased Skelton's birthplace. On July 15, 2017, the state of Indiana unveiled a state historic marker at the home in Vincennes where Skelton was born.\n\nThe town of Vincennes has held an annual Red Skelton Festival since 2005. A \"Parade of a Thousand Clowns\", billed as the largest clown parade in the Midwest, is followed by family-oriented activities and live music performances.\n\nFilmography\n\nFeatures\n\nShort subjects\n\nBox-office ranking\nBased on rankings of the amount of money earned in box-office receipts for film showings, for a number of years Skelton was among the most popular stars in the country:\n1944 – 16th-largest box-office draw\n1949 – 13th\n1951 – 14th\n1952 – 21st\n\nPublished works\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nSources cited\n\nExternal links\n\n Red Skelton Biography\n Red Skelton Foundation \n Red Skelton Museum and Education Center\n Red Skelton Performing Arts Center at Vincennes University\n Edna and Red Skelton Collection at the Indiana Historical Society\n RED-EO Video Production Company, article and photo, The Broadcast Archive\n List of Red Skelton TV Episodes 1951–1971, The Classic TV Archive\n Literature on Red Skelton\n Red Skelton at the Internet Archive\n \"Edna Stillwell and the 'Real Making of Red'”, Indiana Historical Bureau\n\nCategory:1913 births\nCategory:1997 deaths\nCategory:20th-century American comedians\nCategory:20th-century American composers\nCategory:20th-century American male actors\nCategory:20th-century American male musicians\nCategory:20th-century American painters\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nRed Skelton\nCategory:American burlesque performers\nCategory:American clowns\nCategory:American male comedians\nCategory:American male composers\nCategory:American male film actors\nCategory:American male painters\nCategory:American male radio actors\nCategory:American male television actors\nCategory:American radio personalities\nCategory:American sketch comedians\nCategory:Television personalities from California\nCategory:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)\nCategory:California Republicans\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners\nCategory:Comedians from California\nCategory:Conservatism in the United States\nCategory:Indiana Historical Society\nCategory:Indiana Republicans\nCategory:Deaths from pneumonia in California\nCategory:Male actors from Indiana\nCategory:Male actors from Palm Springs, California\nCategory:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players\nRed Skelton\nCategory:Painters from Indiana\nCategory:Painters from California\nCategory:People from Vincennes, Indiana\nCategory:Primetime Emmy Award winners\nCategory:Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award\nCategory:United States Army personnel of World War II\nCategory:United States Army soldiers\nCategory:Vaudeville performers\nCategory:20th-century American male artists",
"title": "Red Skelton"
}
] | [
"\"Doughnut Dunkers\" is a routine devised by Skelton and Edna, inspired by observing patrons in a diner eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. The routine involved Skelton's visual impressions of how different people ate doughnuts. This skit gained them success and played a significant role in Skelton's rising celebrity status.",
"Red Skelton's female partner is Edna.",
"They performed the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine at Loew's State Theatre in New York City.",
"The context does not provide a specific date for when they performed the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine, but it mentions that their engagement at Loew's State Theatre occurred in 1937.",
"Yes, in addition to Loew's State Theatre, they also performed at Montreal's Lido Club and the Capitol Theater in Washington, D.C., among other theater dates throughout Canada.",
"Yes, the success of the \"Doughnut Dunkers\" routine and their performance at Loew's State Theatre led to further opportunities. Skelton was even invited to perform at a White House luncheon and became the master of ceremonies for President Franklin D. Roosevelt's official birthday celebrations for many years afterward."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_bde6fa1924234f399674744a805129f9_0 | Lenny Bruce | Lenny Bruce was born Leonard Alfred Schneider to a Jewish family in Mineola, New York, grew up in nearby Bellmore, and attended Wellington C. Mepham High School. His parents divorced when he was five years old (the documentary Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth claims he was eight years old), and Lenny lived with various relatives over the next decade. His British-born father, Myron (Mickey) Schneider, was a shoe clerk and Lenny saw him very infrequently. | Obscenity arrests | On October 4, 1961, Bruce was arrested for obscenity at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco; he had used the word cocksucker and riffed that "to is a preposition, come is a verb", that the sexual context of come is so common that it bears no weight, and that if someone hearing it becomes upset, he "probably can't come". Although the jury acquitted him, other law enforcement agencies began monitoring his appearances, resulting in frequent arrests under charges of obscenity. Bruce was arrested again in 1961, in Philadelphia, for drug possession and again in Los Angeles, two years later. The Los Angeles arrest took place in then-unincorporated West Hollywood, and the arresting officer was a young deputy named Sherman Block, who later became County Sheriff. The specification this time was that the comedian had used the word schmuck, an insulting Yiddish term that is an obscene term for penis. The Hollywood charges were later dismissed. On December 5, 1962, Bruce was arrested on stage at the legendary Gate of Horn folk club in Chicago. The same year he played at Peter Cook's The Establishment club in London, and in April the next year he was barred from entering England by the Home Office as an "undesirable alien". In April 1964, he appeared twice at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village, with undercover police detectives in the audience. He was arrested along with the club owners, Howard and Elly Solomon, who were arrested for allowing an obscene performance to take place. On both occasions, he was arrested after leaving the stage, the complaints again pertaining to his use of various obscenities. A three-judge panel presided over his widely publicized six-month trial, prosecuted by Manhattan Assistant D.A. Richard Kuh, with Ephraim London and Martin Garbus as the defense attorneys. Bruce and club owner Howard Solomon were both found guilty of obscenity on November 4, 1964. The conviction was announced despite positive testimony and petitions of support from - among other artists, writers and educators - Woody Allen, Bob Dylan, Jules Feiffer, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, William Styron, and James Baldwin, and Manhattan journalist and television personality Dorothy Kilgallen and sociologist Herbert Gans. Bruce was sentenced on December 21, 1964 to four months in a workhouse; he was set free on bail during the appeals process and died before the appeal was decided. Solomon later saw his conviction overturned; Bruce, who died before the decision, never had his conviction stricken. Bruce later received a full posthumous gubernatorial pardon. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_bde6fa1924234f399674744a805129f9_0_q#0",
"C_bde6fa1924234f399674744a805129f9_0_q#1",
"C_bde6fa1924234f399674744a805129f9_0_q#2",
"C_bde6fa1924234f399674744a805129f9_0_q#3",
"C_bde6fa1924234f399674744a805129f9_0_q#4",
"C_bde6fa1924234f399674744a805129f9_0_q#5",
"C_bde6fa1924234f399674744a805129f9_0_q#6",
"C_bde6fa1924234f399674744a805129f9_0_q#7",
"C_bde6fa1924234f399674744a805129f9_0_q#8",
"C_bde6fa1924234f399674744a805129f9_0_q#9"
] | [
"What was Bruce arrested for?",
"Did he get jail time?",
"What other times was he arrested?",
"Any other arrests?",
"Did this arrest record have any negative effects for Bruce?",
"Who was Solomon?",
"What is considered to be \"obscenity\" in these arrests?",
"Any other words that were considered to be \"obscene\"?",
"Were words the only reason he was arrested for \"obscenity\"?",
"Why was he considered to be an \"undesirable alien\"?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
0,
0,
1
] | [
2,
1,
2,
0,
0,
2,
2,
0,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
321
],
[
478
],
[
553
],
[
2408
],
[
1814
],
[
92
],
[
764
],
[
1062
],
[
947
]
],
"texts": [
[
"On October 4, 1961, Bruce was arrested for obscenity at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco;"
],
[
"Although the jury acquitted him, other law enforcement agencies began monitoring his appearances, resulting in frequent arrests under charges of obscenity."
],
[
"Bruce was arrested again in 1961, in Philadelphia, for drug possession"
],
[
"again in Los Angeles, two years later. The Los Angeles arrest took place in then-unincorporated West Hollywood, and the arresting officer was a young deputy"
],
[
"Solomon later saw his conviction overturned; Bruce, who died before the decision, never had his conviction stricken."
],
[
"Bruce and club owner Howard Solomon were both found guilty of obscenity on November 4, 1964."
],
[
"he had used the word cocksucker and riffed that \"to is a preposition, come is a verb\","
],
[
"The specification this time was that the comedian had used the word schmuck, an insulting Yiddish term that is an obscene term for penis."
],
[
"he played at Peter Cook's The Establishment club in London, and in April the next year he was barred from entering England by the Home Office as an \"undesirable alien\"."
],
[
"On December 5, 1962, Bruce was arrested on stage at the legendary Gate of Horn folk club in Chicago."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
321,
478,
553,
2408,
1814,
92,
764,
1062,
947
],
"texts": [
"On October 4, 1961, Bruce was arrested for obscenity at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco;",
"Although the jury acquitted him, other law enforcement agencies began monitoring his appearances, resulting in frequent arrests under charges of obscenity.",
"Bruce was arrested again in 1961, in Philadelphia, for drug possession",
"again in Los Angeles, two years later. The Los Angeles arrest took place in then-unincorporated West Hollywood, and the arresting officer was a young deputy",
"Solomon later saw his conviction overturned; Bruce, who died before the decision, never had his conviction stricken.",
"Bruce and club owner Howard Solomon were both found guilty of obscenity on November 4, 1964.",
"he had used the word cocksucker and riffed that \"to is a preposition, come is a verb\",",
"The specification this time was that the comedian had used the word schmuck, an insulting Yiddish term that is an obscene term for penis.",
"he played at Peter Cook's The Establishment club in London, and in April the next year he was barred from entering England by the Home Office as an \"undesirable alien\".",
"On December 5, 1962, Bruce was arrested on stage at the legendary Gate of Horn folk club in Chicago."
]
} | Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), better known by his stage name Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and actor. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of comedy which contained satire, politics, religion, sex, and vulgarity. His 1964 conviction in an obscenity trial was followed by a posthumous pardon in 2003.
Bruce paved the way for counterculture-era comedians. His trial for obscenity was a landmark of freedom of speech in the United States. In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him third (behind Richard Pryor and George Carlin) on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.
Early life
Bruce was Jewish, born Leonard Alfred Schneider in Mineola, New York. He grew up in nearby Bellmore, and attended Wellington C. Mepham High School. According to his biography, during part of his high school years, he lived at Dengler's Farm on Wantagh Avenue in Wantagh, New York. His parents divorced before he was 10, and he lived with various relatives over the next decade. His British-born father, Myron (Mickey) Schneider, was a shoe clerk; they saw each other very infrequently. His mother, Sally Marr (legal name Sadie Schneider, born Sadie Kitchenberg), was a stage performer and dancer and had an enormous influence on Bruce's career.
After spending time working on a farm, Bruce joined the United States Navy at the age of 16 in 1942, with active service during World War II aboard the in Northern Africa, Palermo in 1943, and Anzio, Italy in 1944. In May 1945, after a comedic performance for his shipmates in which he was dressed in drag, his commanding officers became upset. He defiantly convinced his ship's medical officer that he was experiencing homosexual urges, leading to his dishonorable discharge in July 1945. However, he had not admitted to or been found guilty of any breach of naval regulations, and successfully applied to change his discharge to "Under Honorable Conditions ... by reason of unsuitability for the naval service".
During the Korean War era, Bruce served in the United States Merchant Marine, ferrying troops from the US to Europe and back. In 1959, while videotaping the first episode of Hugh Hefner's Playboy's Penthouse, Bruce talked about his Navy experience and showed a tattoo he received in Malta in 1942.
After a short period living with his father in California, Bruce settled in New York City, hoping to establish himself as a comedian. However, he found it difficult to differentiate himself from the thousands of other show business hopefuls who populated the city. One place where they congregated was Hanson's, a diner where Bruce met Joe Ancis, who had a profound influence on Bruce's approach to comedy. Many of Bruce's later routines reflected his meticulous schooling at the hands of Ancis. According to Bruce's biographer Albert Goldman, Ancis's humor involved stream-of-consciousness sexual fantasies and references to jazz. He also gained notoriety for his focus on controversial subjects, black humour, obscenity, and criticism of organized religion and the establishment.
Bruce took the stage as "Lenny Marsalle" one evening at the Victory Club as a stand-in master of ceremonies for one of his mother's shows. His ad-libs earned him some laughs. Soon afterward, in 1947, just after changing his last name to Bruce, he earned $12 and a free spaghetti dinner for his first stand-up performance in Brooklyn. He was later a guest—and was introduced by his mother, calling herself Sally Bruce—on the Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts radio program. Lenny did a piece inspired by Sid Caesar, "The Bavarian Mimic", featuring impressions of American movie stars (e.g., Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson).
Career
Bruce's early comedy career included writing the screenplays for Dance Hall Racket in 1953, which featured Bruce, his wife Honey Harlow, and mother Sally Marr; Dream Follies in 1954, a low-budget burlesque romp; and a children's film, The Rocket Man, in 1954. In 1956, Frank Ray Perilli, a fellow nightclub comedian who later wrote two dozen successful films and plays, became Bruce's mentor and part-time manager. Through Perilli, Bruce met and collaborated with photojournalist William Karl Thomas on three screenplays (Leather Jacket, Killer's Grave and The Degenerate), none of which made it to the screen, and the comedy material on his first three comedy albums.
Bruce was a roommate of comedian Buddy Hackett in the 1950s. The two appeared on the Patrice Munsel Show (1957–1958), calling their comedy duo the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players", 20 years before the cast of Saturday Night Live used the same name. In 1957, Thomas booked Bruce into the Slate Brothers nightclub, where he was fired the first night for what Variety headlined as "blue material". This led to the theme of Bruce's first solo album on Berkeley-based Fantasy Records, The Sick Humor of Lenny Bruce, for which Thomas photographed the album cover. Thomas also photographed Bruce's other covers, acted as cinematographer on abortive attempts to film their screenplays, and in 1989 wrote a memoir of their ten-year collaboration, Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet. The 2016 biography of Frank Ray Perilli, The Candy Butcher, devotes a chapter to Perilli's ten-year collaboration with Bruce.
Bruce released four albums of original material on Fantasy Records, later compiled and re-released as The Lenny Bruce Originals. Two later records were produced and sold by Bruce himself, including a 10-inch album of the 1961 San Francisco performances that started his legal troubles. Starting in the late 1960s, other unissued Bruce material was released by Alan Douglas, Frank Zappa and Phil Spector, as well as Fantasy. Bruce developed the complexity and tone of his material in Enrico Banducci's North Beach nightclub, the hungry i, where Mort Sahl had earlier made a name for himself.
Branded a "sick comic", Bruce was essentially blacklisted from television, and when he did appear, thanks to sympathetic fans like Hefner and Steve Allen, it was with great concessions to Broadcast Standards and Practices. Jokes that might offend, like a routine on airplane-glue-sniffing teenagers that was done live for The Steve Allen Show in 1959, had to be typed out and pre-approved by network officials. On his debut on Allen's show, Bruce made an unscripted comment on the recent marriage of Elizabeth Taylor to Eddie Fisher, wondering, "Will Elizabeth Taylor become bar mitzvahed?"
In the midst of a severe blizzard, Bruce gave a famous performance at Carnegie Hall at midnight on February 4, 1961. It was recorded and later released as the three-disc set The Carnegie Hall Concert. In his posthumous biography of Bruce, Albert Goldman described that night:
In August 1965, a year before his death, Bruce gave his penultimate performance at San Francisco's Basin Street West, mainly talking about his legal troubles. The filmed performance was released by Rhino Home Video in 1992 as The Lenny Bruce Performance Film.
Personal life
In 1951, Bruce met Honey Harlow, a stripper from Manila, Arkansas. They were married that year, and Bruce was determined she would
end her work as a stripper. They left New York in 1953 for the West Coast, where they got work as a double act at the Cup and Saucer in Los Angeles. Bruce then joined a bill at the club Strip City. Harlow found employment at the Colony Club, widely known as the best burlesque club in Los Angeles at the time.
Bruce left Strip City in late 1954 and found work at various strip clubs in the San Fernando Valley. As master of ceremonies, he introduced strippers while performing his material. The Valley clubs provided the perfect environment for him to create new routines. According to his primary biographer, Albert Goldman, it was "precisely at the moment when he sank to the bottom of the barrel and started working the places that were the lowest of the low" that he suddenly broke free of "all the restraints and inhibitions and disabilities that formerly had kept him just mediocre and began to blow with a spontaneous freedom and resourcefulness that resembled the style and inspiration of his new friends and admirers, the jazz musicians of the modernist school."
Honey and Lenny's daughter Kitty Bruce was born in 1955. Honey and Lenny had a tumultuous relationship. Many serious domestic incidents occurred between them, usually the result of serious drug use. They broke up and reunited over and over again between 1956 and Lenny's death in 1966. They first separated in March 1956, and were back together by July of that year when they travelled to Honolulu for a nightclub tour. During the trip, Honey was arrested for marijuana possession. Prevented from leaving the island due to her parole conditions, Lenny took the opportunity to leave her again, this time kidnapping the then one-year-old Kitty. In her autobiography, Honey claims Lenny turned her in to the police. She was later sentenced to two years in federal prison.
Throughout the final decade of his life, Bruce was beset by severe drug addiction, using heroin, methamphetamine and Dilaudid daily, suffering numerous health problems and personal strife as a result.
He had an affair with jazz singer Annie Ross in the late 1950s. In 1959, his divorce from Honey was finalized. At the time of his death, his girlfriend was comedian Lotus Weinstock.
Legal troubles
Bruce's desire to help his wife stop working as a stripper led him to pursue schemes designed to make as much money as possible. The most notable was the Brother Mathias Foundation scam, which resulted in Bruce's arrest in Miami, Florida, in 1951 for impersonating a priest. He was soliciting donations for a leper colony in British Guiana (now Guyana) under the auspices of the "Brother Mathias Foundation", which he had legally chartered—the name was his own invention, but possibly referred to the actual Brother Matthias who had befriended Babe Ruth at the Baltimore orphanage where Ruth had been confined as a child.
While posing as a laundry man, Bruce stole several priests' clergy shirts and a clerical collar. He was acquitted because of the legality of the New York state-chartered foundation, the actual existence of the Guiana leper colony, and the local clergy's inability to expose him as an impostor. Later, in his semifictional autobiography How to Talk Dirty and Influence People, Bruce said that he had made about $8,000 in three weeks, sending $2,500 to the leper colony and keeping the rest.
Obscenity arrests
On October 4, 1961, Bruce was arrested for obscenity at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco, where he had used the word "cocksucker", and said that "to is a preposition, come is a verb"; that the sexual context of 'come' was so common that it bore no weight; and that if someone hearing it became upset, he "probably can't come". Although the jury acquitted him, other law enforcement agencies began monitoring his appearances, resulting in frequent arrests under obscenity charges.
Bruce was arrested again in 1961 in Philadelphia for drug possession, and again in Los Angeles two years later. The latter arrest took place in then-unincorporated West Hollywood, and the arresting officer was a young deputy named Sherman Block, who later became county sheriff. The charge this time was that the comedian had used the word "schmuck", an insulting Yiddish word that was also considered a term for "penis". The Hollywood charges were later dismissed.
On December 5, 1962, Bruce was arrested on stage at the Gate of Horn folk club in Chicago. That year, he played at Peter Cook's The Establishment club in London, and in April the next year he was barred from entering the United Kingdom by the Home Office as an "undesirable alien".
In April 1964, he appeared twice at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village, with undercover police detectives in the audience. He was arrested along with club owners Howard and Elly Solomon, who were arrested for allowing an obscene performance. On both occasions, Bruce was arrested after leaving the stage.
A three-judge panel presided over his widely publicized six-month trial, prosecuted by Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Richard Kuh, with Ephraim London and Martin Garbus as the defense attorneys. Bruce and Howard Solomon were found guilty of obscenity on November 4, 1964. The conviction was announced despite positive testimony and petitions of support from—among other artists, writers and educators—Woody Allen, Bob Dylan, Jules Feiffer, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, William Styron, and James Baldwin, and Manhattan journalist and television personality Dorothy Kilgallen and sociologist Herbert Gans. Bruce was sentenced on December 21, 1964, to four months in a workhouse; he was set free on bail during the appeals process and died before the appeal was decided. Solomon, the owner of the club where Lenny was arrested, later saw Bruce's conviction overturned.
Later years
Bruce appeared on network television only six times. In his later club performances, he was known for relating the details of his encounters with the police directly in his comedy routine. These performances often included rants about his court battles over obscenity charges, tirades against fascism, and complaints that he was being denied his right to freedom of speech. He was banned outright from several U.S. cities.
In September 1962, his only visit to Australia caused a media storm, although he was not banned nor forced to leave the country. He was booked for a two-week engagement at Aaron's Exchange Hotel, a small pub in central Sydney, by American-born, Australia-based promoter Lee Gordon, who was by then deeply in debt, nearing the end of his formerly successful career, and desperate to save his business. Bruce's first show at 9 p.m. on September 6 was uneventful, but his second show at 11 p.m. led to major public controversy. Bruce was heckled by audience members, and when local actress Barbara Wyndon stood up and complained that Bruce was only talking about America and asked him to talk about something different, a clearly annoyed Bruce responded, "Fuck you, madam. That's different, isn't it?" Bruce's remark shocked some audience members and several walked out.
By the next day, several Sydney papers denounced Bruce as "sick"; one illustrated their story with a retouched photograph appearing to show Bruce giving a fascist salute. The venue owners cancelled the rest of Bruce's performances, and he retreated to his Kings Cross hotel room. Local university students (including future OZ magazine editor Richard Neville), who were fans of Bruce's humor tried to arrange a performance at the Roundhouse at the University of New South Wales, but at the last minute the university's vice-chancellor rescinded permission to use the venue, with no reason given, and an interview Bruce was scheduled to give on Australian television was cancelled by the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
Bruce remained largely confined to his hotel, but eight days later gave his third and last Australian concert at the Wintergarden Theatre in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Although it had a capacity of 2,100, only 200 people attended, including a strong police presence, and Bruce gave what was described as a "subdued" performance. It was long rumored that a tape recording of the historic performance was made by police, but it was in fact recorded by local jazz saxophonist Sid Powell, who brought a portable tape recorder to the show. The tape was rediscovered in 2011 in the possession of Australian singer Sammy Gaha, who had acted as Bruce's chauffeur during his visit; it was subsequently donated to the Lenny Bruce audio collection at Brandeis University. Bruce left the country a few days later and spoke little about the experience.
Increasing drug use also affected Bruce's health and repeated arrests further caused deterioration to his mental health. By 1966, he had been blacklisted by nearly every nightclub in the U.S. as owners feared prosecution for obscenity. He gave a famous performance at the Berkeley Community Theatre in December 1965, which was recorded and became his last live album, The Berkeley Concert. The performance has been described as lucid, clear and calm, and one of his best. His last performance took place on June 25, 1966, at The Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, on a bill with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. The performance was not remembered fondly by Bill Graham, whose memoir describes Bruce as "whacked out on amphetamine"; Graham thought that Bruce finished his set emotionally disturbed. Zappa asked Bruce to sign his draft card, but the suspicious Bruce refused.
At the request of Hefner and with the aid of Paul Krassner, Bruce wrote an autobiography that was serialized in Playboy in 1964 and 1965. It was later published as How to Talk Dirty and Influence People. During this time, Bruce also contributed a number of articles to Krassner's satirical magazine The Realist.
Death and posthumous pardon
On August 3, 1966, Bruce was found dead in the bathroom of his Hollywood Hills home. The official photo taken at the scene showed him lying naked on the floor, a syringe and burned bottle cap nearby, along with various other narcotics paraphernalia. Record producer Phil Spector, a friend of Bruce, bought the negatives of the photographs "to keep them from the press". The official cause of death was "acute morphine poisoning caused by an overdose".
Bruce's remains were interred in Eden Memorial Park Cemetery in Mission Hills, California, but an unconventional memorial on August 21 was controversial enough to keep his name in the spotlight. Over 500 people came to the service to pay their respects, led by Spector. Cemetery officials tried to block the ceremony after ads for it encouraged attendees to bring box lunches and noisemakers. Delivering the eulogy, featured at the end of the documentary Lenny Bruce Without the Tears, the Rev. William Glenesk said:
Bruce's epitaph reads: "Beloved father—devoted son / Peace at last". Dick Schaap concluded his eulogy to Bruce in Playboy with the words: "One last four-letter word for Lenny: Dead. At forty. That's obscene". A memorial event was held at the Judson Memorial Church in New York City on August 12, which was "packed to overflowing" an hour before it was due to get underway. It was attended by prominent members of the arts community, many of whom also performed, and included Allen Ginsberg, Joe Lee Wilson, Jean Shepherd, Charlie Haden, and The Fugs; Paul Krassner officiated.
On December 23, 2003, 37 years after Bruce's death, New York Governor George Pataki granted him a posthumous pardon for his obscenity conviction.
Legacy
Bruce was the subject of the 1974 biographical drama Lenny, directed by Bob Fosse and starring Dustin Hoffman, who was nominated for an Best Actor Academy Award for the role. It was based on the Broadway stage play of the same name by Julian Barry, which starred Cliff Gorman in his 1972 Tony Award-winning role. The main character's editing of a fictionalized film version of Lenny was also a major part of Fosse's own autobiopic, the 1979 Academy Award-nominated All That Jazz, where Gorman again played Bruce.
The documentary film Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth (1998), directed by Robert B. Weide and narrated by Robert De Niro, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Episode 12 of Season 1 of Liberty on Trial in America: Cases That Defined Freedom, aired on January 3, 2020, explored the ways in which Bruce and the First Amendment affected each other.
In 2004, Comedy Central placed Bruce at number three on its list of the 100 greatest stand-ups of all time, above Woody Allen (4th) and below Richard Pryor (1st) and George Carlin (2nd). Both comedians who ranked higher than Bruce considered him a major influence. Pryor said that hearing Bruce for the first time "changed my life"; while Carlin said that Bruce was a "brilliant comedian" who influenced him as much as a man in his moral thinking and attitudes as he did as a comedian. Carlin was arrested along with Bruce after refusing to provide identification when police raided a Bruce performance.
In popular culture
In 1966, Grace Slick co-wrote and sang the Great Society song "Father Bruce".
Bruce is pictured in the top row of the cover of the Beatles 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The clip of a news broadcast featured in "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night" by Simon & Garfunkel carries the ostensible newscast audio of Lenny Bruce's death. In another track on the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, "A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)," Paul Simon sings, "... I learned the truth from Lenny Bruce, that all my wealth won't buy me health."
Tim Hardin's fourth album Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert, released in 1968, includes his song Lenny's Tune about his friend Lenny Bruce.
Nico's 1967 album Chelsea Girl includes a track entitled "Eulogy to Lenny Bruce," a version of Tim Hardin's "Lenny's Tune" with the lyrics slightly altered. In it, she describes her sorrow and anger at Bruce's death.
The Stranglers' 1977 song No More Heroes (The Stranglers song) references Lenny Bruce, asking "Whatever happened to dear old Lenny?"
Genesis's 1974 song "Broadway Melody of 1974" depicts a dystopic New York where "Lenny Bruce declares a truce and plays his other hand, Marshall McLuhan, casual viewin', head buried in the sand" and "Groucho, with his movies trailing, stands alone with his punchline failing."
John Mayall's 1969 live album The Turning Point opens with the song "The Laws Must Change", featuring the line "Lenny Bruce was trying to tell you many things before he died".
Bob Dylan's 1981 song "Lenny Bruce", from his Shot of Love album, describes a brief taxi ride the two men shared. In its last line, Dylan recalls: "Lenny Bruce was bad, he was the brother that you never had." Dylan has performed the song live in concert as recently as November 2019.
Phil Ochs wrote a song eulogizing Bruce, "Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore?", that is featured on his 1969 album Rehearsals for Retirement.
Australian group Paul Kelly And The Dots' 1982 album Manila features a track named "Lenny (To Live Is to Burn)", which includes clips of Bruce performing.
R.E.M.'s 1987 song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" mentions Bruce twice. Its opening line is, "That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds, snakes and aeroplanes, and Lenny Bruce is not afraid". The third verse refers to a quartet of famous people sharing the initials L.B. (Bruce, Leonard Bernstein, Leonid Brezhnev and Lester Bangs).
Lenny Bruce appears as a character in Don DeLillo's 1997 novel Underworld, where Bruce does a stand-up routine about the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Jonathan Larson's musical Rent has a song entitled "La Vie Boheme", mentioning Bruce.
Joy Zipper's 2005 album The Heartlight Set features the track "For Lenny's Own Pleasure".
Nada Surf's song "Imaginary Friends", from their 2005 album The Weight Is a Gift, refers to Bruce: "Lenny Bruce's bug eyes stare from an LP, asking me just what kind of fight I've got in me."
Shmaltz Brewing Company brews a year-round beer called Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A., whose marketing line is "Brewed with an obscene amount of hops".
Metric's song "On the Sly", from their 2007 album Grow Up and Blow Away, says "For Halloween I want to be Lenny Bruce".
In the 2014 episode "Comic Perversion" of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, fictional comic Josh Galloway says while being arrested: "I would like to dedicate my arrest to Mr. Lenny Bruce. NYPD crucified him, too."
A fictionalized version of Bruce is played by Luke Kirby as a recurring character in the Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, where he is portrayed as a friend, lover and champion of the titular character. Kirby won an Emmy for his portrayal in 2019.
Lenny Bruce appears sitting on a bar stool next to the "Torch" character on the cover of the album Clutching at Straws by the British rock band Marillion, released in 1987.
Bibliography
Bruce, Lenny. Stamp Help Out! (Self-published pamphlet, 1962)
Bruce, Lenny. How to Talk Dirty and Influence People (Playboy Publishing, 1967)
Autobiography, released posthumously. Content previously serialized in Playboy magazine.
By others:
Barry, Julian. Lenny (play) (Grove Press, Inc. 1971)
Bruce, Honey. Honey: The Life and Loves of Lenny's Shady Lady (Playboy Press, 1976, with Dana Benenson)
Bruce, Kitty. The (almost) Unpublished Lenny Bruce (1984, Running Press) (includes transcripts of interviews and routines, ephemera, and a graphically spruced up reproduction of Stamp Help Out!)
Cohen, John, ed., compiler. The Essential Lenny Bruce (Ballantine Books, 1967)
Collins, Ronald and David Skover, The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall & Rise of an American Icon (Sourcebooks, 2002)
DeLillo, Don. Underworld, (Simon and Schuster Inc., 1997)
Denton, Bradley. The Calvin Coolidge Home for Dead Comedians, an award-winning collection of science fiction stories in which the title story has Lenny Bruce as one of the two protagonists.
Goldman, Albert, with Lawrence Schiller. Ladies and Gentlemen – Lenny Bruce!! (Random House, 1974)
Goldstein, Jonathan. Lenny Bruce Is Dead (Coach House Press, 2001)
Josepher, Brian. What the Psychic Saw (Sterlinghouse Publisher, 2005)
Kofsky, Frank. Lenny Bruce: The Comedian as Social Critic & Secular Moralist (Monad Press, 1974)
Kringas, Damian. Lenny Bruce: 13 Days In Sydney (Independence Jones Guerilla Press, Sydney, 2010) A study of Bruce's ill-fated September 1962 tour down under.
Marciniak, Vwadek P., Politics, Humor and the Counterculture: Laughter in the Age of Decay (New York etc., Peter Lang, 2008).
Marmo, Ronnie. I'm Not a Comedian... I'm Lenny Bruce (written/performed by Marmo, directed by Joe Mantegna, 2017)
Smith, Valerie Kohler. Lenny (novelization based on the Barry-scripted/Fosse-directed film) (Grove Press, Inc., 1974)
Thomas, William Karl. Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet Memoir and pictures from Bruce's principal collaborator. First printing, Archon Books, 1989; second printing, Media Maestro, 2002; Japanese edition, DHC Corp. Tokyo, 2001.
Filmography
Discography
Albums
Posthumous releases
Compilations
The later compilations are released in the European Union under various oldies labels, as the content used is public domain in the EU.
Audiobooks
Tribute albums
See also
List of civil rights leaders
Dirtymouth, a 1970 biographical film about Bruce
Footnotes
References
External links
The Official Lenny Bruce Website
FBI Records: The Vault – Lenny Bruce at fbi.gov
Correspondence and Other Papers Pertaining to Lenny Bruce's Drug Case, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Articles
Linder, Douglas, "The Lenny Bruce Trial: An Account" "Famous Trials: The Lenny Bruce Trial, 1964"
Azlant, Edward. "Lenny Bruce Again", Shecky Magazine, August 22, 2006
Gilmore, John. "Lenny Bruce and the Bunny", excerpt from Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Trip (Amok Books, 1997).
Harnisch, Larry. "Voices", Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2007. (Reminiscences by saxophonist Dave Pell)
Kaufman, Anthony. (interview with Swear to Tell the Truth producer), Indiewire.com, April 16, 2008
Hentoff, Nat. "Lenny Bruce: The crucifixion of a true believer", Gadfly March/April 2001
Sloan, Will. "Is Lenny Bruce Still Funny?", Hazlitt, November 4, 2014
Smith, Daniel V. "The Complete Lenny Bruce Chronology" (fan site)
"Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet" Memoir and pictures from Bruce's principal collaborator, Media Maestro 2001.
[CC-By-SA]
Audio/video
Video Clips Relating to the Trial of Lenny Bruce as assembled by the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School
Category:1925 births
Category:1966 deaths
Category:20th-century American comedians
Category:20th-century American memoirists
Category:Accidental deaths in California
Category:American anti-fascists
Category:American humorists
Category:American male comedians
Category:American people convicted of drug offenses
Category:American people of English-Jewish descent
Category:American sailors
Category:American satirists
Category:American social commentators
Category:American stand-up comedians
Category:Beat Generation people
Category:Burials at Eden Memorial Park Cemetery
Category:Censorship in the arts
Category:Comedians from New York (state)
Category:Critics of religions
Category:Critics of the Catholic Church
Category:Drug-related deaths in California
Category:Freedom of speech in the United States
Category:Jewish American male comedians
Category:Jewish anti-fascists
Category:Military personnel from New York (state)
Category:Obscenity controversies in stand-up comedy
Category:People from Bellmore, New York
Category:People from Greenwich Village
Category:People from Mineola, New York
Category:People who have received posthumous pardons
Category:Philles Records artists
Category:Race-related controversies in stand-up comedy
Category:Recipients of American gubernatorial pardons
Category:Religious controversies in stand-up comedy
Category:Free speech activists
Category:Stand-up comedy controversies
Category:United States Merchant Mariners
Category:United States Merchant Mariners of the Korean War
Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II
Category:United States Navy sailors
Category:Jewish humorists | [] | [
"Bruce was arrested multiple times for various reasons. In 1961, he was arrested in San Francisco for obscenity for using the word \"cocksucker\" in his act. Later in 1961, he was arrested in Philadelphia for drug possession. In 1963, he was arrested in Los Angeles for using the word \"schmuck\", an obscene term for penis. In 1964, he was arrested twice at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village for obscenities used in his performances. He was found guilty of obscenity in 1964 after a six-month trial.",
"Yes, Bruce was sentenced on December 21, 1964 to four months in a workhouse. However, he was set free on bail during the appeals process and died before the appeal was decided.",
"Apart from his arrest in San Francisco in 1961 for obscenity, Bruce was also arrested later the same year in Philadelphia for drug possession and again in Los Angeles two years later for using the word \"schmuck\", an obscene term for penis. He was also arrested on December 5, 1962, on stage at the Gate of Horn folk club in Chicago. Furthermore, in April 1964, he was arrested twice at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village, with the complaints again pertaining to his use of various obscenities.",
"The text does not provide information on any other arrests of Bruce apart from those mentioned earlier.",
"Yes, Bruce's arrest record did have negative effects on him. The numerous charges of obscenity led to him being monitored by various law enforcement agencies, resulting in frequent arrests. Furthermore, his arrest at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village resulted in a widely publicized six-month trial, where he was found guilty of obscenity. This conviction led to a sentence of four months in a workhouse. He was also barred from entering England by the Home Office, who described him as an \"undesirable alien.\"",
"In this context, Solomon refers to Howard Solomon. He was one of the owners of the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village, where Bruce performed on two occasions in 1964. Both Solomon and Bruce were arrested and found guilty of obscenity. However, Solomon later had his conviction overturned.\n",
"In the context of these arrests, \"obscenity\" refers to the use of certain vulgar or obscene words in his act. Specifically, Bruce was first arrested for using the word \"cocksucker\". Later, he was arrested for using the word \"schmuck\", which is an insulting Yiddish term that is an obscene term for a penis. Obscenity, in a legal context, often refers to expressions--words, images, actions--considered offensive, lascivious, or indecent. These standards can vary widely between jurisdictions and cultures.",
"The context provides information on only two words that were considered obscene in Bruce's act: \"cocksucker\" and \"schmuck\". It does not mention any other specific words considered obscene.",
"The context only provides instances where Bruce's use of certain words led to his arrests on charges of obscenity. However, it is important to note that the general definition of obscenity can extend beyond just the use of specific words and may include any actions, images or expressions that are considered offensive, lascivious, or indecent. The specific charges in Bruce's case are not detailed beyond the mention of these two words.",
"The context does not provide specific reasons why Bruce was considered an \"undesirable alien\" by the Home Office in England. This term is typically used to describe someone who is not a citizen and is deemed undesirable due to their behaviour, in this case possibly related to Bruce's frequent arrests and the nature of the obscenities in his performances."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No"
] |
C_79a516ac5fbc4b94b2d0f2caedd9c81c_0 | Marc Márquez | Marc Marquez Alenta (born 17 February 1993) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and four-time MotoGP world champion. Marquez races for Honda's factory team since his MotoGP debut in 2013. Nicknamed the "Ant of Cervera", he is one of four riders to have won world championship titles in three different categories, after Mike Hailwood, Phil Read and Valentino Rossi. Marquez won the 2010 125cc World Championship, the 2012 Moto2 World Championship, and the 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 MotoGP World Championships. | Moto2 World Championship | Marquez moved into the Moto2 class for 2011 - the first of an expected two-year deal - as the sole rider of the new team Monlau Competicion, run by his manager Emilio Alzamora. He finished 21st in Portugal, before taking his first victory in the class at the French Grand Prix. At his home race in Catalonia, Marquez finished second behind championship leader Stefan Bradl, before another fall at the Silverstone, having started from his first Moto2 pole position. With Bradl taking his fourth victory in the first six races, Marquez trailed him by 82 points at the end of the weekend. Marquez made a mid-season surge up the championship standings, winning six of the next seven races to move within six points of Bradl in the championship standings. In the Japanese Grand Prix, Marquez took his seventh pole position of the season but finished second to Andrea Iannone, but that finish combined with a fourth place for Bradl, allowed Marquez to take the championship lead by a point. At the Australian Grand Prix, Marquez was involved in an incident with Ratthapark Wilairot during free practice; Marquez crashed into the back of Wilairot after the session had been concluded, and for riding in an "irresponsible manner", was given a one-minute time penalty onto his qualifying time. The penalty ensured Marquez would start the race from last on the grid, but he made his way through the field and eventually finished the race in third place. Prior to the Malaysian Grand Prix, Marquez confirmed that he would remain in Moto2 for the 2012 season, after rumours of a move into the MotoGP class. Marquez's race weekend was hampered in the opening minutes of the first free practice session, as he crashed on a damp patch of asphalt. After sitting out two further practice sessions, Marquez completed two laps in the qualifying session, but his times were only good enough for 36th on the grid. He did not start the race, as he failed a medical examination prior to the warm-up on race morning. Marquez attended the final race of the season in Valencia, in the hope of being fit to compete, but withdrew due to his continued vision problems, giving Bradl the title. In 2012, Marquez won the Moto2 championship title after a season-long battle with fellow Spanish rider Pol Espargaro; a third-place finish for Marquez at the Australian Grand Prix - despite a win for Espargaro - was enough to give him his second world title before moving into the premier class for the 2013 season. He took his last victory in the class at the Valencian Grand Prix, the last event of the season, despite starting from 33rd on the grid. This performance, which implied overtaking 20 bikes on the first lap alone, meant the biggest comeback in the sport's history. He finished the season with nine race wins, setting a record for the class that still stands. Marquez's result was enough to give Suter the constructors' title for the class. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_79a516ac5fbc4b94b2d0f2caedd9c81c_0_q#0",
"C_79a516ac5fbc4b94b2d0f2caedd9c81c_0_q#1",
"C_79a516ac5fbc4b94b2d0f2caedd9c81c_0_q#2",
"C_79a516ac5fbc4b94b2d0f2caedd9c81c_0_q#3",
"C_79a516ac5fbc4b94b2d0f2caedd9c81c_0_q#4",
"C_79a516ac5fbc4b94b2d0f2caedd9c81c_0_q#5"
] | [
"what happened in the moto2 world championship?",
"what else is known about this championship?",
"what happened after that?",
"what is the highlight of his moto2 career?",
"did he win any other race in this category?",
"how bad was this crash?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
177
],
[
278
],
[
752
],
[
986
],
[
2922
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Marquez moved into the Moto2 class for 2011 - the first of an expected two-year deal - as the sole rider of the new team Monlau Competicion,"
],
[
"He finished 21st in Portugal, before taking his first victory in the class at the French Grand Prix."
],
[
"At his home race in Catalonia, Marquez finished second behind championship leader Stefan Bradl, before another fall at the Silverstone, having started from his first Moto2 pole position."
],
[
"In the Japanese Grand Prix, Marquez took his seventh pole position of the season but finished second to Andrea Iannone,"
],
[
"At the Australian Grand Prix, Marquez was involved in an incident with Ratthapark Wilairot during free practice; Marquez crashed into the back of Wilairot after the session"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
177,
278,
752,
986,
2922
],
"texts": [
"Marquez moved into the Moto2 class for 2011 - the first of an expected two-year deal - as the sole rider of the new team Monlau Competicion,",
"He finished 21st in Portugal, before taking his first victory in the class at the French Grand Prix.",
"At his home race in Catalonia, Marquez finished second behind championship leader Stefan Bradl, before another fall at the Silverstone, having started from his first Moto2 pole position.",
"In the Japanese Grand Prix, Marquez took his seventh pole position of the season but finished second to Andrea Iannone,",
"At the Australian Grand Prix, Marquez was involved in an incident with Ratthapark Wilairot during free practice; Marquez crashed into the back of Wilairot after the session",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Marc Márquez Alentà (born 17 February 1993) is a Spanish professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer, who has raced for Honda's factory team since his MotoGP debut in 2013. Born in Cervera, Catalonia, Spain, he is nicknamed the 'Ant of Cervera' worldwide (due to his height of 1.68m), and 'el tro de Cervera' in his hometown, meaning the 'Thunder of Cervera'. He is one of four riders to have won world championship titles in three different categories, after Mike Hailwood, Phil Read and Valentino Rossi, and is one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, with eight Grand Prix World Championships to his name, six of which are in the premier class. Márquez became the third Spaniard after Àlex Crivillé and Jorge Lorenzo to win the premier class title, and is the most successful Spanish rider in MotoGP to date, with 59 wins. In 2013 he became the first rider since Kenny Roberts in to win the premier class title in his first season, and the youngest to win the title overall, at 20 years and 266 days of age.
Márquez is often considered one of the greatest innovators of modern MotoGP racing, due to his comparatively exaggerated cornering technique of leaning so far over the bike, that he seems to be "in constant danger of sliding out". He is the older brother of 2014 Moto3 world champion and 2019 Moto2 world champion Álex Márquez.
Márquez won the 125cc World Championship, the Moto2 World Championship, and the , , , , and MotoGP World Championships. He became the first rider since Kenny Roberts in to win the premier class title in his rookie season, and the youngest to secure the title overall. In 2014 he defended his title, winning the championship with three rounds to spare, during which he won ten races in a row. Márquez equalled the all-time Grand Prix record for pole positions at the age of 23 in 2016. Márquez secured the 2016 title with three rounds to spare at Motegi and sealed the title at Valencia in the final round of 2017. He then went on to win the title with three races to spare and became the third highest all time Grand Prix winner. He secured the 2019 title with four races to spare at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand, marking his 8th World Championship and 6th in the Premier Class. Márquez missed almost all of the compressed and delayed season (he completed 26 laps of the first race, before falling) as well as the start of the 2021 season because of a broken right arm sustained in the 2020 season opener. After returning in the season, he won three races in Germany, Austin, Misano, and had a further 2nd place in Aragon, but due to him missing the opening two, and the last two races of the season, only finished 7th overall.
Career
125cc World Championship
Born in Cervera, Catalonia, Spain, Márquez made his championship debut on 13 April 2008 at the 125cc 2008 Portuguese Grand Prix at the age of 15 years and 56 days. Márquez achieved his first podium on 22 June 2008 at the British Grand Prix, in just his sixth race in the category, becoming the youngest Spanish rider to take a podium in Grand Prix motorcycle racing.
For 2009, as a factory KTM rider, he scored another podium with his 3rd place at Jerez, before achieving his first pole position at the French Grand Prix at the age of 16 years and 89 days, becoming the youngest Spanish rider to take pole position in a motorcycle racing world championship. He also took pole for the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix but he retired from both races. His first win came on 6 June 2010 at Mugello, and further victories at Silverstone, Assen and Barcelona in the next three races made Márquez the youngest rider to win four successive races. His fifth win in succession at the Sachsenring was Derbi's 100th victory in Grand Prix racing, and Márquez became the first rider since Valentino Rossi in to win five successive races in 125cc racing.
He was less successful in the following races, dropping to third in the standings at one point behind Nicolás Terol and Pol Espargaró after being involved in an accident with Randy Krummenacher at the first corner at the Aragon Grand Prix. Four successive wins from Motegi onwards had moved Márquez into a 17-point lead over Terol with only one round to go. At Estoril, the race was red-flagged due to rain with Márquez running second to Terol. When returning to the grid for the second race, Márquez fell on the sighting lap and had to return to the pits. With repairs, Márquez started at the back of the field having not made it out of the pit lane before it closed five minutes prior to the start. Despite this, Márquez recovered to win the race and thus extend his lead before the Valencia finale. His tenth victory of the season moved him to within one of tying the record set by Rossi in 1997. He would fall short of tying it, as he was fourth at the final race in Valencia to become the second-youngest World Champion after Loris Capirossi, winning the smallest category at just 17 years and 263 days.
Moto2 World Championship
Márquez moved into the Moto2 class for , the first of an expected two-year deal, as the sole rider of the new team Monlau Competición, run by his manager Emilio Alzamora. He finished 21st in Portugal, before taking his first victory in the class at the French Grand Prix. At his home race in Catalonia, Márquez finished second behind championship leader Stefan Bradl, before another fall at the Silverstone, having started from his first Moto2 pole position. With Bradl taking his fourth victory in the first six races, Márquez trailed him by 82 points at the end of the weekend. Márquez made a mid-season surge up the championship standings, winning six of the next seven races to move within six points of Bradl in the championship standings. In the Japanese Grand Prix, Márquez took his seventh pole position of the season but finished second to Andrea Iannone, but that finish combined with a fourth place for Bradl, allowed Márquez to take the championship lead by a point. At the Australian Grand Prix, Márquez was involved in an incident with Ratthapark Wilairot during free practice; Márquez crashed into the back of Wilairot after the session had been concluded, and for riding in an "irresponsible manner", was given a one-minute time penalty onto his qualifying time. The penalty ensured Márquez would start the race from last on the grid, but he made his way through the field, eventually finishing the race in third place. Prior to the Malaysian Grand Prix, Márquez confirmed that he would remain in Moto2 for the 2012 season, after rumours of a move into the MotoGP class. Márquez's race weekend was hampered in the opening minutes of the first free practice session, as he crashed on a damp patch of asphalt. After sitting out two further practice sessions, Márquez completed two laps in the qualifying session, but his times were only good enough for 36th on the grid. He did not start the race, as he failed a medical examination prior to the warm-up on race morning. Márquez attended the final race of the season in Valencia, in the hope of being fit to compete, but withdrew due to his continued vision problems, giving Bradl the title.
In 2012, Márquez won the Moto2 championship title after a season-long battle with fellow Spanish rider Pol Espargaró. A 3rd place for Márquez at the Australian Grand Prix, despite a win for Espargaró was enough to give him his second world title, before moving into the premier class for the season. He took his last victory in the class at the Valencian Grand Prix, the last event of the season, despite starting from 33rd on the grid. This performance, which involved overtaking 20 bikes on the first lap alone, became the biggest comeback in the sport's history. He finished the season with nine race wins, and only finished off the podium in three races, setting records for the class that still stand. Márquez's result was enough to give Suter the constructors' title for the class.
MotoGP World Championship
Repsol Honda Team (2013–present)
On 12 July 2012, it was announced that Márquez had signed a two-year contract with the Repsol Honda team in MotoGP, replacing the retiring Casey Stoner and joining teammate Dani Pedrosa, from onwards.
Márquez tested the Honda RC213V for the first time in Valencia after the end of the 2012 championships lapping just over a second slower than his teammate and compatriot Dani Pedrosa who topped the time sheets. Márquez was again impressive during the first official MotoGP testing at Sepang where he finished the first two days of testing at third position just behind Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo and ahead of Valentino Rossi in fourth before swapping places with Rossi on the final day. Márquez also did a race simulation during the closing stages of the session and his timings were consistent and phenomenal for a rookie. Márquez continued his impressive form in the private test of Honda at Austin where he topped the timesheets all three days.
2013
Márquez started the 2013 season with a podium finish in Qatar. He qualified sixth and eventually finished third behind Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi. At the second round of the championship at the new Circuit of the Americas in Texas, Márquez beat his teammate Dani Pedrosa and became the first winner at the new track. In doing this Márquez became the youngest ever MotoGP race winner at , beating Freddie Spencer's 30-year-old record.
Márquez slipped during the third free practice session without getting injured or damaging his bike and eventually qualified third fastest at Jerez. Márquez finished the race in second position behind teammate Dani Pedrosa. At Le Mans, Márquez took the second pole of his short MotoGP career, 0.03 seconds ahead of Lorenzo. Márquez suffered a bad start to the race and spent many laps in the lower half of the top 10 however by mid-race he began to find his rhythm and progressed forward. Márquez overtook Andrea Dovizioso with only two laps to go in the race to claim his fourth podium finish in as many races, tying Max Biaggi's record from . Márquez endured a tough weekend at Mugello. After crashing his Repsol Honda on Friday morning Márquez crashed again on Friday afternoon, he had a third crash on Saturday morning practice but recovered to qualify on the second row for the race. He suffered his 4th crash of the weekend with only 3 laps to go in the race; his first non-finish since joining the premier class.
At Catalonia, Márquez finished the race in 3rd place. At Assen, Márquez suffered a huge highside in morning practice causing small fractures in the little finger of his right hand and also his left big toe. He finished the race in 3rd place. At Sachsenring, following injuries to main rivals Pedrosa and Lorenzo, Márquez took his 3rd MotoGP pole position. After an average start he worked his way to the front to lead by the end of lap five and was never again headed despite a strong late race charge from Cal Crutchlow to win by 1.5 seconds. At Laguna Seca, Márquez replicated the overtake that Rossi made on Casey Stoner at the same corner in 2008 to pass Rossi. He won his third race of the year to extend his championship lead to 16 points over Dani Pedrosa.
At Indianapolis, Márquez grabbed pole position by 0.5 seconds from Jorge Lorenzo. In the race Márquez made an average get away and dropped behind Lorenzo and Pedrosa. On lap 12 Márquez passed Lorenzo for the lead. Lorenzo and Pedrosa were able to keep pace with Márquez for a few laps but in the final few the gap opened and Márquez took his 4th win of the year by just over 3 seconds. At Brno, the race saw an intense battle between Márquez and Lorenzo. Lorenzo made a great start off the line and led the race at the first corner. The pair proceeded to swap places on various occasions, with the final pass coming at Turn 3 with just under four laps to go; Márquez became the first rider to win four consecutive races since Valentino Rossi in 2008.
At Silverstone, during Sunday morning warm up, Márquez crashed his bike and dislocated his shoulder. The race was a fight between Márquez and Lorenzo in the early laps as they pulled away from the field. In the final laps the two front runners traded places and paint; Márquez passed Lorenzo with only a few corners remaining but was repassed and Márquez finished second. At Misano, Márquez was atop the standings once again by over half a second over Lorenzo to claim pole position. Márquez finished the race in second place behind Lorenzo. At Aragon, Márquez started from pole for the seventh time in 2013. Again Márquez lost the lead to Lorenzo in the first corner. Márquez found himself 2 seconds behind Lorenzo but soon caught up with Lorenzo and eventually crossed the line over one second ahead of him to record his sixth victory of the season. With four races left, Márquez had 278 points, 39 ahead of second-place Lorenzo.
At Sepang, Márquez took his fourth consecutive pole position. In the race Márquez made another poor start and was fighting with Rossi for third and fourth places in the first laps of the race. Márquez finished the race in second place. At Phillip Island in Australia, Márquez was disqualified from the race, reducing his championship lead over Lorenzo (who won) from 43 points to 18 with two rounds to go. At Motegi, Márquez recovered from a heavy fall on raceday morning to finish second behind Lorenzo. The result trimmed his championship lead to 13 points, meaning a fourth-place finish at Valencia would be sufficient to crown him champion even if Lorenzo won. Márquez started the race on pole, but had a bad start and fell to third. Márquez then let Dani Pedrosa do most of the early attacking on Jorge Lorenzo; Lorenzo then pushed on after a scare to win the race, Pedrosa and Márquez came second and third respectively, which was enough for Márquez to become champion, the youngest in series history.
2014
The 2014 season started well for Márquez producing fastest times on all three days of the first Malaysian test. He then suffered a broken right leg and was unable to take part in the second Malaysian test or the Phillip Island tyre test.
The first race of the season was held at Losail in Qatar. Márquez progressed steadily through the events practice sessions and showed strong pace on Saturday afternoon to take pole position. During the race he made an average start dropping to 4th place on lap one, Márquez gradually worked his way to the front of the race and enduring a tense battle with Valentino Rossi for the second half of the race, ultimately winning by 0.259 seconds. He also went on to win the next five rounds in Texas, Argentina, Spain, France, and Italy, all from pole position.
At the Catalan Grand Prix, Márquez failed to take pole position – qualifying third after crashing during the session – but after holding off attacks from teammate Pedrosa, and Yamaha pairing Jorge Lorenzo and Rossi, Márquez was able to win his seventh race in a row, extending his championship lead to 58 over Rossi. With younger brother Álex winning the earlier Moto3 race, the Márquez brothers became the first siblings to win Grand Prix world championship races on the same day. The brothers repeated the feat at the Dutch TT two weeks later. At the German Grand Prix, Márquez again won the race, thereby becoming the youngest rider to win nine races in a row in the premier class.
With a tenth successive victory coming at Indianapolis, Márquez became the third rider to achieve such a feat in the premier class, after Mick Doohan and Giacomo Agostini.
Márquez suffered his first defeat of the season at Brno, but won the following race at Silverstone, defeating Jorge Lorenzo. At Misano, Márquez crashed while battling for the race lead with Valentino Rossi; he remounted and – with a last-lap retirement for Aleix Espargaró – was able to score one championship point. Márquez and Pedrosa crashed in heavy rain late in the race at Aragon and finished 13th and 14th, with Lorenzo winning his first race of the year after he stopped earlier from third position to change to his wet-setup motorcycle. Márquez clinched his second title at Motegi with three rounds remaining. At Phillip Island, Márquez took his 12th pole position of the season, matching Casey Stoner's record from 2011, but he crashed out while leading the race, his first non-finish since the 2013 Italian Grand Prix. At Sepang, Márquez broke Stoner's record, with his 13th pole position of the season and his 50th Grand Prix pole position. He took his 12th win of the season, matching Mick Doohan's record of most premier class victories in a single season, from 1997. Márquez's result was also good enough for Honda to claim the manufacturers' championship, with a race to spare. At the final race in Valencia, Márquez broke Doohan's record, with his 13th win of the season.
2015
The 2015 MotoGP season started off with Márquez, once again, being the favourite to take the Championship, but he started slowly with a fifth-place finish in Qatar, after a mistake at Turn 1 dropped him to the back of the 25-rider field. He won the second race of the season in Texas, his third successive triumph at the Circuit of the Americas. In Argentina, Márquez, started from pole position, and then led the race with a maximum lead of four seconds. However, Valentino Rossi closed the gap and on lap 22 caught up to Márquez. The two riders made contact at Turn 5 with two laps remaining, with Márquez crashing out of the race to record his first non-finish since the 2014 Australian Grand Prix. He finished second behind Jorge Lorenzo in Spain, despite riding with a fractured finger on his left hand after a dirt-track accident, a week before the race. In France, Márquez took his third pole position of the season, but dropped down to seventh place at the start. He overtook Cal Crutchlow, who crashed out of the race, and on lap 22, Márquez struggled during a hard battle for fourth place with Bradley Smith and Andrea Iannone, who was riding despite his injured left shoulder, and finally Márquez finished in fourth place ahead of Iannone.
Márquez failed to finish the races in Italy and Catalunya, but returned to the podium with a second-place finish at Assen, after a race-long battle with Rossi. Márquez took successive victories in Germany, and Indianapolis, before a second-place finish at Brno. Márquez crashed out at Silverstone in wet conditions, but won at Misano. Márquez crashed out at Motorland Aragon, and a fourth-place finish in Motegi ended his hopes of retaining the title. In his 130th start, Márquez achieved his 50th Grand Prix win – becoming the ninth rider to reach that mark, and the youngest to do so, at – with a final-lap pass on Lorenzo at the Australian Grand Prix. Márquez crashed out in Malaysia after a collision with Valentino Rossi. The incident was reviewed by Race Direction after the race, where Rossi was given three penalty points – enough to enforce a start from the back of the grid for the final race in Valencia. Márquez finished second to Lorenzo in Valencia, with Lorenzo taking the world title.
2016
Having started off the year with a third in Qatar and a win in flag to flag Argentina due to tyre problems. Márquez made it two wins in a row with a dominant performance at the Grand Prix of the Americas in Texas with 6 second win over Lorenzo to claim an early championship lead. The first European race was held in Jerez in Spain was the first real test of Márquez' new mentality of patience and he proved it by finishing third in his home Grand Prix behind Yamaha men Rossi and Lorenzo.
Le Mans was not a good race for Márquez, as his Honda suffered from a lack of acceleration leading him to push in the braking zones to try remain in the podium battle. He ultimately finished thirteenth following a crash with Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso in turn 7 with thirteen laps remaining in the race.
After the bad result in France, Márquez and his team worked to improve the results and maintain the leadership. Their work gave them three second places in the next three races, the Italian Grand Prix, Spanish Grand Prix, and Dutch TT and first place in GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at the Sachsenring.
After these four good results, he slowed down with a fifth position at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, followed by a third position in Brno and two fourth positions at Silverstone and Misano. But then came the Aragon Grand Prix which Márquez felt really comfortable in. He said he thought it suits his riding style better and proved it by winning the race.
Márquez clinched his third MotoGP title and fifth world title overall at Motegi, Japan with three rounds remaining after Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo crashed out of the race. Márquez' team created a T-shirt with the logo "Give me five" to celebrate his fifth world title overall. The 3 last races had been at Australia, Malaysia and Valencia. At the Australian Grand Prix he crashed out of the race while leading, he then crashed while chasing the leading trio at the Malaysian Grand Prix in tricky wet conditions but remounted the bike and finished in 11th position adding 5 more points to his points tally.
Márquez finished the 2016 season with a second place at the Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix, after struggling to get past the likes of Valentino Rossi and Andrea Iannone in the first part of the race. Márquez managed to break away from them in the second half of the race and he began cutting down the gap to the race leader Jorge Lorenzo lap by lap which proved futile as the race drew to a close with Lorenzo crossing the finish line a second ahead of him.
2017
Márquez started the 2017 season with a 4th-place finish in Qatar, followed by a crash while leading in Argentina. He took his first win of the year in Texas, followed by 2nd place behind teammate Pedrosa at Jerez. He then suffered a second crash of the season in France, followed by a disappointing 6th-place finish at Mugello, struggling in both races with the Honda's lack of acceleration off the corners. He finished second in Catalunya, despite suffering several crashes through practice and qualifying. He then recorded another podium finish in the Netherlands, beating Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow in a close battle at the end of the race.
However, from then onwards fortunes started to swing in Márquez' favor, taking his eighth consecutive victory at the Sachsenring in Germany, at the same time taking the lead of the championship. He then scored back-to-back victories in the Czech Republic, after outfoxing his rivals by pitting early for slick tires on a drying track. A week later in Austria he narrowly lost out to Dovizioso in a thrilling race. He then suffered a rare engine failure at Silverstone, while Dovizioso took another victory, leaving the pair tied on points. He then fought back by taking back-to-back wins; first in a wet race in Misano, and then at his home race at Aragón. In Japan, he was again beaten in a last lap fight by Dovizioso, in a similar situation to Austria, but won a week later in Australia, in what many felt was one of the greatest races in recent years, while Dovizioso finished 13th after running off track. Márquez missed out on sealing the title in Malaysia, finishing fourth while Dovizioso won, meaning the title would go to the last round in Valencia. Márquez started the race from pole, but narrowly avoided crashing after a dramatic save at turn one, dropping from 1st to 5th position. However, moments later Dovizioso crashed at turn eight, immediately handing Márquez his 6th world title.
2018
Márquez dominated the 2018 season, in spite of the narrow time margins in the MotoGP field, increasing his number of race wins compared to the previous two championship seasons. He started the year off by narrowly falling short of Andrea Dovizioso off the final corner in Qatar, before a controversial performance resulting in three penalties and causing Valentino Rossi to crash led to Márquez being stripped of a fifth-place finish in Argentina. Following a grid penalty of three positions for impeding Maverick Viñales costing Márquez pole position in the United States.
Márquez followed that win up by winning at Jerez, surviving a high-speed slide following gravel on the track following a crash for Thomas Lüthi. He also scored another win at Le Mans. Both wins were his first on the respective circuits for four years and gave him a commanding championship lead. Due to a crash at Mugello that lead dropped, before a 2nd-place finish in Catalonia, and wins at Assen and Sachsenring led to the commanding advantage being restored. The Sachsenring was among his most hard-fought in terms of his nine wins on the track, while he led a massive pack at Assen.
After the summer break, Ducati won successive races at Brno and in Austria. Márquez finished third in the Czech event, whereas he narrowly lost to Jorge Lorenzo on the final lap in Austria. With the Brno race winner Dovizioso finishing third in Austria, the championship lead remained strong. Following the British event being cancelled due to dangerous track conditions, Ducati took the third consecutive win at Misano with Dovizioso leading Márquez across the line.
Márquez sealed the championship after three successive hard-fought wins in duels with Dovizioso. The races at Aragon, Thailand and Japan all had in common that Dovizioso led from early in the race, until Márquez made successful late passes and held the Italian rider off. In Japan, Dovizioso fell on the penultimate lap trying to catch Márquez to attempt a re-pass, which left him without points and sealed Márquez' title once he dropped back out of the points, with Márquez cruising home for his third consecutive win and eighth overall. With three rounds to spare, Márquez reached his fifth overall MotoGP title, and sealed a third title in a row, the first rider to do so since Valentino Rossi won five in a row in the early 2000s.
He qualified on pole position in Australia, but in lap 7 he was overtaken by Andrea Dovizioso and Jack Miller, and three laps later the rear end of Márquez' bike was struck by Johann Zarco, which caused Zarco to crash and Márquez seat to malfunction, ending his race. In Malaysia, he started on seventh place, but took a ninth victory after race leader Valentino Rossi crashed out in a close battle with Márquez, who had chased him down to just a few tenths of a second, finishing only in 18th place. However, at the final race of the season at Valencia, he crashed out of the race having chosen harder wet tyres than the opposition on the soaked track.
At the end of the season, Márquez' MotoGP victory total, 44, placed him in the top five in wins all time and second for Honda in the premier class.
2019
Recovering from a shoulder surgery, Márquez had a compromised pre-season, but still managed to take the Qatar opener to the final corner, where he ultimately fell short to Dovizioso for a second consecutive time. In Argentina, Márquez completely dominated the race from start to finish, cruising to victory with a sizeable margin. While leading in the United States for a seventh consecutive season, Márquez suddenly crashed out, attributed to a problem with the engine brake in heavy braking zones. Márquez avenged the crash by reclaiming the title lead with a composed win at Jerez, where he led from start to finish. He then won in France, pulling away after an early fight for position up front with Jack Miller.
After having to settle for second at Mugello in a three-man battle with Ducati duo Danilo Petrucci, who won the race and Dovizioso, Márquez narrowly escaped the pile-up triggered by Jorge Lorenzo losing the front end at the hairpin in Barcelona on the second lap through having overtaken Dovizioso seconds before the impact (involving Vinales, Dovizioso and lastly, Valentino Rossi, all felled in the same accident). With his four closest rivals being taken out at once, Márquez controlled the race and won with a sizeable margin, his second career win at his home region's Grand Prix. He further increased his title lead through a second-place finish at Assen, where he finished second behind Maverick Viñales, who was 100 points adrift in the standings going into the race, whereas the closer title rivals all had difficult races. Márquez fully dominated the Sachsenring round for his tenth consecutive win in all categories on the circuit, sealing his fifth win of the season and a commanding title lead over the summer break.
Márquez took his 50th career MotoGP win at the Czech round after a pole position by 2.5 seconds in tricky half-wet conditions and leading the race from start to finish.
Márquez won his 6th premier class championship and 8th world championship after winning a last lap battle with Fabio Quartararo in the 2019 Thailand MotoGP at the Buriram International Circuit. Márquez closed out the season in commanding fashion, winning three of the four final races after his championship had been sealed. In the penultimate round, however, he did injure his other shoulder in qualifying. He recovered to finish second in the race, but required post-season surgery once more. Márquez ended the season with 12 wins and 420 points, placing him 151 points ahead of Andrea Dovizioso. This meant Márquez had more than six race wins worth of points championship margin.
2020
In the pre-season, Márquez signed a new four-year deal with Honda, extending his stay with the marque until the end of 2024. This unusually long contract took Márquez out of the market for the normal bi-annual contract cycle, and also for the 2023 season.
In the first round of the championship in Jerez, he fell off his bike while chasing Fabio Quartararo for the lead of the race. The fall broke the humerus in his right arm and he did not finish the race, which was won by Quartararo. Márquez returned to Jerez for the Andalucía GP, only a few days after his first surgery, on 21 July 2020, to repair his broken humerus. He participated in FP4 of the Saturday of the race weekend, only to declare that he had too much pain in his recently injured arm. He withdrew from the GP, as Quartararo went on to win again. Márquez missed the rest of the year, and the first two races of the next season.
2021
Márquez was expected to make his return in 2021. After missing the opening two races held in Qatar, he announced his return ahead of the Portuguese Grand Prix in Portimão, ending in a seventh place, taking nine points. After a ninth place finish in Jerez, Márquez suffered three consecutive DNFs (including one in Le Mans, where he had found himself leading the race in rainy conditions). For the German Grand Prix, Márquez qualified on the second row. In the race, he got into the lead in the early laps and held onto it, to take his first win in 581 days, and his 11th consecutive win at the Sachsenring. Márquez followed this up with two point scoring finishes in Assen and Austria, a 2nd place in Aragón, a 4th place in Rimini, and then consecutive wins at Austin and Misano. Despite his two wins, he was eliminated from the championship contention, and so he sat out the final two races of the season in Portimao and Valencia, choosing to focus on the total rehabilitation for next season. Márquez still ended the year with four podiums, three of which were victories, 142 points, and 7th in the rider's championship. During the 2021 season he crashed a total of 22 times in 14 races.
2022
At the first race of the season at Losail, Márquez finished in fifth place.
During practice for the second GP of the season, the Indonesian Grand Prix at Mandalika, Márquez crashed three times in practice. After a fourth crash, a violent highside during a warm-up session prior to the race, he was rushed to hospital. He was uninjured but declared unfit for the race. After further checks in Spain he was diagnosed with diplopia, a condition he had suffered with before. His absence from the third race of the season, the Argentine Grand Prix, was covered by Honda test rider Stefan Bradl. Márquez was later sidelined indefinitely beginning with the Catalan round, after having a fourth surgery on his right humerus at the Mayo Clinic to correct a 30-degree rotation of the bone. He was replaced for all races by Honda test rider Stefan Bradl. Despite missing 5 of 11 races, Márquez remained the top Honda rider in the standings going into the season's summer break. Márquez returned to racing at the Grand Prix of Aragon, but championship leader Fabio Quartararo crashed into the back of Márquez, taking Quartararo out of the race, followed by Marquez colliding with Takaaki Nakagami due to Quartararo's bodywork trapped in a wheel, both retiring. A week later he would achieve the 91st pole position of his career at the Grand Prix of Japan in wet conditions, after almost three years without a pole. He finished the race in 4th. He would later achieve the feat of 100 podiums in the premier class at the Australian Grand Prix, taking Honda's second podium of the year.
2023
Márquez stayed with the Repsol Honda team for the 2023 season. At the opening race in Portugal, he crashed into Miguel Oliveira, receiving a contentious penalty that the Honda team challenged. Márquez was injured ruling him out of competing at the second race in Argentina, and the third in the United States. Márquez missed the fourth race in Spain, where his race-slot was taken over by Iker Lecuona as a nominated replacement rider.
Márquez' penalty was unable to be imposed due to his non-appearance at races, and was referred to the MotoGP Court of Appeal, after which it was delayed.
The Court of Appeal rejected the race organiser's attempts to impose a sanction on Márquez and dismissed the case, after which he returned to racing at the French GP held over 13/14 May.
Career statistics
CEV Buckler 125cc Championship
Races by year
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
By season
By class
Races by year
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Season still in progress.
Records
After round number 19 in Valencia of the 2019 season, Marc Márquez holds the following records:
MotoGP
Youngest rider to win his first World Championship Title in the Premier Class ()
Youngest rider to win 2 World Championship Titles in the Premier Class ()
Youngest rider to win 3 World Championship Titles in the Premier Class ()
Youngest rider to win 4 World Championship Titles in the Premier Class ()
Youngest rider to win 5 World Championship Titles in the Premier Class ()
Youngest rider to win 6 World Championship Titles in the Premier Class ()
Youngest race winner in the Premier Class ()
Most Races won in a single season in the Premier Class: 13
Youngest rider to take 12 Pole positions in a single season in Premier Class:
Only rider to claim 13 Pole positions in a single season in the Premier Class
4 successive podium positions in first 4 Premier Class Grand Prix starts (shared with Max Biaggi)
Most podium finishes in a single season in the Premier Class: 18
Highest points in a single season in the Premier Class: 420
Biggest title-winning margin by points: 151
First rider to win Intermediate Class and Premier Class titles back to back
Most Fastest laps in a MotoGP season: 12 (shared with Valentino Rossi)
Youngest rider to win 12 races in a single season:
Youngest rider to take four pole positions in a row in the Premier Class (Silverstone-Misano-Aragon-Malaysia 2013)
Youngest rider to lead the Premier Class championship ()
Youngest rider to win 4 races back to back in Premier Class ()
Youngest Rider to win 5 races in a row in the Premier Class ()
Youngest Rider to win 6 races in a row in the Premier Class ()
Youngest Rider to win 7 races in a row in the Premier Class ()
Youngest Rider to win 8 races in a row in the Premier Class ()
Youngest Rider to win 9 races in a row in the Premier Class ()
Youngest Rider to win 10 races in a row in the Premier Class ()
Youngest Rider to win 11 races in a single season in the Premier Class ()
Most Consecutive race wins in the Premier Class in 4 Stroke MotoGP (2002–) era: 10
Most Consecutive race wins in a single Premier Class season (1949–) era: 10 (Shared with Mick Doohan and Giacomo Agostini)
Youngest rider to win back to back championships in the Premier Class ()
Most Pole Positions from Start Of Season in 4 Stroke MotoGP (2002–) era: 6
First rookie to win 4 races back to back in the Premier Class: (Germany-USA-Indianapolis-Czech Republic 2013)
Most wins as a rookie in the Premier Class: 6
Most pole positions as a rookie in the Premier Class: 9
Most podium finishes as a rookie in the Premier Class: 16
Most points scored as a rookie in Premier Class: 334
First rookie to claim 4 consecutive pole positions in the Premier Class
Only Spanish rider to win 2 titles back to back in the Premier Class
Most Pole Positions in the Premier Class: 62
Moto2
Most wins in the Moto2 Class: 16
Most podium finishes in a single season in the Moto2 Class: 14
Most wins in a single season in the Moto2 Class: 9
125cc
Most pole positions in a season of 125cc World Championship: 12
All Categories
Youngest rider to win 3 World Championship Titles ()
Youngest rider to win 4 World Championship Titles ()
Youngest rider to win 5 World Championship Titles ()
Youngest rider to win 6 World Championship Titles ()
Youngest rider to win 7 World Championship Titles ()
Youngest rider to win 8 World Championship Titles ()
Youngest rider in the history of Grand Prix motorcycling to achieve 50 wins ()
Youngest rider in the history of Grand Prix motorcycling to achieve 60 wins ()
Youngest rider in the history of Grand Prix motorcycling to achieve 70 wins ()
Youngest rider in the history of Grand Prix motorcycling to achieve 80 wins ()
Most Pole Positions in history of Grand Prix motorcycling: 91
Youngest rider to win 5 successive Grands Prix (Mugello, Silverstone, Assen, Barcelona, Sachsenring 2010)
Most wins as a teenager in all classes: 26
Youngest rider to win at least 1 race in 3 classes of GP Racing
Youngest Spanish rider to take a pole position ()
First rider to claim pole position having taken part in Qualifying 1 (Thailand 2018)
One of only pair of brothers to win Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships, 2014 and 2019 with Álex Márquez
All-time wins leader (consecutive from 2013 to 2018 ) at the Circuit of the Americas: 6
Most consecutive pole positions at the Circuit of the Americas : 7
First/Only Rider in history to win 8 times consecutively at the same circuit: Sachsenring
Most consecutive wins at Sachsenring Circuit: 11
Most consecutive pole positions at Sachsenring Circuit: 10
First/Only rider in history to win 11 times consecutively at the same circuit: Sachsenring
Most consecutive wins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway: 5
First/Only rider in history to win 5 times at the Misano Circuit
Personal life
Although Márquez has won several championships, he has always turned down using the number 1 as a racing number, favouring his #93 – which is the year of his birth. The 93 is displayed with white text and a red background on his bike and in official merchandise, being compatible with Honda's red-orange-navy blue livery. Márquez' father Julià has followed him around the world in his team garage and is a permanent fixture in the Grand Prix paddock, while his mother's appearances are rarer. His younger brother Álex Márquez is also a motorcycle racing world champion, having won the Moto3 class in 2014 and the Moto2 class in 2019. The duo became the first pair of brothers to win road racing world championships the same season and repeated the feat again in 2019. Five years earlier, Márquez jokingly referred to him preferring bikes over girls in a 2014 interview, but conceded it was a "difficult question" and also added that in spite of him being unafraid on a bike, he'd never go out on a boat at sea. Aside from his native tongues of Catalan and Spanish, Márquez is a fluent speaker of English and Italian. Even after becoming world champion, rather than moving to a tax haven like many fellow racers, he still lives in his home town of Cervera, with his website citing "training opportunities" on dirt bikes in the location as "ideal". His official fanclub is also located in Cervera, chaired by his uncle Ramón, adjacent to an exhibition at the town museum where memorabilia including championship-winning bikes are displayed. Márquez is also involved with several charities.
He was in a relationship with Lucia Romero Ezama.
Marquez motif since 2012 has been the Ant. This can be seen on various gloves, helmets and pit boards he and his team uses. The reasoning behind this has been when he started out riding motorcycles, his size was diminutive that the team had to add ballast to his bikes to compensate for his lack of weight. Therefore, his team nicknamed him an ant for the comparison of the animal which is so small but has the strength to carry 100 times as much as its body weight.
As of October 2018 on the day of his fifth MotoGP title, Márquez had close to 4 million Facebook followers, being one of the largest motor racers and Spanish athletes on the platform. A Roman Catholic, Márquez along with four other MotoGP riders met Pope Francis at the Vatican in September 2018. Márquez is a fan of football club FC Barcelona, and has visited the club and its first team in the past.
See also
List of motorcycle Grand Prix wins by Marc Márquez
References
External links
Marc Márquez – Profile at the official MotoGP website
Marc Márquez Leathers
Category:1993 births
Category:Living people
Category:People from Segarra
Category:Sportspeople from the Province of Lleida
Category:Spanish motorcycle racers
Category:Repsol Honda MotoGP riders
Category:125cc World Championship riders
Category:Moto2 World Championship riders
Category:Motorcycle racers from Catalonia
Category:Laureus World Sports Awards winners
Category:Spanish Roman Catholics
Category:MotoGP World Championship riders
Category:MotoGP World Riders' Champions
Category:Moto2 World Riders' Champions
Category:125cc World Riders' Champions | [] | null | null |
C_98c9d8a0c8b74234bb5eff5d2f0dfe4e_0 | David McCullough | David Gaub McCullough (; born July 7, 1933) is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, McCullough earned a degree in English literature from Yale University. | Gaining recognition | After the success of The Johnstown Flood, two new publishers offered him contracts, one to write about the Great Chicago Fire and another about the San Francisco earthquake. Simon & Schuster, publisher of his first book, also offered McCullough a contract to write a second book. Trying not to become "Bad News McCullough", he decided to write about a subject showing "people were not always foolish and inept or irresponsible." He remembered the words of his Yale teacher: "[Thornton] Wilder said he got the idea for a book or a play when he wanted to learn about something. Then, he'd check to see if anybody had already done it, and if they hadn't, he'd do it." McCullough decided to write a history of the Brooklyn Bridge, which he had walked across many times. To me history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn't just part of our civic responsibility. To me it's an enlargement of the experience of being alive, just the way literature or art or music is. - David McCullough He also proposed, from a suggestion by his editor, a work about the Panama Canal; both were accepted by the publisher. Critics hailed The Great Bridge (1972) as "the definitive book on the event." Five years later, The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal was released, gaining McCullough widespread recognition. The book won the National Book Award in History, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, the Francis Parkman Prize, and the Cornelius Ryan Award. Later in 1977, McCullough travelled to the White House to advise Jimmy Carter and the United States Senate on the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which would give Panama control of the Canal. Carter later said that the treaties, which were agreed upon to hand over ownership of the Canal to Panama, would not have passed had it not been for the book. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_98c9d8a0c8b74234bb5eff5d2f0dfe4e_0_q#0",
"C_98c9d8a0c8b74234bb5eff5d2f0dfe4e_0_q#1",
"C_98c9d8a0c8b74234bb5eff5d2f0dfe4e_0_q#2",
"C_98c9d8a0c8b74234bb5eff5d2f0dfe4e_0_q#3",
"C_98c9d8a0c8b74234bb5eff5d2f0dfe4e_0_q#4",
"C_98c9d8a0c8b74234bb5eff5d2f0dfe4e_0_q#5",
"C_98c9d8a0c8b74234bb5eff5d2f0dfe4e_0_q#6",
"C_98c9d8a0c8b74234bb5eff5d2f0dfe4e_0_q#7",
"C_98c9d8a0c8b74234bb5eff5d2f0dfe4e_0_q#8"
] | [
"What led to him gaining",
"What did they try next",
"What did he write",
"What did he try next in his book",
"What did they do next",
"What made this so daring",
"What did he try and capture",
"What was his next company",
"What did critics say"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
174
],
[
429
],
[
576
],
[
576
],
[
767
],
[
863
],
[
988
],
[
1107
]
],
"texts": [
[
"After the success of The Johnstown Flood, two new publishers offered him contracts, one to write about the Great Chicago Fire and another about the San Francisco earthquake."
],
[
"Simon & Schuster, publisher of his first book, also offered McCullough a contract to write a second book."
],
[
"He remembered the words of his Yale teacher: \"[Thornton] Wilder said he got the idea for a book or a play when he wanted to learn about something."
],
[
"Then, he'd check to see if anybody had already done it, and if they hadn't, he'd do it."
],
[
"Then, he'd check to see if anybody had already done it, and if they hadn't, he'd do it.\" McCullough decided to write a history of the Brooklyn Bridge,"
],
[
"To me history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn't just part of our civic responsibility."
],
[
"To me it's an enlargement of the experience of being alive, just the way literature or art or music is."
],
[
"He also proposed, from a suggestion by his editor, a work about the Panama Canal; both were accepted by the publisher."
],
[
"Critics hailed The Great Bridge (1972) as \"the definitive book on the event.\""
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
174,
429,
576,
576,
767,
863,
988,
1107
],
"texts": [
"After the success of The Johnstown Flood, two new publishers offered him contracts, one to write about the Great Chicago Fire and another about the San Francisco earthquake.",
"Simon & Schuster, publisher of his first book, also offered McCullough a contract to write a second book.",
"He remembered the words of his Yale teacher: \"[Thornton] Wilder said he got the idea for a book or a play when he wanted to learn about something.",
"Then, he'd check to see if anybody had already done it, and if they hadn't, he'd do it.",
"Then, he'd check to see if anybody had already done it, and if they hadn't, he'd do it.\" McCullough decided to write a history of the Brooklyn Bridge,",
"To me history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn't just part of our civic responsibility.",
"To me it's an enlargement of the experience of being alive, just the way literature or art or music is.",
"He also proposed, from a suggestion by his editor, a work about the Panama Canal; both were accepted by the publisher.",
"Critics hailed The Great Bridge (1972) as \"the definitive book on the event.\""
]
} | David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, McCullough earned a degree in English literature from Yale University. His first book was The Johnstown Flood (1968), and he wrote nine more on such topics as Harry S. Truman, John Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Panama Canal, and the Wright brothers. McCullough also narrated numerous documentaries, such as The Civil War by Ken Burns, as well as the 2003 film Seabiscuit, and he hosted the PBS television documentary series American Experience for twelve years.
McCullough's two Pulitzer Prize-winning books—Truman and John Adams—were adapted by HBO into a TV film and a miniseries, respectively.
Early life
McCullough was born in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Ruth (née Rankin; 1899 – 1985) and Christian Hax McCullough (1899 – 1989). He was of Scots-Irish, German, and English descent. He was educated at Linden Avenue Grade School and Shady Side Academy, in his hometown of Pittsburgh.
One of four sons, McCullough had a "marvelous" childhood with a wide range of interests, including sports and drawing cartoons. McCullough's parents and his grandmother, who read to him often, introduced him to books at an early age. His parents often talked about history, a topic he said should be discussed more often. McCullough "loved school, every day"; he contemplated many career choices, ranging from architect, actor, painter, writer, to lawyer, and considered attending medical school for a time.
In 1951, McCullough began attending Yale University. He said that it was a "privilege" to study English at Yale because of faculty members such as John O'Hara, John Hersey, Robert Penn Warren, and Brendan Gill. McCullough occasionally ate lunch with the Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder. Wilder, said McCullough, taught him that a competent writer maintains "an air of freedom" in the storyline, so that a reader will not anticipate the outcome, even if the book is non-fiction.
While at Yale, he became a member of Skull and Bones. He served apprenticeships at Time, Life, the United States Information Agency, and American Heritage, where he enjoyed research. He said: "Once I discovered the endless fascination of doing the research and of doing the writing, I knew I had found what I wanted to do in my life." While attending Yale, McCullough studied Arts and earned his bachelor's degree in English, with the intention of becoming a fiction writer or playwright. He graduated with honors in English literature in 1955.
Writing career
Early career
After graduation, McCullough moved to New York City, where Sports Illustrated hired him as a trainee. He later worked as an editor and writer for the United States Information Agency in Washington, D.C. After working for twelve years in editing and writing, including a position at American Heritage, McCullough "felt that [he] had reached the point where [he] could attempt something on [his] own."
McCullough "had no anticipation that [he] was going to write history, but [he] stumbled upon a story that [he] thought was powerful, exciting, and very worth telling." While working at American Heritage, McCullough wrote in his spare time for three years. The Johnstown Flood, a chronicle of one of the worst flood disasters in United States history, was published in 1968 to high praise by critics. John Leonard, of The New York Times, said of McCullough, "We have no better social historian." Despite rough financial times, he decided to become a full-time writer, encouraged by his wife Rosalee.
Gaining recognition
After the success of The Johnstown Flood, two new publishers offered him contracts, one to write about the Great Chicago Fire and another about the San Francisco earthquake. Simon & Schuster, publisher of his first book, also offered McCullough a contract to write a second book. Trying not to become "Bad News McCullough", he decided to write about a subject showing "people were not always foolish and inept or irresponsible." He remembered the words of his Yale teacher: "[Thornton] Wilder said he got the idea for a book or a play when he wanted to learn about something. Then, he'd check to see if anybody had already done it, and if they hadn't, he'd do it." McCullough decided to write a history of the Brooklyn Bridge, which he had walked across many times. It was published in 1972.
He also proposed, from a suggestion by his editor, a work about the Panama Canal; both were accepted by the publisher.
Five years later, The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870–1914 was released, gaining McCullough widespread recognition. The book won the National Book Award in History, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, the Francis Parkman Prize, and the Cornelius Ryan Award. Later in 1977, McCullough travelled to the White House to advise Jimmy Carter and the United States Senate on the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which would give Panama control of the Canal. Carter later said that the treaties, which were negotiated to transfer ownership of the Canal to Panama, would not have passed had it not been for the book.
"The story of people"
McCullough's fourth work was his first biography, reinforcing his belief that "history is the story of people". Released in 1981, Mornings on Horseback tells the story of seventeen years in the life of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. The work ranged from Roosevelt's childhood to 1886, and tells of a "life intensely lived." The book won McCullough's second National Book Award and his first Los Angeles Times Prize for Biography and New York Public Library Literary Lion Award. Next, he published Brave Companions, a collection of essays that "unfold seamlessly". Written over twenty years, the book includes essays about Louis Agassiz, Alexander von Humboldt, John and Washington Roebling, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Conrad Richter, and Frederic Remington.
With his next book, McCullough published his second biography, Truman (1993) about the 33rd president. The book won McCullough his first Pulitzer Prize, in the category of "Best Biography or Autobiography," and his second Francis Parkman Prize. Two years later, the book was adapted as Truman (1995), a television film by HBO, starring Gary Sinise as Truman.
I think it's important to remember that these men are not perfect. If they were marble gods, what they did wouldn't be so admirable. The more we see the founders as humans the more we can understand them. – David McCullough
Working for the next seven years, McCullough published John Adams (2001), his third biography about a United States president. One of the fastest-selling non-fiction books in history, the book won McCullough's second Pulitzer Prize for "Best Biography or Autobiography" in 2002. He started it as a book about the founding fathers and back-to-back presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson; but dropped Jefferson to focus on Adams. HBO adapted John Adams as a seven-part miniseries by the same name. Premiering in 2008, it starred Paul Giamatti in the title role. The DVD version of the miniseries includes the biographical documentary, David McCullough: Painting with Words.
McCullough's 1776 tells the story of the founding year of the United States, focusing on George Washington, the amateur army, and other struggles for independence. Because of McCullough's popularity, its initial printing was 1.25 million copies, many more than the average history book. Upon its release, the book was a number one best-seller in the United States. A miniseries adaptation of 1776 was rumored.
McCullough considered writing a sequel to 1776. However, he signed a contract with Simon & Schuster to do a work about Americans in Paris between 1830 and 1900, The Greater Journey, which was published in 2011. The book covers 19th-century Americans, including Mark Twain and Samuel Morse, who migrated to Paris and went on to achieve importance in culture or innovation. Other subjects include Benjamin Silliman, who had been Morse's science teacher at Yale, Elihu Washburne, the U.S. Ambassador to France during the Franco-Prussian War, and Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in the United States.
McCullough's The Wright Brothers was published in 2015. The Pioneers followed in 2019, the story of the first European American settlers of the Northwest Territory, a vast American wilderness to which the Ohio River was the gateway.
Personal life
In 1954, McCullough married Rosalee Barnes; the couple had first met as teenagers, and they remained together until her death on June 9, 2022. They had five children. In 2016, the couple moved from the Back Bay of Boston to Hingham, Massachusetts; three of his five children also lived there . He had a summer home in Camden, Maine. McCullough's interests included sports, history, and visual art, including watercolor and portrait painting.
His son, David Jr., an English teacher at Wellesley High School in the Boston suburbs, achieved sudden fame in 2012, when he gave a commencement speech in which he repeatedly told graduating students that they were "not special"; his speech went viral on YouTube. Another son, Bill, is married to the daughter of former Florida governor Bob Graham.
A registered independent, McCullough typically avoided publicly commenting on contemporary political issues. When asked to do so, he would repeatedly say, "My specialty is dead politicians." During the 2016 presidential election season, he broke with his custom to criticize Donald Trump, whom he called "a monstrous clown with a monstrous ego."
McCullough taught a writing course at Wesleyan University and was a visiting scholar at Cornell University and Dartmouth College.
After a period of failing health, McCullough died at his home in Hingham on August 7, 2022, at age 89.
Awards and accolades
McCullough received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in December 2006, the highest civilian award that a United States citizen can receive. In 1995, the National Book Foundation conferred its lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
McCullough was awarded more than 40 honorary degrees, including one from the Eastern Nazarene College in John Adams' hometown of Quincy, Massachusetts.
McCullough received two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Book Awards, two Francis Parkman Prizes, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, New York Public Library's Literary Lion Award, and the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates, among others. McCullough was chosen to deliver the first annual John Hersey Lecture at Yale University on March 22, 1993. He was a member of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and the Academy of Achievement. In 2003, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected McCullough for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. McCullough's lecture was titled "The Course of Human Events".
In 1995, McCullough received the Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. The Helmerich Award is presented annually by the Tulsa Library Trust.
McCullough was referred to as a "master of the art of narrative history." The New York Times critic John Leonard wrote that McCullough was "incapable of writing a page of bad prose." His works have been published in ten languages, over nine million copies have been printed, and all of his books are still in print.
In December 2012, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania announced that it would rename the 16th Street Bridge in Pittsburgh in honor of McCullough.
In a ceremony at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, on November 16, 2015, the Air University of the United States Air Force awarded McCullough an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree. He was also made an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa at Yale University in 2015.
On May 11, 2016, McCullough received the United States Capitol Historical Society's Freedom Award. It was presented in the National Statuary Hall.
In September 2016, McCullough received the Gerry Lenfest Spirit of the American Revolution Award from the Museum of the American Revolution.
In 2017, McCullough was inducted into the DC Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and received the National Society SAR Good Citizenship Award.
Works
Books
Narrations
McCullough narrated many television shows and documentaries throughout his career. In addition to narrating the 2003 film Seabiscuit, McCullough hosted PBS's American Experience from 1988 to 1999. McCullough narrated numerous documentaries directed by Ken Burns, including the Emmy Award-winning The Civil War, the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge, The Statue of Liberty, and The Congress. He served as a guest narrator for The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, a Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert special that aired on PBS in 2010.
McCullough narrated, in whole or in part, numerous of his own audiobooks, including Truman, 1776, The Greater Journey, and The Wright Brothers.
List of films presented or narrated
Brooklyn Bridge (1981)
Smithsonian World (5 episodes, 1984–1988)
The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1985)
The Statue of Liberty (1985)
Huey Long (1985)
A Man, A Plan, A Canal: Panama (NOVA) (1987)
The Congress (1988)
American Experience (1988–1999)
The Civil War (9 episodes, 1990)
The Donner Party (1992)
Degenerate Art (1993)
Napoleon (2000)
George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire (2000)
Seabiscuit (2003)
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2010)
Notes
References
External links
David McCullough at Simon & Schuster
In Depth interview with McCullough, December 2, 2001
Speech Transcript: "Knowing History and Knowing Who We Are" at Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar on the topic, "American History and America's Future."
Category:1933 births
Category:2022 deaths
Category:20th-century American biographers
Category:20th-century American historians
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:21st-century American biographers
Category:21st-century American historians
Category:21st-century American male writers
Category:American Experience
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent
Category:American political writers
Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:Historians of the United States
Category:Massachusetts Independents
Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Category:National Book Award winners
Category:National Humanities Medal recipients
Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Category:Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners
Category:Shady Side Academy alumni
Category:Skull and Bones Society
Category:Writers from Pittsburgh
Category:Yale College alumni
Category:Yale University alumni | [] | [
"widespread recognition?\nAnswer: His book, The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, which won multiple awards, led McCullough to gaining widespread recognition.",
"The context doesn't provide information on what \"they\" tried next.",
"David McCullough wrote a history of the Brooklyn Bridge called The Great Bridge, and a work about the creation of the Panama Canal called The Path Between the Seas.",
"The context does not specify what David McCullough tried next in his book.",
"The context does not provide information on what \"they\" did next.",
"The context does not provide specific information about what was considered \"daring.\"",
"The context does not provide information on what David McCullough specifically tried to capture in his works.",
"The context does not provide information on David McCullough's next company.",
"Critics hailed his book \"The Great Bridge\" (1972) as \"the definitive book on the event\"."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_1 | William Kunstler | The son of a physician, Kunstler was born in New York City and attended DeWitt Clinton High School. He was educated at Yale College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1941, and Columbia University Law School from which he graduated in 1948. While in school, Kunstler was an avid poet and represented Yale in the Glascock Prize competition at Mount Holyoke College. Kunstler served in the U.S. Army during World War II in the Pacific theater, attaining the rank of Major, and received the Bronze Star. | Chicago Seven (1969-1972) | Kunstler gained national renown for defending the Chicago Seven (originally Chicago Eight), in a five-month trial in 1969-1970, against charges of conspiring to incite riots in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Under cross-examination, Kunstler got a key police witness to contradict his previous testimony and admit that he had not witnessed Jerry Rubin, but had rather been given his name two weeks later by the FBI. Another prosecution witness, photographer Louis Salzberg, admitted under Kunstler's cross-examination that he was still on the payroll of the FBI. The trial was marked by frequent clashes between Kunstler and U.S. Attorney Thomas Foran, with Kunstler taking the opportunity to accuse the government of failing to "realize the extent of antiwar sentiment". Kunstler also sparred with Judge Julius Hoffman, on one occasion remarking (with respect to the number of federal marshals): "this courtroom has the appearance of an armed camp. I would note that the Supreme Court has ruled that the appearance of an armed camp is a reversible error". During one heated exchange, Kunstler informed Hoffman that his entry in Who's Who was three times longer than the judge's, to which the judge replied "I hope you get a better obituary". Kunstler and co-defense attorney Leonard Weinglass were cited for contempt (the convictions were later overturned unanimously by the Seventh Circuit). If Hoffman's contempt conviction had been allowed to stand, Kunstler would have been imprisoned for an unprecedented four years. The progress of the trial--which had many aspects of guerrilla theater--was covered on the nightly news and made Kunstler the best-known lawyer in the country, and something of a folk hero. After much deadlock, the jury acquitted all seven on the conspiracy charge, but convicted five of violating the anti-riot provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The Seventh Circuit overturned all the convictions on November 21, 1972 due to Hoffman's refusal to let defense lawyers question the prospective jurors on racial and cultural biases; the Justice Department did not retry the case. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_1_q#0",
"C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_1_q#2",
"C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_1_q#3",
"C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_1_q#4",
"C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_1_q#5",
"C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_1_q#6"
] | [
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Sorry What is the chicage seven?",
"What did they do?",
"Where they charged?",
"Did he win the trial?",
"Was there baclash?"
] | [
0,
1,
2,
2,
2,
1
] | [
0,
2,
2,
0,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
2136
],
[
1820
],
[
136
],
[
1740
],
[
2136
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Kunstler gained national renown for defending the Chicago Seven (originally Chicago Eight), in a five-month trial in 1969-1970,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"convicted five of violating the anti-riot provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968."
],
[
"charges of conspiring to incite riots in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention."
],
[
"After much deadlock, the jury acquitted all seven on the conspiracy charge, but convicted five of violating the anti-riot provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
2136,
1820,
136,
1740,
2136
],
"texts": [
"Kunstler gained national renown for defending the Chicago Seven (originally Chicago Eight), in a five-month trial in 1969-1970,",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"convicted five of violating the anti-riot provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.",
"charges of conspiring to incite riots in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.",
"After much deadlock, the jury acquitted all seven on the conspiracy charge, but convicted five of violating the anti-riot provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | William Moses Kunstler (July 7, 1919 – September 4, 1995) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist, known for defending the Chicago Seven. Kunstler was an active member of the National Lawyers Guild, a board member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the co-founder of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the "leading gathering place for radical lawyers in the country."
Kunstler's defense of the Chicago Seven from 1969 to 1970 led The New York Times to label him "the country's most controversial and, perhaps, its best-known lawyer". Kunstler is also well known for defending members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, Catonsville Nine, Black Panther Party, Weather Underground Organization, the Attica Prison rioters, Meir Kahane assassin El Sayyid Nosair, and the American Indian Movement. He also won a de facto segregation case regarding the District of Columbia's public schools and "disinterred, singlehandedly" the concept of federal criminal removal jurisdiction in the 1960s. Kunstler refused to defend right-wing groups, such as the Minutemen, on the grounds that "I only defend those whose goals I share. I'm not a lawyer for hire. I only defend those I love."
He was a polarizing figure; many on the right wished to see him disbarred, while many on the left admired him as a "symbol of a certain kind of radical lawyer." Even some other civil rights lawyers regarded Kunstler as a "publicity hound and a hit-and-run lawyer" who "brings cases on Page 1 and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund wins them on Page 68." Legal writer Sidney Zion quipped that Kunstler was "one of the few lawyers in town who knows how to talk to the press. His stories always check out and he's not afraid to talk to you, and he's got credibility—although you've got to ask sometimes, 'Bill, is it really true?'"
Early life
Kunstler was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Frances Mandelbaum and Monroe Bradford Kunstler, a physician. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School. After high school, he attended Yale University, where he majored in French and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1941. He then went on to attend Columbia Law School from which he graduated in 1948. While at Yale, Kunstler was an avid poet and represented Yale in the Glascock Prize competition at Mount Holyoke College.
Rejected twice by the United States Navy, Kunstler served in the U.S. Army during World War II in the Pacific theater. He volunteered for cryptography and served in New Guinea. He rose to the rank of major, and received the Bronze Star. While in the army, he was noted for his theatric portrayals in the Fort Monmouth Dramatic Association.
After his discharge from the Army, he attended law school, was admitted to the bar in New York in 1948 and began practicing law. Kunstler went through R.H. Macy's executive training program in the late 1940s and practiced family and small-business law in the 1950s, before entering civil-rights litigation in the 1960s. He was an associate professor of law at New York Law School (1950–1951).
Kunstler won honorable mention for the National Legal Aid Association's press award in 1957 for his series of radio broadcasts on WNEW, "The Law on Trial". At WNEW, Kunstler also conducted interviews on controversial topics, such as the Alger Hiss case, on a program called Counterpoint.
Civil rights career
Rise to prominence (1957–1964)
Kunstler first made headlines in 1957 when he unsuccessfully defended William Worthy, a correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American, who was one of 42 Americans who had their passports seized after violating the State Department's travel ban on Communist China (after attending a Communist youth conference in Moscow). Kunstler refused a State Department compromise, which would have returned Worthy's passport if he agreed to cease visiting Communist countries, a condition Worthy considered unconstitutional.
Kunstler played an important role as a civil-rights lawyer in the 1960s, traveling to many of the segregated battlegrounds to work to free those who had been jailed. Working on behalf of the ACLU, Kunstler defended the Freedom Riders in Mississippi in 1961. Kunstler filed for a writ of habeas corpus with Sidney Mize, a federal judge in Biloxi, and appealed to the Fifth Circuit; he also filed similar pleas in state courts. Judge Leon Hendrick in Hinds County refused Kunstler's motion to cancel the mass appearance (involving hundreds of miles of travel) of all 187 convicted riders. The riders were convicted in a bench trial in Jackson and appealed to a county jury trial, where Kunstler argued that the county systematically discriminated against African-American jurors.
In 1962, Kunstler took part in efforts to integrate public parks and libraries in Albany, Georgia. Later that year, he published The Case for Courage (modeled on President Kennedy's Profiles in Courage) highlighting the efforts of other lawyers who risked their careers for controversial clients, as well as similar acts by public servants. At the time of the publication, Kunstler was already well known for his work with the Freedom Riders, his book on the Caryl Chessman case, and his radio coverage of trials. Kunstler also joined a group of lawyers criticizing the application of Alabama's civil libel laws and spoke at a rally against HUAC.
In 1963, for the Gandhi Society of New York, Kunstler filed to remove the cases of more than 100 arrested African-American demonstrators from the Danville Corporation Court to the Charlottesville District Court, under a Reconstruction Era statute. Although the district judge remanded the cases to city court, he dissolved the city's injunction against demonstrations. In doing so, Judge Thomas J. Michie rejected a Justice Department amicus curiae brief urging the removal to create a test case for the statute. Kunstler appealed to the Fourth Circuit. That year, Kunstler also sued public-housing authorities in Westchester County.
In 1964, Kunstler defended a group of four accused of kidnapping a white couple, and succeeded in getting the alleged weapons thrown out as evidence, as they could not be positively identified as those used. That year, he also challenged Mississippi's unpledged elector law and racial segregation in primary elections; he also defended three members of the Blood Brothers, a Harlem gang, charged with murder.
Kunstler went to St. Augustine, Florida, in 1964 during the demonstrations led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Dr. Robert B. Hayling, which put added pressure on Congress to pass the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. Kunstler brought the first federal case under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which allowed the removal of cases from county court to be appealed; the defendants were protestors at the 1964 New York World's Fair.
ACLU director (1964–1972)
He was a director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1964 to 1972, when he became a member of the ACLU National Council. In 1966, he co-founded the Center for Constitutional Rights. Kunstler also worked with the National Lawyers Guild.
In 1965, Kunstler's firm - Kunstler, Kunstler, and Kinoy - was asked to defend Jack Ruby by his brother Earl, but dropped the case because they "did not wish to be in a situation where we have to fight to get into the case". Ruby was eventually permitted to replace his original defense team with Kunstler, who got him a new trial. In 1966, he also defended an arsonist who burned down a Jewish Community Center, killing 12, because he was not provided a lawyer before he signed a confession.
Kunstler's other notable clients include: Salvador Agron, H. Rap Brown, Lenny Bruce, Stokely Carmichael, the Catonsville Nine, Angela Davis, Larry Davis, Gregory Lee Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., Gary McGivern, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Filiberto Ojeda Rios, Assata Shakur, Lemuel Smith, Morton Sobell, Wayne Williams, and Michael X.
Chicago Seven (1969–1972)
Kunstler gained national renown for defending the Chicago Seven (originally Chicago Eight), in a five-month trial in 1969–1970, against charges of conspiring to incite riots in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Under cross-examination, Kunstler got a key police witness to contradict his previous testimony and admit that he had not witnessed Jerry Rubin, but had rather been given his name two weeks later by the FBI. Another prosecution witness, photographer Louis Salzberg, admitted under Kunstler's cross-examination that he was still on the payroll of the FBI.
The trial was marked by frequent clashes between Kunstler and U.S. Attorney Thomas Foran, with Kunstler taking the opportunity to accuse the government of failing to "realize the extent of antiwar sentiment". Kunstler also sparred with Judge Julius Hoffman, on one occasion remarking (with respect to the number of federal marshals): "this courtroom has the appearance of an armed camp. I would note that the Supreme Court has ruled that the appearance of an armed camp is a reversible error". During one heated exchange, Kunstler informed Hoffman that his entry in Who's Who was three times longer than the judge's, to which the judge replied "I hope you get a better obituary". Kunstler and co-defense attorneys Leonard Weinglass, Michael Kennedy, Gerald Lefcourt, Dennis Roberts and Michael Tigar were cited for contempt (the convictions were later overturned unanimously by the Seventh Circuit). If Hoffman's contempt conviction had been allowed to stand, Kunstler would have been imprisoned for an unprecedented four years.
The progress of the trial—which had many aspects of guerrilla theater—was covered on the nightly news and made Kunstler the best-known lawyer in the country, and something of a folk hero. After much deadlock, the jury acquitted all seven on the conspiracy charge, but convicted five of violating the anti-riot provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The Seventh Circuit overturned all the convictions on November 21, 1972, due to Hoffman's refusal to let defense lawyers question the prospective jurors on racial and cultural biases; the Justice Department did not retry the case.
Shortly after the 1968 Democratic Convention, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Dave Dellinger, and Robert Greenblatt received subpoenas to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Kunstler and co-counsel, Michael Kennedy, were among the group's six defense attorneys.
On the opening day of the HUAC hearings, the subpoenaed men and their lawyers, including Kunstler and Kennedy, staged a “stand-in” to protest the investigations. “The Constitution is being raped and we as lawyers are being emasculated in an armed camp,” Kennedy shouted at the hearing.
American Indian Movement (1973–1976)
Kunstler arrived in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, on March 4, 1973, to draw up the demands of the American Indian Movement (AIM) members involved in the Wounded Knee incident. Kunstler, who headed the defense, called the trial "the most important Indian trial of the 20th century", attempting to center the defense on the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868). Kunstler's team represented Russell Means and Dennis Banks, two of the leaders of the occupation.
Kunstler objected to the heavy trial security on the grounds that it could prejudice the jury and Judge Fred J. Nichol agreed to ease measures. The trial was moved to Minnesota. Two authors and three Sioux were called as defense witnesses, mostly focusing on the historical (and more recent) injustice against the Sioux on the part of the U.S. government, shocking the prosecution.
In 1975, Kunstler again defended AIM members in the slaying of two FBI agents at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, not far from the site of the Wounded Knee incident. At the trial in 1976, Kunstler subpoenaed prominent government officials to testify about the existence of a Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) against Native American activists. District Judge Edward J. McManus approved Kunstler's attempt to subpoena FBI director Clarence M. Kelley.
Kunstler also defended a Native American woman who refused to send her daughter with muscular dystrophy to school.
Attica (1974–1976)
In 1974–1975, Kunstler defended a prisoner charged with killing a guard during the Attica Prison riot. Under cross-examination, Kunstler forced Correction Officer Donald Melven to retract his sworn identification of John Hill, Kunstler's client, and Charles Pernasilice (defended by Richard Miller), admitting he still retained "slight" doubts that he confessed to investigators at the time of the incident. Kunstler focused on pointing out that all the other prosecution witnesses were testifying under reduced-sentencing agreements and called five prison inmates as defense witnesses (Miller called none), who testified that other prisoners hit the guard.
Despite Justice King's repeated warnings to Kunstler to "be careful, sir", Kunstler quickly became "the star of the trial, the man the jurors watch most attentively, and the lawyer whose voice carries most forcefully". Although the prosecution was careful to avoid personal confrontation with Kunstler, who frequently charmed the jury with jokes, on one occasion, Kunstler provoked a shouting match with the lead prosecutor, allegedly to wake up a sleeping jury member. The jury convicted Hill of murder and Pernasilice of attempted assault. When Kunstler protested that the defendants would risk being murdered due to the judges remanding them, King threatened to send Kunstler with them. New York Governor Hugh Carey granted executive clemency to Hill and the other inmates in 1976, even though Hill's name was not on the recommended list of pardons delivered to the governor and his appeals were still pending.
In June, Kunstler and Barbara Handshu, representing another inmate at Attica, Mariano Gonzales, asked for a new hearing on the role of FBI informant Mary Jo Cook.
Assata Shakur (1977)
Kunstler joined the defense staff of Assata Shakur in 1977, charged in New Jersey with a variety of felonies in connection with a 1973 shootout with New Jersey State Troopers. Shakur, sentenced to life imprisonment, in early 1979 escaped from prison. In 1984 Shakur was granted asylum in Cuba by Fidel Castro, who called the charges “an infamous lie". William Kunstler told reporters in 1979 that Shakur's health had declined in prison; he said: “I was very happy that she escaped because I thought she was unfairly tried".
Collaboration with Ron Kuby (1983–1995)
From 1983 until Kunstler's death in 1995, Ron Kuby was his partner. The two took on controversial civil-rights and criminal cases, including cases where they represented Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, head of the Egyptian-based terrorist group Gama'a al-Islamiyah, responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; Colin Ferguson, the man responsible for the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting, who would later reject Kuby and Kunstler's legal counsel and choose to represent himself at trial; Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, accused of plotting to murder Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam; Glenn Harris, a New York City public-school teacher who absconded with a 15-year-old girl for two months; Nico Minardos, a flamboyant actor indicted by Rudy Giuliani for conspiracy to ship arms to Iran; Darrell Cabey, one of the persons shot by Bernard Goetz; and associates of the Gambino crime family.
Kunstler's defense of the three clerics made him "more visible, more venerated, more vilified than ever".
During the first Gulf War, they represented dozens of American soldiers who refused to fight and claimed conscientious objector status. They also won acquittal for El-Sayyid Nosair, the accused assassin of extreme Zionist leader Meir Kahane, who later admitted to the killing.
Representation of mobsters
Kunstler represented a number of convicted mafiosi during his career, claiming "they were victims of government persecution", and said to have "never made a nickel on an OC [organized crime] case". The more notorious of Kunstler's mobster clients included Joe Bonanno, Raymond L.S. Patriarca, Nicholas L. Bianco, John Gotti, and Louis Ferrante, who claimed in his memoir, Unlocked: the Life and Crimes of a Mafia Insider, that Kunstler "took a hundred grand off me."
Other work
In 1979, Kunstler represented Marvin Barnes, an ABA and NBA basketball player, with past legal troubles and league discipline problems.
In 1989–1990, Kunstler twice argued successfully in defense of flag burning, before the Supreme Court. In Texas v. Johnson and United States v. Eichman, the Court held the act to be protected speech under the First Amendment, striking down Texas state and Federal statutes on "flag desecration".
Kunstler appeared as a lawyer in the movie The Doors in 1991, as a judge in the movie Malcolm X in 1992, and as himself in several television documentaries.
In 1993 Kunstler represented Yusuf Saalam of the Central Park 5 during his appeal, a move which alienated several friends. After Kunstler's death Saalam would be proven innocent when Matias Reyes confessed and DNA proved that Reyes was the sole attacker.
During the 1994–95 television season, Kunstler starred as himself in an episode of Law & Order titled "White Rabbit", defending a woman charged with complicity in the 1971 murder of a policeman during the robbery of an armored car; the plot was based on the real-life story of Katherine Ann Power, who turned herself in to authorities in 1993.
Death and legacy
In late 1995, Kunstler died in New York City of heart failure at the age of 76. In his last major public appearance, at the commencement ceremonies for the University at Buffalo's School of Architecture and Planning, Kunstler lambasted the death penalty, saying, "We have become the charnel house of the Western world with reference to executions; the next closest to us is the Republic of South Africa." Ron Kuby, in his eulogy of Kunstler, said "While defending the Chicago Seven, [Kunstler] put the war in Vietnam on trial, asking Judy Collins to sing "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" from the witness stand, placing a Viet Cong flag on the defense table, and wearing a black armband to commemorate the war dead."
William Kunstler was survived by his wife Margaret Ratner Kunstler (who was previously married to Kunstler's close friend Michael Ratner) and his four daughters Karin Kunstler Goldman, Jane Drazek, Sarah Kunstler and Emily Kunstler, and several grandchildren.
Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler produced a documentary about their father entitled William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, which had a screening as part of the Documentary Competition of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Publications
Our Pleasant Vices (1941)
The Law of Accidents (1954)
First Degree (1960)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt? The Original Trial of Caryl Chessman (1961)
The Case for Courage: The Stories of Ten Famous American Attorneys Who Risked Their Careers in the Cause of Justice. New York: Morrow (1962)
And Justice For All (1963)
The Minister and the Choir Singer: The Hall-Mills Murder Case (1964)
Deep in My Heart. New York: Morrow (1966)
Trials and Tribulations (1985)
My Life as a Radical Lawyer (1994)
Hints & Allegation: The World (In Poetry and Prose) (1994)
Politics on Trial: Five Famous Trials of the 20th Century (2002)
The Emerging Police State: Resisting Illegitimate Authority (2004)
Pop culture references
Kunstler was listed as Sister Mary Stigmata's attorney in Blues Brothers: Private in 1980.
Robert Loggia portrayed Kunstler in the 1987 film Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8.
Kunstler appeared as a lawyer for Jim Morrison in The Doors in 1991.
Kunstler appeared as a judge in Malcolm X in 1992.
Kunstler appeared as himself in the fifth season of Law & Order episode "White Rabbit" in 1994.
Kunstler was portrayed by David Ackroyd in the 1994 television film Against the Wall.
In the 1998 film The Big Lebowski, Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski demands representation by Kunstler or Ron Kuby during the Malibu Police Station scene.
Kunstler was voiced by Liev Schreiber in the 2007 animated documentary Chicago 10.
According to Lionel Shriver, the character of Joel Litvinoff in Zoë Heller's 2008 novel The Believers may be modeled on Kunstler.
Gary Cole portrayed Kunstler in the 2010 film The Chicago 8.
In Bryce Zabel's alternate history novel Surrounded By Enemies: What If Kennedy Survived Dallas?, Kunstler is initially Lee Harvey Oswald's defense attorney before resigning and being replaced by F. Lee Bailey.
Kunstler was portrayed by Sir Mark Rylance in Aaron Sorkin's 2020 film The Trial of the Chicago 7.
References
Further reading
Langum, David J. (Sr.). William M. Kunstler: The Most Hated Lawyer in America. New York: New York University Press (1999). .
External links
Biography at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University
A Remembrance of William Kunstler, esquilax.com
Center for Constitutional Rights, ccrjustice.org
William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice, kunstler.org
New Documentary Examines Life, Legacy of Famed Radical Attorney – video report by Democracy Now!, democracynow.org
Category:1919 births
Category:1995 deaths
Category:Activists for African-American civil rights
Category:American civil rights lawyers
Category:American legal scholars
Category:United States Army personnel of World War II
Category:Chicago Seven
Category:Columbia Law School alumni
Category:Criminal defense lawyers
Category:DeWitt Clinton High School alumni
Category:Jewish American writers
Category:Lawyers from New York City
Category:Military personnel from New York City
Category:Jewish American attorneys
Category:United States Army officers
Category:Yale College alumni
Category:20th-century American lawyers | [] | [
"As an AI, I don't form opinions, but some notable aspects of this context could include the tense exchanges between Kunstler and Judge Hoffman, Kunstler's effective cross-examination of witnesses that helped his clients, his rise to fame through coverage of the trial on nightly news, and the ultimate acquittal of all the defendants. The fact that Kunstler could have been imprisoned for four years if a contempt conviction had stood could also be considered notable.",
"The Chicago Seven, originally known as the Chicago Eight, refers to a group of seven defendants who were charged with conspiring to incite riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The charges were made due to their involvement in protests against the Vietnam War. The individuals included Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner. They were defended by lawyers William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass.",
"According to the given context, the Chicago Seven were accused of conspiring to incite riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. These charges were brought about due to their participation in anti-war protests, reflecting strong adverse sentiment against the Vietnam War. During the trial, however, all seven were acquitted of conspiracy, though five of them were convicted of violating the anti-riot provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Those convictions were later overturned, and the case was not retried.",
"Yes, they were charged with conspiring to incite riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. However, they were acquitted of this conspiracy charge. Five of them were also found guilty of violating the anti-riot provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, but these convictions were later overturned by the Seventh Circuit.",
"In the trial of the Chicago Seven, the jury acquitted all seven defendants on the charge of conspiracy. However, five of them were convicted on charges of violating the anti-riot provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Later, the Seventh Circuit overturned all the convictions due to procedural problems, such as the judge's refusal to let defense lawyers question prospective jurors on racial and cultural biases. The Justice Department did not retry the case, so in that sense, Kunstler could be considered to have been successful in the defense.",
"Yes, the trial of the Chicago Seven was marked by notable clashes. Defense lawyer William Kunstler frequently clashed with U.S. Attorney Thomas Foran and Judge Julius Hoffman. Kunstler accused the government of not realizing the extent of anti-war sentiment, criticized the number of federal marshals in the courtroom, and had a heated exchange with Judge Hoffman about their respective entries in the Who's Who directory. Kunstler and co-defense attorney Leonard Weinglass were even cited for contempt, though these convictions were later overturned."
] | [
"Neutral",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_0 | William Kunstler | The son of a physician, Kunstler was born in New York City and attended DeWitt Clinton High School. He was educated at Yale College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1941, and Columbia University Law School from which he graduated in 1948. While in school, Kunstler was an avid poet and represented Yale in the Glascock Prize competition at Mount Holyoke College. Kunstler served in the U.S. Army during World War II in the Pacific theater, attaining the rank of Major, and received the Bronze Star. | Attica (1974-1976) | In 1974-1975, Kunstler defended a prisoner charged with killing a guard during the Attica Prison riot. Under cross-examination, Kunstler forced Correction Officer Donald Melven to retract his sworn identification of John Hill, Kunstler's client, and Charles Pernasilice (defended by Richard Miller), admitting he still retained "slight" doubts that he confessed to investigators at the time of the incident. Kunstler focused on pointing out that all the other prosecution witnesses were testifying under reduced-sentencing agreements and called five prison inmates as defense witnesses (Miller called none), who testified that other prisoners hit the guard. Despite Justice King's repeated warnings to Kunstler to "be careful, sir", Kunstler quickly became "the star of the trial, the man the jurors watch most attentively, and the lawyer whose voice carries most forcefully". Although the prosecution was careful to avoid personal confrontation with Kunstler, who frequently charmed the jury with jokes, on one occasion Kunstler provoked a shouting match with the lead prosecutor, allegedly to wake up a sleeping jury member. The jury convicted Hill of murder and Pernasilice of attempted assault. When Kunstler protested that the defendants would risk being murdered due to the judges remanding them, King threatened to send Kunstler with them. New York Governor Hugh Carey granted executive clemency to Hill and the other inmates in 1976, even though Hill's name was not on the recommended list of pardons delivered to the governor and his appeals were still pending. In June, Kunstler and Barbara Handshu, representing another inmate at Attica, Mariano Gonzales, asked for a new hearing on the role of FBI informant Mary Jo Cook. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_0_q#0",
"C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_0_q#1",
"C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_0_q#2",
"C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_0_q#3",
"C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_0_q#4",
"C_0b649961a3624400ba2027e02e1c0d52_0_q#5"
] | [
"What was he sentenced to Attica for?",
"Was he a prisoner or a lawyer for a prisoner?",
"Who is John Hill?",
"What was he accused of?",
"What year did the prison riot happen?",
"Was he convicted of killing the guard?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
32
],
[
103
],
[
227
],
[
43
],
[
3
],
[
1128
]
],
"texts": [
[
"a prisoner charged with killing a guard during the"
],
[
"Under cross-examination, Kunstler forced Correction Officer Donald Melven to retract his sworn identification of John Hill,"
],
[
"Kunstler's client, and Charles Pernasilice (defended by Richard Miller),"
],
[
"charged with killing a guard during the Attica Prison riot."
],
[
"1974"
],
[
"The jury convicted Hill of murder and Pernasilice of attempted assault."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
32,
103,
227,
43,
3,
1128
],
"texts": [
"a prisoner charged with killing a guard during the",
"Under cross-examination, Kunstler forced Correction Officer Donald Melven to retract his sworn identification of John Hill,",
"Kunstler's client, and Charles Pernasilice (defended by Richard Miller),",
"charged with killing a guard during the Attica Prison riot.",
"1974",
"The jury convicted Hill of murder and Pernasilice of attempted assault."
]
} | William Moses Kunstler (July 7, 1919 – September 4, 1995) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist, known for defending the Chicago Seven. Kunstler was an active member of the National Lawyers Guild, a board member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the co-founder of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the "leading gathering place for radical lawyers in the country."
Kunstler's defense of the Chicago Seven from 1969 to 1970 led The New York Times to label him "the country's most controversial and, perhaps, its best-known lawyer". Kunstler is also well known for defending members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, Catonsville Nine, Black Panther Party, Weather Underground Organization, the Attica Prison rioters, Meir Kahane assassin El Sayyid Nosair, and the American Indian Movement. He also won a de facto segregation case regarding the District of Columbia's public schools and "disinterred, singlehandedly" the concept of federal criminal removal jurisdiction in the 1960s. Kunstler refused to defend right-wing groups, such as the Minutemen, on the grounds that "I only defend those whose goals I share. I'm not a lawyer for hire. I only defend those I love."
He was a polarizing figure; many on the right wished to see him disbarred, while many on the left admired him as a "symbol of a certain kind of radical lawyer." Even some other civil rights lawyers regarded Kunstler as a "publicity hound and a hit-and-run lawyer" who "brings cases on Page 1 and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund wins them on Page 68." Legal writer Sidney Zion quipped that Kunstler was "one of the few lawyers in town who knows how to talk to the press. His stories always check out and he's not afraid to talk to you, and he's got credibility—although you've got to ask sometimes, 'Bill, is it really true?'"
Early life
Kunstler was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Frances Mandelbaum and Monroe Bradford Kunstler, a physician. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School. After high school, he attended Yale University, where he majored in French and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1941. He then went on to attend Columbia Law School from which he graduated in 1948. While at Yale, Kunstler was an avid poet and represented Yale in the Glascock Prize competition at Mount Holyoke College.
Rejected twice by the United States Navy, Kunstler served in the U.S. Army during World War II in the Pacific theater. He volunteered for cryptography and served in New Guinea. He rose to the rank of major, and received the Bronze Star. While in the army, he was noted for his theatric portrayals in the Fort Monmouth Dramatic Association.
After his discharge from the Army, he attended law school, was admitted to the bar in New York in 1948 and began practicing law. Kunstler went through R.H. Macy's executive training program in the late 1940s and practiced family and small-business law in the 1950s, before entering civil-rights litigation in the 1960s. He was an associate professor of law at New York Law School (1950–1951).
Kunstler won honorable mention for the National Legal Aid Association's press award in 1957 for his series of radio broadcasts on WNEW, "The Law on Trial". At WNEW, Kunstler also conducted interviews on controversial topics, such as the Alger Hiss case, on a program called Counterpoint.
Civil rights career
Rise to prominence (1957–1964)
Kunstler first made headlines in 1957 when he unsuccessfully defended William Worthy, a correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American, who was one of 42 Americans who had their passports seized after violating the State Department's travel ban on Communist China (after attending a Communist youth conference in Moscow). Kunstler refused a State Department compromise, which would have returned Worthy's passport if he agreed to cease visiting Communist countries, a condition Worthy considered unconstitutional.
Kunstler played an important role as a civil-rights lawyer in the 1960s, traveling to many of the segregated battlegrounds to work to free those who had been jailed. Working on behalf of the ACLU, Kunstler defended the Freedom Riders in Mississippi in 1961. Kunstler filed for a writ of habeas corpus with Sidney Mize, a federal judge in Biloxi, and appealed to the Fifth Circuit; he also filed similar pleas in state courts. Judge Leon Hendrick in Hinds County refused Kunstler's motion to cancel the mass appearance (involving hundreds of miles of travel) of all 187 convicted riders. The riders were convicted in a bench trial in Jackson and appealed to a county jury trial, where Kunstler argued that the county systematically discriminated against African-American jurors.
In 1962, Kunstler took part in efforts to integrate public parks and libraries in Albany, Georgia. Later that year, he published The Case for Courage (modeled on President Kennedy's Profiles in Courage) highlighting the efforts of other lawyers who risked their careers for controversial clients, as well as similar acts by public servants. At the time of the publication, Kunstler was already well known for his work with the Freedom Riders, his book on the Caryl Chessman case, and his radio coverage of trials. Kunstler also joined a group of lawyers criticizing the application of Alabama's civil libel laws and spoke at a rally against HUAC.
In 1963, for the Gandhi Society of New York, Kunstler filed to remove the cases of more than 100 arrested African-American demonstrators from the Danville Corporation Court to the Charlottesville District Court, under a Reconstruction Era statute. Although the district judge remanded the cases to city court, he dissolved the city's injunction against demonstrations. In doing so, Judge Thomas J. Michie rejected a Justice Department amicus curiae brief urging the removal to create a test case for the statute. Kunstler appealed to the Fourth Circuit. That year, Kunstler also sued public-housing authorities in Westchester County.
In 1964, Kunstler defended a group of four accused of kidnapping a white couple, and succeeded in getting the alleged weapons thrown out as evidence, as they could not be positively identified as those used. That year, he also challenged Mississippi's unpledged elector law and racial segregation in primary elections; he also defended three members of the Blood Brothers, a Harlem gang, charged with murder.
Kunstler went to St. Augustine, Florida, in 1964 during the demonstrations led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Dr. Robert B. Hayling, which put added pressure on Congress to pass the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. Kunstler brought the first federal case under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which allowed the removal of cases from county court to be appealed; the defendants were protestors at the 1964 New York World's Fair.
ACLU director (1964–1972)
He was a director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1964 to 1972, when he became a member of the ACLU National Council. In 1966, he co-founded the Center for Constitutional Rights. Kunstler also worked with the National Lawyers Guild.
In 1965, Kunstler's firm - Kunstler, Kunstler, and Kinoy - was asked to defend Jack Ruby by his brother Earl, but dropped the case because they "did not wish to be in a situation where we have to fight to get into the case". Ruby was eventually permitted to replace his original defense team with Kunstler, who got him a new trial. In 1966, he also defended an arsonist who burned down a Jewish Community Center, killing 12, because he was not provided a lawyer before he signed a confession.
Kunstler's other notable clients include: Salvador Agron, H. Rap Brown, Lenny Bruce, Stokely Carmichael, the Catonsville Nine, Angela Davis, Larry Davis, Gregory Lee Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., Gary McGivern, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Filiberto Ojeda Rios, Assata Shakur, Lemuel Smith, Morton Sobell, Wayne Williams, and Michael X.
Chicago Seven (1969–1972)
Kunstler gained national renown for defending the Chicago Seven (originally Chicago Eight), in a five-month trial in 1969–1970, against charges of conspiring to incite riots in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Under cross-examination, Kunstler got a key police witness to contradict his previous testimony and admit that he had not witnessed Jerry Rubin, but had rather been given his name two weeks later by the FBI. Another prosecution witness, photographer Louis Salzberg, admitted under Kunstler's cross-examination that he was still on the payroll of the FBI.
The trial was marked by frequent clashes between Kunstler and U.S. Attorney Thomas Foran, with Kunstler taking the opportunity to accuse the government of failing to "realize the extent of antiwar sentiment". Kunstler also sparred with Judge Julius Hoffman, on one occasion remarking (with respect to the number of federal marshals): "this courtroom has the appearance of an armed camp. I would note that the Supreme Court has ruled that the appearance of an armed camp is a reversible error". During one heated exchange, Kunstler informed Hoffman that his entry in Who's Who was three times longer than the judge's, to which the judge replied "I hope you get a better obituary". Kunstler and co-defense attorneys Leonard Weinglass, Michael Kennedy, Gerald Lefcourt, Dennis Roberts and Michael Tigar were cited for contempt (the convictions were later overturned unanimously by the Seventh Circuit). If Hoffman's contempt conviction had been allowed to stand, Kunstler would have been imprisoned for an unprecedented four years.
The progress of the trial—which had many aspects of guerrilla theater—was covered on the nightly news and made Kunstler the best-known lawyer in the country, and something of a folk hero. After much deadlock, the jury acquitted all seven on the conspiracy charge, but convicted five of violating the anti-riot provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The Seventh Circuit overturned all the convictions on November 21, 1972, due to Hoffman's refusal to let defense lawyers question the prospective jurors on racial and cultural biases; the Justice Department did not retry the case.
Shortly after the 1968 Democratic Convention, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Dave Dellinger, and Robert Greenblatt received subpoenas to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Kunstler and co-counsel, Michael Kennedy, were among the group's six defense attorneys.
On the opening day of the HUAC hearings, the subpoenaed men and their lawyers, including Kunstler and Kennedy, staged a “stand-in” to protest the investigations. “The Constitution is being raped and we as lawyers are being emasculated in an armed camp,” Kennedy shouted at the hearing.
American Indian Movement (1973–1976)
Kunstler arrived in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, on March 4, 1973, to draw up the demands of the American Indian Movement (AIM) members involved in the Wounded Knee incident. Kunstler, who headed the defense, called the trial "the most important Indian trial of the 20th century", attempting to center the defense on the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868). Kunstler's team represented Russell Means and Dennis Banks, two of the leaders of the occupation.
Kunstler objected to the heavy trial security on the grounds that it could prejudice the jury and Judge Fred J. Nichol agreed to ease measures. The trial was moved to Minnesota. Two authors and three Sioux were called as defense witnesses, mostly focusing on the historical (and more recent) injustice against the Sioux on the part of the U.S. government, shocking the prosecution.
In 1975, Kunstler again defended AIM members in the slaying of two FBI agents at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, not far from the site of the Wounded Knee incident. At the trial in 1976, Kunstler subpoenaed prominent government officials to testify about the existence of a Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) against Native American activists. District Judge Edward J. McManus approved Kunstler's attempt to subpoena FBI director Clarence M. Kelley.
Kunstler also defended a Native American woman who refused to send her daughter with muscular dystrophy to school.
Attica (1974–1976)
In 1974–1975, Kunstler defended a prisoner charged with killing a guard during the Attica Prison riot. Under cross-examination, Kunstler forced Correction Officer Donald Melven to retract his sworn identification of John Hill, Kunstler's client, and Charles Pernasilice (defended by Richard Miller), admitting he still retained "slight" doubts that he confessed to investigators at the time of the incident. Kunstler focused on pointing out that all the other prosecution witnesses were testifying under reduced-sentencing agreements and called five prison inmates as defense witnesses (Miller called none), who testified that other prisoners hit the guard.
Despite Justice King's repeated warnings to Kunstler to "be careful, sir", Kunstler quickly became "the star of the trial, the man the jurors watch most attentively, and the lawyer whose voice carries most forcefully". Although the prosecution was careful to avoid personal confrontation with Kunstler, who frequently charmed the jury with jokes, on one occasion, Kunstler provoked a shouting match with the lead prosecutor, allegedly to wake up a sleeping jury member. The jury convicted Hill of murder and Pernasilice of attempted assault. When Kunstler protested that the defendants would risk being murdered due to the judges remanding them, King threatened to send Kunstler with them. New York Governor Hugh Carey granted executive clemency to Hill and the other inmates in 1976, even though Hill's name was not on the recommended list of pardons delivered to the governor and his appeals were still pending.
In June, Kunstler and Barbara Handshu, representing another inmate at Attica, Mariano Gonzales, asked for a new hearing on the role of FBI informant Mary Jo Cook.
Assata Shakur (1977)
Kunstler joined the defense staff of Assata Shakur in 1977, charged in New Jersey with a variety of felonies in connection with a 1973 shootout with New Jersey State Troopers. Shakur, sentenced to life imprisonment, in early 1979 escaped from prison. In 1984 Shakur was granted asylum in Cuba by Fidel Castro, who called the charges “an infamous lie". William Kunstler told reporters in 1979 that Shakur's health had declined in prison; he said: “I was very happy that she escaped because I thought she was unfairly tried".
Collaboration with Ron Kuby (1983–1995)
From 1983 until Kunstler's death in 1995, Ron Kuby was his partner. The two took on controversial civil-rights and criminal cases, including cases where they represented Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, head of the Egyptian-based terrorist group Gama'a al-Islamiyah, responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; Colin Ferguson, the man responsible for the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting, who would later reject Kuby and Kunstler's legal counsel and choose to represent himself at trial; Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, accused of plotting to murder Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam; Glenn Harris, a New York City public-school teacher who absconded with a 15-year-old girl for two months; Nico Minardos, a flamboyant actor indicted by Rudy Giuliani for conspiracy to ship arms to Iran; Darrell Cabey, one of the persons shot by Bernard Goetz; and associates of the Gambino crime family.
Kunstler's defense of the three clerics made him "more visible, more venerated, more vilified than ever".
During the first Gulf War, they represented dozens of American soldiers who refused to fight and claimed conscientious objector status. They also won acquittal for El-Sayyid Nosair, the accused assassin of extreme Zionist leader Meir Kahane, who later admitted to the killing.
Representation of mobsters
Kunstler represented a number of convicted mafiosi during his career, claiming "they were victims of government persecution", and said to have "never made a nickel on an OC [organized crime] case". The more notorious of Kunstler's mobster clients included Joe Bonanno, Raymond L.S. Patriarca, Nicholas L. Bianco, John Gotti, and Louis Ferrante, who claimed in his memoir, Unlocked: the Life and Crimes of a Mafia Insider, that Kunstler "took a hundred grand off me."
Other work
In 1979, Kunstler represented Marvin Barnes, an ABA and NBA basketball player, with past legal troubles and league discipline problems.
In 1989–1990, Kunstler twice argued successfully in defense of flag burning, before the Supreme Court. In Texas v. Johnson and United States v. Eichman, the Court held the act to be protected speech under the First Amendment, striking down Texas state and Federal statutes on "flag desecration".
Kunstler appeared as a lawyer in the movie The Doors in 1991, as a judge in the movie Malcolm X in 1992, and as himself in several television documentaries.
In 1993 Kunstler represented Yusuf Saalam of the Central Park 5 during his appeal, a move which alienated several friends. After Kunstler's death Saalam would be proven innocent when Matias Reyes confessed and DNA proved that Reyes was the sole attacker.
During the 1994–95 television season, Kunstler starred as himself in an episode of Law & Order titled "White Rabbit", defending a woman charged with complicity in the 1971 murder of a policeman during the robbery of an armored car; the plot was based on the real-life story of Katherine Ann Power, who turned herself in to authorities in 1993.
Death and legacy
In late 1995, Kunstler died in New York City of heart failure at the age of 76. In his last major public appearance, at the commencement ceremonies for the University at Buffalo's School of Architecture and Planning, Kunstler lambasted the death penalty, saying, "We have become the charnel house of the Western world with reference to executions; the next closest to us is the Republic of South Africa." Ron Kuby, in his eulogy of Kunstler, said "While defending the Chicago Seven, [Kunstler] put the war in Vietnam on trial, asking Judy Collins to sing "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" from the witness stand, placing a Viet Cong flag on the defense table, and wearing a black armband to commemorate the war dead."
William Kunstler was survived by his wife Margaret Ratner Kunstler (who was previously married to Kunstler's close friend Michael Ratner) and his four daughters Karin Kunstler Goldman, Jane Drazek, Sarah Kunstler and Emily Kunstler, and several grandchildren.
Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler produced a documentary about their father entitled William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, which had a screening as part of the Documentary Competition of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Publications
Our Pleasant Vices (1941)
The Law of Accidents (1954)
First Degree (1960)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt? The Original Trial of Caryl Chessman (1961)
The Case for Courage: The Stories of Ten Famous American Attorneys Who Risked Their Careers in the Cause of Justice. New York: Morrow (1962)
And Justice For All (1963)
The Minister and the Choir Singer: The Hall-Mills Murder Case (1964)
Deep in My Heart. New York: Morrow (1966)
Trials and Tribulations (1985)
My Life as a Radical Lawyer (1994)
Hints & Allegation: The World (In Poetry and Prose) (1994)
Politics on Trial: Five Famous Trials of the 20th Century (2002)
The Emerging Police State: Resisting Illegitimate Authority (2004)
Pop culture references
Kunstler was listed as Sister Mary Stigmata's attorney in Blues Brothers: Private in 1980.
Robert Loggia portrayed Kunstler in the 1987 film Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8.
Kunstler appeared as a lawyer for Jim Morrison in The Doors in 1991.
Kunstler appeared as a judge in Malcolm X in 1992.
Kunstler appeared as himself in the fifth season of Law & Order episode "White Rabbit" in 1994.
Kunstler was portrayed by David Ackroyd in the 1994 television film Against the Wall.
In the 1998 film The Big Lebowski, Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski demands representation by Kunstler or Ron Kuby during the Malibu Police Station scene.
Kunstler was voiced by Liev Schreiber in the 2007 animated documentary Chicago 10.
According to Lionel Shriver, the character of Joel Litvinoff in Zoë Heller's 2008 novel The Believers may be modeled on Kunstler.
Gary Cole portrayed Kunstler in the 2010 film The Chicago 8.
In Bryce Zabel's alternate history novel Surrounded By Enemies: What If Kennedy Survived Dallas?, Kunstler is initially Lee Harvey Oswald's defense attorney before resigning and being replaced by F. Lee Bailey.
Kunstler was portrayed by Sir Mark Rylance in Aaron Sorkin's 2020 film The Trial of the Chicago 7.
References
Further reading
Langum, David J. (Sr.). William M. Kunstler: The Most Hated Lawyer in America. New York: New York University Press (1999). .
External links
Biography at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University
A Remembrance of William Kunstler, esquilax.com
Center for Constitutional Rights, ccrjustice.org
William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice, kunstler.org
New Documentary Examines Life, Legacy of Famed Radical Attorney – video report by Democracy Now!, democracynow.org
Category:1919 births
Category:1995 deaths
Category:Activists for African-American civil rights
Category:American civil rights lawyers
Category:American legal scholars
Category:United States Army personnel of World War II
Category:Chicago Seven
Category:Columbia Law School alumni
Category:Criminal defense lawyers
Category:DeWitt Clinton High School alumni
Category:Jewish American writers
Category:Lawyers from New York City
Category:Military personnel from New York City
Category:Jewish American attorneys
Category:United States Army officers
Category:Yale College alumni
Category:20th-century American lawyers | [] | [
"The text does not provide information on why the person in question was sentenced to Attica.",
"Kunstler was a lawyer defending a prisoner.",
"John Hill was Kunstler's client, a prisoner charged with killing a guard during the Attica Prison riot.",
"John Hill was accused of killing a guard during the Attica Prison riot.",
"The text does not provide information on what year the Attica Prison riot happened.",
"Yes, John Hill was convicted of murder for killing a guard during the Attica Prison riot."
] | [
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_0 | Jane Roberts | Dorothy Jane Roberts (May 8, 1929 - September 5, 1984) was an American author, poet, self-proclaimed psychic, and spirit medium, who claimed to channel an energy personality who called himself "Seth." Her publication of the Seth texts, known as the Seth Material, established her as one of the preeminent figures in the world of paranormal phenomena. The Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives maintains a collection entitled Jane Roberts Papers (MS 1090), which documents the career and personal life of Jane Roberts, including journals, poetry, correspondence, audio and video recordings, and other materials donated after her death by Roberts' husband and other individuals and organizations. | Criticism | Roberts and the Seth Material have attracted critiques from outside the paranormal community. The poet Charles Upton, in his collection of essays titled The System of Antichrist, posited that Roberts multiplied the self due to a fear of death. His opinion was that the Seth texts are based on a misunderstanding of both Christianity and of Eastern religions. Professor of psychology and noted critic of parapsychology James E. Alcock opined, "In light of all this, the Seth materials must surely be viewed as less than ordinary. There certainly was the time and talent for fraud to play a role, but we cannot discriminate between that possibility and the possibility of unconscious production--at any rate, given these circumstances, there seems little need to consider the involvement of any supernatural agency." Seth's teaching of a philosophy far more detailed than and not in keeping with traditional Church-authority, God-separate-from Creation, one-mortal-life, Jesus-centered messages has also received its share of criticism from some Christian believers. Various ministries have warned their members about the dangers and deceptions of reading channeled messages from Roberts and others. The Seth Material has been considered in certain circles to be "a book entirely written by a demon. A woman simply wrote it down as it was dictated to her by the demon; and, of course, it just destroys everything that is true in terms of God's revelation," and as evidence for "Devil possession." Videos such as Jane Roberts' Seth Speaks is Anti-Catholic Hate Books - Allowed By The Media protested that Seth was "a demon from hell contacted through a ouija board." Science writer Karen Stollznow has written that much of Roberts work was "criticized for being a rip-off of Christian and Eastern philosophy. It comes as no surprise that Seth influenced such authors as Deepak Chopra and Louise Hay." Since Roberts' death, others have claimed to channel Seth. In the introduction to Seth's first dictated book, Seth Speaks, "he" says, "communications will come exclusively through Ruburt [Seth's name for Jane] at all times, to protect the integrity of the material." In The Seth Material, Jane Roberts wrote: "Several people have told me that Seth communicated with them through automatic writing, but Seth denies any such contacts." At least one person has claimed more recently to channel Roberts. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_0_q#0",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_0_q#1",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_0_q#2",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_0_q#3",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_0_q#4",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_0_q#5",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_0_q#6",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_0_q#7"
] | [
"Why did people criticize Jane?",
"Was it considered Satanic?",
"Did people think that Jane was possessed by a demon name Seth?",
"Was Seth considered a God?",
"Is Jane still alive?",
"Did people still criticize her work after her death?",
"Did people think her writings were anti-religion?",
"Who protested against Seth?"
] | [
2,
2,
1,
1,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | [
2,
0,
1,
1,
1,
0,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
153
],
[
1200
],
[
2212
],
[
1300
],
[
1902
],
[
1740
],
[
1497
],
[
360
]
],
"texts": [
[
"The System of Antichrist, posited that Roberts multiplied the self due to a fear of death."
],
[
"The Seth Material has been considered in certain circles to be \"a book entirely written by a demon."
],
[
"Several people have told me that Seth communicated with them through automatic writing,"
],
[
"A woman simply wrote it down as it was dictated to her by the demon; and, of course, it just destroys everything that is true in terms of God's revelation,"
],
[
"Since Roberts' death,"
],
[
"\"criticized for being a rip-off of Christian and Eastern philosophy. It comes as no surprise that Seth influenced such authors as Deepak Chopra and Louise Hay.\""
],
[
"Videos such as Jane Roberts' Seth Speaks is Anti-Catholic Hate Books - Allowed By The Media protested that Seth"
],
[
"Professor of psychology and noted critic of parapsychology James E. Alcock opined, \"In light of all this, the Seth materials must surely be viewed as less than ordinary."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
153,
1200,
2212,
1300,
1902,
1740,
1497,
360
],
"texts": [
"The System of Antichrist, posited that Roberts multiplied the self due to a fear of death.",
"The Seth Material has been considered in certain circles to be \"a book entirely written by a demon.",
"Several people have told me that Seth communicated with them through automatic writing,",
"A woman simply wrote it down as it was dictated to her by the demon; and, of course, it just destroys everything that is true in terms of God's revelation,",
"Since Roberts' death,",
"\"criticized for being a rip-off of Christian and Eastern philosophy. It comes as no surprise that Seth influenced such authors as Deepak Chopra and Louise Hay.\"",
"Videos such as Jane Roberts' Seth Speaks is Anti-Catholic Hate Books - Allowed By The Media protested that Seth",
"Professor of psychology and noted critic of parapsychology James E. Alcock opined, \"In light of all this, the Seth materials must surely be viewed as less than ordinary."
]
} | Dorothy Jane Roberts (May 8, 1929 – September 5, 1984) was an American author, poet, psychic, and spirit medium, who channeled a personality who called himself "Seth." Her publication of the Seth texts, known as the Seth Material, established her as one of the preeminent figures in the world of paranormal phenomena.
Early life and career
Roberts was born in Albany, New York and grew up in nearby Saratoga Springs, New York. Her parents, Delmer Hubbell Roberts and Marie Burdo, divorced when she was two years old. With her only child, the young Marie then returned to her own parents, and the home that the family had rented for a number of years: half of a double dwelling in a poor neighborhood. Marie had begun experiencing the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis by 1932 but worked as much as possible. Eventually, Roberts' grandfather, Joseph Burdo, with whom she shared a deep mystical identification, was unable to support two extra people, and the family had to rely upon public assistance. Roberts' grandmother was killed in an automobile accident in 1936.
The next year, her grandfather moved out of the house. By then Marie was partially incapacitated, and the Welfare Department began to furnish mother and daughter with occasional and often unreliable domestic help. When Marie became a bedridden invalid, it was Jane's responsibility to take care of her. This included cooking, cleaning, bringing her the bedpan, and getting up in the middle of the night to refuel the stove. Her embittered mother would tell Jane she was going to turn on the gas jets in the middle of the night and kill them both. When her mother attempted suicide for about the fifth time, she took sleeping pills and was in the hospital. Jane wrote that she went to the welfare worker and said, 'I can't take it anymore. I've just got to leave.'" Over and over Marie told Jane she was no good, that the daughter's birth had caused the mother's illness, and that she was disowned and considered no longer her daughter.
Well before she was 10 years old Jane had developed persistent symptoms of colitis. By her early teens, she had an overactive thyroid gland. Her vision was poor; she required very strong glasses (which she seldom wore). For most of 1940 and half of 1941, Jane was in a strictly-run Catholic orphanage in Troy, New York while her mother was hospitalized in another city for treatment of her arthritis. Priests came to the house regularly and support was offered to the fatherless family. Jane's initial bonding to the cultural beliefs of religion was very strong to make up for the lack of a loving, nurturing family. For a time she was left between belief systems.
In the summer of 1945, when she was 16 years old, Jane began working at a variety store. It was her first job. That fall she continued on the job after school hours and on an occasional Saturday. After attending public schools she went to Skidmore College from 1947 to 1950 on a poetry scholarship. Roberts' grandfather died when she was age 19. It was a time of severe shock for her. She began to substitute scientific world view for religious belief.
At that time Jane was dating Walt Zeh, a long-time Saratoga Springs friend. Together they went to the west coast by motorcycle to see Jane's father who had also come from a broken home. Jane then married Walt and continued to write while taking a variety of other jobs, including society editor for the Saratoga newspaper, and as a supervisor in a radio factory. Walt and Jane lived together for three years. It was then in February 1954 while "cutting up, dancing, and raisin' hell at a party," that Jane first met the former commercial artist Robert Fabian Butts, Jr. The fourth time they met at another party and Jane "just looked at him and said, 'Look, I'm leaving Walt, and I'm going to live by myself or I'm going to live with you, so just let me know.'" Eventually the two left town together and Jane filed for divorce. Jane and Rob married on December 27, 1954, at the home of his parents in Sayre, Pennsylvania.
Roberts wrote in a variety of genres: poetry, short stories, children's literature, nonfiction, science fiction, and fantasy, and novels. She was the only woman invited to the first science-fiction writer's conference in 1956 in Milford, Pennsylvania.
The couple moved to Elmira, New York, in 1960, to find steady part-time work – Rob in the local greeting card company, Jane in an art gallery. Now in her 30s, she and her husband began to record what she said were messages from a personality named "Seth," and she wrote several books about the experience.
Seth Material
On a September evening in 1963, Roberts sat down at her table to work on poetry; Butts was in his back-room studio, painting. "It was very domestic, very normal, very unpsychedelic," she would later remember. And then "Between one normal minute and the next, a fantastic avalanche of radical, new ideas burst into my head with tremendous force ... It was as if the physical world were really tissue-paper-thin, hiding infinite dimensions of reality, and I was flung through the tissue paper with a huge ripping sound." When she "came to," Roberts found herself scrawling the title of this batch of notes: The Physical Universe as Idea Construction.
Before this, though her fiction typically dealt with such themes as clairvoyance and reincarnation, intellectually neither she nor Butts believed in extrasensory abilities. Yet soon after this episode, Roberts suddenly began recalling her dreams, including two that were precognitive. Their curiosity piqued, the couple decided to investigate further, and she managed to land a contract with a New York publisher for a do-it-yourself book on extra-sensory perception.
In late 1963, Roberts and Butts started experimenting with a Ouija board as part of Roberts' research for the book. According to Roberts and Butts, on December 2, 1963, they began to receive coherent messages from a male personality who eventually identified himself as Seth. Soon after, Roberts reported that she was hearing the messages in her head. The first seven sessions were entirely with the Ouija board. The three-hour session on the evening of January 2, 1964, was the first where she began to dictate the messages instead of using the Ouija board. For a while, she still opened her sessions with the board, but finally abandoned it after the 27th session on Feb. 19, 1964.
Roberts described the process of writing the Seth books as entering a trance state. She said Seth would assume control of her body and speak through her, while her husband wrote down the words she spoke. They referred to such episodes as "readings" or "sessions." The 26th session on Feb. 18, 1964, was the first held in the presence of another person—a friend.
On January 17, 1964, Roberts channeled an allegedly recently deceased woman who told Butts that his and his wife's work with Seth was a life-time project, that they would publish his manuscripts, and help spread his ideas. At the 27th session Seth also told the couple how to rearrange the furniture in their apartment which would better suit their energies. Despite feelings of disbelief toward both messages, the couple somewhat reluctantly agreed. Two days afterward they heard from a psychologist interested in reincarnation to whom they had written three weeks earlier with some session copies enclosed. The psychologist told them that the very fluency of the material suggested that it might come from Roberts' subconscious, though it was impossible to tell. He also cautioned that in some circumstances, amateur mediumship could lead to mental problems.
The letter upset her but helped her deal with her doubts. She felt there were no "alarming changes" in her personality. "I was doing twice the creative work I had done earlier. I was satisfied with the quality of the Seth Material; it was far superior to anything I could do on my own. If nothing else, I thought the sessions presented a way of making deeply unconscious knowledge available on a consistent basis."
"Because we were so innocent about psychic literature, we weren't hampered by superstitious fears about such [psychic] phenomena. I didn't believe in gods or demons, so I didn't fear them. I wanted to learn. Rob and I had discovered a whole new world together, and we were going to explore it."
Roberts assumed Seth was a subconscious fantasy, personified because she did not believe in spirits or life after death. She monitored her personality characteristics and went to a psychologist. But she felt that "Seth seemed far more mature and well-balanced than the psychologist, so finally I stopped worrying. This is not to say the experience did not cause certain strains and stresses that could accompany any worthwhile venture in an entirely new field."
Roberts also purportedly channeled the world views of several other people, including the philosopher William James, Rembrandt, and the Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne, through a process she described as using a typewriter to write "automatically."
For 21 years until Roberts' death in 1984 (with a one-year hiatus due to her final illness), Roberts held more than 1500 regular or private "ESP class" trance sessions in which she spoke on behalf of Seth. Butts served as the stenographer, taking the messages down in shorthand he had made up, having others on occasion make recording of some sessions. The messages from Seth channeled through Roberts consisted mostly of monologues on a wide variety of topics. They were published by Prentice-Hall under the collective title Seth Material.
Over the years, hundreds of people witnessed Roberts channeling "Seth". Some went to the ESP classes Roberts held (Tuesday and some Thursday nights, Sept. 1967 – Feb. 1975) for an evening, others attended for longer periods. (By this time Jane had given up her gallery work, and was teaching nursery school during part of this time.) Outside of the ESP class structure, Roberts gave many personal Seth sessions to various individuals who had written her, asking for help. She never charged for those sessions; however, at some point, she did charge $2.50 to $3.50 per ESP class of 5 to 40 people. When the books began to sell in sufficient numbers, she dropped that fee. Book sessions were almost always private, held on Monday and Wednesday evenings without witnesses from 1967 through 1982 (except for Tues and Thurs from Aug. to Nov. 1981).
The material through 1969 was published in summary form in The Seth Material, written by Roberts from the output of the channeling sessions. Beginning in January 1970, Roberts wrote books which she described as dictated by Seth. Roberts claimed no authorship of these books beyond her role as a medium. This series of "Seth books" totaled ten volumes. The last two books appear to be incomplete due to Roberts' illness. Butts contributed extensive footnotes, appendices, and other comments to all the Seth books, and thus was a co-author on all of them. These additions describe what was going on in Roberts' and his life at the time of the various sessions, annotated in light of contemporary beliefs and materials he and Roberts were reading, described excerpts from some fan mail and letters from professionals commenting on Seth's material about their fields, and, especially later, provided insight as to the many steps of production of multiple books with the publisher. By February 1982 they were still receiving "from 30 to 50 letters and packages a week" from readers of their various books.
Some of Roberts' earlier and later poetry was occasionally included to show how she had touched upon some of Seth's concepts. Roberts also wrote The Oversoul Seven trilogy to explore via fiction some of Seth's teachings on the concepts of reincarnation and oversouls.
According to Roberts, Seth described himself as an "energy personality essence no longer focused in physical matter," and was independent of Roberts' subconscious. Roberts initially expressed skepticism as to Seth's origins, wondering if he was a part of her own personality. While speaking as Seth, Roberts at times appeared stern, jovial, or professorial. "His" voice was deeper and more masculine sounding than Jane's and was possessed of a distinct, although not identifiable, accent. Her housecats notice the change. Unlike the psychic Edgar Cayce, whose syntax when speaking in trance was antiquated and convoluted, Roberts' syntax and sentence structures were modern and clear when speaking as Seth. Later books continued to develop but did not contradict the material introduced in earlier works. Some "Practice Elements" were even included on how a few of the concepts could be practically experienced.
A few contemporary world events were commented upon, such as the Jonestown Guyana deaths and the Three Mile Island accident.
Seth also provided an alternative creation myth to that of the Big Bang or Intelligent Design.
Roberts' father died in November 1971 at the age of 68; her mother died six months later at the same age. In early 1982 Roberts spent a month in the hospital for severely underactive thyroid gland, protruding eyes and double vision, an almost total hearing loss, a slight anemia, budding bedsores—and a hospital-caused staph infection. She recovered to an extent, but died two and a half years later in 1984, having been bedridden with severe arthritis-like her mother—for the final year and a half of her life. Roberts had spent 504 consecutive days in a hospital in Elmira, N.Y. The immediate causes of her death were a combination of protein depletion, osteomyelitis, and soft-tissue infections. These conditions arose out of her long-standing rheumatoid arthritis. (Butts believed for some 15 years that in Roberts' case, at least, the young girl's psychological conditioning was far more important—far more damaging, in those terms—than any physical tendency to inherit the disease.) Roberts was cremated the next day, in a process, she and Butts had agreed upon several years earlier.
After Roberts' death, recorded in The Way Toward Health (1997), Butts continued his work as a guardian of the Seth texts and continued to supervise the publication of some of the remaining material, including The Early Sessions, making sure all of the recordings, manuscripts, notes, and drawings would be given to the Yale Library. Butts remarried, and his second wife, Laurel Lee Davies, supported his work during the more than 20 years they were together and helped answer mail and proofread manuscripts. Butts died of cancer on May 26, 2008. Jane Roberts Butts and Robert F. Butts Jr. are interred together in the Wayne County, NY Furnaceville cemetery; however, there is another gravestone with their names on it in the Sunnyside cemetery in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. A number of groups have compiled anthologies of quotes from Seth, summarized sections of his teachings, issued copies of Seth sessions on audio tape, and further relayed the material via classes and conventions.
Reception and influence
Seth's effect upon New Age thinkers has been profound. The title jacket of "The Nature of Personal Reality, A Seth Book," republished in 1994 (Amber-Allen/New World Library), contains testimonials from some of the most notable thinkers and writers within the movement. Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Shakti Gawain, Dan Millman, Louise Hay, Richard Bach, and others express the effect the Seth Material had upon their own awakening. In words similar to Williamson's they state: "Seth was one of my first metaphysical teachers. He remains a constant source of knowledge and inspiration in my life." Catherine L. Albanese, professor of religious history at the University of Chicago, stated that in the 1970s the Seth Material "launched an era of nationwide awareness" of the channeling trend. She believes it contributed to the "self-identity of an emergent New Age movement and also augment[ed] its ranks."
John P. Newport, in his study of the impact of New Age beliefs on contemporary culture, described the central focus of the Seth material as the idea that for each individual: "you create your own reality." (Briefly summarized, our beliefs generate emotions that trigger our memories and organize our associations. Eventually, those beliefs become manifested in our physical lives and health.) Newport wrote that this foundational concept of the New Age movement was first developed in the "Seth Material." Historian Robert C. Fuller, a professor of religious studies at Bradley University, wrote that Seth filled the role of guide for what Fuller called "unchurched American spirituality," related to concepts of reincarnation, karma, free will, ancient metaphysical wisdom, and "Christ consciousness."
Some writers noted, "Husband Robert Butts stated that similarities exist between Seth's ideas and those of various religious, philosophical, and mystical doctrines from the Near, Middle, or Far East… and we've done a little reading on Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen, and Taoism, for example, not to mention subjects like shamanism, voodooism, and obeah."
New Age writer Michael Talbot wrote, "To my great surprise—and slight annoyance—I found that Seth eloquently and lucidly articulated a view of reality that I had arrived at only after great effort and an extensive study of both paranormal phenomena and quantum physics."
The Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives maintains a collection entitled Jane Roberts Papers (MS 1090), which documents the career and personal life of Jane Roberts, including journals, poetry, correspondence, audio, and video recordings, and other materials donated after her death by Roberts' husband and other individuals and organizations. Yale University's collection entitled "Jane Roberts papers" occupies 164.08 linear feet of shelf space and is contained in 498 boxes.
Quotes
Jane Roberts's corpus advocates panpsychism and reality creation outside corporeal time. She advises scientists to look beyond evolution with the ideal "the cells precognate," and she asks troubled people to cure themselves by believing that "the point of power is in the present" and "beliefs create reality." In the late 1970s, when scientists considered viruses inert pests and un-life, Seth declared that "viruses are necessary for life as we know it." Scientists have since discovered that much organic DNA has viral origins, and that healthy populations of symbiotic viruses maintain multi-cellular organisms via Endogenosymbiosis.
Criticism
Roberts and the Seth Material have attracted critiques from outside the paranormal community. The poet Charles Upton, in his collection of essays titled The System of Antichrist, posited that Roberts multiplied the self due to a fear of death. His opinion was that the Seth texts are based on a misunderstanding of both Christianity and of Eastern religions.
Professor of psychology and noted critic of parapsychology James E. Alcock opined, "In light of all this, the Seth materials must surely be viewed as less than ordinary. There certainly was the time and talent for fraud to play a role, but we cannot discriminate between that possibility and the possibility of unconscious production—at any rate, given these circumstances, there seems little need to consider the involvement of any supernatural agency."
Some religious groups have warned their members about the dangers and deceptions of reading channeled messages from Roberts and others. John MacArthur, host of a syndicated Christian talk show, considers The Seth Material to be "a book entirely written by a demon.", while the New Age Urantia Foundation considers the book evidence for "Devil possession." Videos such as Jane Roberts' Seth Speaks is Anti-Catholic Hate Books – Allowed By The Media claimed that Seth was "a demon from hell contacted through a ouija board."
Science writer Karen Stollznow has written that much of Roberts work was "criticized for being a rip-off of Christian and
Eastern philosophy. It comes as no surprise that Seth influenced such authors as Deepak Chopra and Louise Hay."
Since Roberts' death, others have claimed to channel Seth. In the introduction to Seth's first dictated book, Seth Speaks, "he" says, "communications will come exclusively through Ruburt [Seth's name for Jane] at all times, to protect the integrity of the material." In The Seth Material, Jane Roberts wrote: "Several people have told me that Seth communicated with them through automatic writing, but Seth denies any such contacts." At least one person has claimed more recently to channel Roberts.
Complete writings
Books:
Roberts, Jane (1966). How To Develop Your ESP Power. Publisher: Federick Fell. (Later retitled and reprinted as The Coming of Seth.) .
Roberts, Jane (1970). The Seth Material. Reprinted, 2001 by New Awareness Network. .
Roberts, Jane (1972). Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul. Reprinted 1994 by Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (1974). The Nature of Personal Reality. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1994, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (1975). Adventures in Consciousness: An Introduction to Aspect Psychology. Prentice-Hall. .
Roberts, Jane (1975). Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time. Prentice-Hall. . Poetry.
Roberts, Jane (1976). Psychic Politics: An Aspect Psychology Book. Prentice-Hall. .
Roberts, Jane (1977). The "Unknown" Reality Vol. 1. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (1979). The "Unknown" Reality Vol. 2. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (1977). The World View of Paul Cézanne: A Psychic Interpretation. Prentice-Hall. .
Roberts, Jane (1978). The Afterdeath Journal of An American Philosopher: The World View of William James. Prentice-Hall. .
Roberts, Jane (1979). Emir's Education in the Proper Use of Magical Powers. Prentice-Hall. . Children's literature.
Roberts, Jane (1979). The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1996, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (1981). The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events. Prentice-Hall, . Reprinted 1994, Amber-Allen Publishing, .
Roberts, Jane (1995). The Oversoul Seven Trilogy. Amber-Allen Publishing. . Edition: Paperback; May 1, 1995 (originally published as three separate books: The Education of Oversoul 7 (1973); The Further Education of Oversoul Seven (1979); Oversoul Seven and the Museum of Time (1984)).
Roberts, Jane (1981). The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto. Prentice-Hall. . Reprinted 2000, Moment Point Press. .
Roberts, Jane (1982). If We Live Again, Or, Public Magic and Private Love. Prentice-Hall. . Poetry.
Roberts, Jane (1986). Dreams, Evolution and Value Fulfillment. Prentice-Hall, two volumes, and .
Roberts, Jane (1986). Seth, Dreams and Projections of Consciousness. Stillpoint Publishing.
(1993). A Seth Reader. Vernal Equinox Press. Compendium edited by Richard Roberts. .
Roberts, Jane (1995). The Magical Approach : Seth Speaks About the Art of Creative Living. Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (1997). The Way Toward Health. Robert F. Butts (Foreword), Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (2006). The World View of Rembrandt. New Awareness Network. .
Roberts, Jane (1997 and after). The Early Sessions (Sessions 1 through 510 of the Seth Material). New Awareness Network. Edited by Robert Butts. Nine volumes. .
Roberts, Jane (2003). The Personal Sessions. New Awareness Network. Deleted session material. Seven volumes. .
Roberts. Jane. The Early Class Sessions. New Awareness Network. Four volumes.
Short Stories and novellas:
Roberts, Jane. "Prayer of a Wiser People" in Profile, 1950.
Roberts, Jane. "The Red Wagon" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1956 (republished 1993, Reality Change Magazine; anthologized in 1975, Ladies of Fantasy).
Roberts, Jane. "The Canvas Pyramid" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1957 (French edition, 1958).
Roberts, Jane. "First Communion" in Fantastic Universe, 1957.
Roberts, Jane. "The Chestnut Beads" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1957 (French edition, 1958; anthologized in Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves, 1963).
Roberts, Jane. "The Bundu" (novella, sequel to "The Chestnut Beads") in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1958.
Roberts, Jane. "A Demon at Devotions" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1958 (reprinted in Reality Change Magazine, Winter 1994).
Roberts, Jane. "Nightmare" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1959.
Roberts, Jane. "Impasse" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1959 (Spanish anthology edition ca. 1960).
Roberts, Jane. "Three Times Around" in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1964 (anthologized in Earth Invaded, 1982).
Roberts, Jane. "The Big Freeze" in Dude, 1965 (reprinted in Reality Change Magazine, Summer 1994).
Roberts, Jane. "The Mission," purchased by Topper magazine in August 1965. (Publication not yet confirmed.)
Poetry Submissions:
"Time" in The Saratogian [Saratoga Springs, NY], 1947 Mar 19.
"Enigma" in The Saratogian, 1947 Mar 19.
"Spring Gaiety" in The Saratogian, 1947 Apr 26.
"Rain" in Profile [Skidmore College literary magazine], December, 1947.
"Pretense" in Profile, December, 1947.
"Code" in Profile, December, 1947.
"Skyscrapers" in Profile, December, 1947.
"Introvert" in Profile, May, 1948.
"Poem" in Profile, May, 1948.
"How Public Like a Frog" in Profile, Fall, 1948.
"Motorcycle Ride" in Profile, Fall, 1948.
"Echo" in Profile, May, 1949.
"Death Stood at the Door" in Profile, May, 1949.
"Compromise" in Profile, May, 1949.
"I Shall Die in the Springtime." Patterns. v.1, n.1, October 1954.
"Lyric" Patterns. v.1, n.1, October 1954.
"Matilda" in Quicksilver, Spring, 1960.
"It is Springtime, Grandfather." Epos., v.12, n.3, Spring 1961.
"The Familiar." Bitterroot. v.1, n.2, Winter 1962.
"I Saw a Hand" in Treasures of Parnassus: Best Poems of 1962, Young Publications, 1962 (reprinted in The Elmira Star-Gazette, 1962).
"My Grandfather's World." Epos. v.14, n.3, Spring 1963.
"Lullaby." Epos. v.14, n.3, Spring 1963.
"Beware, October." Epos. v.16, n.1, Fall 1964.
"This Wrist, This Hand." Epos. v.16, n.4, Summer 1965.
"The Game." New Lantern Club Review. n.2, Summer 1965.
"The Flowers." Steppenwolf. n.1, Winter 1965–1966.
"Vision." Dust/9. v.3, n.1, Fall 1966.
"Who Whispers Yes." Dust/12. v.3, n.4, Spring 1969.
"Hi, Low, and Psycho." Excerpts published in Reality Change, Third Quarter, 1996.
See also
Stewart Edward White
New Thought
References
External links
Jane Roberts Papers (MS 1090). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. Includes both published and unpublished materials
Seth Center Index to the Early Sessions
Seth Learning Center An overview of titles and related audio clips, New Awareness Network
Nirvikalpa Archive of over 1500 quotations and excerpts from the Seth Material
'The Problem of Seth's Origin: A Case Study of the Trance-Possession Mediumship of Jane Roberts' by Paul Cunningham
List of Seth Sessions by Mary Dillman
Index of Eleven Seth Books by Sue R. Williams
Seth Talk - by Lynda Madden Dahl
Category:1929 births
Category:1984 deaths
Category:20th-century American poets
Category:American children's writers
Category:American motivational writers
Category:Women motivational writers
Category:American psychics
Category:American spiritual mediums
Category:American women poets
Category:Channellers
Category:Deaths from arthritis
Category:New Age writers
Category:People from Saratoga Springs, New York
Category:Skidmore College alumni
Category:American women children's writers
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:Women's page journalists | [] | [
"People criticized Jane Roberts for various reasons. The poet Charles Upton suggested she built the Seth texts due to a fear of death, based on a misunderstanding of both Christianity and Eastern religions. Professor James E. Alcock critiqued the Seth material for being less than ordinary and suggested the possibility it could be either a fraud or an unconscious production. Some Christian believers also criticized her for presenting a philosophy that disagreed with traditional Church-authority and God-separate-from-Creation teachings. Various ministries warned their members of the dangers of reading channeled messages from Roberts. There were also allegations of Roberts' work being a rip-off of Christian and Eastern philosophy.",
"Yes, some did consider Jane Roberts' Seth Material to be Satanic. The Seth Material was described by some critics as a book dictated by a demon, and was cited as evidence of \"Devil possession.\" Furthermore, one video protested that Seth was \"a demon from hell contacted through a ouija board.\"",
"Yes, some critics believed that Jane Roberts was possessed by a demon named Seth, and that the Seth Material she produced was dictated to her by this entity. Some critics went so far as to categorize this as \"Devil possession.\"",
"The text does not provide information on whether Seth was considered a God.",
"According to the text, Jane Roberts is not alive, as it mentions that others have claimed to channel Seth since her death.",
"Yes, according to the text, criticisms of Jane Roberts' work continued after her death. This is indicated by statements such as others have accused her work as being a rip-off of Christian and Eastern philosophy after her death. Additionally, since her passing, others have claimed to channel Seth, which could be interpreted as criticism or imitation, depending on the individual's intentions.",
"Based on the text, there were criticisms noting that the philosophy presented in Jane Roberts's writings was not in keeping with traditional religious teachings, specifically those of Christianity. There were also statements that the Seth Material was a misunderstanding of both Christianity and Eastern religions. Some Christian believers considered her teachings dangerous and deceptive, and some even saw her work as evidence of \"Devil possession.\" Therefore, it could be concluded that some saw her writings as being anti-religious.",
"The text specifically mentions a video titled \"Jane Roberts' Seth Speaks is Anti-Catholic Hate Books - Allowed By The Media\", suggesting that the creators of this video protested against Seth. Moreover, Christian believers and various ministries warned members about the alleged dangers and deceptions of reading channeled messages from Jane Roberts and others, which could also be viewed as protesting against Seth."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_1 | Jane Roberts | Dorothy Jane Roberts (May 8, 1929 - September 5, 1984) was an American author, poet, self-proclaimed psychic, and spirit medium, who claimed to channel an energy personality who called himself "Seth." Her publication of the Seth texts, known as the Seth Material, established her as one of the preeminent figures in the world of paranormal phenomena. The Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives maintains a collection entitled Jane Roberts Papers (MS 1090), which documents the career and personal life of Jane Roberts, including journals, poetry, correspondence, audio and video recordings, and other materials donated after her death by Roberts' husband and other individuals and organizations. | Reception and influence | Seth's effect upon New Age thinkers has been profound. The title jacket of "The Nature of Personal Reality, A Seth Book," published in 1994 (Amber-Allen/New World Library), contains testimonials from some of the most notable thinkers and writers within the movement. Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Shakti Gawain, Dan Millman, Louise Hay, Richard Bach, and others express the effect the Seth Material had upon their own awakening. In words similar to Williamson's they state: "Seth was one of my first metaphysical teachers. He remains a constant source of knowledge and inspiration in my life." Catherine L. Albanese, professor of religious history at the University of Chicago, stated that in the 1970s the Seth Material "launched an era of nationwide awareness" of the channeling trend. She believes it contributed to the "self-identity of an emergent New Age movement and also augment[ed] its ranks." John P. Newport, in his study of the impact of New Age beliefs on contemporary culture, described the central focus of the Seth material as the idea that, for each individual: "you create your own reality." (Briefly summarized, our beliefs generate emotions which trigger our memories and organize our associations. Eventually those beliefs become manifested in our physical lives and health.) Newport wrote that this foundational concept of the New Age movement was first developed in the "Seth Material." Historian Robert C. Fuller, a professor of religious studies at Bradley University, wrote that Seth filled the role of guide for what Fuller called "unchurched American spirituality," related to concepts of reincarnation, karma, free will, ancient metaphysical wisdom, and "Christ consciousness." Some writers noted, "Husband Robert Butts stated that similarities exist between Seth's ideas and those of various religious, philosophical, and mystical doctrines from the Near, Middle, or Far East... and we've done a little reading on Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen, and Taoism, for example, not to mention subjects like shamanism, voodooism, and obeah." The late amateur physicist Michael Talbot wrote, "To my great surprise--and slight annoyance--I found that Seth eloquently and lucidly articulated a view of reality that I had arrived at only after great effort and an extensive study of both paranormal phenomena and quantum physics." CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_1_q#0",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_1_q#1",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_1_q#2",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_1_q#3",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_1_q#4",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_1_q#5",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_1_q#6",
"C_31c7e947fbf14fe0acf3060a69c05adf_1_q#7"
] | [
"When was \"The Nature of Personal Reality, A seth book\" published?",
"Which notable people had expressed the effect of seth material upon their own awakening?",
"Who was Catherine L. Albanese?",
"What was the idea behind the central focus of the Seth material?",
"Seth filled the role of guide for what related concepts?",
"Do similarities exist between Seth's ideas and other various eastern doctrines?",
"Did any physicist write about her and her works?",
"What did the physicist write about her?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
55
],
[
208
],
[
623
],
[
1065
],
[
1612
],
[
1735
],
[
2083
],
[
2213
]
],
"texts": [
[
"The title jacket of \"The Nature of Personal Reality, A Seth Book,\" published in 1994 (Amber-Allen/New World Library),"
],
[
"the most notable thinkers and writers within the movement. Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Shakti Gawain, Dan Millman, Louise Hay,"
],
[
"professor of religious history at the University of Chicago,"
],
[
"for each individual: \"you create your own reality.\" ("
],
[
"concepts of reincarnation, karma, free will, ancient metaphysical wisdom, and \"Christ consciousness.\""
],
[
"\"Husband Robert Butts stated that similarities exist between Seth's ideas and those of various religious, philosophical, and mystical doctrines from the Near, Middle, or Far East..."
],
[
"physicist Michael Talbot wrote, \"To my great surprise--and slight annoyance--I found that Seth eloquently and lucidly articulated"
],
[
"a view of reality that I had arrived at only after great effort and an extensive study of both paranormal phenomena and quantum physics.\""
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
55,
208,
623,
1065,
1612,
1735,
2083,
2213
],
"texts": [
"The title jacket of \"The Nature of Personal Reality, A Seth Book,\" published in 1994 (Amber-Allen/New World Library),",
"the most notable thinkers and writers within the movement. Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Shakti Gawain, Dan Millman, Louise Hay,",
"professor of religious history at the University of Chicago,",
"for each individual: \"you create your own reality.\" (",
"concepts of reincarnation, karma, free will, ancient metaphysical wisdom, and \"Christ consciousness.\"",
"\"Husband Robert Butts stated that similarities exist between Seth's ideas and those of various religious, philosophical, and mystical doctrines from the Near, Middle, or Far East...",
"physicist Michael Talbot wrote, \"To my great surprise--and slight annoyance--I found that Seth eloquently and lucidly articulated",
"a view of reality that I had arrived at only after great effort and an extensive study of both paranormal phenomena and quantum physics.\""
]
} | Dorothy Jane Roberts (May 8, 1929 – September 5, 1984) was an American author, poet, psychic, and spirit medium, who channeled a personality who called himself "Seth." Her publication of the Seth texts, known as the Seth Material, established her as one of the preeminent figures in the world of paranormal phenomena.
Early life and career
Roberts was born in Albany, New York and grew up in nearby Saratoga Springs, New York. Her parents, Delmer Hubbell Roberts and Marie Burdo, divorced when she was two years old. With her only child, the young Marie then returned to her own parents, and the home that the family had rented for a number of years: half of a double dwelling in a poor neighborhood. Marie had begun experiencing the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis by 1932 but worked as much as possible. Eventually, Roberts' grandfather, Joseph Burdo, with whom she shared a deep mystical identification, was unable to support two extra people, and the family had to rely upon public assistance. Roberts' grandmother was killed in an automobile accident in 1936.
The next year, her grandfather moved out of the house. By then Marie was partially incapacitated, and the Welfare Department began to furnish mother and daughter with occasional and often unreliable domestic help. When Marie became a bedridden invalid, it was Jane's responsibility to take care of her. This included cooking, cleaning, bringing her the bedpan, and getting up in the middle of the night to refuel the stove. Her embittered mother would tell Jane she was going to turn on the gas jets in the middle of the night and kill them both. When her mother attempted suicide for about the fifth time, she took sleeping pills and was in the hospital. Jane wrote that she went to the welfare worker and said, 'I can't take it anymore. I've just got to leave.'" Over and over Marie told Jane she was no good, that the daughter's birth had caused the mother's illness, and that she was disowned and considered no longer her daughter.
Well before she was 10 years old Jane had developed persistent symptoms of colitis. By her early teens, she had an overactive thyroid gland. Her vision was poor; she required very strong glasses (which she seldom wore). For most of 1940 and half of 1941, Jane was in a strictly-run Catholic orphanage in Troy, New York while her mother was hospitalized in another city for treatment of her arthritis. Priests came to the house regularly and support was offered to the fatherless family. Jane's initial bonding to the cultural beliefs of religion was very strong to make up for the lack of a loving, nurturing family. For a time she was left between belief systems.
In the summer of 1945, when she was 16 years old, Jane began working at a variety store. It was her first job. That fall she continued on the job after school hours and on an occasional Saturday. After attending public schools she went to Skidmore College from 1947 to 1950 on a poetry scholarship. Roberts' grandfather died when she was age 19. It was a time of severe shock for her. She began to substitute scientific world view for religious belief.
At that time Jane was dating Walt Zeh, a long-time Saratoga Springs friend. Together they went to the west coast by motorcycle to see Jane's father who had also come from a broken home. Jane then married Walt and continued to write while taking a variety of other jobs, including society editor for the Saratoga newspaper, and as a supervisor in a radio factory. Walt and Jane lived together for three years. It was then in February 1954 while "cutting up, dancing, and raisin' hell at a party," that Jane first met the former commercial artist Robert Fabian Butts, Jr. The fourth time they met at another party and Jane "just looked at him and said, 'Look, I'm leaving Walt, and I'm going to live by myself or I'm going to live with you, so just let me know.'" Eventually the two left town together and Jane filed for divorce. Jane and Rob married on December 27, 1954, at the home of his parents in Sayre, Pennsylvania.
Roberts wrote in a variety of genres: poetry, short stories, children's literature, nonfiction, science fiction, and fantasy, and novels. She was the only woman invited to the first science-fiction writer's conference in 1956 in Milford, Pennsylvania.
The couple moved to Elmira, New York, in 1960, to find steady part-time work – Rob in the local greeting card company, Jane in an art gallery. Now in her 30s, she and her husband began to record what she said were messages from a personality named "Seth," and she wrote several books about the experience.
Seth Material
On a September evening in 1963, Roberts sat down at her table to work on poetry; Butts was in his back-room studio, painting. "It was very domestic, very normal, very unpsychedelic," she would later remember. And then "Between one normal minute and the next, a fantastic avalanche of radical, new ideas burst into my head with tremendous force ... It was as if the physical world were really tissue-paper-thin, hiding infinite dimensions of reality, and I was flung through the tissue paper with a huge ripping sound." When she "came to," Roberts found herself scrawling the title of this batch of notes: The Physical Universe as Idea Construction.
Before this, though her fiction typically dealt with such themes as clairvoyance and reincarnation, intellectually neither she nor Butts believed in extrasensory abilities. Yet soon after this episode, Roberts suddenly began recalling her dreams, including two that were precognitive. Their curiosity piqued, the couple decided to investigate further, and she managed to land a contract with a New York publisher for a do-it-yourself book on extra-sensory perception.
In late 1963, Roberts and Butts started experimenting with a Ouija board as part of Roberts' research for the book. According to Roberts and Butts, on December 2, 1963, they began to receive coherent messages from a male personality who eventually identified himself as Seth. Soon after, Roberts reported that she was hearing the messages in her head. The first seven sessions were entirely with the Ouija board. The three-hour session on the evening of January 2, 1964, was the first where she began to dictate the messages instead of using the Ouija board. For a while, she still opened her sessions with the board, but finally abandoned it after the 27th session on Feb. 19, 1964.
Roberts described the process of writing the Seth books as entering a trance state. She said Seth would assume control of her body and speak through her, while her husband wrote down the words she spoke. They referred to such episodes as "readings" or "sessions." The 26th session on Feb. 18, 1964, was the first held in the presence of another person—a friend.
On January 17, 1964, Roberts channeled an allegedly recently deceased woman who told Butts that his and his wife's work with Seth was a life-time project, that they would publish his manuscripts, and help spread his ideas. At the 27th session Seth also told the couple how to rearrange the furniture in their apartment which would better suit their energies. Despite feelings of disbelief toward both messages, the couple somewhat reluctantly agreed. Two days afterward they heard from a psychologist interested in reincarnation to whom they had written three weeks earlier with some session copies enclosed. The psychologist told them that the very fluency of the material suggested that it might come from Roberts' subconscious, though it was impossible to tell. He also cautioned that in some circumstances, amateur mediumship could lead to mental problems.
The letter upset her but helped her deal with her doubts. She felt there were no "alarming changes" in her personality. "I was doing twice the creative work I had done earlier. I was satisfied with the quality of the Seth Material; it was far superior to anything I could do on my own. If nothing else, I thought the sessions presented a way of making deeply unconscious knowledge available on a consistent basis."
"Because we were so innocent about psychic literature, we weren't hampered by superstitious fears about such [psychic] phenomena. I didn't believe in gods or demons, so I didn't fear them. I wanted to learn. Rob and I had discovered a whole new world together, and we were going to explore it."
Roberts assumed Seth was a subconscious fantasy, personified because she did not believe in spirits or life after death. She monitored her personality characteristics and went to a psychologist. But she felt that "Seth seemed far more mature and well-balanced than the psychologist, so finally I stopped worrying. This is not to say the experience did not cause certain strains and stresses that could accompany any worthwhile venture in an entirely new field."
Roberts also purportedly channeled the world views of several other people, including the philosopher William James, Rembrandt, and the Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne, through a process she described as using a typewriter to write "automatically."
For 21 years until Roberts' death in 1984 (with a one-year hiatus due to her final illness), Roberts held more than 1500 regular or private "ESP class" trance sessions in which she spoke on behalf of Seth. Butts served as the stenographer, taking the messages down in shorthand he had made up, having others on occasion make recording of some sessions. The messages from Seth channeled through Roberts consisted mostly of monologues on a wide variety of topics. They were published by Prentice-Hall under the collective title Seth Material.
Over the years, hundreds of people witnessed Roberts channeling "Seth". Some went to the ESP classes Roberts held (Tuesday and some Thursday nights, Sept. 1967 – Feb. 1975) for an evening, others attended for longer periods. (By this time Jane had given up her gallery work, and was teaching nursery school during part of this time.) Outside of the ESP class structure, Roberts gave many personal Seth sessions to various individuals who had written her, asking for help. She never charged for those sessions; however, at some point, she did charge $2.50 to $3.50 per ESP class of 5 to 40 people. When the books began to sell in sufficient numbers, she dropped that fee. Book sessions were almost always private, held on Monday and Wednesday evenings without witnesses from 1967 through 1982 (except for Tues and Thurs from Aug. to Nov. 1981).
The material through 1969 was published in summary form in The Seth Material, written by Roberts from the output of the channeling sessions. Beginning in January 1970, Roberts wrote books which she described as dictated by Seth. Roberts claimed no authorship of these books beyond her role as a medium. This series of "Seth books" totaled ten volumes. The last two books appear to be incomplete due to Roberts' illness. Butts contributed extensive footnotes, appendices, and other comments to all the Seth books, and thus was a co-author on all of them. These additions describe what was going on in Roberts' and his life at the time of the various sessions, annotated in light of contemporary beliefs and materials he and Roberts were reading, described excerpts from some fan mail and letters from professionals commenting on Seth's material about their fields, and, especially later, provided insight as to the many steps of production of multiple books with the publisher. By February 1982 they were still receiving "from 30 to 50 letters and packages a week" from readers of their various books.
Some of Roberts' earlier and later poetry was occasionally included to show how she had touched upon some of Seth's concepts. Roberts also wrote The Oversoul Seven trilogy to explore via fiction some of Seth's teachings on the concepts of reincarnation and oversouls.
According to Roberts, Seth described himself as an "energy personality essence no longer focused in physical matter," and was independent of Roberts' subconscious. Roberts initially expressed skepticism as to Seth's origins, wondering if he was a part of her own personality. While speaking as Seth, Roberts at times appeared stern, jovial, or professorial. "His" voice was deeper and more masculine sounding than Jane's and was possessed of a distinct, although not identifiable, accent. Her housecats notice the change. Unlike the psychic Edgar Cayce, whose syntax when speaking in trance was antiquated and convoluted, Roberts' syntax and sentence structures were modern and clear when speaking as Seth. Later books continued to develop but did not contradict the material introduced in earlier works. Some "Practice Elements" were even included on how a few of the concepts could be practically experienced.
A few contemporary world events were commented upon, such as the Jonestown Guyana deaths and the Three Mile Island accident.
Seth also provided an alternative creation myth to that of the Big Bang or Intelligent Design.
Roberts' father died in November 1971 at the age of 68; her mother died six months later at the same age. In early 1982 Roberts spent a month in the hospital for severely underactive thyroid gland, protruding eyes and double vision, an almost total hearing loss, a slight anemia, budding bedsores—and a hospital-caused staph infection. She recovered to an extent, but died two and a half years later in 1984, having been bedridden with severe arthritis-like her mother—for the final year and a half of her life. Roberts had spent 504 consecutive days in a hospital in Elmira, N.Y. The immediate causes of her death were a combination of protein depletion, osteomyelitis, and soft-tissue infections. These conditions arose out of her long-standing rheumatoid arthritis. (Butts believed for some 15 years that in Roberts' case, at least, the young girl's psychological conditioning was far more important—far more damaging, in those terms—than any physical tendency to inherit the disease.) Roberts was cremated the next day, in a process, she and Butts had agreed upon several years earlier.
After Roberts' death, recorded in The Way Toward Health (1997), Butts continued his work as a guardian of the Seth texts and continued to supervise the publication of some of the remaining material, including The Early Sessions, making sure all of the recordings, manuscripts, notes, and drawings would be given to the Yale Library. Butts remarried, and his second wife, Laurel Lee Davies, supported his work during the more than 20 years they were together and helped answer mail and proofread manuscripts. Butts died of cancer on May 26, 2008. Jane Roberts Butts and Robert F. Butts Jr. are interred together in the Wayne County, NY Furnaceville cemetery; however, there is another gravestone with their names on it in the Sunnyside cemetery in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. A number of groups have compiled anthologies of quotes from Seth, summarized sections of his teachings, issued copies of Seth sessions on audio tape, and further relayed the material via classes and conventions.
Reception and influence
Seth's effect upon New Age thinkers has been profound. The title jacket of "The Nature of Personal Reality, A Seth Book," republished in 1994 (Amber-Allen/New World Library), contains testimonials from some of the most notable thinkers and writers within the movement. Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Shakti Gawain, Dan Millman, Louise Hay, Richard Bach, and others express the effect the Seth Material had upon their own awakening. In words similar to Williamson's they state: "Seth was one of my first metaphysical teachers. He remains a constant source of knowledge and inspiration in my life." Catherine L. Albanese, professor of religious history at the University of Chicago, stated that in the 1970s the Seth Material "launched an era of nationwide awareness" of the channeling trend. She believes it contributed to the "self-identity of an emergent New Age movement and also augment[ed] its ranks."
John P. Newport, in his study of the impact of New Age beliefs on contemporary culture, described the central focus of the Seth material as the idea that for each individual: "you create your own reality." (Briefly summarized, our beliefs generate emotions that trigger our memories and organize our associations. Eventually, those beliefs become manifested in our physical lives and health.) Newport wrote that this foundational concept of the New Age movement was first developed in the "Seth Material." Historian Robert C. Fuller, a professor of religious studies at Bradley University, wrote that Seth filled the role of guide for what Fuller called "unchurched American spirituality," related to concepts of reincarnation, karma, free will, ancient metaphysical wisdom, and "Christ consciousness."
Some writers noted, "Husband Robert Butts stated that similarities exist between Seth's ideas and those of various religious, philosophical, and mystical doctrines from the Near, Middle, or Far East… and we've done a little reading on Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen, and Taoism, for example, not to mention subjects like shamanism, voodooism, and obeah."
New Age writer Michael Talbot wrote, "To my great surprise—and slight annoyance—I found that Seth eloquently and lucidly articulated a view of reality that I had arrived at only after great effort and an extensive study of both paranormal phenomena and quantum physics."
The Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives maintains a collection entitled Jane Roberts Papers (MS 1090), which documents the career and personal life of Jane Roberts, including journals, poetry, correspondence, audio, and video recordings, and other materials donated after her death by Roberts' husband and other individuals and organizations. Yale University's collection entitled "Jane Roberts papers" occupies 164.08 linear feet of shelf space and is contained in 498 boxes.
Quotes
Jane Roberts's corpus advocates panpsychism and reality creation outside corporeal time. She advises scientists to look beyond evolution with the ideal "the cells precognate," and she asks troubled people to cure themselves by believing that "the point of power is in the present" and "beliefs create reality." In the late 1970s, when scientists considered viruses inert pests and un-life, Seth declared that "viruses are necessary for life as we know it." Scientists have since discovered that much organic DNA has viral origins, and that healthy populations of symbiotic viruses maintain multi-cellular organisms via Endogenosymbiosis.
Criticism
Roberts and the Seth Material have attracted critiques from outside the paranormal community. The poet Charles Upton, in his collection of essays titled The System of Antichrist, posited that Roberts multiplied the self due to a fear of death. His opinion was that the Seth texts are based on a misunderstanding of both Christianity and of Eastern religions.
Professor of psychology and noted critic of parapsychology James E. Alcock opined, "In light of all this, the Seth materials must surely be viewed as less than ordinary. There certainly was the time and talent for fraud to play a role, but we cannot discriminate between that possibility and the possibility of unconscious production—at any rate, given these circumstances, there seems little need to consider the involvement of any supernatural agency."
Some religious groups have warned their members about the dangers and deceptions of reading channeled messages from Roberts and others. John MacArthur, host of a syndicated Christian talk show, considers The Seth Material to be "a book entirely written by a demon.", while the New Age Urantia Foundation considers the book evidence for "Devil possession." Videos such as Jane Roberts' Seth Speaks is Anti-Catholic Hate Books – Allowed By The Media claimed that Seth was "a demon from hell contacted through a ouija board."
Science writer Karen Stollznow has written that much of Roberts work was "criticized for being a rip-off of Christian and
Eastern philosophy. It comes as no surprise that Seth influenced such authors as Deepak Chopra and Louise Hay."
Since Roberts' death, others have claimed to channel Seth. In the introduction to Seth's first dictated book, Seth Speaks, "he" says, "communications will come exclusively through Ruburt [Seth's name for Jane] at all times, to protect the integrity of the material." In The Seth Material, Jane Roberts wrote: "Several people have told me that Seth communicated with them through automatic writing, but Seth denies any such contacts." At least one person has claimed more recently to channel Roberts.
Complete writings
Books:
Roberts, Jane (1966). How To Develop Your ESP Power. Publisher: Federick Fell. (Later retitled and reprinted as The Coming of Seth.) .
Roberts, Jane (1970). The Seth Material. Reprinted, 2001 by New Awareness Network. .
Roberts, Jane (1972). Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul. Reprinted 1994 by Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (1974). The Nature of Personal Reality. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1994, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (1975). Adventures in Consciousness: An Introduction to Aspect Psychology. Prentice-Hall. .
Roberts, Jane (1975). Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time. Prentice-Hall. . Poetry.
Roberts, Jane (1976). Psychic Politics: An Aspect Psychology Book. Prentice-Hall. .
Roberts, Jane (1977). The "Unknown" Reality Vol. 1. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (1979). The "Unknown" Reality Vol. 2. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (1977). The World View of Paul Cézanne: A Psychic Interpretation. Prentice-Hall. .
Roberts, Jane (1978). The Afterdeath Journal of An American Philosopher: The World View of William James. Prentice-Hall. .
Roberts, Jane (1979). Emir's Education in the Proper Use of Magical Powers. Prentice-Hall. . Children's literature.
Roberts, Jane (1979). The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression. Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1996, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (1981). The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events. Prentice-Hall, . Reprinted 1994, Amber-Allen Publishing, .
Roberts, Jane (1995). The Oversoul Seven Trilogy. Amber-Allen Publishing. . Edition: Paperback; May 1, 1995 (originally published as three separate books: The Education of Oversoul 7 (1973); The Further Education of Oversoul Seven (1979); Oversoul Seven and the Museum of Time (1984)).
Roberts, Jane (1981). The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto. Prentice-Hall. . Reprinted 2000, Moment Point Press. .
Roberts, Jane (1982). If We Live Again, Or, Public Magic and Private Love. Prentice-Hall. . Poetry.
Roberts, Jane (1986). Dreams, Evolution and Value Fulfillment. Prentice-Hall, two volumes, and .
Roberts, Jane (1986). Seth, Dreams and Projections of Consciousness. Stillpoint Publishing.
(1993). A Seth Reader. Vernal Equinox Press. Compendium edited by Richard Roberts. .
Roberts, Jane (1995). The Magical Approach : Seth Speaks About the Art of Creative Living. Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (1997). The Way Toward Health. Robert F. Butts (Foreword), Amber-Allen Publishing. .
Roberts, Jane (2006). The World View of Rembrandt. New Awareness Network. .
Roberts, Jane (1997 and after). The Early Sessions (Sessions 1 through 510 of the Seth Material). New Awareness Network. Edited by Robert Butts. Nine volumes. .
Roberts, Jane (2003). The Personal Sessions. New Awareness Network. Deleted session material. Seven volumes. .
Roberts. Jane. The Early Class Sessions. New Awareness Network. Four volumes.
Short Stories and novellas:
Roberts, Jane. "Prayer of a Wiser People" in Profile, 1950.
Roberts, Jane. "The Red Wagon" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1956 (republished 1993, Reality Change Magazine; anthologized in 1975, Ladies of Fantasy).
Roberts, Jane. "The Canvas Pyramid" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1957 (French edition, 1958).
Roberts, Jane. "First Communion" in Fantastic Universe, 1957.
Roberts, Jane. "The Chestnut Beads" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1957 (French edition, 1958; anthologized in Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves, 1963).
Roberts, Jane. "The Bundu" (novella, sequel to "The Chestnut Beads") in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1958.
Roberts, Jane. "A Demon at Devotions" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1958 (reprinted in Reality Change Magazine, Winter 1994).
Roberts, Jane. "Nightmare" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1959.
Roberts, Jane. "Impasse" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1959 (Spanish anthology edition ca. 1960).
Roberts, Jane. "Three Times Around" in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1964 (anthologized in Earth Invaded, 1982).
Roberts, Jane. "The Big Freeze" in Dude, 1965 (reprinted in Reality Change Magazine, Summer 1994).
Roberts, Jane. "The Mission," purchased by Topper magazine in August 1965. (Publication not yet confirmed.)
Poetry Submissions:
"Time" in The Saratogian [Saratoga Springs, NY], 1947 Mar 19.
"Enigma" in The Saratogian, 1947 Mar 19.
"Spring Gaiety" in The Saratogian, 1947 Apr 26.
"Rain" in Profile [Skidmore College literary magazine], December, 1947.
"Pretense" in Profile, December, 1947.
"Code" in Profile, December, 1947.
"Skyscrapers" in Profile, December, 1947.
"Introvert" in Profile, May, 1948.
"Poem" in Profile, May, 1948.
"How Public Like a Frog" in Profile, Fall, 1948.
"Motorcycle Ride" in Profile, Fall, 1948.
"Echo" in Profile, May, 1949.
"Death Stood at the Door" in Profile, May, 1949.
"Compromise" in Profile, May, 1949.
"I Shall Die in the Springtime." Patterns. v.1, n.1, October 1954.
"Lyric" Patterns. v.1, n.1, October 1954.
"Matilda" in Quicksilver, Spring, 1960.
"It is Springtime, Grandfather." Epos., v.12, n.3, Spring 1961.
"The Familiar." Bitterroot. v.1, n.2, Winter 1962.
"I Saw a Hand" in Treasures of Parnassus: Best Poems of 1962, Young Publications, 1962 (reprinted in The Elmira Star-Gazette, 1962).
"My Grandfather's World." Epos. v.14, n.3, Spring 1963.
"Lullaby." Epos. v.14, n.3, Spring 1963.
"Beware, October." Epos. v.16, n.1, Fall 1964.
"This Wrist, This Hand." Epos. v.16, n.4, Summer 1965.
"The Game." New Lantern Club Review. n.2, Summer 1965.
"The Flowers." Steppenwolf. n.1, Winter 1965–1966.
"Vision." Dust/9. v.3, n.1, Fall 1966.
"Who Whispers Yes." Dust/12. v.3, n.4, Spring 1969.
"Hi, Low, and Psycho." Excerpts published in Reality Change, Third Quarter, 1996.
See also
Stewart Edward White
New Thought
References
External links
Jane Roberts Papers (MS 1090). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. Includes both published and unpublished materials
Seth Center Index to the Early Sessions
Seth Learning Center An overview of titles and related audio clips, New Awareness Network
Nirvikalpa Archive of over 1500 quotations and excerpts from the Seth Material
'The Problem of Seth's Origin: A Case Study of the Trance-Possession Mediumship of Jane Roberts' by Paul Cunningham
List of Seth Sessions by Mary Dillman
Index of Eleven Seth Books by Sue R. Williams
Seth Talk - by Lynda Madden Dahl
Category:1929 births
Category:1984 deaths
Category:20th-century American poets
Category:American children's writers
Category:American motivational writers
Category:Women motivational writers
Category:American psychics
Category:American spiritual mediums
Category:American women poets
Category:Channellers
Category:Deaths from arthritis
Category:New Age writers
Category:People from Saratoga Springs, New York
Category:Skidmore College alumni
Category:American women children's writers
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:Women's page journalists | [] | null | null |
C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_0 | The Wallflowers | The Wallflowers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1989 by singer-songwriter Jakob Dylan and guitarist Tobi Miller. The band has gone through a number of personnel changes but has remained centered on Dylan. After releasing their eponymous debut album in 1992, the Wallflowers released what would become their best-known and highest-selling album, Bringing Down the Horse in 1996, which featured songs such as "One Headlight" and "6th Avenue Heartache". They went on to release an additional three albums before going on a seven-year hiatus, beginning in 2006. | 2004-2005: Rebel, Sweetheart | In July 2004, the Wallflowers returned to the studio to record their fifth album, Rebel, Sweetheart. This time the band decided to record in Atlanta, Georgia, which is where their producer for this album, Brendan O'Brien, is based. O'Brien also contributed on guitar. Fred Eltringham joined the Wallflowers as their new drummer. Jakob Dylan wrote the songs, of which keyboardist Rami Jaffee has said: "What I did notice is that kind of upbeat song with some pretty scary lyrics." Dylan painted the album's cover art himself. On October 14, 2004, the Warren Zevon tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon was released, on which the Wallflowers covered Zevon's 1978 song "Lawyers, Guns and Money." In promotion of the album, the Wallflowers performed "Lawyers, Guns and Money" on the Late Show with David Letterman with Zevon's son, Jordan, on October 12, 2004. On October 31, 2004, the Wallflowers were flown via military transport plane to the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to perform for the returning troops. Rebel, Sweetheart was released on May 24, 2005, and was met with positive reviews. Despite widespread critical acclaim, Rebel, Sweetheart performed relatively poorly commercially, peaking at No. 40 on the Billboard 200. However, the first single from the album, "The Beautiful Side of Somewhere", hit No. 5 on AAA radio. The second single was "God Says Nothing Back". This was the first Wallflowers album to be released on DualDisc. On one side was the album, and on the other was a DVD that included exclusive performances and arrangements of some of the band's songs, as well as an interview with comedian Jon Lovitz. In promotion of the album, the Wallflowers did concerts for the Oxygen Custom Concert Series and PBS Soundstage. Around the time of the album's release, the band set out on what would be their last tour for two years. They were joined by Stuart Mathis on lead guitar. After 2005, the Wallflowers ended their relationship with Interscope Records. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_0_q#0",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_0_q#1",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_0_q#2",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_0_q#3",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_0_q#4",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_0_q#5"
] | [
"Which album is Rebel,Sweetheart?",
"Is there anything unique about the recording of this album?",
"Were there any hits off this album?",
"What is a single on this album?",
"When was this song released?",
"Did any songs reach no 1?"
] | [
0,
0,
1,
0,
2,
1
] | [
1,
2,
2,
0,
0,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
101
],
[
2043
],
[
1340
],
[
1374
],
[
1340
]
],
"texts": [
[
"In July 2004, the Wallflowers returned to the studio to record their fifth album, Rebel, Sweetheart."
],
[
"This time the band decided to record in Atlanta, Georgia, which is where their producer for this album,"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"The Beautiful Side of Somewhere"
],
[
"hit No. 5 on AAA radio."
],
[
"The Beautiful Side of Somewhere\", hit No. 5 on AAA radio."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
101,
2043,
1340,
1374,
1340
],
"texts": [
"In July 2004, the Wallflowers returned to the studio to record their fifth album, Rebel, Sweetheart.",
"This time the band decided to record in Atlanta, Georgia, which is where their producer for this album,",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"The Beautiful Side of Somewhere",
"hit No. 5 on AAA radio.",
"The Beautiful Side of Somewhere\", hit No. 5 on AAA radio."
]
} | The Wallflowers is an American rock solo project of American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jakob Dylan. The Wallflowers were originally a roots rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1989 by Dylan and guitarist Tobi Miller. The band has gone through a number of personnel changes but has remained centered on Dylan. Members of The Wallflowers have gone on to be in the Foo Fighters, Ozomatli, and Gogol Bordello. Two former members have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Following their eponymous debut album in 1992, the Wallflowers released what would become their best-known and highest-selling album, Bringing Down the Horse (1996), which included the hit songs "One Headlight," "6th Avenue Heartache," "The Difference," and "Three Marlenas." Their next album, (Breach) (2000), contained "Sleepwalker"; their only single to chart the Billboard Hot 100 at number 76. ("One Headlight" was not released as a single in the U.S.) The group released an additional two critically acclaimed albums before going on hiatus. In 2012, the Wallflowers reunited to release their sixth studio album, Glad All Over. Nearly ten years later they released their seventh studio album, Exit Wounds (2021), which peaked on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart at No. 3, making it the band’s highest-charting album yet. The Wallflowers have sold over five million albums.
The Wallflowers have won two Grammy Awards: Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Rock Song for "One Headlight" in 1998. "One Headlight" is also listed at #58 in Rolling Stones list of the 100 Greatest Pop Songs. The Wallflowers have been nominated six times for "Best Rock Song" and "Best Rock Performance." Billboard named "One Headlight" as the #1 Greatest of All Time Adult Alternative Song. As of 2022, the band has three 'No. 1' hits and has thirteen songs that have reached the 'Top 10' on Billboard's Adult Alternative Airplay list.
History
1988–1990: Early history
The Wallflowers' inception came in 1988/1989 when singer-guitarist Jakob Dylan called his childhood friend, Tobi Miller, also a guitarist, about starting a band. Dylan and Miller had been in several bands together in high school but went their separate ways upon graduation. Dylan had moved to New York City to go to art school while Miller had started his own band called the 45's. After the 45's broke up in 1989, Miller regained contact with Dylan and they began forming a new band called the Apples. Barrie Maguire, who was in the 45's with Miller, joined the band as their bass player. In 1990, Peter Yanowitz was added as the drummer. The final member to join the group was keyboardist Rami Jaffee. Jaffee was an active member of the Los Angeles music scene and had been playing with multiple bands in the area. He met Dylan in 1990 in the Kibitz Room, a bar located in the back of Canter's; a Jewish deli located on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. He had heard the Apples were looking for an organ player and after meeting and talking with Dylan in the Kibitz Room, the two headed for Dylan's car to listen to the band's demo tape. Jaffee was impressed by the songs and asked to join in on the band's next rehearsal. After a long rehearsal session, Jaffee joined the band on the spot.
1991–1994: Debut album
The Apples changed their name to the Wallflowers and began playing clubs around Los Angeles, specifically the Sunset Strip, such as the Whisky a Go Go, Gazzarri's and the Viper Room. While they were playing clubs the band was also sending their demo tape to record companies and figures within the music industry. One of those tapes caught the attention of Andrew Slater, who would eventually become the Wallflowers' manager. Slater brought the Wallflowers to Virgin Records, who signed the band to a record contract. The Wallflowers then set out to make their first album. However, finding a producer who was willing to work with them proved to be difficult. The band was intent on recording live and few producers were willing to produce that way. Paul Fox eventually stepped in and agreed to produce the album. By the time the Wallflowers got into the studio in 1991, they had a small catalog of songs they had been performing live which they wanted to record for their debut album. All of the songs were written by Dylan with the rest of the band members contributing input on the music. When in the studio, the band were intent on using as little recording equipment as possible. Dylan explained: "If I could have had it my way I would not have seen a microphone or a cable anywhere." When it came to recording, the songs were drawn out past the 3 to 4 minute norm; many songs were close to 5 minutes in length with two exceeding 7 minutes. The Wallflowers finished recording and released their self-titled debut album on August 25, 1992. After the release they began touring nationwide as an opening act for bands such as Spin Doctors and 10,000 Maniacs.
The Wallflowers continued to tour through the first half of 1993 but despite this sales of the album were slow. In total, 40,000 copies were sold. Reviews for the album, however, were mostly positive. Rolling Stone gave the album 4 stars calling it, "one sweet debut" and describing Dylan's songwriting as "impressive." Great reviews notwithstanding, executives at Virgin Records were reportedly not pleased with the album's lack of commercial success. Around this time, the company was going through a shift in management which led to the removal of Jeff Ayeroff and Jordan Harris, the two people who initially brought the Wallflowers to Virgin. After Ayeroff and Harris left the company the Wallflowers began to feel that they had no future with Virgin and asked to be released from their contract. The split with Virgin has been regarded as mutual. By mid-1993 the Wallflowers were without a record label.
After leaving Virgin, the Wallflowers went back to playing Los Angeles clubs in hopes of getting signed with another label. The band found it difficult to even get label representatives to come to their shows. In the year it took to get another record deal the Wallflowers gained and lost several band members. Bass player Barrie Maguire was asked to leave for undisclosed reasons in early 1993. The Wallflowers continued playing shows with replacement bass player Jimmie Snider until May 1993 when the band hired Greg Richling. Dylan and Richling went to high school together. The Wallflowers continued to play club shows in Los Angeles through early 1994 when drummer Peter Yanowitz left the band to join his girlfriend Natalie Merchant's band. Yanowitz brought in Barrie Maguire to help record Merchant's debut solo album, Tigerlily. Around the time of Yanowitz's departure the Wallflowers caught the attention of Jimmy Iovine and Tom Whalley of Interscope Records, who then signed the band to their label in 1994.
1995–1998: Bringing Down the Horse
After signing with Interscope Records, the Wallflowers began preparations for their second album, Bringing Down the Horse. They again had trouble finding a producer that was willing to work with them. The Wallflowers began sending demo tapes to producers and one of the tapes landed in the hands of T Bone Burnett. Burnett was impressed by the songs and agreed to produce the band. However, just as they were getting ready to record, the band's guitarist Tobi Miller quit. This left the Wallflowers without a permanent drummer or guitarist while they were in the studio. Matt Chamberlain filled in on drums throughout the recording sessions and several guitarists were brought in to fill Miller's role including Mike Campbell, Fred Tackett, Jay Joyce and Michael Ward, who would go on to become a permanent member of the Wallflowers.
The Wallflowers released Bringing Down the Horse on May 21, 1996. The band began touring for the album soon after the release. Album sales were slow to start but after the first single, "6th Avenue Heartache" (featuring Adam Duritz of Counting Crows) was released on August 19, interest in the Wallflowers began picking up as the song began getting more radio play. The David Fincher-directed music video for "6th Avenue Heartache" was also receiving attention on MTV and VH1. The Wallflowers continued to tour through the rest of 1996 and were featured as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live that November. On December 1, Bringing Down the Horse received Gold certification from the RIAA by selling 500,000 copies of their album.
In January 1997, the Wallflowers were nominated for two Grammy awards, both for "6th Avenue Heartache". Dylan was a presenter at the 1997 Grammy Awards though he and the Wallflowers did not win either of the awards they were nominated for.
The band continued to tour and gain popularity. In February 1997, the Wallflowers completed a tour opening for Sheryl Crow before beginning a string of their own headlining shows beginning at the end of February and running through May. On February 24, the second single from Bringing Down the Horse, "One Headlight", was released. "One Headlight" received heavy radio play, which propelled Bringing Down the Horse to Platinum certification on March 4 by selling one million copies of the album. Within six weeks, sales for Bringing Down the Horse doubled and on April 16, the album received Double-Platinum status by selling two million copies. In mid-May, the Wallflowers crossed over to Europe for a three-week-long tour. Upon return in mid-June, the Wallflowers continued to tour the United States. On June 12, Dylan received his first Rolling Stone magazine cover. In the accompanying interview, Dylan spoke both candidly and at length about his lineage for the first time. Five days later, album sales for Bringing Down the Horse reached the three million mark, qualifying the album for Triple-Platinum status. On June 21, the Wallflowers co-headlined a festival at Texas Motor Speedway called Rock Fest. The day-long festival drew upwards of 400,000 people, making it one of the largest concerts in US history.
On July 2, 1997, the Wallflowers kicked off a co-headlining tour with Counting Crows that continued through September. This tour included opening acts by Bettie Serveert, Engine 88, Gigolo Aunts, and That Dog, with each opening band touring for a three-week stretch. The Wallflowers took over full-headlining duties for several shows in July when Counting Crows were unable to perform due to Duritz's swollen vocal cords. On September 22, the Wallflowers released their third single from Bringing Down the Horse, "The Difference". On October 30, Bringing Down the Horse hit another milestone by receiving Quadruple-Platinum status by selling four million copies. After taking the month of October off from touring, the Wallflowers hit the road again in November. On November 9 and 10, the Wallflowers broke from their headlining tour to open for the Rolling Stones at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Less than a week later, the Wallflowers again broke from their tour to co-headline a private show at an arena in San Jose, California with Bob Dylan on November 14. The Wallflowers continued to tour through the end of December. By the end of 1997, Bringing Down the Horse had become the most played album on rock radio and peaked at Number 4 on the Billboard 200 while "One Headlight" had received some 209,000 radio spins across all formats.
On January 6, 1998, the Wallflowers received three Grammy nominations; "One Headlight" and "The Difference" were both nominated for Best Rock Song while "One Headlight" received an additional nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. At the 1998 Grammy Award ceremony on February 25, the Wallflowers walked away with two Grammy Awards; "One Headlight" won for Best Rock Song as well as Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Despite the fact that Bringing Down the Horse was released nearly two years previously, the Wallflowers released an additional single from that album on March 23, "Three Marlenas". "Three Marlenas" would be the fourth and final single to be released from Bringing Down the Horse. By 1998 the Wallflowers had begun declining on the Billboard charts and receiving fewer spins on the radio. That changed, however, when the soundtrack for the 1998 film Godzilla was released on May 19. The Wallflowers had recorded a version of David Bowie's "Heroes" which was chosen as the lead single for the soundtrack. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and the Wallflowers' version of "Heroes" received heavy radio play. Though the Wallflowers did not tour in 1998 they did play a series of one-off shows including the Tibetan Freedom Concert in June at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. and the Bridge School Benefit in September in Mountain View, California, which was hosted by Neil Young and his wife Pegi.
1999–2001: (Breach)
After taking a five-month break from writing and touring, the Wallflowers set out to make their third album, (Breach). Dylan was very diligent in the songwriting process; he rented a studio near his home and would routinely go there to write songs for the album. However, Dylan was not satisfied with the first batch of songs he came up with. He decided to scrap them and start over. The songs that did make it to the studio were considered to be far more personal than any of the songs the Wallflowers had released in the past. Dylan explained; "I think all my songs are personal, but I just made them a little more dense before, made 'em real thick so that I didn't feel exposed. A lot of younger writers do that. Before, I haven't really wanted anybody buying my records looking for information about myself or my family, but at this point, the group has a lot of people buying the records who aren't interested in that, so it gives me more freedom." By the end of 1999, the Wallflowers were ready to begin recording. The bulk of the album was recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles. The Wallflowers' longtime manager, Andrew Slater co-produced the album with Michael Penn. The band took their time in the studio. Like Bringing Down the Horse, (Breach) took about eight months to record. (Breach) also featured an array of guest artists including Elvis Costello, Mike Campbell and Frank Black.
Four years after the release of Bringing Down the Horse in 1996, (Breach) was released on October 10, 2000. The album was met with generally positive critical reception but underwhelming sales. Rolling Stone gave (Breach) four stars, calling the band "more muscular" than they used to be. However, (Breach) commercially floundered in comparison to its high-selling predecessor. The album peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and took almost a year to receive the Gold certification, which is the highest certification (Breach) has received to date.
A month before the official release of (Breach), the album was leaked in its entirety to file-sharing giant Napster, where a reported 25 million users had the ability to listen to and download the Wallflowers' third album. With regard to the impact of leaks for big recording artists, former Capitol Records senior vice president and general manager, Lou Mann stated: "For the Wallflowers or any major superstar band, the problems are major. In fact they're Herculean, because people already want it and you don't want to dilute your audience." Jakob Dylan also explained his feelings about (Breach) being leaked: "[Album sales are] one of the ways that we have of making a living really. It's not about record companies, it's not about people's right to trade, you know, it's also how we put food on the table."
Despite the disappointing release, the Wallflowers set out on another tour beginning in early October 2000. After one show in Atlanta on October 2, the Wallflowers traveled to New York to open for the Who for four nights at Madison Square Garden. Later that month, Jakob Dylan was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone for a second time. The Wallflowers continued to tour throughout the U.S. through mid-December before heading to Japan in February 2001 for their first tour there.
The Wallflowers covered the Bee Gees' 1968 hit song "I Started a Joke" for the 2001 film, Zoolander.
The band continued to tour the U.S. for the remainder of 2001 until it was announced in early October that guitarist Michael Ward had left the Wallflowers due to creative differences.
2002–2003: Red Letter Days
In 2001, Jakob Dylan began writing for the Wallflowers' fourth album, Red Letter Days. Later that year while on tour with John Mellencamp, the band began recording using portable equipment. Some recording was also done at keyboardist Rami Jaffee's house. Once the band was finished touring for the year they began recording the bulk of the new record at Jackson Browne's studio in Santa Monica. By the time the Wallflowers had gotten into Browne's studio, Michael Ward had left the band, leaving them without a lead guitarist for the recording process. Dylan took on much of the lead guitar duties with Mike McCready, Rusty Anderson and Val McCallum also contributing on guitar. Moe Z M.D., who had been touring with Mellencamp, contributed additional percussion and background vocals to the album. Red Letter Days was produced by founding Wallflowers member Tobi Miller along with Bill Appleberry. Recording continued through the new year and was completed on April 12, 2002. The album was mixed by Tom Lord-Alge, who had mixed the band's previous two albums. Mixing was completed on May 15, 2002.
While the Wallflowers were working on Red Letter Days, they recorded a cover of the Beatles' 1965 song "I'm Looking Through You" for the soundtrack to the 2001 film I Am Sam. The soundtrack was released on January 8, 2002.
The first single from the Red Letter Days, "When You're On Top," was released to radio on August 16, 2002. A music video directed by Marc Webb followed. After a few false starts, Red Letter Days was released on November 5, 2002. The album was met with mixed to positive reviews. Many critics noted the harder rock sound and catchy melodies used throughout the album. Commercial performance was relatively mixed as well, peaking at No.32 on the Billboard 200. Around the time of Red Letter Days release the Wallflowers embarked on a monthlong U.S. tour stretching into early December. After another U.S. tour in January 2003, the Wallflowers toured in several European countries in February including Spain, Italy, Germany and Great Britain. After this tour, the Wallflowers' drummer since 1995, Mario Calire announced he was parting ways with the band.
In 2003, the Wallflowers were featured on the soundtrack for the film American Wedding. The band recorded a cover of Van Morrison's 1970 song "Into the Mystic". The film's music department weren't able to secure the licensing rights to use Morrison's version so they enlisted the Wallflowers to cover the song. Both versions of the song were, however, featured in the film.
2004–2005: Rebel, Sweetheart
In July 2004, the Wallflowers returned to the studio to record their fifth album, Rebel, Sweetheart. This time the band decided to record in Atlanta, Georgia, which is where their producer for this album, Brendan O'Brien, is based. O'Brien also contributed on guitar. Fred Eltringham joined the Wallflowers as their new drummer. Jakob Dylan wrote the songs, of which keyboardist Rami Jaffee has said: "What I did notice is that kind of upbeat song with some pretty scary lyrics." Dylan painted the album's cover art himself.
On October 14, 2004, the Warren Zevon tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon was released, on which the Wallflowers covered Zevon's 1978 song "Lawyers, Guns and Money." In promotion of the album, the Wallflowers performed "Lawyers, Guns and Money" on the Late Show with David Letterman with Zevon's son, Jordan, on October 12, 2004.
On October 31, 2004, the Wallflowers were flown via military transport plane to the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to perform for the returning troops.
Rebel, Sweetheart was released on May 24, 2005, and was met with positive reviews. Despite widespread critical acclaim, Rebel, Sweetheart performed relatively poorly commercially, peaking at No. 40 on the Billboard 200. However, the first single from the album, "The Beautiful Side of Somewhere", hit No. 5 on AAA radio. The second single was "God Says Nothing Back". This was the first Wallflowers album to be released on DualDisc. On one side was the album, and on the other was a DVD that included exclusive performances and arrangements of some of the band's songs, as well as an interview with comedian Jon Lovitz. In promotion of the album, the Wallflowers did concerts for the Oxygen Custom Concert Series and PBS Soundstage. Around the time of the album's release, the band set out on what would be their last tour for two years. They were joined by Stuart Mathis on lead guitar. After 2005, the Wallflowers ended their relationship with Interscope Records.
2006–2010: Hiatus
2006 was the first year in over a decade that the Wallflowers did not tour. Instead, band members embarked on other projects. Jakob Dylan toured with former Wallflowers producer T-Bone Burnett in the early summer, performing a solo acoustic opening set with a keyboard player. Later that year, he signed a contract with Columbia Records as a solo artist. He also wrote and recorded a song called "Here Comes Now", which was featured as the theme song for the ABC television drama Six Degrees. The show premiered in the fall of 2006. Meanwhile, keyboardist Rami Jaffee joined the Foo Fighters as a touring and session member. Jaffee had previously contributed keyboards to the Foo Fighters' 2005 album In Your Honor. In 2006, he also contributed on albums for Willie Nile and Pete Yorn.
On August 31, 2007, the Wallflowers announced they would be touring for the first time in over two years. They toured in the Midwest and Northeastern U.S. in October and November. Before the tour, Jaffee announced that he was leaving the Wallflowers. This left Dylan, Greg Richling and Fred Eltringham as the remaining members and a guitar player, Stuart Mathis, as a touring member. In 2008, the Wallflowers toured on-and-off throughout the summer. Touring for the Wallflowers was limited as Dylan had released his first solo album, Seeing Things, on June 10, 2008. Eltringham joined Dylan on tour in promotion for the album.
On March 31, 2009, the Wallflowers released a greatest-hits album called Collected: 1996–2005. The album featured every single released from the four albums the Wallflowers released between 1996 and 2005. It also featured several non-single songs from those four albums, a demo version of "God Says Nothing Back" and an unreleased song called "Eat You Sleeping". That summer, the Wallflowers embarked on a U.S. tour in support of the album. In addition to Dylan, Richling, Eltringham and Mathis, Bill Appleberry joined the band on this tour as a keyboard player. The Wallflowers did not tour in 2010 as Dylan had released his second solo album, Women + Country, on April 6, 2010, and was touring in support of that album.
2011–2012: Glad All Over
On November 1, 2011, Jakob Dylan announced that the Wallflowers would be reuniting to release an album, explaining: "I never suggested we were breaking up. We all felt we were losing the plot a bit and we needed a break. And that year break becomes two years, then becomes three years, and before you know it five or six years go by pretty quickly. I can't do what I do in the Wallflowers without them. I miss it." In an interview with the St. Joseph News-Press, Dylan stated that the Wallflowers would be getting into the studio in January and the lineup would include Greg Richling on bass, Rami Jaffee on keys, Stuart Mathis on guitar and Fred Eltringham on drums. However, weeks before the Wallflowers began recording, Eltringham left the band to pursue other projects. The band quickly got former Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons to join the band. Irons was previously involved in a side project with Wallflowers bassist Richling.
On January 20, 2012, the Wallflowers began recording their sixth studio album, Glad All Over, at the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye studio in Nashville. Jay Joyce, who had played guitar on the Wallflowers' Bringing Down the Horse agreed to produce the album. Before going to the studio, the band had decided have a more collaborative writing process than they had in the past. Instead of Dylan bringing in fully completed songs like he had done in the past, he only brought lyrics. Dylan and the rest of the band wrote the music for the songs together in the studio. Joyce explained: "Jakob came to Nashville and we sat down and I asked him to play me a song, but instead he pulled out this 2-inch-thick notebook. ‘This is what I’ve got. Let’s play some grooves and throw it around.’ I thought, ‘Wow, that’s kind of scary, but it’s exciting.’ So we didn't really know going in what we were going to do. We had no songs, no demos. It was all developed in the studio. The band finished recording on February 20, 2012.
At a private solo performance in New York on April 19, 2012, Dylan announced that the new the Wallflowers album was expected to be released in fall later that year. On July 14, 2012, the band announced that the title of their new album would be Glad All Over. They also announced that the album's first single, "Reboot the Mission", would be available for free download from their website.
Following several one-off shows in the summer of 2012, the Wallflowers kicked off a fall tour in San Diego on September 8, 2012. From there, they continued to tour the U.S. and Canada through mid-November, playing a mix of clubs and festivals, with an additional four East Coast dates at the end of December. Glad All Over was released on October 9, 2012, on Columbia Records and was met with generally positive reviews. Leading up to the album's release, the Wallflowers promoted the album on various television shows including Good Morning America, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Late Show with David Letterman and Ellen.
2013–2020: Tours and roster changes
Beginning in the spring of 2013, the band toured with Eric Clapton on his arena tour. The tour with Clapton began on March 14, 2013, in Phoenix, Arizona, at the US Airways Center and continued through the South and East Coast, eventually coming to an end on April 6, 2013, in Pittsburgh at the Consol Energy Center.
After the Clapton tour, the Wallflowers played several additional shows of their own in May 2013. On May 12 in Napa, California, the band's longtime keyboardist Rami Jaffee played what would be his final show with the Wallflowers to date. Jaffee has yet to say whether he has officially quit the Wallflowers but has continued to record and tour with the Foo Fighters. Jimmy Wallace has subbed in his spot ever since. The Wallflowers continued to tour through the summer of 2013 and played their final show of the summer on August 17 at the River Roots Live Festival in Davenport, Iowa, to a crowd of 17,000 people. This show would turn out to be longtime bassist Greg Richling's and drummer Jack Irons' final show with the band. On September 8, Richling officially announced that he was leaving the Wallflowers after 20 years with the band. He left to pursue other interests. Irons announced he was leaving soon after, on September 15. Irons reportedly left to focus on his band project, Arthur Channel, who released their debut album on October 15, 2013.
The Wallflowers have continued to play shows since 2013 with a new drummer, bass player, guitar player, and keyboardist filling in for Irons, Richling, Mathis, and Jaffee. Dylan stated later he would be continuing making music under name The Wallflowers as a solo project: "The Wallflowers is me, and if I go under my own name, it's me. It's the same thing, ultimately. It's really dictated on the songs I have and how I want to record them and would they sound better with a full-band sound. In many ways it's the same person. It's just what outfit do I want to put on". As of 2017, the touring lineup consisted of Stanton Adcock on lead guitar, Steve Mackey on bass, keyboardist Jimmy Wallace and Lynn Williams on drums.
In May 2016, the Wallflowers' 1996 album Bringing Down the Horse was issued on vinyl for the first time in honor of the 20th anniversary of the album's release. The Wallflowers was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire, although later research showed the master tapes for Bringing Down the Horse were not actually destroyed in the fire.
The band was set to undertake a North American summer tour in 2020 alongside Matchbox Twenty prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021–present: Exit Wounds
The band's seventh studio album, Exit Wounds, was released on July 9, 2021, on New West Records. With the release of the new album, Dylan would reiterate that the band's sound is an extension of his solo work, saying "There's never been one lineup that's made two records. So the constant is myself. If you think there's a sound of the Wallflowers, I'm making that with my choices in the studio and with my songs and voice". It was produced by Butch Walker and the band announced a 53-date arena tour to promote the album (which was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). About writing the album, Dylan says, "I was just also writing during a time when the world felt like it was falling apart. That changes the way you address even the simplest things, because you have panic in your mind all the time. You have anxiety. And you also have hope. And it’s all in there".
Band membersCurrent members Jakob Dylan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1989–present); keyboards, piano (1989–1990, 2005–2012, 2013–present); bass (1989, 1993, 2013–present); drums, percussion (1989–1990, 1994–1995, 2003, 2011–2012, 2013–present); lead guitar (1995, 2001–2005, 2014–present)Touring musicians Stanton Adcock – guitars (2017–present)
Aaron Embry - keyboards (2021–present)
Whynot Jansveld - bass, backing vocals (2021–present)
Ben Peeler - guitars (2021–present)
Mark Stepro - drums, backing vocals (2021–present)Former members Tobi Miller – lead guitar (1989–1995)
Barrie Maguire – bass (1989–1993)
Peter Yanowitz – drums (1990–1994)
Rami Jaffee – keyboards (1990–2005, 2012–2013)
Greg Richling – bass (1993–2013)
Mario Calire – drums (1995–2003, 2012)
Michael Ward – lead guitar (1995–2001)
Fred Eltringham – drums (2003–2011)
Jack Irons – drums (2012–2013)
Stuart Mathis – lead guitar (2005–2014)Former touring musicians Jimmy Wallace – keyboards, vocals (2013–2019)
Steve Mackey – bass (2017–2019)
Lynn Williams – drums, percussion (2017–2019)
Timeline
DiscographyStudio albums'''The Wallflowers (1992)Bringing Down the Horse (1996)(Breach) (2000)Red Letter Days (2002)Rebel, Sweetheart (2005)Glad All Over (2012)Exit Wounds'' (2021)
References
External links
Trouser Press entry
Category:Alternative rock groups from California
Category:Columbia Records artists
Category:Grammy Award winners
Category:Interscope Records artists
Category:Musical groups established in 1989
Category:Musical groups from Los Angeles
Category:Musical quintets
Category:Virgin Records artists | [] | [
"Rebel, Sweetheart is the fifth album by the Wallflowers.",
"Yes, Rebel, Sweetheart was recorded in Atlanta, Georgia, it's the first Wallflowers album to be released on DualDisc. This featured the regular audio track on one side, and a DVD with exclusive performances and arrangements of their songs, as well as an interview with Jon Lovitz, on the other side.",
"Yes, the first single from the album, \"The Beautiful Side of Somewhere\", hit No. 5 on AAA radio. The second single released from the album was \"God Says Nothing Back.\"",
"The singles on this album were \"The Beautiful Side of Somewhere\" and \"God Says Nothing Back.\"",
"The album Rebel, Sweetheart, which includes the songs \"The Beautiful Side of Somewhere\" and \"God Says Nothing Back\", was released on May 24, 2005.",
"Based on the provided context, it does not mention that any of the songs from the Rebel, Sweetheart album reached No. 1 in the charts."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_1 | The Wallflowers | The Wallflowers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1989 by singer-songwriter Jakob Dylan and guitarist Tobi Miller. The band has gone through a number of personnel changes but has remained centered on Dylan. After releasing their eponymous debut album in 1992, the Wallflowers released what would become their best-known and highest-selling album, Bringing Down the Horse in 1996, which featured songs such as "One Headlight" and "6th Avenue Heartache". They went on to release an additional three albums before going on a seven-year hiatus, beginning in 2006. | 2002-2003: Red Letter Days | In 2001, Jakob Dylan began writing for the Wallflowers' fourth album, Red Letter Days. Later that year while on tour with John Mellencamp, the band began recording using portable equipment. Some recording was also done at keyboardist Rami Jaffee's house. Once the band was finished touring for the year they began recording the bulk of the new record at Jackson Browne's studio in Santa Monica. By the time the Wallflowers had gotten into Browne's studio, Michael Ward had left the band, leaving them without a lead guitarist for the recording process. Dylan took on much of the lead guitar duties with Mike McCready, Rusty Anderson and Val McCallum also contributing on guitar. Moe Z M.D., who had been touring with Mellencamp, contributed additional percussion and background vocals to the album.Red Letter Days was produced by founding Wallflowers member Tobi Miller along with Bill Appleberry. Recording continued through the new year and was completed on April 12, 2002. The album was mixed by Tom Lord-Alge, who had mixed the band's previous two albums. Mixing was completed on May 15, 2002. While the Wallflowers were working on Red Letter Days, they recorded a cover of the Beatles' 1965 song "I'm Looking Through You" for the soundtrack to the 2001 film I Am Sam. The soundtrack was released on January 8, 2002. The first single from the Red Letter Days, "When You're On Top," was released to radio on August 16, 2002. A music video directed by Marc Webb followed. After a few false starts, Red Letter Days was released on November 5, 2002. The album was met with mixed to positive reviews. Many critics noted the harder rock sound and catchy melodies used throughout the album. Commercial performance was relatively mixed as well, peaking at No.32 on the Billboard 200. Around the time of Red Letter Days' release the Wallflowers embarked on a monthlong U.S. tour stretching into early December. After another U.S. tour in January 2003, the Wallflowers toured in several European countries in February including Spain, Italy, Germany and Great Britain. After this tour, the Wallflowers' drummer since 1995, Mario Calire announced he was parting ways with the band. In 2003, the Wallflowers were featured on the soundtrack for the film American Wedding. The band recorded a cover of Van Morrison's 1970 song "Into the Mystic". The film's music department weren't able to secure the licensing rights to use Morrison's version so they enlisted the Wallflowers to cover the song. Both versions of the song were, however, featured in the film. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_1_q#0",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_1_q#1",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_1_q#2",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_1_q#3",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_1_q#4",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_1_q#5",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_1_q#6",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_1_q#7",
"C_35f0d6b6cd8648d293088862131ca285_1_q#8"
] | [
"What is Red letter days?",
"What is a single from that album?",
"Did it do well?",
"Did the band tour for the album?",
"Who wrote the songs?",
"What is a highlight regarding Red Letter Days?",
"Did they collaborate with any other artists?",
"Who else did they work with?",
"What did the critics think about their albums?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
2,
2
] | [
1,
1,
1,
0,
1,
1,
1,
0,
1
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
39
],
[
1366
],
[
1552
],
[
1782
],
[
9
],
[
87
],
[
976
],
[
798
],
[
1602
]
],
"texts": [
[
"the Wallflowers' fourth album, Red Letter Days."
],
[
"\"When You're On Top,\" was released to radio on August 16, 2002."
],
[
"The album was met with mixed to positive reviews."
],
[
"Around the time of Red Letter Days' release the Wallflowers embarked on a monthlong U.S. tour stretching into early December."
],
[
"Jakob Dylan began writing for the Wallflowers' fourth album,"
],
[
"Later that year while on tour with John Mellencamp, the band began recording using portable equipment."
],
[
"The album was mixed by Tom Lord-Alge, who had mixed the band's previous two albums."
],
[
"Red Letter Days was produced by founding Wallflowers member Tobi Miller along with Bill Appleberry."
],
[
"Many critics noted the harder rock sound and catchy melodies used throughout the album."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
39,
1366,
1552,
1782,
9,
87,
976,
798,
1602
],
"texts": [
"the Wallflowers' fourth album, Red Letter Days.",
"\"When You're On Top,\" was released to radio on August 16, 2002.",
"The album was met with mixed to positive reviews.",
"Around the time of Red Letter Days' release the Wallflowers embarked on a monthlong U.S. tour stretching into early December.",
"Jakob Dylan began writing for the Wallflowers' fourth album,",
"Later that year while on tour with John Mellencamp, the band began recording using portable equipment.",
"The album was mixed by Tom Lord-Alge, who had mixed the band's previous two albums.",
"Red Letter Days was produced by founding Wallflowers member Tobi Miller along with Bill Appleberry.",
"Many critics noted the harder rock sound and catchy melodies used throughout the album."
]
} | The Wallflowers is an American rock solo project of American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jakob Dylan. The Wallflowers were originally a roots rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1989 by Dylan and guitarist Tobi Miller. The band has gone through a number of personnel changes but has remained centered on Dylan. Members of The Wallflowers have gone on to be in the Foo Fighters, Ozomatli, and Gogol Bordello. Two former members have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Following their eponymous debut album in 1992, the Wallflowers released what would become their best-known and highest-selling album, Bringing Down the Horse (1996), which included the hit songs "One Headlight," "6th Avenue Heartache," "The Difference," and "Three Marlenas." Their next album, (Breach) (2000), contained "Sleepwalker"; their only single to chart the Billboard Hot 100 at number 76. ("One Headlight" was not released as a single in the U.S.) The group released an additional two critically acclaimed albums before going on hiatus. In 2012, the Wallflowers reunited to release their sixth studio album, Glad All Over. Nearly ten years later they released their seventh studio album, Exit Wounds (2021), which peaked on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart at No. 3, making it the band’s highest-charting album yet. The Wallflowers have sold over five million albums.
The Wallflowers have won two Grammy Awards: Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Rock Song for "One Headlight" in 1998. "One Headlight" is also listed at #58 in Rolling Stones list of the 100 Greatest Pop Songs. The Wallflowers have been nominated six times for "Best Rock Song" and "Best Rock Performance." Billboard named "One Headlight" as the #1 Greatest of All Time Adult Alternative Song. As of 2022, the band has three 'No. 1' hits and has thirteen songs that have reached the 'Top 10' on Billboard's Adult Alternative Airplay list.
History
1988–1990: Early history
The Wallflowers' inception came in 1988/1989 when singer-guitarist Jakob Dylan called his childhood friend, Tobi Miller, also a guitarist, about starting a band. Dylan and Miller had been in several bands together in high school but went their separate ways upon graduation. Dylan had moved to New York City to go to art school while Miller had started his own band called the 45's. After the 45's broke up in 1989, Miller regained contact with Dylan and they began forming a new band called the Apples. Barrie Maguire, who was in the 45's with Miller, joined the band as their bass player. In 1990, Peter Yanowitz was added as the drummer. The final member to join the group was keyboardist Rami Jaffee. Jaffee was an active member of the Los Angeles music scene and had been playing with multiple bands in the area. He met Dylan in 1990 in the Kibitz Room, a bar located in the back of Canter's; a Jewish deli located on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. He had heard the Apples were looking for an organ player and after meeting and talking with Dylan in the Kibitz Room, the two headed for Dylan's car to listen to the band's demo tape. Jaffee was impressed by the songs and asked to join in on the band's next rehearsal. After a long rehearsal session, Jaffee joined the band on the spot.
1991–1994: Debut album
The Apples changed their name to the Wallflowers and began playing clubs around Los Angeles, specifically the Sunset Strip, such as the Whisky a Go Go, Gazzarri's and the Viper Room. While they were playing clubs the band was also sending their demo tape to record companies and figures within the music industry. One of those tapes caught the attention of Andrew Slater, who would eventually become the Wallflowers' manager. Slater brought the Wallflowers to Virgin Records, who signed the band to a record contract. The Wallflowers then set out to make their first album. However, finding a producer who was willing to work with them proved to be difficult. The band was intent on recording live and few producers were willing to produce that way. Paul Fox eventually stepped in and agreed to produce the album. By the time the Wallflowers got into the studio in 1991, they had a small catalog of songs they had been performing live which they wanted to record for their debut album. All of the songs were written by Dylan with the rest of the band members contributing input on the music. When in the studio, the band were intent on using as little recording equipment as possible. Dylan explained: "If I could have had it my way I would not have seen a microphone or a cable anywhere." When it came to recording, the songs were drawn out past the 3 to 4 minute norm; many songs were close to 5 minutes in length with two exceeding 7 minutes. The Wallflowers finished recording and released their self-titled debut album on August 25, 1992. After the release they began touring nationwide as an opening act for bands such as Spin Doctors and 10,000 Maniacs.
The Wallflowers continued to tour through the first half of 1993 but despite this sales of the album were slow. In total, 40,000 copies were sold. Reviews for the album, however, were mostly positive. Rolling Stone gave the album 4 stars calling it, "one sweet debut" and describing Dylan's songwriting as "impressive." Great reviews notwithstanding, executives at Virgin Records were reportedly not pleased with the album's lack of commercial success. Around this time, the company was going through a shift in management which led to the removal of Jeff Ayeroff and Jordan Harris, the two people who initially brought the Wallflowers to Virgin. After Ayeroff and Harris left the company the Wallflowers began to feel that they had no future with Virgin and asked to be released from their contract. The split with Virgin has been regarded as mutual. By mid-1993 the Wallflowers were without a record label.
After leaving Virgin, the Wallflowers went back to playing Los Angeles clubs in hopes of getting signed with another label. The band found it difficult to even get label representatives to come to their shows. In the year it took to get another record deal the Wallflowers gained and lost several band members. Bass player Barrie Maguire was asked to leave for undisclosed reasons in early 1993. The Wallflowers continued playing shows with replacement bass player Jimmie Snider until May 1993 when the band hired Greg Richling. Dylan and Richling went to high school together. The Wallflowers continued to play club shows in Los Angeles through early 1994 when drummer Peter Yanowitz left the band to join his girlfriend Natalie Merchant's band. Yanowitz brought in Barrie Maguire to help record Merchant's debut solo album, Tigerlily. Around the time of Yanowitz's departure the Wallflowers caught the attention of Jimmy Iovine and Tom Whalley of Interscope Records, who then signed the band to their label in 1994.
1995–1998: Bringing Down the Horse
After signing with Interscope Records, the Wallflowers began preparations for their second album, Bringing Down the Horse. They again had trouble finding a producer that was willing to work with them. The Wallflowers began sending demo tapes to producers and one of the tapes landed in the hands of T Bone Burnett. Burnett was impressed by the songs and agreed to produce the band. However, just as they were getting ready to record, the band's guitarist Tobi Miller quit. This left the Wallflowers without a permanent drummer or guitarist while they were in the studio. Matt Chamberlain filled in on drums throughout the recording sessions and several guitarists were brought in to fill Miller's role including Mike Campbell, Fred Tackett, Jay Joyce and Michael Ward, who would go on to become a permanent member of the Wallflowers.
The Wallflowers released Bringing Down the Horse on May 21, 1996. The band began touring for the album soon after the release. Album sales were slow to start but after the first single, "6th Avenue Heartache" (featuring Adam Duritz of Counting Crows) was released on August 19, interest in the Wallflowers began picking up as the song began getting more radio play. The David Fincher-directed music video for "6th Avenue Heartache" was also receiving attention on MTV and VH1. The Wallflowers continued to tour through the rest of 1996 and were featured as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live that November. On December 1, Bringing Down the Horse received Gold certification from the RIAA by selling 500,000 copies of their album.
In January 1997, the Wallflowers were nominated for two Grammy awards, both for "6th Avenue Heartache". Dylan was a presenter at the 1997 Grammy Awards though he and the Wallflowers did not win either of the awards they were nominated for.
The band continued to tour and gain popularity. In February 1997, the Wallflowers completed a tour opening for Sheryl Crow before beginning a string of their own headlining shows beginning at the end of February and running through May. On February 24, the second single from Bringing Down the Horse, "One Headlight", was released. "One Headlight" received heavy radio play, which propelled Bringing Down the Horse to Platinum certification on March 4 by selling one million copies of the album. Within six weeks, sales for Bringing Down the Horse doubled and on April 16, the album received Double-Platinum status by selling two million copies. In mid-May, the Wallflowers crossed over to Europe for a three-week-long tour. Upon return in mid-June, the Wallflowers continued to tour the United States. On June 12, Dylan received his first Rolling Stone magazine cover. In the accompanying interview, Dylan spoke both candidly and at length about his lineage for the first time. Five days later, album sales for Bringing Down the Horse reached the three million mark, qualifying the album for Triple-Platinum status. On June 21, the Wallflowers co-headlined a festival at Texas Motor Speedway called Rock Fest. The day-long festival drew upwards of 400,000 people, making it one of the largest concerts in US history.
On July 2, 1997, the Wallflowers kicked off a co-headlining tour with Counting Crows that continued through September. This tour included opening acts by Bettie Serveert, Engine 88, Gigolo Aunts, and That Dog, with each opening band touring for a three-week stretch. The Wallflowers took over full-headlining duties for several shows in July when Counting Crows were unable to perform due to Duritz's swollen vocal cords. On September 22, the Wallflowers released their third single from Bringing Down the Horse, "The Difference". On October 30, Bringing Down the Horse hit another milestone by receiving Quadruple-Platinum status by selling four million copies. After taking the month of October off from touring, the Wallflowers hit the road again in November. On November 9 and 10, the Wallflowers broke from their headlining tour to open for the Rolling Stones at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Less than a week later, the Wallflowers again broke from their tour to co-headline a private show at an arena in San Jose, California with Bob Dylan on November 14. The Wallflowers continued to tour through the end of December. By the end of 1997, Bringing Down the Horse had become the most played album on rock radio and peaked at Number 4 on the Billboard 200 while "One Headlight" had received some 209,000 radio spins across all formats.
On January 6, 1998, the Wallflowers received three Grammy nominations; "One Headlight" and "The Difference" were both nominated for Best Rock Song while "One Headlight" received an additional nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. At the 1998 Grammy Award ceremony on February 25, the Wallflowers walked away with two Grammy Awards; "One Headlight" won for Best Rock Song as well as Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Despite the fact that Bringing Down the Horse was released nearly two years previously, the Wallflowers released an additional single from that album on March 23, "Three Marlenas". "Three Marlenas" would be the fourth and final single to be released from Bringing Down the Horse. By 1998 the Wallflowers had begun declining on the Billboard charts and receiving fewer spins on the radio. That changed, however, when the soundtrack for the 1998 film Godzilla was released on May 19. The Wallflowers had recorded a version of David Bowie's "Heroes" which was chosen as the lead single for the soundtrack. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and the Wallflowers' version of "Heroes" received heavy radio play. Though the Wallflowers did not tour in 1998 they did play a series of one-off shows including the Tibetan Freedom Concert in June at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. and the Bridge School Benefit in September in Mountain View, California, which was hosted by Neil Young and his wife Pegi.
1999–2001: (Breach)
After taking a five-month break from writing and touring, the Wallflowers set out to make their third album, (Breach). Dylan was very diligent in the songwriting process; he rented a studio near his home and would routinely go there to write songs for the album. However, Dylan was not satisfied with the first batch of songs he came up with. He decided to scrap them and start over. The songs that did make it to the studio were considered to be far more personal than any of the songs the Wallflowers had released in the past. Dylan explained; "I think all my songs are personal, but I just made them a little more dense before, made 'em real thick so that I didn't feel exposed. A lot of younger writers do that. Before, I haven't really wanted anybody buying my records looking for information about myself or my family, but at this point, the group has a lot of people buying the records who aren't interested in that, so it gives me more freedom." By the end of 1999, the Wallflowers were ready to begin recording. The bulk of the album was recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles. The Wallflowers' longtime manager, Andrew Slater co-produced the album with Michael Penn. The band took their time in the studio. Like Bringing Down the Horse, (Breach) took about eight months to record. (Breach) also featured an array of guest artists including Elvis Costello, Mike Campbell and Frank Black.
Four years after the release of Bringing Down the Horse in 1996, (Breach) was released on October 10, 2000. The album was met with generally positive critical reception but underwhelming sales. Rolling Stone gave (Breach) four stars, calling the band "more muscular" than they used to be. However, (Breach) commercially floundered in comparison to its high-selling predecessor. The album peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and took almost a year to receive the Gold certification, which is the highest certification (Breach) has received to date.
A month before the official release of (Breach), the album was leaked in its entirety to file-sharing giant Napster, where a reported 25 million users had the ability to listen to and download the Wallflowers' third album. With regard to the impact of leaks for big recording artists, former Capitol Records senior vice president and general manager, Lou Mann stated: "For the Wallflowers or any major superstar band, the problems are major. In fact they're Herculean, because people already want it and you don't want to dilute your audience." Jakob Dylan also explained his feelings about (Breach) being leaked: "[Album sales are] one of the ways that we have of making a living really. It's not about record companies, it's not about people's right to trade, you know, it's also how we put food on the table."
Despite the disappointing release, the Wallflowers set out on another tour beginning in early October 2000. After one show in Atlanta on October 2, the Wallflowers traveled to New York to open for the Who for four nights at Madison Square Garden. Later that month, Jakob Dylan was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone for a second time. The Wallflowers continued to tour throughout the U.S. through mid-December before heading to Japan in February 2001 for their first tour there.
The Wallflowers covered the Bee Gees' 1968 hit song "I Started a Joke" for the 2001 film, Zoolander.
The band continued to tour the U.S. for the remainder of 2001 until it was announced in early October that guitarist Michael Ward had left the Wallflowers due to creative differences.
2002–2003: Red Letter Days
In 2001, Jakob Dylan began writing for the Wallflowers' fourth album, Red Letter Days. Later that year while on tour with John Mellencamp, the band began recording using portable equipment. Some recording was also done at keyboardist Rami Jaffee's house. Once the band was finished touring for the year they began recording the bulk of the new record at Jackson Browne's studio in Santa Monica. By the time the Wallflowers had gotten into Browne's studio, Michael Ward had left the band, leaving them without a lead guitarist for the recording process. Dylan took on much of the lead guitar duties with Mike McCready, Rusty Anderson and Val McCallum also contributing on guitar. Moe Z M.D., who had been touring with Mellencamp, contributed additional percussion and background vocals to the album. Red Letter Days was produced by founding Wallflowers member Tobi Miller along with Bill Appleberry. Recording continued through the new year and was completed on April 12, 2002. The album was mixed by Tom Lord-Alge, who had mixed the band's previous two albums. Mixing was completed on May 15, 2002.
While the Wallflowers were working on Red Letter Days, they recorded a cover of the Beatles' 1965 song "I'm Looking Through You" for the soundtrack to the 2001 film I Am Sam. The soundtrack was released on January 8, 2002.
The first single from the Red Letter Days, "When You're On Top," was released to radio on August 16, 2002. A music video directed by Marc Webb followed. After a few false starts, Red Letter Days was released on November 5, 2002. The album was met with mixed to positive reviews. Many critics noted the harder rock sound and catchy melodies used throughout the album. Commercial performance was relatively mixed as well, peaking at No.32 on the Billboard 200. Around the time of Red Letter Days release the Wallflowers embarked on a monthlong U.S. tour stretching into early December. After another U.S. tour in January 2003, the Wallflowers toured in several European countries in February including Spain, Italy, Germany and Great Britain. After this tour, the Wallflowers' drummer since 1995, Mario Calire announced he was parting ways with the band.
In 2003, the Wallflowers were featured on the soundtrack for the film American Wedding. The band recorded a cover of Van Morrison's 1970 song "Into the Mystic". The film's music department weren't able to secure the licensing rights to use Morrison's version so they enlisted the Wallflowers to cover the song. Both versions of the song were, however, featured in the film.
2004–2005: Rebel, Sweetheart
In July 2004, the Wallflowers returned to the studio to record their fifth album, Rebel, Sweetheart. This time the band decided to record in Atlanta, Georgia, which is where their producer for this album, Brendan O'Brien, is based. O'Brien also contributed on guitar. Fred Eltringham joined the Wallflowers as their new drummer. Jakob Dylan wrote the songs, of which keyboardist Rami Jaffee has said: "What I did notice is that kind of upbeat song with some pretty scary lyrics." Dylan painted the album's cover art himself.
On October 14, 2004, the Warren Zevon tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon was released, on which the Wallflowers covered Zevon's 1978 song "Lawyers, Guns and Money." In promotion of the album, the Wallflowers performed "Lawyers, Guns and Money" on the Late Show with David Letterman with Zevon's son, Jordan, on October 12, 2004.
On October 31, 2004, the Wallflowers were flown via military transport plane to the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to perform for the returning troops.
Rebel, Sweetheart was released on May 24, 2005, and was met with positive reviews. Despite widespread critical acclaim, Rebel, Sweetheart performed relatively poorly commercially, peaking at No. 40 on the Billboard 200. However, the first single from the album, "The Beautiful Side of Somewhere", hit No. 5 on AAA radio. The second single was "God Says Nothing Back". This was the first Wallflowers album to be released on DualDisc. On one side was the album, and on the other was a DVD that included exclusive performances and arrangements of some of the band's songs, as well as an interview with comedian Jon Lovitz. In promotion of the album, the Wallflowers did concerts for the Oxygen Custom Concert Series and PBS Soundstage. Around the time of the album's release, the band set out on what would be their last tour for two years. They were joined by Stuart Mathis on lead guitar. After 2005, the Wallflowers ended their relationship with Interscope Records.
2006–2010: Hiatus
2006 was the first year in over a decade that the Wallflowers did not tour. Instead, band members embarked on other projects. Jakob Dylan toured with former Wallflowers producer T-Bone Burnett in the early summer, performing a solo acoustic opening set with a keyboard player. Later that year, he signed a contract with Columbia Records as a solo artist. He also wrote and recorded a song called "Here Comes Now", which was featured as the theme song for the ABC television drama Six Degrees. The show premiered in the fall of 2006. Meanwhile, keyboardist Rami Jaffee joined the Foo Fighters as a touring and session member. Jaffee had previously contributed keyboards to the Foo Fighters' 2005 album In Your Honor. In 2006, he also contributed on albums for Willie Nile and Pete Yorn.
On August 31, 2007, the Wallflowers announced they would be touring for the first time in over two years. They toured in the Midwest and Northeastern U.S. in October and November. Before the tour, Jaffee announced that he was leaving the Wallflowers. This left Dylan, Greg Richling and Fred Eltringham as the remaining members and a guitar player, Stuart Mathis, as a touring member. In 2008, the Wallflowers toured on-and-off throughout the summer. Touring for the Wallflowers was limited as Dylan had released his first solo album, Seeing Things, on June 10, 2008. Eltringham joined Dylan on tour in promotion for the album.
On March 31, 2009, the Wallflowers released a greatest-hits album called Collected: 1996–2005. The album featured every single released from the four albums the Wallflowers released between 1996 and 2005. It also featured several non-single songs from those four albums, a demo version of "God Says Nothing Back" and an unreleased song called "Eat You Sleeping". That summer, the Wallflowers embarked on a U.S. tour in support of the album. In addition to Dylan, Richling, Eltringham and Mathis, Bill Appleberry joined the band on this tour as a keyboard player. The Wallflowers did not tour in 2010 as Dylan had released his second solo album, Women + Country, on April 6, 2010, and was touring in support of that album.
2011–2012: Glad All Over
On November 1, 2011, Jakob Dylan announced that the Wallflowers would be reuniting to release an album, explaining: "I never suggested we were breaking up. We all felt we were losing the plot a bit and we needed a break. And that year break becomes two years, then becomes three years, and before you know it five or six years go by pretty quickly. I can't do what I do in the Wallflowers without them. I miss it." In an interview with the St. Joseph News-Press, Dylan stated that the Wallflowers would be getting into the studio in January and the lineup would include Greg Richling on bass, Rami Jaffee on keys, Stuart Mathis on guitar and Fred Eltringham on drums. However, weeks before the Wallflowers began recording, Eltringham left the band to pursue other projects. The band quickly got former Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons to join the band. Irons was previously involved in a side project with Wallflowers bassist Richling.
On January 20, 2012, the Wallflowers began recording their sixth studio album, Glad All Over, at the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye studio in Nashville. Jay Joyce, who had played guitar on the Wallflowers' Bringing Down the Horse agreed to produce the album. Before going to the studio, the band had decided have a more collaborative writing process than they had in the past. Instead of Dylan bringing in fully completed songs like he had done in the past, he only brought lyrics. Dylan and the rest of the band wrote the music for the songs together in the studio. Joyce explained: "Jakob came to Nashville and we sat down and I asked him to play me a song, but instead he pulled out this 2-inch-thick notebook. ‘This is what I’ve got. Let’s play some grooves and throw it around.’ I thought, ‘Wow, that’s kind of scary, but it’s exciting.’ So we didn't really know going in what we were going to do. We had no songs, no demos. It was all developed in the studio. The band finished recording on February 20, 2012.
At a private solo performance in New York on April 19, 2012, Dylan announced that the new the Wallflowers album was expected to be released in fall later that year. On July 14, 2012, the band announced that the title of their new album would be Glad All Over. They also announced that the album's first single, "Reboot the Mission", would be available for free download from their website.
Following several one-off shows in the summer of 2012, the Wallflowers kicked off a fall tour in San Diego on September 8, 2012. From there, they continued to tour the U.S. and Canada through mid-November, playing a mix of clubs and festivals, with an additional four East Coast dates at the end of December. Glad All Over was released on October 9, 2012, on Columbia Records and was met with generally positive reviews. Leading up to the album's release, the Wallflowers promoted the album on various television shows including Good Morning America, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Late Show with David Letterman and Ellen.
2013–2020: Tours and roster changes
Beginning in the spring of 2013, the band toured with Eric Clapton on his arena tour. The tour with Clapton began on March 14, 2013, in Phoenix, Arizona, at the US Airways Center and continued through the South and East Coast, eventually coming to an end on April 6, 2013, in Pittsburgh at the Consol Energy Center.
After the Clapton tour, the Wallflowers played several additional shows of their own in May 2013. On May 12 in Napa, California, the band's longtime keyboardist Rami Jaffee played what would be his final show with the Wallflowers to date. Jaffee has yet to say whether he has officially quit the Wallflowers but has continued to record and tour with the Foo Fighters. Jimmy Wallace has subbed in his spot ever since. The Wallflowers continued to tour through the summer of 2013 and played their final show of the summer on August 17 at the River Roots Live Festival in Davenport, Iowa, to a crowd of 17,000 people. This show would turn out to be longtime bassist Greg Richling's and drummer Jack Irons' final show with the band. On September 8, Richling officially announced that he was leaving the Wallflowers after 20 years with the band. He left to pursue other interests. Irons announced he was leaving soon after, on September 15. Irons reportedly left to focus on his band project, Arthur Channel, who released their debut album on October 15, 2013.
The Wallflowers have continued to play shows since 2013 with a new drummer, bass player, guitar player, and keyboardist filling in for Irons, Richling, Mathis, and Jaffee. Dylan stated later he would be continuing making music under name The Wallflowers as a solo project: "The Wallflowers is me, and if I go under my own name, it's me. It's the same thing, ultimately. It's really dictated on the songs I have and how I want to record them and would they sound better with a full-band sound. In many ways it's the same person. It's just what outfit do I want to put on". As of 2017, the touring lineup consisted of Stanton Adcock on lead guitar, Steve Mackey on bass, keyboardist Jimmy Wallace and Lynn Williams on drums.
In May 2016, the Wallflowers' 1996 album Bringing Down the Horse was issued on vinyl for the first time in honor of the 20th anniversary of the album's release. The Wallflowers was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire, although later research showed the master tapes for Bringing Down the Horse were not actually destroyed in the fire.
The band was set to undertake a North American summer tour in 2020 alongside Matchbox Twenty prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021–present: Exit Wounds
The band's seventh studio album, Exit Wounds, was released on July 9, 2021, on New West Records. With the release of the new album, Dylan would reiterate that the band's sound is an extension of his solo work, saying "There's never been one lineup that's made two records. So the constant is myself. If you think there's a sound of the Wallflowers, I'm making that with my choices in the studio and with my songs and voice". It was produced by Butch Walker and the band announced a 53-date arena tour to promote the album (which was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). About writing the album, Dylan says, "I was just also writing during a time when the world felt like it was falling apart. That changes the way you address even the simplest things, because you have panic in your mind all the time. You have anxiety. And you also have hope. And it’s all in there".
Band membersCurrent members Jakob Dylan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1989–present); keyboards, piano (1989–1990, 2005–2012, 2013–present); bass (1989, 1993, 2013–present); drums, percussion (1989–1990, 1994–1995, 2003, 2011–2012, 2013–present); lead guitar (1995, 2001–2005, 2014–present)Touring musicians Stanton Adcock – guitars (2017–present)
Aaron Embry - keyboards (2021–present)
Whynot Jansveld - bass, backing vocals (2021–present)
Ben Peeler - guitars (2021–present)
Mark Stepro - drums, backing vocals (2021–present)Former members Tobi Miller – lead guitar (1989–1995)
Barrie Maguire – bass (1989–1993)
Peter Yanowitz – drums (1990–1994)
Rami Jaffee – keyboards (1990–2005, 2012–2013)
Greg Richling – bass (1993–2013)
Mario Calire – drums (1995–2003, 2012)
Michael Ward – lead guitar (1995–2001)
Fred Eltringham – drums (2003–2011)
Jack Irons – drums (2012–2013)
Stuart Mathis – lead guitar (2005–2014)Former touring musicians Jimmy Wallace – keyboards, vocals (2013–2019)
Steve Mackey – bass (2017–2019)
Lynn Williams – drums, percussion (2017–2019)
Timeline
DiscographyStudio albums'''The Wallflowers (1992)Bringing Down the Horse (1996)(Breach) (2000)Red Letter Days (2002)Rebel, Sweetheart (2005)Glad All Over (2012)Exit Wounds'' (2021)
References
External links
Trouser Press entry
Category:Alternative rock groups from California
Category:Columbia Records artists
Category:Grammy Award winners
Category:Interscope Records artists
Category:Musical groups established in 1989
Category:Musical groups from Los Angeles
Category:Musical quintets
Category:Virgin Records artists | [] | [
"Red Letter Days is the fourth album by the band Wallflowers.",
"A single from the album Red Letter Days is \"When You're On Top.\"",
"The commercial performance of the album Red Letter Days was mixed. It peaked at No.32 on the Billboard 200.",
"Yes, around the time of Red Letter Days' release, the Wallflowers embarked on a month-long U.S. tour stretching into early December. They also toured in several European countries in February, including Spain, Italy, Germany, and Great Britain.",
"Jakob Dylan began writing for the Wallflowers' fourth album, Red Letter Days.",
"A highlight regarding Red Letter Days is that the Wallflowers began recording it while on tour with John Mellencamp using portable equipment. Some recording was also done at keyboardist Rami Jaffee's house. Once finished touring, they began recording the bulk of the new record at Jackson Browne's studio in Santa Monica. The album was completed on April 12, 2002, and \"When You're On Top,\" a single from the album, was released on August 16, 2002.",
"Yes, they collaborated with other artists during the recording of the album Red Letter Days. When Michael Ward left the band, leaving them without a lead guitarist for the recording process, Jakob Dylan took on much of the lead guitar duties with Mike McCready, Rusty Anderson, and Val McCallum also contributing on guitar. Moe Z M.D., who had been touring with Mellencamp, contributed additional percussion and background vocals to the album.",
"In addition to the guest musicians, the Wallflowers worked with Tobi Miller and Bill Appleberry, who produced the Red Letter Days album. Tom Lord-Alge, who had mixed the band's previous two albums, mixed the album.",
"The album Red Letter Days was met with mixed to positive reviews. Many critics noted the harder rock sound and catchy melodies used throughout the album."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_0 | Rudolf Steiner | Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 (or 25) February 1861 - 30 March 1925) was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect and esotericist. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a literary critic and published philosophical works including The Philosophy of Freedom. At the beginning of the twentieth century he founded an esoteric spiritual movement, anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and theosophy; other influences include Goethean science and Rosicrucianism. In the first, more philosophically oriented phase of this movement, Steiner attempted to find a synthesis between science and spirituality. | The Anthroposophical Society and its cultural activities | The Anthroposophical Society grew rapidly. Fueled by a need to find an artistic home for their yearly conferences, which included performances of plays written by Edouard Schure and Steiner, the decision was made to build a theater and organizational center. In 1913, construction began on the first Goetheanum building, in Dornach, Switzerland. The building, designed by Steiner, was built to a significant part by volunteers who offered craftsmanship or simply a will to learn new skills. Once World War I started in 1914, the Goetheanum volunteers could hear the sound of cannon fire beyond the Swiss border, but despite the war, people from all over Europe worked peaceably side by side on the building's construction. Steiner's lecture activity expanded enormously with the end of the war. Most importantly, from 1919 on Steiner began to work with other members of the society to found numerous practical institutions and activities, including the first Waldorf school, founded that year in Stuttgart, Germany. At the same time, the Goetheanum developed as a wide-ranging cultural centre. On New Year's Eve, 1922/1923, the building burned to the ground; contemporary police reports indicate arson as the probable cause. Steiner immediately began work designing a second Goetheanum building - this time made of concrete instead of wood - which was completed in 1928, three years after his death. At a "Foundation Meeting" for members held at the Dornach center during Christmas, 1923, Steiner spoke of laying a new Foundation Stone for the society in the hearts of his listeners. At the meeting, a new "General Anthroposophical Society" was established with a new executive board. At this meeting, Steiner also founded a School of Spiritual Science, intended as an "organ of initiative" for research and study and as "the 'soul' of the Anthroposophical Society". This School, which was led by Steiner, initially had sections for general anthroposophy, education, medicine, performing arts (eurythmy, speech, drama and music), the literary arts and humanities, mathematics, astronomy, science, and visual arts. Later sections were added for the social sciences, youth and agriculture. The School of Spiritual Science included meditative exercises given by Steiner. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_0_q#0",
"C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_0_q#1",
"C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_0_q#2",
"C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_0_q#3"
] | [
"Who did Rudolf Steiner work with?",
"What stands out about Rudolf Stainer?",
"When did he founded this school?",
"What other activities did he have with this group?"
] | [
1,
0,
2,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
2270
],
[
1704
],
[
1402
],
[
827
]
],
"texts": [
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Steiner also founded a School of Spiritual Science,"
],
[
"At a \"Foundation Meeting\" for members held at the Dornach center during Christmas, 1923,"
],
[
"Steiner began to work with other members of the society to found numerous practical institutions and activities,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
2270,
1704,
1402,
827
],
"texts": [
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Steiner also founded a School of Spiritual Science,",
"At a \"Foundation Meeting\" for members held at the Dornach center during Christmas, 1923,",
"Steiner began to work with other members of the society to found numerous practical institutions and activities,"
]
} | Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a literary critic and published works including The Philosophy of Freedom. At the beginning of the twentieth century he founded an esoteric spiritual movement, anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and theosophy. His teachings have been described as similar to Christian Gnosticism (for heresiologists it is little doubt that these are neognosticism). Many of his ideas are pseudoscientific. He was also prone to pseudohistory.
In the first, more philosophically oriented phase of this movement, Steiner attempted to find a synthesis between science and spirituality. His philosophical work of these years, which he termed "spiritual science", sought to apply what he saw as the clarity of thinking characteristic of Western philosophy to spiritual questions, differentiating this approach from what he considered to be vaguer approaches to mysticism. In a second phase, beginning around 1907, he began working collaboratively in a variety of artistic media, including drama, dance and architecture, culminating in the building of the Goetheanum, a cultural centre to house all the arts. In the third phase of his work, beginning after World War I, Steiner worked on various ostensibly applied projects, including Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, and anthroposophical medicine.
Steiner advocated a form of ethical individualism, to which he later brought a more explicitly spiritual approach. He based his epistemology on Johann Wolfgang Goethe's world view, in which "thinking…is no more and no less an organ of perception than the eye or ear. Just as the eye perceives colours and the ear sounds, so thinking perceives ideas." A consistent thread that runs through his work is the goal of demonstrating that there are no limits to human knowledge.
Biography
Childhood and education
Steiner's father, Johann(es) Steiner (1829–1910), left a position as a gamekeeper in the service of Count Hoyos in Geras, northeast Lower Austria to marry one of the Hoyos family's housemaids, Franziska Blie (1834 Horn – 1918, Horn), a marriage for which the Count had refused his permission. Johann became a telegraph operator on the Southern Austrian Railway, and at the time of Rudolf's birth was stationed in Murakirály (Kraljevec) in the Muraköz region of the Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (present-day Donji Kraljevec in the Međimurje region of northernmost Croatia). In the first two years of Rudolf's life, the family moved twice, first to Mödling, near Vienna, and then, through the promotion of his father to stationmaster, to Pottschach, located in the foothills of the eastern Austrian Alps in Lower Austria.
Steiner entered the village school, but following a disagreement between his father and the schoolmaster, he was briefly educated at home. In 1869, when Steiner was eight years old, the family moved to the village of Neudörfl and in October 1872 Steiner proceeded from the village school there to the realschule in Wiener Neustadt.
In 1879, the family moved to Inzersdorf to enable Steiner to attend the Vienna Institute of Technology, where he enrolled in courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, and mineralogy and audited courses in literature and philosophy, on an academic scholarship from 1879 to 1883, where he completed his studies and the requirements of the Ghega scholarship satisfactorily. In 1882, one of Steiner's teachers, Karl Julius Schröer, suggested Steiner's name to Joseph Kürschner, chief editor of a new edition of Goethe's works, who asked Steiner to become the edition's natural science editor, a truly astonishing opportunity for a young student without any form of academic credentials or previous publications.
Before attending the Vienna Institute of Technology, Steiner had studied Kant, Fichte and Schelling.
Early spiritual experiences
When he was nine years old, Steiner believed that he saw the spirit of an aunt who had died in a far-off town, asking him to help her at a time when neither he nor his family knew of the woman's death. Steiner later related that as a child, he felt "that one must carry the knowledge of the spiritual world within oneself after the fashion of geometry ... [for here] one is permitted to know something which the mind alone, through its own power, experiences. In this feeling I found the justification for the spiritual world that I experienced ... I confirmed for myself by means of geometry the feeling that I must speak of a world 'which is not seen'."
Steiner believed that at the age of 15 he had gained a complete understanding of the concept of time, which he considered to be the precondition of spiritual clairvoyance. At 21, on the train between his home village and Vienna, Steiner met an herb gatherer, Felix Kogutzki, who spoke about the spiritual world "as one who had his own experience therein".
Writer and philosopher
In 1888, as a result of his work for the Kürschner edition of Goethe's works, Steiner was invited to work as an editor at the Goethe archives in Weimar. Steiner remained with the archive until 1896. It was a low-paid and boring job. As well as the introductions for and commentaries to four volumes of Goethe's scientific writings, Steiner wrote two books about Goethe's philosophy: The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World-Conception (1886), which Steiner regarded as the epistemological foundation and justification for his later work, and Goethe's Conception of the World (1897). During this time he also collaborated in complete editions of the works of Arthur Schopenhauer and the writer Jean Paul and wrote numerous articles for various journals.
In 1891, Steiner received a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Rostock, for his dissertation discussing
Fichte's concept of the ego, submitted to , whose Seven Books of Platonism Steiner esteemed. Steiner's dissertation was later published in expanded form as Truth and Knowledge: Prelude to a Philosophy of Freedom, with a dedication to Eduard von Hartmann. Two years later, in 1894, he published Die Philosophie der Freiheit (The Philosophy of Freedom or The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, the latter being Steiner's preferred English title), an exploration of epistemology and ethics that suggested a way for humans to become spiritually free beings. Steiner hoped that the book "would gain him a professorship", but the book was not well received. Steiner later spoke of this book as containing implicitly, in philosophical form, the entire content of what he later developed explicitly as anthroposophy.
In 1896, Steiner declined an offer from Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche to help organize the Nietzsche archive in Naumburg. Her brother, Friedrich Nietzsche, was by that time non compos mentis. Förster-Nietzsche introduced Steiner into the presence of the catatonic philosopher; Steiner, deeply moved, subsequently wrote the book Friedrich Nietzsche, Fighter for Freedom. Steiner later related that:
My first acquaintance with Nietzsche's writings belongs to the year 1889. Previous to that I had never read a line of his. Upon the substance of my ideas as these find expression in The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, Nietzsche's thought had not the least influence....Nietzsche's ideas of the 'eternal recurrence' and of 'Übermensch' remained long in my mind. For in these was reflected that which a personality must feel concerning the evolution and essential being of humanity when this personality is kept back from grasping the spiritual world by the restricted thought in the philosophy of nature characterizing the end of the 19th century....What attracted me particularly was that one could read Nietzsche without coming upon anything which strove to make the reader a 'dependent' of Nietzsche's.
In 1897, Steiner left the Weimar archives and moved to Berlin. He became part owner of, chief editor of, and an active contributor to the literary journal Magazin für Literatur, where he hoped to find a readership sympathetic to his philosophy. Many subscribers were alienated by Steiner's unpopular support of Émile Zola in the Dreyfus Affair and the journal lost more subscribers when Steiner published extracts from his correspondence with anarchist John Henry Mackay. Dissatisfaction with his editorial style eventually led to his departure from the magazine. In 1899, Steiner married Anna Eunicke; the couple separated several years later. Anna died in 1911.
Despite his fame as a teacher of esotericism, Steiner was culturally and academically isolated.
Theosophical Society
In 1899, Steiner published an article, "Goethe's Secret Revelation", discussing the esoteric nature of Goethe's fairy tale The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily. This article led to an invitation by the Count and Countess Brockdorff to speak to a gathering of Theosophists on the subject of Nietzsche. Steiner continued speaking regularly to the members of the Theosophical Society, becoming the head of its newly constituted German section in 1902 without ever formally joining the society. It was also in connection with this society that Steiner met and worked with Marie von Sivers, who became his second wife in 1914. By 1904, Steiner was appointed by Annie Besant to be leader of the Theosophical Esoteric Society for Germany and Austria. In 1904, Eliza, the wife of Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, became one of his favourite scholars.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Meyer| first1= Thomas|title= Helmuth von Moltke, Light for the new millennium: Rudolf Steiner's association with Helmuth and Eliza von Moltke: letters, documents and after-death communications|publisher= Rudolf Steiner Press|place= London|year= 1997|isbn= 1-85584-051-0|language= en}}</ref> Through Eliza, Steiner met Helmuth, who served as the Chief of the German General Staff from 1906 to 1914.
In contrast to mainstream Theosophy, Steiner sought to build a Western approach to spirituality based on the philosophical and mystical traditions of European culture. The German Section of the Theosophical Society grew rapidly under Steiner's leadership as he lectured throughout much of Europe on his spiritual science. During this period, Steiner maintained an original approach, replacing Madame Blavatsky's terminology with his own, and basing his spiritual research and teachings upon the Western esoteric and philosophical tradition. This and other differences, in particular Steiner's vocal rejection of Leadbeater and Besant's claim that Jiddu Krishnamurti was the vehicle of a new Maitreya, or world teacher, led to a formal split in 1912–13, when Steiner and the majority of members of the German section of the Theosophical Society broke off to form a new group, the Anthroposophical Society. Steiner took the name "Anthroposophy" from the title of a work of the Austrian philosopher Robert von Zimmermann, published in Vienna in 1856. Despite his departure from the Theosophical Society, Steiner maintained his interest in Theosophy throughout his life.
Anthroposophical Society and its cultural activities
The Anthroposophical Society grew rapidly. Fueled by a need to find an artistic home for their yearly conferences, which included performances of plays written by Edouard Schuré and Steiner, the decision was made to build a theater and organizational center. In 1913, construction began on the first Goetheanum building, in Dornach, Switzerland. The building, designed by Steiner, was built to a significant part by volunteers. Steiner moved from Berlin to Dornach in 1913 and lived there to the end of his life.
Steiner's lecture activity expanded enormously with the end of the war. Most importantly, from 1919 on Steiner began to work with other members of the society to found numerous practical institutions and activities, including the first Waldorf school, founded that year in Stuttgart, Germany. On New Year's Eve, 1922–1923, the Goetheanum burned to the ground; contemporary police reports indicate arson as the probable cause. Steiner immediately began work designing a second Goetheanum building - this time made of concrete instead of wood - which was completed in 1928, three years after his death.
At a "Foundation Meeting" for members held at the Dornach center during Christmas 1923, Steiner founded the School of Spiritual Science. This school, which was led by Steiner, initially had sections for general anthroposophy, education, medicine, performing arts (eurythmy, speech, drama and music), the literary arts and humanities, mathematics, astronomy, science, and visual arts. Later sections were added for the social sciences, youth and agriculture.Rudolf Steiner, Constitution of the School of Spiritual Science: Its arrangement in Sections 1964 The School of Spiritual Science included meditative exercises given by Steiner.
Political engagement and social agenda
Steiner became a well-known and controversial public figure during and after World War I. In response to the catastrophic situation in post-war Germany, he proposed extensive social reforms through the establishment of a Threefold Social Order in which the cultural, political and economic realms would be largely independent. Steiner argued that a fusion of the three realms had created the inflexibility that had led to catastrophes such as World War I. In connection with this, he promoted a radical solution in the disputed area of Upper Silesia, claimed by both Poland and Germany. His suggestion that this area be granted at least provisional independence led to his being publicly accused of being a traitor to Germany.
Steiner opposed Wilson's proposal to create new European nations based around ethnic groups, which he saw as opening the door to rampant nationalism. Steiner proposed, as an alternative:
Attacks, illness, and death
The National Socialist German Workers Party gained strength in Germany after the First World War. In 1919, a political theorist of this movement, Dietrich Eckart, attacked Steiner and suggested that he was a Jew. In 1921, Adolf Hitler attacked Steiner on many fronts, including accusations that he was a tool of the Jews, while other nationalist extremists in Germany called for a "war against Steiner". That same year, Steiner warned against the disastrous effects it would have for Central Europe if the National Socialists came to power. In 1922 a lecture Steiner was giving in Munich was disrupted when stink bombs were let off and the lights switched out, while people rushed the stage apparently attempting to attack Steiner, who exited safely through a back door."Riot at Munich Lecture", New York Times, 17 May 1922. Unable to guarantee his safety, Steiner's agents cancelled his next lecture tour. The 1923 Beer Hall Putsch in Munich led Steiner to give up his residence in Berlin, saying that if those responsible for the attempted coup (Hitler's Nazi party) came to power in Germany, it would no longer be possible for him to enter the country.
In reality, Steiner had both enemies and loyal supporters in the upper echelons of the Nazi regime. Staudenmaier speaks of the "polycratic party-state apparatus", so Nazism's approach to Anthroposophy was not characterized by monolithic ideological unity.
From 1923 on, Steiner showed signs of increasing frailness and illness. He nonetheless continued to lecture widely, and even to travel; especially towards the end of this time, he was often giving two, three or even four lectures daily for courses taking place concurrently. Many of these lectures focused on practical areas of life such as education.
Increasingly ill, he held his last lecture in late September, 1924. He continued work on his autobiography during the last months of his life; he died at Dornach on 30 March 1925.
Steiner has financed the publication of the book Die Entente-Freimaurerei und der Weltkrieg (1919) by ; Steiner also wrote the foreword for the book, partly based upon his own ideas. The publication comprised a conspiracy theory according to whom World War I was a consequence of a collusion of Freemasons and Jews - still favorite scapegoats of the conspiracy theorists - their purpose being the destruction of Germany. The writing was later enthusiastically received by the Nazi Party. According to Dick Taverne Steiner was a Nazi (i.e. a member of the NSDAP).
Towards the end of Steiner's life and after his death, there were massive defamatory press attacks mounted on him by early Nazi Party leaders (including Adolf Hitler) and other right-wing nationalists. These criticized Steiner's thought and anthroposophy as being incompatible with Nazi racial ideology, and charged him with being influenced by his close connections with Jews and even (falsely) that he himself was Jewish. But Rudolf Hess, the adjunct Führer, was a patron of Anthroposophy and of Waldorf schools and a staunch defender of Steiner's biodynamic agriculture. When Hess defected to UK, their most powerful protector was gone, but Anthroposophists were still not left without supporters among higher-placed Nazis. According to Tommy Wieringa, a Dutch writer who grew among Anthroposophists, commenting upon an essay by the Anthroposophist , Hess and Heinrich Himmler saw Steiner as their kindred spirit.
The Third Reich had banned almost all esoteric organizations, pretending that these are controlled by Jews. The truth was that while Anthroposophists complained of bad press, they were to a surprising extent let be by the Nazi regime, "including outspokenly supportive pieces in the Völkischer Beobachter". Ideological purists from Sicherheitsdienst argued largely in vain against Anthroposophy. According to Staudenmaier, "The prospect of unmitigated persecution was held at bay for years in a tenuous truce between pro-anthroposophical and anti-anthroposophical Nazi factions."
Marie Steiner-von Sivers, Guenther Wachsmuth, and Albert Steffen, had publicly expressed sympathy for the Nazi regime since its beginnings; led by such sympathies of their leadership, the Swiss and German Anthroposophical organizations chose for a path conflating accommodation with collaboration, which in the end ensured that while the Nazi regime hunted the esoteric organizations, Gentile Anthroposophists from Nazi Germany and countries occupied by it were let be to a surprising extent. Of course they had some setbacks from the enemies of Anthroposophy among the upper echelons of the Nazi regime, but Anthroposophists also had loyal supporters among them, so overall Gentile Anthroposophists were not badly hit by the Nazi regime.
Spiritual research
Steiner first began speaking publicly about spiritual experiences and phenomena in his 1899 lectures to the Theosophical Society. By 1901 he had begun to write about spiritual topics, initially in the form of discussions of historical figures such as the mystics of the Middle Ages. By 1904 he was expressing his own understanding of these themes in his essays and books, while continuing to refer to a wide variety of historical sources.
Steiner aimed to apply his training in mathematics, science, and philosophy to produce rigorous, verifiable presentations of those experiences. He believed that through freely chosen ethical disciplines and meditative training, anyone could develop the ability to experience the spiritual world, including the higher nature of oneself and others. Steiner believed that such discipline and training would help a person to become a more moral, creative and free individual – free in the sense of being capable of actions motivated solely by love. His philosophical ideas were affected by Franz Brentano, with whom he had studied, as well as by Fichte, Hegel, Schelling, and Goethe's phenomenological approach to science.Bockemühl, J., Toward a Phenomenology of the Etheric World
Steiner used the word Geisteswissenschaft (from Geist = mind or spirit, Wissenschaft = science), a term originally coined by Wilhelm Dilthey as a descriptor of the humanities, in a novel way, to describe a systematic ("scientific") approach to spirituality. Steiner used the term Geisteswissenschaft, generally translated into English as "spiritual science," to describe a discipline treating the spirit as something actual and real, starting from the premise that it is possible for human beings to penetrate behind what is sense-perceptible. He proposed that psychology, history, and the humanities generally were based on the direct grasp of an ideal reality, and required close attention to the particular period and culture which provided the distinctive character of religious qualities in the course of the evolution of consciousness. In contrast to William James' pragmatic approach to religious and psychic experience, which emphasized its idiosyncratic character, Steiner focused on ways such experience can be rendered more intelligible and integrated into human life.
Steiner proposed that an understanding of reincarnation and karma was necessary to understand psychology and that the form of external nature would be more comprehensible as a result of insight into the course of karma in the evolution of humanity. Beginning in 1910, he described aspects of karma relating to health, natural phenomena and free will, taking the position that a person is not bound by his or her karma, but can transcend this through actively taking hold of one's own nature and destiny. In an extensive series of lectures from February to September 1924, Steiner presented further research on successive reincarnations of various individuals and described the techniques he used for karma research.These lectures were published as Karmic Relationships: Esoteric Studies
Breadth of activity
After the First World War, Steiner became active in a wide variety of cultural contexts. He founded a number of schools, the first of which was known as the Waldorf school, which later evolved into a worldwide school network. He also founded a system of organic agriculture, now known as biodynamic agriculture, which was one of the first forms of modern organic farming. His work in medicine is based in pseudoscience and occult ideas. Even though his medical ideas led to the development of a broad range of complementary medications and supportive artistic and biographic therapies, they are considered ineffective by the medical community. Numerous homes for children and adults with developmental disabilities based on his work (including those of the Camphill movement) are found in Africa, Europe, and North America. His paintings and drawings influenced Joseph Beuys and other modern artists. His two Goetheanum buildings are considered significant examples of modern architecture,Rudolf Steiner , Great Buildings OnlineHortola, Policarp. "The Aesthetics of haemotaphonomy: A study of the stylistic parallels between a science and literature and the visual arts". Eidos 2009, n.10, pp. 162-193 and other anthroposophical architects have contributed thousands of buildings to the modern scene.
Steiner's literary estate is broad. Steiner's writings, published in about forty volumes, include books, essays, four plays ('mystery dramas'), mantric verse, and an autobiography. His collected lectures, making up another approximately 300 volumes, discuss a wide range of themes. Steiner's drawings, chiefly illustrations done on blackboards during his lectures, are collected in a separate series of 28 volumes. Many publications have covered his architectural legacy and sculptural work.
Education
As a young man, Steiner was a private tutor and a lecturer on history for the Berlin Arbeiterbildungsschule, an educational initiative for working class adults. Soon thereafter, he began to articulate his ideas on education in public lectures, culminating in a 1907 essay on The Education of the Child in which he described the major phases of child development which formed the foundation of his approach to education. His conception of education was influenced by the Herbartian pedagogy prominent in Europe during the late nineteenth century, though Steiner criticized Herbart for not sufficiently recognizing the importance of educating the will and feelings as well as the intellect.
In 1919, Emil Molt invited him to lecture to his workers at the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart. Out of these lectures came the first Waldorf School. In 1922, Steiner presented these ideas at a conference called for this purpose in Oxford by Professor Millicent Mackenzie. He subsequently presented a teacher training course at Torquay in 1924 at an Anthroposophy Summer School organised by Eleanor Merry. The Oxford Conference and the Torquay teacher training led to the founding of the first Waldorf schools in Britain. During Steiner's lifetime, schools based on his educational principles were also founded in Hamburg, Essen, The Hague and London; there are now more than 1000 Waldorf schools worldwide.
Biodynamic agriculture
In 1924, a group of farmers concerned about the future of agriculture requested Steiner's help. Steiner responded with a lecture series on an ecological and sustainable approach to agriculture that increased soil fertility without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Steiner's agricultural ideas promptly spread and were put into practice internationally and biodynamic agriculture is now practiced in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Australasia.Groups in N. America, List of Demeter certifying organizations, Other biodynamic certifying organization, Some farms in the world
A central aspect of biodynamics is that the farm as a whole is seen as an organism, and therefore should be a largely self-sustaining system, producing its own manure and animal feed. Plant or animal disease is seen as a symptom of problems in the whole organism. Steiner also suggested timing such agricultural activities as sowing, weeding, and harvesting to utilize the influences on plant growth of the moon and planets; and the application of natural materials prepared in specific ways to the soil, compost, and crops, with the intention of engaging non-physical beings and elemental forces. He encouraged his listeners to verify such suggestions empirically, as he had not yet done.
In a 2002 newspaper editorial, Peter Treue, agricultural researcher at the University of Kiel, characterized biodynamics as pseudoscience and argued that similar or equal results can be obtained using standard organic farming principles. He wrote that some biodynamic preparations more resemble alchemy or magic akin to geomancy.
Anthroposophical medicine
From the late 1910s, Steiner was working with doctors to create a new approach to medicine. In 1921, pharmacists and physicians gathered under Steiner's guidance to create a pharmaceutical company called Weleda which now distributes naturopathic medical and beauty products worldwide. At around the same time, Dr. Ita Wegman founded a first anthroposophic medical clinic (now the Ita Wegman Clinic) in Arlesheim. Anthroposophic medicine is practiced in some 80 countries. It is a form of alternative medicine based on pseudoscientific and occult notions.
Social reform
For a period after World War I, Steiner was active as a lecturer on social reform. A petition expressing his basic social ideas was widely circulated and signed by many cultural figures of the day, including Hermann Hesse.
In Steiner's chief book on social reform, Toward Social Renewal, he suggested that the cultural, political and economic spheres of society need to work together as consciously cooperating yet independent entities, each with a particular task: political institutions should be democratic, establish political equality and protect human rights; cultural institutions should nurture the free and unhindered development of science, art, education and religion; and economic institutions should enable producers, distributors, and consumers to cooperate voluntarily to provide efficiently for society's needs. He saw this division of responsibility as a vital task which would take up consciously the historical trend toward the mutual independence of these three realms. Steiner also gave suggestions for many specific social reforms.
Steiner proposed that societal well-being fundamentally depends upon a relationship of mutuality between the individuals and the community as a whole:
He expressed another aspect of this in the following motto:
Architecture and visual arts
Steiner designed 17 buildings, including the First and Second Goetheanums. These two buildings, built in Dornach, Switzerland, were intended to house significant theater spaces as well as a "school for spiritual science". Three of Steiner's buildings have been listed amongst the most significant works of modern architecture.
His primary sculptural work is The Representative of Humanity (1922), a nine-meter high wood sculpture executed as a joint project with the sculptor Edith Maryon. This was intended to be placed in the first Goetheanum. It shows a central human figure, the "Representative of Humanity," holding a balance between opposing tendencies of expansion and contraction personified as the beings of Lucifer and Ahriman.The Representative of Humanity Between Lucifer and Ahriman, The Wooden Model at the Goetheanum, Judith von Halle, John Wilkes (2010) from the German Die Holzplastik des Goetheanum (2008) It was intended to show, in conscious contrast to Michelangelo's Last Judgment, Christ as mute and impersonal such that the beings that approach him must judge themselves. The sculpture is now on permanent display at the Goetheanum.
Steiner's blackboard drawings were unique at the time and almost certainly not originally intended as art works. Joseph Beuys' work, itself heavily influenced by Steiner, has led to the modern understanding of Steiner's drawings as artistic objects.
Performing arts
Steiner wrote four mystery plays between 1909 and 1913: The Portal of Initiation, The Souls' Probation, The Guardian of the Threshold and The Soul's Awakening, modeled on the esoteric dramas of Edouard Schuré, Maurice Maeterlinck, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Steiner's plays continue to be performed by anthroposophical groups in various countries, most notably (in the original German) in Dornach, Switzerland and (in English translation) in Spring Valley, New York and in Stroud and Stourbridge in the U.K.
In collaboration with Marie von Sivers, Steiner also founded a new approach to acting, storytelling, and the recitation of poetry. His last public lecture course, given in 1924, was on speech and drama. The Russian actor, director, and acting coach Michael Chekhov based significant aspects of his method of acting on Steiner's work.Richard Solomon, Michael Chekhov and His Approach to Acting in Contemporary Performance Training , MA thesis University of Maine, 2002
Together with Marie von Sivers, Rudolf Steiner also developed the art of eurythmy, sometimes referred to as "visible speech and song". According to the principles of eurythmy, there are archetypal movements or gestures that correspond to every aspect of speech – the sounds (or phonemes), the rhythms, and the grammatical function – to every "soul quality" – joy, despair, tenderness, etc. – and to every aspect of music – tones, intervals, rhythms, and harmonies.
Esoteric schools
Steiner was founder and leader of the following:
His independent Esoteric School of the Theosophical Society, founded in 1904. This school continued after the break with Theosophy but was disbanded at the start of World War I.
A lodge called Mystica Aeterna within the Masonic Order of Memphis and Mizraim, which Steiner led from 1906 until around 1914. Steiner added to the Masonic rite a number of Rosicrucian references.
The School of Spiritual Science of the Anthroposophical Society, founded in 1923 as a further development of his earlier Esoteric School. This was originally constituted with a general section and seven specialized sections for education, literature, performing arts, natural sciences, medicine, visual arts, and astronomy. Steiner gave members of the School the first Lesson for guidance into the esoteric work in February 1924. Though Steiner intended to develop three "classes" of this school, only the first of these was developed in his lifetime (and continues today). An authentic text of the written records on which the teaching of the First Class was based was published in 1992.
Philosophical ideas
Goethean science
In his commentaries on Goethe's scientific works, written between 1884 and 1897, Steiner presented Goethe's approach to science as essentially phenomenological in nature, rather than theory or model-based. He developed this conception further in several books, The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World-Conception (1886) and Goethe's Conception of the World (1897), particularly emphasizing the transformation in Goethe's approach from the physical sciences, where experiment played the primary role, to plant biology, where both accurate perception and imagination were required to find the biological archetypes (Urpflanze). He postulated that Goethe had sought, but been unable to fully find, the further transformation in scientific thinking necessary to properly interpret and understand the animal kingdom. Steiner emphasized the role of evolutionary thinking in Goethe's discovery of the intermaxillary bone in human beings; Goethe expected human anatomy to be an evolutionary transformation of animal anatomy. Steiner defended Goethe's qualitative description of color as arising synthetically from the polarity of light and darkness, in contrast to Newton's particle-based and analytic conception.
A variety of authors have termed Goethean science pseudoscience. According to Dan Dugan, Steiner was a champion of the following pseudoscientific claims:
Goethe's Theory of Colours;
"he called relativity 'brilliant nonsense'";
"he taught that the motions of the planets were caused by the relationships of the spiritual beings that inhabited them";
vitalism;
doubting germ theory;
non-standard approach to physiological systems, including claiming that the heart is not a pump.
Knowledge and freedom
Steiner approached the philosophical questions of knowledge and freedom in two stages. In his dissertation, published in expanded form in 1892 as Truth and Knowledge, Steiner suggests that there is an inconsistency between Kant's philosophy, which posits that all knowledge is a representation of an essential verity inaccessible to human consciousness, and modern science, which assumes that all influences can be found in the sensory and mental world to which we have access. Steiner considered Kant's philosophy of an inaccessible beyond ("Jenseits-Philosophy") a stumbling block in achieving a satisfying philosophical viewpoint.
Steiner postulates that the world is essentially an indivisible unity, but that our consciousness divides it into the sense-perceptible appearance, on the one hand, and the formal nature accessible to our thinking, on the other. He sees in thinking itself an element that can be strengthened and deepened sufficiently to penetrate all that our senses do not reveal to us. Steiner thus considered what appears to human experience as a division between the spiritual and natural worlds to be a conditioned result of the structure of our consciousness, which separates perception and thinking. These two faculties give us not two worlds, but two complementary views of the same world; neither has primacy and the two together are necessary and sufficient to arrive at a complete understanding of the world. In thinking about perception (the path of natural science) and perceiving the process of thinking (the path of spiritual training), it is possible to discover a hidden inner unity between the two poles of our experience. Truth, for Steiner, is paradoxically both an objective discovery and yet "a free creation of the human spirit, that never would exist at all if we did not generate it ourselves. The task of understanding is not to replicate in conceptual form something that already exists, but rather to create a wholly new realm, that together with the world given to our senses constitutes the fullness of reality."
In The Philosophy of Freedom, Steiner further explores potentials within thinking: freedom, he suggests, can only be approached gradually with the aid of the creative activity of thinking. Thinking can be a free deed; in addition, it can liberate our will from its subservience to our instincts and drives. Free deeds, he suggests, are those for which we are fully conscious of the motive for our action; freedom is the spiritual activity of penetrating with consciousness our own nature and that of the world, and the real activity of acting in full consciousness. This includes overcoming influences of both heredity and environment: "To be free is to be capable of thinking one's own thoughts – not the thoughts merely of the body, or of society, but thoughts generated by one's deepest, most original, most essential and spiritual self, one's individuality."
Steiner affirms Darwin's and Haeckel's evolutionary perspectives but extended this beyond its materialistic consequences; he sees human consciousness, indeed, all human culture, as a product of natural evolution that transcends itself. For Steiner, nature becomes self-conscious in the human being. Steiner's description of the nature of human consciousness thus closely parallels that of Solovyov.
Spiritual science
In his earliest works, Steiner already spoke of the "natural and spiritual worlds" as a unity. From 1900 on, he began lecturing about concrete details of the spiritual world(s), culminating in the publication in 1904 of the first of several systematic presentations, his Theosophy: An Introduction to the Spiritual Processes in Human Life and in the Cosmos. As a starting point for the book Steiner took a quotation from Goethe, describing the method of natural scientific observation, while in the Preface he made clear that the line of thought taken in this book led to the same goal as that in his earlier work, The Philosophy of Freedom.
In the years 1903–1908 Steiner maintained the magazine Lucifer-Gnosis and published in it essays on topics such as initiation, reincarnation and karma, and knowledge of the supernatural world. Some of these were later collected and published as books, such as How to Know Higher Worlds (1904–5) and Cosmic Memory. The book An Outline of Esoteric Science was published in 1910. Important themes include:
the human being as body, soul and spirit;
the path of spiritual development;
spiritual influences on world-evolution and history; and
reincarnation and karma.
Steiner emphasized that there is an objective natural and spiritual world that can be known, and that perceptions of the spiritual world and incorporeal beings are, under conditions of training comparable to that required for the natural sciences, including self-discipline, replicable by multiple observers. It is on this basis that spiritual science is possible, with radically different epistemological foundations than those of natural science. He believed that natural science was correct in its methods but one-sided for exclusively focusing on sensory phenomena, while mysticism was vague in its methods, though seeking to explore the inner and spiritual life. Anthroposophy was meant to apply the systematic methods of the former to the content of the latterOne of Steiner's teachers, Franz Brentano, had famously declared that "The true method of philosophy can only be the method of natural science" (Walach, Harald, "Criticism of Transpersonal Psychology and Beyond", in The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, ed. H. L. Friedman and G. Hartelius. P. 45.)
For Steiner, the cosmos is permeated and continually transformed by the creative activity of non-physical processes and spiritual beings. For the human being to become conscious of the objective reality of these processes and beings, it is necessary to creatively enact and reenact, within, their creative activity. Thus objective spiritual knowledge always entails creative inner activity. Steiner articulated three stages of any creative deed:
Moral intuition: the ability to discover or, preferably, develop valid ethical principles;
Moral imagination: the imaginative transformation of such principles into a concrete intention applicable to the particular situation (situational ethics); and
Moral technique: the realization of the intended transformation, depending on a mastery of practical skills.
Steiner termed his work from this period onwards Anthroposophy. He emphasized that the spiritual path he articulated builds upon and supports individual freedom and independent judgment; for the results of spiritual research to be appropriately presented in a modern context they must be in a form accessible to logical understanding, so that those who do not have access to the spiritual experiences underlying anthroposophical research can make independent evaluations of the latter's results. Spiritual training is to support what Steiner considered the overall purpose of human evolution, the development of the mutually interdependent qualities of love and freedom.
Steiner and Christianity
Steiner appreciated the ritual of the mass he experienced while serving as an altar boy from school age until he was ten years old, and this experience remained memorable for him as a genuinely spiritual one, contrasting with his irreligious family life. As a young adult, Steiner had no formal connection to organized religion. In 1899, he experienced what he described as a life-transforming inner encounter with the being of Christ. Steiner was then 38, and the experience of meeting Christ occurred after a tremendous inner struggle. To use Steiner's own words, the "experience culminated in my standing in the spiritual presence of the Mystery of Golgotha in a most profound and solemn festival of knowledge." His relationship to Christianity thereafter remained entirely founded upon personal experience, and thus both non-denominational and strikingly different from conventional religious forms.
Christ and human evolution
Steiner describes Christ as the unique pivot and meaning of earth's evolutionary processes and human history, redeeming the Fall from Paradise. He understood the Christ as a being that unifies and inspires all religions, not belonging to a particular religious faith. To be "Christian" is, for Steiner, a search for balance between polarizing extremes and the ability to manifest love in freedom.
Central principles of his understanding include:
The being of Christ is central to all religions, though called by different names by each.
Every religion is valid and true for the time and cultural context in which it was born.
Historical forms of Christianity need to be transformed in our times in order to meet the ongoing evolution of humanity.
In Steiner's esoteric cosmology, the spiritual development of humanity is interwoven in and inseparable from the cosmological development of the universe. Continuing the evolution that led to humanity being born out of the natural world, the Christ being brings an impulse enabling human consciousness of the forces that act creatively, but unconsciously, in nature.
Divergence from conventional Christian thought
Steiner's views of Christianity diverge from conventional Christian thought in key places, and include gnostic elements. However, unlike many gnostics, Steiner affirms the unique and actual physical Incarnation of Christ in Jesus at the beginning of the Christian era.
One of the central points of divergence with conventional Christian thought is found in Steiner's views on reincarnation and karma.
Steiner also posited two different Jesus children involved in the Incarnation of the Christ: one child descended from Solomon, as described in the Gospel of Matthew; the other child from Nathan, as described in the Gospel of Luke. He references in this regard the fact that the genealogies in these two gospels list twenty-six (Luke) to forty-one (Matthew) completely different ancestors for the generations from David to Jesus.
Steiner's view of the second coming of Christ is also unusual. He suggested that this would not be a physical reappearance, but rather, meant that the Christ being would become manifest in non-physical form, in the "etheric realm" – i.e. visible to spiritual vision and apparent in community life – for increasing numbers of people, beginning around the year 1933. He emphasized that the future would require humanity to recognize this Spirit of Love in all its genuine forms, regardless of how this is named. He also warned that the traditional name, "Christ", might be used, yet the true essence of this Being of Love ignored.
The Christian Community
In the 1920s, Steiner was approached by Friedrich Rittelmeyer, a Lutheran pastor with a congregation in Berlin, who asked if it was possible to create a more modern form of Christianity. Soon others joined Rittelmeyer – mostly Protestant pastors and theology students, but including several Roman Catholic priests. Steiner offered counsel on renewing the spiritual potency of the sacraments while emphasizing freedom of thought and a personal relationship to religious life. He envisioned a new synthesis of Catholic and Protestant approaches to religious life, terming this "modern, Johannine Christianity".
The resulting movement for religious renewal became known as "The Christian Community". Its work is based on a free relationship to Christ without dogma or policies. Its priesthood, which is open to both men and women, is free to preach out of their own spiritual insights and creativity.
Steiner emphasized that the resulting movement for the renewal of Christianity was a personal gesture of help to a movement founded by Rittelmeyer and others independently of his anthroposophical work. The distinction was important to Steiner because he sought with Anthroposophy to create a scientific, not faith-based, spirituality. He recognized that for those who wished to find more traditional forms, however, a renewal of the traditional religions was also a vital need of the times.
Reception
Steiner's work has influenced a broad range of notable personalities. These include:
philosophers Albert Schweitzer, Owen Barfield and Richard Tarnas;
writers Saul Bellow, Andrej Belyj,Judith Wermuth-Atkinson, The Red Jester: Andrei Bely's Petersburg as a Novel of the European Modern (2012). Michael Ende, Selma Lagerlöf, Edouard Schuré, David Spangler, and William Irwin Thompson;
child psychiatrist Eva Frommer;
music therapist Maria Schüppel
economist Leonard Read;
ecologist Rachel Carson;
artists Joseph Beuys, Wassily Kandinsky, and Murray Griffin;
esotericist and educationalist George Trevelyan;
actor and acting teacher Michael Chekhov;
cinema director Andrei Tarkovsky;
composers Jonathan Harvey and Viktor Ullmann; and
conductor Bruno Walter.
Olav Hammer, though sharply critical of esoteric movements generally, terms Steiner "arguably the most historically and philosophically sophisticated spokesperson of the Esoteric Tradition."
Albert Schweitzer wrote that he and Steiner had in common that they had "taken on the life mission of working for the emergence of a true culture enlivened by the ideal of humanity and to encourage people to become truly thinking beings". However, Schweitzer was not an adept of mysticism or occultism, but of Age of Enlightenment rationalism.
Anthony Storr stated about Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy: "His belief system is so eccentric, so unsupported by evidence, so manifestly bizarre, that rational skeptics are bound to consider it delusional.... But, whereas Einstein's way of perceiving the world by thought became confirmed by experiment and mathematical proof, Steiner's remained intensely subjective and insusceptible of objective confirmation."
Robert Todd Carroll has said of Steiner that "Some of his ideas on education – such as educating the handicapped in the mainstream – are worth considering, although his overall plan for developing the spirit and the soul rather than the intellect cannot be admired". Translators have pointed out that the German term Geist can be translated equally properly as either mind or spirit, however, and that Steiner's usage of this term encompassed both meanings.
The 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner's birth was marked by the first major retrospective exhibition of his art and work, 'Kosmos - Alchemy of the everyday'. Organized by Vitra Design Museum, the traveling exhibition presented many facets of Steiner's life and achievements, including his influence on architecture, furniture design, dance (Eurythmy), education, and agriculture (Biodynamic agriculture). The exhibition opened in 2011 at the Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart, Germany,
Heresiology
The teachings of Anthroposophy got called Christian Gnosticism. Indeed, according to the official stance of the Catholic Church, Anthroposophy is "a neognostic heresy". Other heresiologists agree. The Lutheran (Missouri Sinod) apologist and heresiologist Eldon K. Winker said that Steiner had the same Christology as Cerinthus. Indeed, Steiner thought that Jesus and Christ were two separated beings, who got fused for a while.
Scientism
Olav Hammer has criticized as scientism Steiner's claim to use scientific methodology to investigate spiritual phenomena that were based upon his claims of clairvoyant experience. Steiner regarded the observations of spiritual research as more dependable (and above all, consistent) than observations of physical reality. However, he did consider spiritual research to be fallible, and held the view that anyone capable of thinking logically was in a position to correct errors by spiritual researchers.
Race and ethnicity
Steiner's work includes both universalist, humanist elements and racial assumptions. Due to the contrast and even contradictions between these elements, one commentator argues: "whether a given reader interprets Anthroposophy as racist or not depends upon that reader's concerns". Steiner considered that by dint of its shared language and culture, each people has a unique essence, which he called its soul or spirit. He saw race as a physical manifestation of humanity's spiritual evolution, and at times discussed race in terms of complex hierarchies that were largely derived from 19th century biology, anthropology, philosophy and theosophy. However, he consistently and explicitly subordinated race, ethnicity, gender, and indeed all hereditary factors, to individual factors in development. For Steiner, human individuality is centered in a person's unique biography, and he believed that an individual's experiences and development are not bound by a single lifetime or the qualities of the physical body.
Steiner occasionally characterized specific races, nations and ethnicities in ways that have been deemed racist by critics. This includes descriptions by him of certain races and ethnic groups as flowering, others as backward, or destined to degenerate or disappear. He presented explicitly hierarchical views of the spiritual evolution of different races, including—at times, and inconsistently—portraying the white race, European culture or Germanic culture as representing the high point of human evolution as of the early 20th century, although he did describe them as destined to be superseded by future cultures.
Throughout his life Steiner consistently emphasized the core spiritual unity of all the world's peoples and sharply criticized racial prejudice. He articulated beliefs that the individual nature of any person stands higher than any racial, ethnic, national or religious affiliation. His belief that race and ethnicity are transient and superficial, and not essential aspects of the individual, was partly rooted in his conviction that each individual reincarnates in a variety of different peoples and races over successive lives, and that each of us thus bears within him or herself the heritage of many races and peoples.Eugen Blume, "Joseph Beuys". In Kugler and Baur, Rudolf Steiner in Kunst und Architektur, , p. 186 Toward the end of his life, Steiner predicted that race will rapidly lose any remaining significance for future generations. In Steiner's view, culture is universal, and explicitly not ethnically based, and he vehemently criticized imperialism.
In the context of his ethical individualism, Steiner considered "race, folk, ethnicity and gender" to be general, describable categories into which individuals may choose to fit, but from which free human beings can and will liberate themselves.
The racism of Anthroposophy is spiritual and paternalistic (i.e. benevolent), while the racism of fascism is materialistic and often malign. Olav Hammer, university professor expert in new religious movements and Western esotericism, confirms that now the racist and anti-Semitic character of Steiner's teachings can no longer be denied, even if that is "spiritual racism".
Judaism
During the years when Steiner was best known as a literary critic, he published a series of articles attacking various manifestations of antisemitism and criticizing some of the most prominent anti-Semites of the time as "barbaric" and "enemies of culture"."Hammer und Hakenkreuz – Anthroposophie im Visier der völkischen Bewegung", Südwestrundfunk, 26 November 2004 Steiner also suggested that Jewish cultural and social life had lost all contemporary relevance and promoted full assimilation of the Jewish people into the nations in which they lived. Steiner was a critic of his contemporary Theodor Herzl's goal of a Zionist state, and indeed of any ethnically determined state, as he considered ethnicity to be an outmoded basis for social life and civic identity.
Writings (selection)
See also Works in GermanThe standard edition of Steiner's Collected Works constitutes about 422 volumes. This includes 44 volumes of his writings (books, essay, plays, and correspondence), over 6000 lectures, and some 80 volumes (some still in production) documenting his artistic work (architecture, drawings, paintings, graphic design, furniture design, choreography, etc.). His architectural work, particularly, has also been documented extensively outside of the Collected Works.
Goethean Science (1883–1897)
Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World-Conception (1886)
Truth and Knowledge, doctoral thesis, (1892)
Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path, also published as the Philosophy of Spiritual Activity and the Philosophy of Freedom (1894)
Mysticism at the Dawn of Modern Age ()
Christianity as Mystical Fact (1902)
Theosophy: An Introduction to the Spiritual Processes in Human Life and in the Cosmos (1904)
How to Know Higher Worlds: A Modern Path of Initiation (1904–5)
Cosmic Memory: Prehistory of Earth and Man (1904) (Also published as The Submerged Continents of Atlantis and Lemuria)
The Education of the Child, (1907)
The Way of Initiation, (1908) (English edition trans. by Max Gysi)
Initiation and Its Results, (1909) (English edition trans. by Max Gysi)
An Outline of Esoteric Science (1910)
Four Mystery Dramas (1913)
The Renewal of the Social Organism (1919)
Fundamentals of Therapy: An Extension of the Art of Healing Through Spiritual Knowledge (1925)
Reincarnation and Immortality, Rudolf Steiner Publications. (1970)
Rudolf Steiner: An Autobiography, Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1977, (Originally, The Story of my Life)
Rudolf Steiner, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fighter for Freedom Garber Communications; 2nd revised edition (July 1985)
See also
Esotericism
Guardian of the Threshold
Rudolf Steiner and colour mysticism
Martinus
References
Notes
Citations
Further reading
Almon, Joan (ed.) Meeting Rudolf Steiner, firsthand experiences compiled from the Journal for Anthroposophy since 1960,
Anderson, Adrian: Rudolf Steiner Handbook, Port Campbell Press, 2014,
Childs, Gilbert, Rudolf Steiner: His Life and Work,
Davy, Adams and Merry, A Man before Others: Rudolf Steiner Remembered. Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993.
Easton, Stewart, Rudolf Steiner: Herald of a New Epoch,
Hemleben, Johannes and Twyman, Leo, Rudolf Steiner: An Illustrated Biography. Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001.
Kries, Mateo and Vegesack, Alexander von, Rudolf Steiner: Alchemy of the Everyday, Weil am Rhein: Vitra Design Museum, 2010.
Lachman, Gary, Rudolf Steiner: An Introduction to His Life and Work, 2007,
Lindenberg, Christoph, Rudolf Steiner: Eine Biographie (2 vols.). Stuttgart, 1997,
Lissau, Rudi, Rudolf Steiner: Life, Work, Inner Path and Social Initiatives. Hawthorne Press, 2000.
McDermott, Robert, The Essential Steiner. Harper Press, 1984
Prokofieff, Sergei O., Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mysteries. Temple Lodge Publishing, 1994.
Seddon, Richard, Rudolf Steiner. North Atlantic Books, 2004.
Shepherd, A. P., Rudolf Steiner: Scientist of the Invisible. Inner Traditions, 1990.
Schiller, Paul, Rudolf Steiner and Initiation. SteinerBooks, 1990.
Selg, Peter, Rudolf Steiner as a Spiritual Teacher. From Recollections of Those Who Knew Him, SteinerBooks Publishing, 2010.
Sokolina, Anna, ed. Architecture and Anthroposophy. 2 editions. 268p. 348 ills. (In Russian with the Summary in English.) Moscow: KMK, 2001 ; 2010
Tummer, Lia and Lato, Horacio, Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy for Beginners. Writers & Readers Publishing, 2001.
Turgeniev, Assya, Reminiscences of Rudolf Steiner and Work on the First Goetheanum,
Villeneuve, Crispian, Rudolf Steiner: The British Connection, Elements from his Early Life and Cultural Development,
Wachsmuth, Guenther, The Life and Work of Rudolf Steiner: From the Turn of the Century to his Death, Whittier Books 1955.
Welburn, Andrew, Rudolf Steiner's Philosophy and the Crisis of Contemporary Thought,
Wilkinson, Roy, Rudolf Steiner: An Introduction to his Spiritual World-View,
Wilson, Colin, Rudolf Steiner: The Man and His Vision. An Introduction to the Life and Ideas of the Founder of Anthroposophy, The Aquarian Press, 1985,
External links
General
Rudolf Steiner Biographies
Rudolf Steiner Overview
The Goetheanum
Writings
The Rudolf Steiner Archive with English translations of thousands of Steiner's works: books, lectures, articles, essays, verses, etc.
Rudolf Steiner Library, USA
Rudolf Steiner Audio
An index of ALL lectures given by Rudolf Steiner, searchable and sort-able by title, keyword, date, place, and GA or Schmidt number
An index of lectures in English translation, sort-able by title, date, place, and GA or Schmidt number
A list of all known English translations
Collected works in English
German/English list of collected works
Articles and broadcasts about Steiner
The Personality of Rudolf Steiner and his Development, Edouard Schuré, Macoy Publishing (1910), from French, Paris (1908)
Heiner Ullrich, "Rudolf Steiner", Prospects: the quarterly review of comparative education (Paris, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education), vol.XXIV, no. 3/4, 1994, p. 555–572
Rudolf Steiner: 'Scientist of the Invisible' (Carlin Romano, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Volume 53, Issue 37, 2007, p. B16)
"From schools to business – Rudolf Steiner's legacy lives on", Deutsche Welle'' broadcast (in English), 28.02.2011
Rudolf Steiner's Blackboard Drawings, Berkeley Art Museum
Skeptics Dictionary
Category:1861 births
Category:1925 deaths
Category:19th-century Austrian philosophers
Category:20th-century Austrian architects
Category:20th-century Austrian philosophers
Category:20th-century Austrian poets
Category:20th-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights
Category:20th-century educational theorists
Category:20th-century sculptors
Category:Anthroposophists
Category:Austrian architects
Category:Austrian autobiographers
Category:Austrian choreographers
Category:Austrian educational theorists
Category:Austrian male dramatists and playwrights
Category:Austrian literary critics
Category:Austrian spiritual writers
Category:Austrian Theosophists
Category:People from Austria-Hungary
Category:Esotericists
Category:Expressionist architects
Category:Modernist architects
Category:New religious movements
Category:Occult writers
Category:People from Donji Kraljevec
Category:Philosophers of education
Category:Pseudoscience
Category:Spiritual teachers
Category:University of Rostock alumni
Category:Unsolved deaths
Category:Goethe scholars | [] | [
"Rudolf Steiner worked with other members of the Anthroposophical Society.",
"Rudolf Steiner stands out for his role in founding the Anthroposophical Society and his contributions to the development of the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. He is notable for his architectural designs of the first and second Goetheanum buildings, the first made mostly by volunteer craftsmen and the second of concrete after the first burned down. Steiner is also notable for starting numerous practical institutions and activities including the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart, Germany and for establishing a School of Spiritual Science which served as an \"organ of initiative\" for research and study and as \"the 'soul' of the Anthroposophical Society\". His work expanded significantly after the end of World War I.",
"He founded the School of Spiritual Science during a \"Foundation Meeting\" for members held at the Dornach center during Christmas, 1923.",
"Besides founding the School of Spiritual Science, Rudolf Steiner worked with other members of the Anthroposophical Society to establish many practical institutions and activities. This includes the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1919. He was integral to the development of the Goetheanum as a significant cultural center and involved in the design and construction of both the first and second Goetheanum buildings. At a Foundation Meeting during Christmas 1923, Steiner also talked about laying a new Foundation Stone for the society in the hearts of his listeners and established the new \"General Anthroposophical Society\" with a new executive board."
] | [
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_1 | Rudolf Steiner | Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 (or 25) February 1861 - 30 March 1925) was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect and esotericist. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a literary critic and published philosophical works including The Philosophy of Freedom. At the beginning of the twentieth century he founded an esoteric spiritual movement, anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and theosophy; other influences include Goethean science and Rosicrucianism. In the first, more philosophically oriented phase of this movement, Steiner attempted to find a synthesis between science and spirituality. | Childhood and education | Steiner's father, Johann(es) Steiner (1829 - 1910), left a position as a gamekeeper in the service of Count Hoyos in Geras, northeast Lower Austria to marry one of the Hoyos family's housemaids, Franziska Blie (1834 Horn - 1918, Horn), a marriage for which the Count had refused his permission. Johann became a telegraph operator on the Southern Austrian Railway, and at the time of Rudolf's birth was stationed in Kraljevec in the Murakoz region of the Austrian Empire (present-day Donji Kraljevec in the Medimurje region of northernmost Croatia). In the first two years of Rudolf's life, the family moved twice, first to Modling, near Vienna, and then, through the promotion of his father to stationmaster, to Pottschach, located in the foothills of the eastern Austrian Alps in Lower Austria. Steiner entered the village school; following a disagreement between his father and the schoolmaster, he was briefly educated at home. In 1869, when Steiner was eight years old, the family moved to the village of Neudorfl and in October 1872 Steiner proceeded from the village school there to the realschule in Wiener Neustadt. In 1879, the family moved to Inzersdorf to enable Steiner to attend the Vienna Institute of Technology, where he studied mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, biology, literature, and philosophy on an academic scholarship from 1879 to 1883, at the end of which time he withdrew from the institute without graduating. In 1882, one of Steiner's teachers, Karl Julius Schroer, suggested Steiner's name to Joseph Kurschner, chief editor of a new edition of Goethe's works, who asked Steiner to become the edition's natural science editor, a truly astonishing opportunity for a young student without any form of academic credentials or previous publications. Before attending the Vienna Institute of Technology, Steiner had studied Kant, Fichte and Schelling. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_1_q#0",
"C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_1_q#1",
"C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_1_q#2",
"C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_1_q#3",
"C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_1_q#4",
"C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_1_q#5",
"C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_1_q#6",
"C_ae21eabf4e0140f08ae93beaebcd3663_1_q#7"
] | [
"When was he born?",
"Did he receive formal education?",
"Did he also attend college/university?",
"Where did he attend university?",
"Did any of is professors have an impact on his life?",
"Is Joseph Kurschner important in his life?",
"What interesting detail of his education do I need to know about?",
"Did anyone from his childhood influence him?"
] | [
1,
0,
0,
2,
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
0,
0,
2,
0,
0,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1885
],
[
797
],
[
1236
],
[
1135
],
[
1455
],
[
1549
],
[
1784
],
[
549
]
],
"texts": [
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Steiner entered the village school; following a disagreement between his father and the schoolmaster,"
],
[
"he studied mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, biology, literature, and philosophy on an academic scholarship from 1879 to 1883,"
],
[
"the family moved to Inzersdorf to enable Steiner to attend the Vienna Institute of Technology,"
],
[
"one of Steiner's teachers, Karl Julius Schroer, suggested Steiner's name to Joseph Kurschner,"
],
[
"chief editor of a new edition of Goethe's works, who asked Steiner to become the edition's natural science editor,"
],
[
"Before attending the Vienna Institute of Technology, Steiner had studied Kant, Fichte and Schelling."
],
[
"In the first two years of Rudolf's life, the family moved twice,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1885,
797,
1236,
1135,
1455,
1549,
1784,
549
],
"texts": [
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Steiner entered the village school; following a disagreement between his father and the schoolmaster,",
"he studied mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, biology, literature, and philosophy on an academic scholarship from 1879 to 1883,",
"the family moved to Inzersdorf to enable Steiner to attend the Vienna Institute of Technology,",
"one of Steiner's teachers, Karl Julius Schroer, suggested Steiner's name to Joseph Kurschner,",
"chief editor of a new edition of Goethe's works, who asked Steiner to become the edition's natural science editor,",
"Before attending the Vienna Institute of Technology, Steiner had studied Kant, Fichte and Schelling.",
"In the first two years of Rudolf's life, the family moved twice,"
]
} | Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a literary critic and published works including The Philosophy of Freedom. At the beginning of the twentieth century he founded an esoteric spiritual movement, anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and theosophy. His teachings have been described as similar to Christian Gnosticism (for heresiologists it is little doubt that these are neognosticism). Many of his ideas are pseudoscientific. He was also prone to pseudohistory.
In the first, more philosophically oriented phase of this movement, Steiner attempted to find a synthesis between science and spirituality. His philosophical work of these years, which he termed "spiritual science", sought to apply what he saw as the clarity of thinking characteristic of Western philosophy to spiritual questions, differentiating this approach from what he considered to be vaguer approaches to mysticism. In a second phase, beginning around 1907, he began working collaboratively in a variety of artistic media, including drama, dance and architecture, culminating in the building of the Goetheanum, a cultural centre to house all the arts. In the third phase of his work, beginning after World War I, Steiner worked on various ostensibly applied projects, including Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, and anthroposophical medicine.
Steiner advocated a form of ethical individualism, to which he later brought a more explicitly spiritual approach. He based his epistemology on Johann Wolfgang Goethe's world view, in which "thinking…is no more and no less an organ of perception than the eye or ear. Just as the eye perceives colours and the ear sounds, so thinking perceives ideas." A consistent thread that runs through his work is the goal of demonstrating that there are no limits to human knowledge.
Biography
Childhood and education
Steiner's father, Johann(es) Steiner (1829–1910), left a position as a gamekeeper in the service of Count Hoyos in Geras, northeast Lower Austria to marry one of the Hoyos family's housemaids, Franziska Blie (1834 Horn – 1918, Horn), a marriage for which the Count had refused his permission. Johann became a telegraph operator on the Southern Austrian Railway, and at the time of Rudolf's birth was stationed in Murakirály (Kraljevec) in the Muraköz region of the Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (present-day Donji Kraljevec in the Međimurje region of northernmost Croatia). In the first two years of Rudolf's life, the family moved twice, first to Mödling, near Vienna, and then, through the promotion of his father to stationmaster, to Pottschach, located in the foothills of the eastern Austrian Alps in Lower Austria.
Steiner entered the village school, but following a disagreement between his father and the schoolmaster, he was briefly educated at home. In 1869, when Steiner was eight years old, the family moved to the village of Neudörfl and in October 1872 Steiner proceeded from the village school there to the realschule in Wiener Neustadt.
In 1879, the family moved to Inzersdorf to enable Steiner to attend the Vienna Institute of Technology, where he enrolled in courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, and mineralogy and audited courses in literature and philosophy, on an academic scholarship from 1879 to 1883, where he completed his studies and the requirements of the Ghega scholarship satisfactorily. In 1882, one of Steiner's teachers, Karl Julius Schröer, suggested Steiner's name to Joseph Kürschner, chief editor of a new edition of Goethe's works, who asked Steiner to become the edition's natural science editor, a truly astonishing opportunity for a young student without any form of academic credentials or previous publications.
Before attending the Vienna Institute of Technology, Steiner had studied Kant, Fichte and Schelling.
Early spiritual experiences
When he was nine years old, Steiner believed that he saw the spirit of an aunt who had died in a far-off town, asking him to help her at a time when neither he nor his family knew of the woman's death. Steiner later related that as a child, he felt "that one must carry the knowledge of the spiritual world within oneself after the fashion of geometry ... [for here] one is permitted to know something which the mind alone, through its own power, experiences. In this feeling I found the justification for the spiritual world that I experienced ... I confirmed for myself by means of geometry the feeling that I must speak of a world 'which is not seen'."
Steiner believed that at the age of 15 he had gained a complete understanding of the concept of time, which he considered to be the precondition of spiritual clairvoyance. At 21, on the train between his home village and Vienna, Steiner met an herb gatherer, Felix Kogutzki, who spoke about the spiritual world "as one who had his own experience therein".
Writer and philosopher
In 1888, as a result of his work for the Kürschner edition of Goethe's works, Steiner was invited to work as an editor at the Goethe archives in Weimar. Steiner remained with the archive until 1896. It was a low-paid and boring job. As well as the introductions for and commentaries to four volumes of Goethe's scientific writings, Steiner wrote two books about Goethe's philosophy: The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World-Conception (1886), which Steiner regarded as the epistemological foundation and justification for his later work, and Goethe's Conception of the World (1897). During this time he also collaborated in complete editions of the works of Arthur Schopenhauer and the writer Jean Paul and wrote numerous articles for various journals.
In 1891, Steiner received a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Rostock, for his dissertation discussing
Fichte's concept of the ego, submitted to , whose Seven Books of Platonism Steiner esteemed. Steiner's dissertation was later published in expanded form as Truth and Knowledge: Prelude to a Philosophy of Freedom, with a dedication to Eduard von Hartmann. Two years later, in 1894, he published Die Philosophie der Freiheit (The Philosophy of Freedom or The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, the latter being Steiner's preferred English title), an exploration of epistemology and ethics that suggested a way for humans to become spiritually free beings. Steiner hoped that the book "would gain him a professorship", but the book was not well received. Steiner later spoke of this book as containing implicitly, in philosophical form, the entire content of what he later developed explicitly as anthroposophy.
In 1896, Steiner declined an offer from Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche to help organize the Nietzsche archive in Naumburg. Her brother, Friedrich Nietzsche, was by that time non compos mentis. Förster-Nietzsche introduced Steiner into the presence of the catatonic philosopher; Steiner, deeply moved, subsequently wrote the book Friedrich Nietzsche, Fighter for Freedom. Steiner later related that:
My first acquaintance with Nietzsche's writings belongs to the year 1889. Previous to that I had never read a line of his. Upon the substance of my ideas as these find expression in The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, Nietzsche's thought had not the least influence....Nietzsche's ideas of the 'eternal recurrence' and of 'Übermensch' remained long in my mind. For in these was reflected that which a personality must feel concerning the evolution and essential being of humanity when this personality is kept back from grasping the spiritual world by the restricted thought in the philosophy of nature characterizing the end of the 19th century....What attracted me particularly was that one could read Nietzsche without coming upon anything which strove to make the reader a 'dependent' of Nietzsche's.
In 1897, Steiner left the Weimar archives and moved to Berlin. He became part owner of, chief editor of, and an active contributor to the literary journal Magazin für Literatur, where he hoped to find a readership sympathetic to his philosophy. Many subscribers were alienated by Steiner's unpopular support of Émile Zola in the Dreyfus Affair and the journal lost more subscribers when Steiner published extracts from his correspondence with anarchist John Henry Mackay. Dissatisfaction with his editorial style eventually led to his departure from the magazine. In 1899, Steiner married Anna Eunicke; the couple separated several years later. Anna died in 1911.
Despite his fame as a teacher of esotericism, Steiner was culturally and academically isolated.
Theosophical Society
In 1899, Steiner published an article, "Goethe's Secret Revelation", discussing the esoteric nature of Goethe's fairy tale The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily. This article led to an invitation by the Count and Countess Brockdorff to speak to a gathering of Theosophists on the subject of Nietzsche. Steiner continued speaking regularly to the members of the Theosophical Society, becoming the head of its newly constituted German section in 1902 without ever formally joining the society. It was also in connection with this society that Steiner met and worked with Marie von Sivers, who became his second wife in 1914. By 1904, Steiner was appointed by Annie Besant to be leader of the Theosophical Esoteric Society for Germany and Austria. In 1904, Eliza, the wife of Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, became one of his favourite scholars.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Meyer| first1= Thomas|title= Helmuth von Moltke, Light for the new millennium: Rudolf Steiner's association with Helmuth and Eliza von Moltke: letters, documents and after-death communications|publisher= Rudolf Steiner Press|place= London|year= 1997|isbn= 1-85584-051-0|language= en}}</ref> Through Eliza, Steiner met Helmuth, who served as the Chief of the German General Staff from 1906 to 1914.
In contrast to mainstream Theosophy, Steiner sought to build a Western approach to spirituality based on the philosophical and mystical traditions of European culture. The German Section of the Theosophical Society grew rapidly under Steiner's leadership as he lectured throughout much of Europe on his spiritual science. During this period, Steiner maintained an original approach, replacing Madame Blavatsky's terminology with his own, and basing his spiritual research and teachings upon the Western esoteric and philosophical tradition. This and other differences, in particular Steiner's vocal rejection of Leadbeater and Besant's claim that Jiddu Krishnamurti was the vehicle of a new Maitreya, or world teacher, led to a formal split in 1912–13, when Steiner and the majority of members of the German section of the Theosophical Society broke off to form a new group, the Anthroposophical Society. Steiner took the name "Anthroposophy" from the title of a work of the Austrian philosopher Robert von Zimmermann, published in Vienna in 1856. Despite his departure from the Theosophical Society, Steiner maintained his interest in Theosophy throughout his life.
Anthroposophical Society and its cultural activities
The Anthroposophical Society grew rapidly. Fueled by a need to find an artistic home for their yearly conferences, which included performances of plays written by Edouard Schuré and Steiner, the decision was made to build a theater and organizational center. In 1913, construction began on the first Goetheanum building, in Dornach, Switzerland. The building, designed by Steiner, was built to a significant part by volunteers. Steiner moved from Berlin to Dornach in 1913 and lived there to the end of his life.
Steiner's lecture activity expanded enormously with the end of the war. Most importantly, from 1919 on Steiner began to work with other members of the society to found numerous practical institutions and activities, including the first Waldorf school, founded that year in Stuttgart, Germany. On New Year's Eve, 1922–1923, the Goetheanum burned to the ground; contemporary police reports indicate arson as the probable cause. Steiner immediately began work designing a second Goetheanum building - this time made of concrete instead of wood - which was completed in 1928, three years after his death.
At a "Foundation Meeting" for members held at the Dornach center during Christmas 1923, Steiner founded the School of Spiritual Science. This school, which was led by Steiner, initially had sections for general anthroposophy, education, medicine, performing arts (eurythmy, speech, drama and music), the literary arts and humanities, mathematics, astronomy, science, and visual arts. Later sections were added for the social sciences, youth and agriculture.Rudolf Steiner, Constitution of the School of Spiritual Science: Its arrangement in Sections 1964 The School of Spiritual Science included meditative exercises given by Steiner.
Political engagement and social agenda
Steiner became a well-known and controversial public figure during and after World War I. In response to the catastrophic situation in post-war Germany, he proposed extensive social reforms through the establishment of a Threefold Social Order in which the cultural, political and economic realms would be largely independent. Steiner argued that a fusion of the three realms had created the inflexibility that had led to catastrophes such as World War I. In connection with this, he promoted a radical solution in the disputed area of Upper Silesia, claimed by both Poland and Germany. His suggestion that this area be granted at least provisional independence led to his being publicly accused of being a traitor to Germany.
Steiner opposed Wilson's proposal to create new European nations based around ethnic groups, which he saw as opening the door to rampant nationalism. Steiner proposed, as an alternative:
Attacks, illness, and death
The National Socialist German Workers Party gained strength in Germany after the First World War. In 1919, a political theorist of this movement, Dietrich Eckart, attacked Steiner and suggested that he was a Jew. In 1921, Adolf Hitler attacked Steiner on many fronts, including accusations that he was a tool of the Jews, while other nationalist extremists in Germany called for a "war against Steiner". That same year, Steiner warned against the disastrous effects it would have for Central Europe if the National Socialists came to power. In 1922 a lecture Steiner was giving in Munich was disrupted when stink bombs were let off and the lights switched out, while people rushed the stage apparently attempting to attack Steiner, who exited safely through a back door."Riot at Munich Lecture", New York Times, 17 May 1922. Unable to guarantee his safety, Steiner's agents cancelled his next lecture tour. The 1923 Beer Hall Putsch in Munich led Steiner to give up his residence in Berlin, saying that if those responsible for the attempted coup (Hitler's Nazi party) came to power in Germany, it would no longer be possible for him to enter the country.
In reality, Steiner had both enemies and loyal supporters in the upper echelons of the Nazi regime. Staudenmaier speaks of the "polycratic party-state apparatus", so Nazism's approach to Anthroposophy was not characterized by monolithic ideological unity.
From 1923 on, Steiner showed signs of increasing frailness and illness. He nonetheless continued to lecture widely, and even to travel; especially towards the end of this time, he was often giving two, three or even four lectures daily for courses taking place concurrently. Many of these lectures focused on practical areas of life such as education.
Increasingly ill, he held his last lecture in late September, 1924. He continued work on his autobiography during the last months of his life; he died at Dornach on 30 March 1925.
Steiner has financed the publication of the book Die Entente-Freimaurerei und der Weltkrieg (1919) by ; Steiner also wrote the foreword for the book, partly based upon his own ideas. The publication comprised a conspiracy theory according to whom World War I was a consequence of a collusion of Freemasons and Jews - still favorite scapegoats of the conspiracy theorists - their purpose being the destruction of Germany. The writing was later enthusiastically received by the Nazi Party. According to Dick Taverne Steiner was a Nazi (i.e. a member of the NSDAP).
Towards the end of Steiner's life and after his death, there were massive defamatory press attacks mounted on him by early Nazi Party leaders (including Adolf Hitler) and other right-wing nationalists. These criticized Steiner's thought and anthroposophy as being incompatible with Nazi racial ideology, and charged him with being influenced by his close connections with Jews and even (falsely) that he himself was Jewish. But Rudolf Hess, the adjunct Führer, was a patron of Anthroposophy and of Waldorf schools and a staunch defender of Steiner's biodynamic agriculture. When Hess defected to UK, their most powerful protector was gone, but Anthroposophists were still not left without supporters among higher-placed Nazis. According to Tommy Wieringa, a Dutch writer who grew among Anthroposophists, commenting upon an essay by the Anthroposophist , Hess and Heinrich Himmler saw Steiner as their kindred spirit.
The Third Reich had banned almost all esoteric organizations, pretending that these are controlled by Jews. The truth was that while Anthroposophists complained of bad press, they were to a surprising extent let be by the Nazi regime, "including outspokenly supportive pieces in the Völkischer Beobachter". Ideological purists from Sicherheitsdienst argued largely in vain against Anthroposophy. According to Staudenmaier, "The prospect of unmitigated persecution was held at bay for years in a tenuous truce between pro-anthroposophical and anti-anthroposophical Nazi factions."
Marie Steiner-von Sivers, Guenther Wachsmuth, and Albert Steffen, had publicly expressed sympathy for the Nazi regime since its beginnings; led by such sympathies of their leadership, the Swiss and German Anthroposophical organizations chose for a path conflating accommodation with collaboration, which in the end ensured that while the Nazi regime hunted the esoteric organizations, Gentile Anthroposophists from Nazi Germany and countries occupied by it were let be to a surprising extent. Of course they had some setbacks from the enemies of Anthroposophy among the upper echelons of the Nazi regime, but Anthroposophists also had loyal supporters among them, so overall Gentile Anthroposophists were not badly hit by the Nazi regime.
Spiritual research
Steiner first began speaking publicly about spiritual experiences and phenomena in his 1899 lectures to the Theosophical Society. By 1901 he had begun to write about spiritual topics, initially in the form of discussions of historical figures such as the mystics of the Middle Ages. By 1904 he was expressing his own understanding of these themes in his essays and books, while continuing to refer to a wide variety of historical sources.
Steiner aimed to apply his training in mathematics, science, and philosophy to produce rigorous, verifiable presentations of those experiences. He believed that through freely chosen ethical disciplines and meditative training, anyone could develop the ability to experience the spiritual world, including the higher nature of oneself and others. Steiner believed that such discipline and training would help a person to become a more moral, creative and free individual – free in the sense of being capable of actions motivated solely by love. His philosophical ideas were affected by Franz Brentano, with whom he had studied, as well as by Fichte, Hegel, Schelling, and Goethe's phenomenological approach to science.Bockemühl, J., Toward a Phenomenology of the Etheric World
Steiner used the word Geisteswissenschaft (from Geist = mind or spirit, Wissenschaft = science), a term originally coined by Wilhelm Dilthey as a descriptor of the humanities, in a novel way, to describe a systematic ("scientific") approach to spirituality. Steiner used the term Geisteswissenschaft, generally translated into English as "spiritual science," to describe a discipline treating the spirit as something actual and real, starting from the premise that it is possible for human beings to penetrate behind what is sense-perceptible. He proposed that psychology, history, and the humanities generally were based on the direct grasp of an ideal reality, and required close attention to the particular period and culture which provided the distinctive character of religious qualities in the course of the evolution of consciousness. In contrast to William James' pragmatic approach to religious and psychic experience, which emphasized its idiosyncratic character, Steiner focused on ways such experience can be rendered more intelligible and integrated into human life.
Steiner proposed that an understanding of reincarnation and karma was necessary to understand psychology and that the form of external nature would be more comprehensible as a result of insight into the course of karma in the evolution of humanity. Beginning in 1910, he described aspects of karma relating to health, natural phenomena and free will, taking the position that a person is not bound by his or her karma, but can transcend this through actively taking hold of one's own nature and destiny. In an extensive series of lectures from February to September 1924, Steiner presented further research on successive reincarnations of various individuals and described the techniques he used for karma research.These lectures were published as Karmic Relationships: Esoteric Studies
Breadth of activity
After the First World War, Steiner became active in a wide variety of cultural contexts. He founded a number of schools, the first of which was known as the Waldorf school, which later evolved into a worldwide school network. He also founded a system of organic agriculture, now known as biodynamic agriculture, which was one of the first forms of modern organic farming. His work in medicine is based in pseudoscience and occult ideas. Even though his medical ideas led to the development of a broad range of complementary medications and supportive artistic and biographic therapies, they are considered ineffective by the medical community. Numerous homes for children and adults with developmental disabilities based on his work (including those of the Camphill movement) are found in Africa, Europe, and North America. His paintings and drawings influenced Joseph Beuys and other modern artists. His two Goetheanum buildings are considered significant examples of modern architecture,Rudolf Steiner , Great Buildings OnlineHortola, Policarp. "The Aesthetics of haemotaphonomy: A study of the stylistic parallels between a science and literature and the visual arts". Eidos 2009, n.10, pp. 162-193 and other anthroposophical architects have contributed thousands of buildings to the modern scene.
Steiner's literary estate is broad. Steiner's writings, published in about forty volumes, include books, essays, four plays ('mystery dramas'), mantric verse, and an autobiography. His collected lectures, making up another approximately 300 volumes, discuss a wide range of themes. Steiner's drawings, chiefly illustrations done on blackboards during his lectures, are collected in a separate series of 28 volumes. Many publications have covered his architectural legacy and sculptural work.
Education
As a young man, Steiner was a private tutor and a lecturer on history for the Berlin Arbeiterbildungsschule, an educational initiative for working class adults. Soon thereafter, he began to articulate his ideas on education in public lectures, culminating in a 1907 essay on The Education of the Child in which he described the major phases of child development which formed the foundation of his approach to education. His conception of education was influenced by the Herbartian pedagogy prominent in Europe during the late nineteenth century, though Steiner criticized Herbart for not sufficiently recognizing the importance of educating the will and feelings as well as the intellect.
In 1919, Emil Molt invited him to lecture to his workers at the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart. Out of these lectures came the first Waldorf School. In 1922, Steiner presented these ideas at a conference called for this purpose in Oxford by Professor Millicent Mackenzie. He subsequently presented a teacher training course at Torquay in 1924 at an Anthroposophy Summer School organised by Eleanor Merry. The Oxford Conference and the Torquay teacher training led to the founding of the first Waldorf schools in Britain. During Steiner's lifetime, schools based on his educational principles were also founded in Hamburg, Essen, The Hague and London; there are now more than 1000 Waldorf schools worldwide.
Biodynamic agriculture
In 1924, a group of farmers concerned about the future of agriculture requested Steiner's help. Steiner responded with a lecture series on an ecological and sustainable approach to agriculture that increased soil fertility without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Steiner's agricultural ideas promptly spread and were put into practice internationally and biodynamic agriculture is now practiced in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Australasia.Groups in N. America, List of Demeter certifying organizations, Other biodynamic certifying organization, Some farms in the world
A central aspect of biodynamics is that the farm as a whole is seen as an organism, and therefore should be a largely self-sustaining system, producing its own manure and animal feed. Plant or animal disease is seen as a symptom of problems in the whole organism. Steiner also suggested timing such agricultural activities as sowing, weeding, and harvesting to utilize the influences on plant growth of the moon and planets; and the application of natural materials prepared in specific ways to the soil, compost, and crops, with the intention of engaging non-physical beings and elemental forces. He encouraged his listeners to verify such suggestions empirically, as he had not yet done.
In a 2002 newspaper editorial, Peter Treue, agricultural researcher at the University of Kiel, characterized biodynamics as pseudoscience and argued that similar or equal results can be obtained using standard organic farming principles. He wrote that some biodynamic preparations more resemble alchemy or magic akin to geomancy.
Anthroposophical medicine
From the late 1910s, Steiner was working with doctors to create a new approach to medicine. In 1921, pharmacists and physicians gathered under Steiner's guidance to create a pharmaceutical company called Weleda which now distributes naturopathic medical and beauty products worldwide. At around the same time, Dr. Ita Wegman founded a first anthroposophic medical clinic (now the Ita Wegman Clinic) in Arlesheim. Anthroposophic medicine is practiced in some 80 countries. It is a form of alternative medicine based on pseudoscientific and occult notions.
Social reform
For a period after World War I, Steiner was active as a lecturer on social reform. A petition expressing his basic social ideas was widely circulated and signed by many cultural figures of the day, including Hermann Hesse.
In Steiner's chief book on social reform, Toward Social Renewal, he suggested that the cultural, political and economic spheres of society need to work together as consciously cooperating yet independent entities, each with a particular task: political institutions should be democratic, establish political equality and protect human rights; cultural institutions should nurture the free and unhindered development of science, art, education and religion; and economic institutions should enable producers, distributors, and consumers to cooperate voluntarily to provide efficiently for society's needs. He saw this division of responsibility as a vital task which would take up consciously the historical trend toward the mutual independence of these three realms. Steiner also gave suggestions for many specific social reforms.
Steiner proposed that societal well-being fundamentally depends upon a relationship of mutuality between the individuals and the community as a whole:
He expressed another aspect of this in the following motto:
Architecture and visual arts
Steiner designed 17 buildings, including the First and Second Goetheanums. These two buildings, built in Dornach, Switzerland, were intended to house significant theater spaces as well as a "school for spiritual science". Three of Steiner's buildings have been listed amongst the most significant works of modern architecture.
His primary sculptural work is The Representative of Humanity (1922), a nine-meter high wood sculpture executed as a joint project with the sculptor Edith Maryon. This was intended to be placed in the first Goetheanum. It shows a central human figure, the "Representative of Humanity," holding a balance between opposing tendencies of expansion and contraction personified as the beings of Lucifer and Ahriman.The Representative of Humanity Between Lucifer and Ahriman, The Wooden Model at the Goetheanum, Judith von Halle, John Wilkes (2010) from the German Die Holzplastik des Goetheanum (2008) It was intended to show, in conscious contrast to Michelangelo's Last Judgment, Christ as mute and impersonal such that the beings that approach him must judge themselves. The sculpture is now on permanent display at the Goetheanum.
Steiner's blackboard drawings were unique at the time and almost certainly not originally intended as art works. Joseph Beuys' work, itself heavily influenced by Steiner, has led to the modern understanding of Steiner's drawings as artistic objects.
Performing arts
Steiner wrote four mystery plays between 1909 and 1913: The Portal of Initiation, The Souls' Probation, The Guardian of the Threshold and The Soul's Awakening, modeled on the esoteric dramas of Edouard Schuré, Maurice Maeterlinck, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Steiner's plays continue to be performed by anthroposophical groups in various countries, most notably (in the original German) in Dornach, Switzerland and (in English translation) in Spring Valley, New York and in Stroud and Stourbridge in the U.K.
In collaboration with Marie von Sivers, Steiner also founded a new approach to acting, storytelling, and the recitation of poetry. His last public lecture course, given in 1924, was on speech and drama. The Russian actor, director, and acting coach Michael Chekhov based significant aspects of his method of acting on Steiner's work.Richard Solomon, Michael Chekhov and His Approach to Acting in Contemporary Performance Training , MA thesis University of Maine, 2002
Together with Marie von Sivers, Rudolf Steiner also developed the art of eurythmy, sometimes referred to as "visible speech and song". According to the principles of eurythmy, there are archetypal movements or gestures that correspond to every aspect of speech – the sounds (or phonemes), the rhythms, and the grammatical function – to every "soul quality" – joy, despair, tenderness, etc. – and to every aspect of music – tones, intervals, rhythms, and harmonies.
Esoteric schools
Steiner was founder and leader of the following:
His independent Esoteric School of the Theosophical Society, founded in 1904. This school continued after the break with Theosophy but was disbanded at the start of World War I.
A lodge called Mystica Aeterna within the Masonic Order of Memphis and Mizraim, which Steiner led from 1906 until around 1914. Steiner added to the Masonic rite a number of Rosicrucian references.
The School of Spiritual Science of the Anthroposophical Society, founded in 1923 as a further development of his earlier Esoteric School. This was originally constituted with a general section and seven specialized sections for education, literature, performing arts, natural sciences, medicine, visual arts, and astronomy. Steiner gave members of the School the first Lesson for guidance into the esoteric work in February 1924. Though Steiner intended to develop three "classes" of this school, only the first of these was developed in his lifetime (and continues today). An authentic text of the written records on which the teaching of the First Class was based was published in 1992.
Philosophical ideas
Goethean science
In his commentaries on Goethe's scientific works, written between 1884 and 1897, Steiner presented Goethe's approach to science as essentially phenomenological in nature, rather than theory or model-based. He developed this conception further in several books, The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World-Conception (1886) and Goethe's Conception of the World (1897), particularly emphasizing the transformation in Goethe's approach from the physical sciences, where experiment played the primary role, to plant biology, where both accurate perception and imagination were required to find the biological archetypes (Urpflanze). He postulated that Goethe had sought, but been unable to fully find, the further transformation in scientific thinking necessary to properly interpret and understand the animal kingdom. Steiner emphasized the role of evolutionary thinking in Goethe's discovery of the intermaxillary bone in human beings; Goethe expected human anatomy to be an evolutionary transformation of animal anatomy. Steiner defended Goethe's qualitative description of color as arising synthetically from the polarity of light and darkness, in contrast to Newton's particle-based and analytic conception.
A variety of authors have termed Goethean science pseudoscience. According to Dan Dugan, Steiner was a champion of the following pseudoscientific claims:
Goethe's Theory of Colours;
"he called relativity 'brilliant nonsense'";
"he taught that the motions of the planets were caused by the relationships of the spiritual beings that inhabited them";
vitalism;
doubting germ theory;
non-standard approach to physiological systems, including claiming that the heart is not a pump.
Knowledge and freedom
Steiner approached the philosophical questions of knowledge and freedom in two stages. In his dissertation, published in expanded form in 1892 as Truth and Knowledge, Steiner suggests that there is an inconsistency between Kant's philosophy, which posits that all knowledge is a representation of an essential verity inaccessible to human consciousness, and modern science, which assumes that all influences can be found in the sensory and mental world to which we have access. Steiner considered Kant's philosophy of an inaccessible beyond ("Jenseits-Philosophy") a stumbling block in achieving a satisfying philosophical viewpoint.
Steiner postulates that the world is essentially an indivisible unity, but that our consciousness divides it into the sense-perceptible appearance, on the one hand, and the formal nature accessible to our thinking, on the other. He sees in thinking itself an element that can be strengthened and deepened sufficiently to penetrate all that our senses do not reveal to us. Steiner thus considered what appears to human experience as a division between the spiritual and natural worlds to be a conditioned result of the structure of our consciousness, which separates perception and thinking. These two faculties give us not two worlds, but two complementary views of the same world; neither has primacy and the two together are necessary and sufficient to arrive at a complete understanding of the world. In thinking about perception (the path of natural science) and perceiving the process of thinking (the path of spiritual training), it is possible to discover a hidden inner unity between the two poles of our experience. Truth, for Steiner, is paradoxically both an objective discovery and yet "a free creation of the human spirit, that never would exist at all if we did not generate it ourselves. The task of understanding is not to replicate in conceptual form something that already exists, but rather to create a wholly new realm, that together with the world given to our senses constitutes the fullness of reality."
In The Philosophy of Freedom, Steiner further explores potentials within thinking: freedom, he suggests, can only be approached gradually with the aid of the creative activity of thinking. Thinking can be a free deed; in addition, it can liberate our will from its subservience to our instincts and drives. Free deeds, he suggests, are those for which we are fully conscious of the motive for our action; freedom is the spiritual activity of penetrating with consciousness our own nature and that of the world, and the real activity of acting in full consciousness. This includes overcoming influences of both heredity and environment: "To be free is to be capable of thinking one's own thoughts – not the thoughts merely of the body, or of society, but thoughts generated by one's deepest, most original, most essential and spiritual self, one's individuality."
Steiner affirms Darwin's and Haeckel's evolutionary perspectives but extended this beyond its materialistic consequences; he sees human consciousness, indeed, all human culture, as a product of natural evolution that transcends itself. For Steiner, nature becomes self-conscious in the human being. Steiner's description of the nature of human consciousness thus closely parallels that of Solovyov.
Spiritual science
In his earliest works, Steiner already spoke of the "natural and spiritual worlds" as a unity. From 1900 on, he began lecturing about concrete details of the spiritual world(s), culminating in the publication in 1904 of the first of several systematic presentations, his Theosophy: An Introduction to the Spiritual Processes in Human Life and in the Cosmos. As a starting point for the book Steiner took a quotation from Goethe, describing the method of natural scientific observation, while in the Preface he made clear that the line of thought taken in this book led to the same goal as that in his earlier work, The Philosophy of Freedom.
In the years 1903–1908 Steiner maintained the magazine Lucifer-Gnosis and published in it essays on topics such as initiation, reincarnation and karma, and knowledge of the supernatural world. Some of these were later collected and published as books, such as How to Know Higher Worlds (1904–5) and Cosmic Memory. The book An Outline of Esoteric Science was published in 1910. Important themes include:
the human being as body, soul and spirit;
the path of spiritual development;
spiritual influences on world-evolution and history; and
reincarnation and karma.
Steiner emphasized that there is an objective natural and spiritual world that can be known, and that perceptions of the spiritual world and incorporeal beings are, under conditions of training comparable to that required for the natural sciences, including self-discipline, replicable by multiple observers. It is on this basis that spiritual science is possible, with radically different epistemological foundations than those of natural science. He believed that natural science was correct in its methods but one-sided for exclusively focusing on sensory phenomena, while mysticism was vague in its methods, though seeking to explore the inner and spiritual life. Anthroposophy was meant to apply the systematic methods of the former to the content of the latterOne of Steiner's teachers, Franz Brentano, had famously declared that "The true method of philosophy can only be the method of natural science" (Walach, Harald, "Criticism of Transpersonal Psychology and Beyond", in The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, ed. H. L. Friedman and G. Hartelius. P. 45.)
For Steiner, the cosmos is permeated and continually transformed by the creative activity of non-physical processes and spiritual beings. For the human being to become conscious of the objective reality of these processes and beings, it is necessary to creatively enact and reenact, within, their creative activity. Thus objective spiritual knowledge always entails creative inner activity. Steiner articulated three stages of any creative deed:
Moral intuition: the ability to discover or, preferably, develop valid ethical principles;
Moral imagination: the imaginative transformation of such principles into a concrete intention applicable to the particular situation (situational ethics); and
Moral technique: the realization of the intended transformation, depending on a mastery of practical skills.
Steiner termed his work from this period onwards Anthroposophy. He emphasized that the spiritual path he articulated builds upon and supports individual freedom and independent judgment; for the results of spiritual research to be appropriately presented in a modern context they must be in a form accessible to logical understanding, so that those who do not have access to the spiritual experiences underlying anthroposophical research can make independent evaluations of the latter's results. Spiritual training is to support what Steiner considered the overall purpose of human evolution, the development of the mutually interdependent qualities of love and freedom.
Steiner and Christianity
Steiner appreciated the ritual of the mass he experienced while serving as an altar boy from school age until he was ten years old, and this experience remained memorable for him as a genuinely spiritual one, contrasting with his irreligious family life. As a young adult, Steiner had no formal connection to organized religion. In 1899, he experienced what he described as a life-transforming inner encounter with the being of Christ. Steiner was then 38, and the experience of meeting Christ occurred after a tremendous inner struggle. To use Steiner's own words, the "experience culminated in my standing in the spiritual presence of the Mystery of Golgotha in a most profound and solemn festival of knowledge." His relationship to Christianity thereafter remained entirely founded upon personal experience, and thus both non-denominational and strikingly different from conventional religious forms.
Christ and human evolution
Steiner describes Christ as the unique pivot and meaning of earth's evolutionary processes and human history, redeeming the Fall from Paradise. He understood the Christ as a being that unifies and inspires all religions, not belonging to a particular religious faith. To be "Christian" is, for Steiner, a search for balance between polarizing extremes and the ability to manifest love in freedom.
Central principles of his understanding include:
The being of Christ is central to all religions, though called by different names by each.
Every religion is valid and true for the time and cultural context in which it was born.
Historical forms of Christianity need to be transformed in our times in order to meet the ongoing evolution of humanity.
In Steiner's esoteric cosmology, the spiritual development of humanity is interwoven in and inseparable from the cosmological development of the universe. Continuing the evolution that led to humanity being born out of the natural world, the Christ being brings an impulse enabling human consciousness of the forces that act creatively, but unconsciously, in nature.
Divergence from conventional Christian thought
Steiner's views of Christianity diverge from conventional Christian thought in key places, and include gnostic elements. However, unlike many gnostics, Steiner affirms the unique and actual physical Incarnation of Christ in Jesus at the beginning of the Christian era.
One of the central points of divergence with conventional Christian thought is found in Steiner's views on reincarnation and karma.
Steiner also posited two different Jesus children involved in the Incarnation of the Christ: one child descended from Solomon, as described in the Gospel of Matthew; the other child from Nathan, as described in the Gospel of Luke. He references in this regard the fact that the genealogies in these two gospels list twenty-six (Luke) to forty-one (Matthew) completely different ancestors for the generations from David to Jesus.
Steiner's view of the second coming of Christ is also unusual. He suggested that this would not be a physical reappearance, but rather, meant that the Christ being would become manifest in non-physical form, in the "etheric realm" – i.e. visible to spiritual vision and apparent in community life – for increasing numbers of people, beginning around the year 1933. He emphasized that the future would require humanity to recognize this Spirit of Love in all its genuine forms, regardless of how this is named. He also warned that the traditional name, "Christ", might be used, yet the true essence of this Being of Love ignored.
The Christian Community
In the 1920s, Steiner was approached by Friedrich Rittelmeyer, a Lutheran pastor with a congregation in Berlin, who asked if it was possible to create a more modern form of Christianity. Soon others joined Rittelmeyer – mostly Protestant pastors and theology students, but including several Roman Catholic priests. Steiner offered counsel on renewing the spiritual potency of the sacraments while emphasizing freedom of thought and a personal relationship to religious life. He envisioned a new synthesis of Catholic and Protestant approaches to religious life, terming this "modern, Johannine Christianity".
The resulting movement for religious renewal became known as "The Christian Community". Its work is based on a free relationship to Christ without dogma or policies. Its priesthood, which is open to both men and women, is free to preach out of their own spiritual insights and creativity.
Steiner emphasized that the resulting movement for the renewal of Christianity was a personal gesture of help to a movement founded by Rittelmeyer and others independently of his anthroposophical work. The distinction was important to Steiner because he sought with Anthroposophy to create a scientific, not faith-based, spirituality. He recognized that for those who wished to find more traditional forms, however, a renewal of the traditional religions was also a vital need of the times.
Reception
Steiner's work has influenced a broad range of notable personalities. These include:
philosophers Albert Schweitzer, Owen Barfield and Richard Tarnas;
writers Saul Bellow, Andrej Belyj,Judith Wermuth-Atkinson, The Red Jester: Andrei Bely's Petersburg as a Novel of the European Modern (2012). Michael Ende, Selma Lagerlöf, Edouard Schuré, David Spangler, and William Irwin Thompson;
child psychiatrist Eva Frommer;
music therapist Maria Schüppel
economist Leonard Read;
ecologist Rachel Carson;
artists Joseph Beuys, Wassily Kandinsky, and Murray Griffin;
esotericist and educationalist George Trevelyan;
actor and acting teacher Michael Chekhov;
cinema director Andrei Tarkovsky;
composers Jonathan Harvey and Viktor Ullmann; and
conductor Bruno Walter.
Olav Hammer, though sharply critical of esoteric movements generally, terms Steiner "arguably the most historically and philosophically sophisticated spokesperson of the Esoteric Tradition."
Albert Schweitzer wrote that he and Steiner had in common that they had "taken on the life mission of working for the emergence of a true culture enlivened by the ideal of humanity and to encourage people to become truly thinking beings". However, Schweitzer was not an adept of mysticism or occultism, but of Age of Enlightenment rationalism.
Anthony Storr stated about Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy: "His belief system is so eccentric, so unsupported by evidence, so manifestly bizarre, that rational skeptics are bound to consider it delusional.... But, whereas Einstein's way of perceiving the world by thought became confirmed by experiment and mathematical proof, Steiner's remained intensely subjective and insusceptible of objective confirmation."
Robert Todd Carroll has said of Steiner that "Some of his ideas on education – such as educating the handicapped in the mainstream – are worth considering, although his overall plan for developing the spirit and the soul rather than the intellect cannot be admired". Translators have pointed out that the German term Geist can be translated equally properly as either mind or spirit, however, and that Steiner's usage of this term encompassed both meanings.
The 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner's birth was marked by the first major retrospective exhibition of his art and work, 'Kosmos - Alchemy of the everyday'. Organized by Vitra Design Museum, the traveling exhibition presented many facets of Steiner's life and achievements, including his influence on architecture, furniture design, dance (Eurythmy), education, and agriculture (Biodynamic agriculture). The exhibition opened in 2011 at the Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart, Germany,
Heresiology
The teachings of Anthroposophy got called Christian Gnosticism. Indeed, according to the official stance of the Catholic Church, Anthroposophy is "a neognostic heresy". Other heresiologists agree. The Lutheran (Missouri Sinod) apologist and heresiologist Eldon K. Winker said that Steiner had the same Christology as Cerinthus. Indeed, Steiner thought that Jesus and Christ were two separated beings, who got fused for a while.
Scientism
Olav Hammer has criticized as scientism Steiner's claim to use scientific methodology to investigate spiritual phenomena that were based upon his claims of clairvoyant experience. Steiner regarded the observations of spiritual research as more dependable (and above all, consistent) than observations of physical reality. However, he did consider spiritual research to be fallible, and held the view that anyone capable of thinking logically was in a position to correct errors by spiritual researchers.
Race and ethnicity
Steiner's work includes both universalist, humanist elements and racial assumptions. Due to the contrast and even contradictions between these elements, one commentator argues: "whether a given reader interprets Anthroposophy as racist or not depends upon that reader's concerns". Steiner considered that by dint of its shared language and culture, each people has a unique essence, which he called its soul or spirit. He saw race as a physical manifestation of humanity's spiritual evolution, and at times discussed race in terms of complex hierarchies that were largely derived from 19th century biology, anthropology, philosophy and theosophy. However, he consistently and explicitly subordinated race, ethnicity, gender, and indeed all hereditary factors, to individual factors in development. For Steiner, human individuality is centered in a person's unique biography, and he believed that an individual's experiences and development are not bound by a single lifetime or the qualities of the physical body.
Steiner occasionally characterized specific races, nations and ethnicities in ways that have been deemed racist by critics. This includes descriptions by him of certain races and ethnic groups as flowering, others as backward, or destined to degenerate or disappear. He presented explicitly hierarchical views of the spiritual evolution of different races, including—at times, and inconsistently—portraying the white race, European culture or Germanic culture as representing the high point of human evolution as of the early 20th century, although he did describe them as destined to be superseded by future cultures.
Throughout his life Steiner consistently emphasized the core spiritual unity of all the world's peoples and sharply criticized racial prejudice. He articulated beliefs that the individual nature of any person stands higher than any racial, ethnic, national or religious affiliation. His belief that race and ethnicity are transient and superficial, and not essential aspects of the individual, was partly rooted in his conviction that each individual reincarnates in a variety of different peoples and races over successive lives, and that each of us thus bears within him or herself the heritage of many races and peoples.Eugen Blume, "Joseph Beuys". In Kugler and Baur, Rudolf Steiner in Kunst und Architektur, , p. 186 Toward the end of his life, Steiner predicted that race will rapidly lose any remaining significance for future generations. In Steiner's view, culture is universal, and explicitly not ethnically based, and he vehemently criticized imperialism.
In the context of his ethical individualism, Steiner considered "race, folk, ethnicity and gender" to be general, describable categories into which individuals may choose to fit, but from which free human beings can and will liberate themselves.
The racism of Anthroposophy is spiritual and paternalistic (i.e. benevolent), while the racism of fascism is materialistic and often malign. Olav Hammer, university professor expert in new religious movements and Western esotericism, confirms that now the racist and anti-Semitic character of Steiner's teachings can no longer be denied, even if that is "spiritual racism".
Judaism
During the years when Steiner was best known as a literary critic, he published a series of articles attacking various manifestations of antisemitism and criticizing some of the most prominent anti-Semites of the time as "barbaric" and "enemies of culture"."Hammer und Hakenkreuz – Anthroposophie im Visier der völkischen Bewegung", Südwestrundfunk, 26 November 2004 Steiner also suggested that Jewish cultural and social life had lost all contemporary relevance and promoted full assimilation of the Jewish people into the nations in which they lived. Steiner was a critic of his contemporary Theodor Herzl's goal of a Zionist state, and indeed of any ethnically determined state, as he considered ethnicity to be an outmoded basis for social life and civic identity.
Writings (selection)
See also Works in GermanThe standard edition of Steiner's Collected Works constitutes about 422 volumes. This includes 44 volumes of his writings (books, essay, plays, and correspondence), over 6000 lectures, and some 80 volumes (some still in production) documenting his artistic work (architecture, drawings, paintings, graphic design, furniture design, choreography, etc.). His architectural work, particularly, has also been documented extensively outside of the Collected Works.
Goethean Science (1883–1897)
Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World-Conception (1886)
Truth and Knowledge, doctoral thesis, (1892)
Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path, also published as the Philosophy of Spiritual Activity and the Philosophy of Freedom (1894)
Mysticism at the Dawn of Modern Age ()
Christianity as Mystical Fact (1902)
Theosophy: An Introduction to the Spiritual Processes in Human Life and in the Cosmos (1904)
How to Know Higher Worlds: A Modern Path of Initiation (1904–5)
Cosmic Memory: Prehistory of Earth and Man (1904) (Also published as The Submerged Continents of Atlantis and Lemuria)
The Education of the Child, (1907)
The Way of Initiation, (1908) (English edition trans. by Max Gysi)
Initiation and Its Results, (1909) (English edition trans. by Max Gysi)
An Outline of Esoteric Science (1910)
Four Mystery Dramas (1913)
The Renewal of the Social Organism (1919)
Fundamentals of Therapy: An Extension of the Art of Healing Through Spiritual Knowledge (1925)
Reincarnation and Immortality, Rudolf Steiner Publications. (1970)
Rudolf Steiner: An Autobiography, Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1977, (Originally, The Story of my Life)
Rudolf Steiner, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fighter for Freedom Garber Communications; 2nd revised edition (July 1985)
See also
Esotericism
Guardian of the Threshold
Rudolf Steiner and colour mysticism
Martinus
References
Notes
Citations
Further reading
Almon, Joan (ed.) Meeting Rudolf Steiner, firsthand experiences compiled from the Journal for Anthroposophy since 1960,
Anderson, Adrian: Rudolf Steiner Handbook, Port Campbell Press, 2014,
Childs, Gilbert, Rudolf Steiner: His Life and Work,
Davy, Adams and Merry, A Man before Others: Rudolf Steiner Remembered. Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993.
Easton, Stewart, Rudolf Steiner: Herald of a New Epoch,
Hemleben, Johannes and Twyman, Leo, Rudolf Steiner: An Illustrated Biography. Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001.
Kries, Mateo and Vegesack, Alexander von, Rudolf Steiner: Alchemy of the Everyday, Weil am Rhein: Vitra Design Museum, 2010.
Lachman, Gary, Rudolf Steiner: An Introduction to His Life and Work, 2007,
Lindenberg, Christoph, Rudolf Steiner: Eine Biographie (2 vols.). Stuttgart, 1997,
Lissau, Rudi, Rudolf Steiner: Life, Work, Inner Path and Social Initiatives. Hawthorne Press, 2000.
McDermott, Robert, The Essential Steiner. Harper Press, 1984
Prokofieff, Sergei O., Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mysteries. Temple Lodge Publishing, 1994.
Seddon, Richard, Rudolf Steiner. North Atlantic Books, 2004.
Shepherd, A. P., Rudolf Steiner: Scientist of the Invisible. Inner Traditions, 1990.
Schiller, Paul, Rudolf Steiner and Initiation. SteinerBooks, 1990.
Selg, Peter, Rudolf Steiner as a Spiritual Teacher. From Recollections of Those Who Knew Him, SteinerBooks Publishing, 2010.
Sokolina, Anna, ed. Architecture and Anthroposophy. 2 editions. 268p. 348 ills. (In Russian with the Summary in English.) Moscow: KMK, 2001 ; 2010
Tummer, Lia and Lato, Horacio, Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy for Beginners. Writers & Readers Publishing, 2001.
Turgeniev, Assya, Reminiscences of Rudolf Steiner and Work on the First Goetheanum,
Villeneuve, Crispian, Rudolf Steiner: The British Connection, Elements from his Early Life and Cultural Development,
Wachsmuth, Guenther, The Life and Work of Rudolf Steiner: From the Turn of the Century to his Death, Whittier Books 1955.
Welburn, Andrew, Rudolf Steiner's Philosophy and the Crisis of Contemporary Thought,
Wilkinson, Roy, Rudolf Steiner: An Introduction to his Spiritual World-View,
Wilson, Colin, Rudolf Steiner: The Man and His Vision. An Introduction to the Life and Ideas of the Founder of Anthroposophy, The Aquarian Press, 1985,
External links
General
Rudolf Steiner Biographies
Rudolf Steiner Overview
The Goetheanum
Writings
The Rudolf Steiner Archive with English translations of thousands of Steiner's works: books, lectures, articles, essays, verses, etc.
Rudolf Steiner Library, USA
Rudolf Steiner Audio
An index of ALL lectures given by Rudolf Steiner, searchable and sort-able by title, keyword, date, place, and GA or Schmidt number
An index of lectures in English translation, sort-able by title, date, place, and GA or Schmidt number
A list of all known English translations
Collected works in English
German/English list of collected works
Articles and broadcasts about Steiner
The Personality of Rudolf Steiner and his Development, Edouard Schuré, Macoy Publishing (1910), from French, Paris (1908)
Heiner Ullrich, "Rudolf Steiner", Prospects: the quarterly review of comparative education (Paris, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education), vol.XXIV, no. 3/4, 1994, p. 555–572
Rudolf Steiner: 'Scientist of the Invisible' (Carlin Romano, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Volume 53, Issue 37, 2007, p. B16)
"From schools to business – Rudolf Steiner's legacy lives on", Deutsche Welle'' broadcast (in English), 28.02.2011
Rudolf Steiner's Blackboard Drawings, Berkeley Art Museum
Skeptics Dictionary
Category:1861 births
Category:1925 deaths
Category:19th-century Austrian philosophers
Category:20th-century Austrian architects
Category:20th-century Austrian philosophers
Category:20th-century Austrian poets
Category:20th-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights
Category:20th-century educational theorists
Category:20th-century sculptors
Category:Anthroposophists
Category:Austrian architects
Category:Austrian autobiographers
Category:Austrian choreographers
Category:Austrian educational theorists
Category:Austrian male dramatists and playwrights
Category:Austrian literary critics
Category:Austrian spiritual writers
Category:Austrian Theosophists
Category:People from Austria-Hungary
Category:Esotericists
Category:Expressionist architects
Category:Modernist architects
Category:New religious movements
Category:Occult writers
Category:People from Donji Kraljevec
Category:Philosophers of education
Category:Pseudoscience
Category:Spiritual teachers
Category:University of Rostock alumni
Category:Unsolved deaths
Category:Goethe scholars | [] | [
"The text does not provide information on when Rudolf Steiner was born.",
"Yes, Rudolf Steiner did receive formal education. He initially attended a village school, was briefly homeschooled because of a disagreement between his father and the schoolmaster, then went to a realschule in Wiener Neustadt. Later, he attended the Vienna Institute of Technology on an academic scholarship from 1879 to 1883, where he studied various subjects.",
"Yes, Rudolf Steiner attended the Vienna Institute of Technology.",
"He attended the Vienna Institute of Technology.",
"Yes, one of Steiner's teachers, Karl Julius Schroer, suggested Steiner's name to Joseph Kurschner, chief editor of a new edition of Goethe's works. Kurschner asked Steiner to become the natural science editor of the edition, an incredible opportunity for a young student without academic credentials or previous publications. This suggests that Schroer had a significant impact on Steiner's life.",
"Yes, Joseph Kurschner played a significant role in Rudolf Steiner's life. He gave Steiner an opportunity to become the natural science editor for a new edition of Goethe's works, which was an astonishing opportunity given that Steiner was a young student with no academic credentials or previous publications at the time.",
"An interesting detail about Rudolf Steiner's education is that he attended the Vienna Institute of Technology on an academic scholarship, where he studied a broad range of subjects including mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, biology, literature, and philosophy. Despite this, he withdrew from the institute in 1883 without graduating. Furthermore, despite his lack of formal academic credentials, one of his teachers recommended him for an editorial role on a new edition of Goethe's works, a significant opportunity for a young student.",
"The text does not provide information on who from Rudolf Steiner's childhood influenced him."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No"
] |
C_7430a89b17c44e8da1d0d36d3fd1294c_0 | Gracie Allen | Allen was born in San Francisco, California, to George Allen and Margaret Theresa ("Molly") Allen (nee Darragh; later Mrs. Edward Pidgeon), who were both of Irish Catholic extraction. She made her first appearance on stage at age three and was given her first role on the radio by Eddie Cantor. She was educated at the Star of the Sea Convent School and during that time became a talented dancer. | Films | In the early 1930s, Burns and Allen made several short films, preserving several of their classic vaudeville routines on celluloid. They also made two films with W. C. Fields--International House (1933) and Six of a Kind (1934). In 1937, Burns and Allen starred with Fred Astaire in A Damsel in Distress, a musical with an original score by George Gershwin, which introduced the song "A Foggy Day". It was Astaire's first RKO film without dancing partner Ginger Rogers. Astaire's co-star Joan Fontaine was not a dancer, and he was reluctant to dance on screen alone. He also felt the script needed more comic relief to enhance the overall appeal of the film. Burns and Allen had each worked in vaudeville as dancers ("hoofers") before forming their act, and when word of the project reached them, they called Astaire and he asked them to audition. Burns contacted an act he had once seen that performed a dance using brooms. For the next several weeks, he and Allen worked at home to learn the complicated routine for their audition. When they presented the "Whisk Broom Dance" to Astaire, he was so taken by it, that he had them teach it to him and it was added to the film. Their talents were further highlighted as they matched Astaire step by step in the demanding "Funhouse Dance". Throughout the picture, Burns and Allen amazed audiences and critics as they "effortlessly" kept pace with the most famous dancer in films, as many did not know either of them could dance. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_7430a89b17c44e8da1d0d36d3fd1294c_0_q#0",
"C_7430a89b17c44e8da1d0d36d3fd1294c_0_q#1",
"C_7430a89b17c44e8da1d0d36d3fd1294c_0_q#2",
"C_7430a89b17c44e8da1d0d36d3fd1294c_0_q#3"
] | [
"Why did they do running gags?",
"What stunt did she do at the Hollywood Bowl?",
"What position did they run for in 1940?",
"Who wrote a book about her?"
] | [
0,
1,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1437
],
[
1478
],
[
1478
],
[
1478
]
],
"texts": [
[
"did not know"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1437,
1478,
1478,
1478
],
"texts": [
"did not know",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen (July 26, 1895 – August 27, 1964) was an American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns, her straight man, appearing with him on radio, television and film as the duo Burns and Allen.
For her contributions to the television industry, Allen was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6672 Hollywood Boulevard. She and Burns were inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1988.
Costar Bea Benaderet said of Allen in 1966: "She was probably one of the greatest actresses of our time."
Early life
Allen was born in San Francisco, California, to George Allen and Margaret Theresa ("Molly") Allen (née Darragh; later Mrs. Edward Pidgeon), who were both of Irish Catholic descent. She made her first appearance on stage at age three, and was given her first role on the radio by Eddie Cantor. She graduated from Star of the Sea Convent School in 1914, and during that time became a talented dancer.
She soon began performing Irish folk dances with her three sisters, who were billed as "The Four Colleens". In 1909, Allen joined her sister, Bessie, as a vaudeville performer. At a performance in 1922, Allen met George Burns, and the two formed a comedy act. They were married on January 7, 1926, onstage at the Palace Theatre in Cleveland by a justice of the peace.
Allen was born with heterochromia, giving her two different color eyes; one blue and one green.
Birthdate myth
Some discrepancy exists as to her date of birth. Depending on the source, Allen is alleged to have been born on July 26 in 1895, 1896, 1902, or 1906. All public vital records held by the city and county of San Francisco were destroyed in the earthquake and great fire of April 1906. Her husband George Burns professed not to know exactly how old she was, though it was presumably he who provided the date of July 26, 1902 that appears on her death record. Allen's crypt marker also shows her year of birth as 1902.
Among Allen's signature jokes was a dialogue in which she would claim that she was born in 1906. Her foil would press her for proof or corroborating information, and she would reply that her birth certificate had been destroyed in the earthquake. Her foil would point out that she was born in July, but that the earthquake was three months earlier in April. Allen would simply smile and reply: "Well, it was an awfully big earthquake."
Presumably the most reliable information comes from U.S. Census data collected on June 1, 1900 that shows Grace Allen, age four (born in July 1895), along with her parents and five siblings. This proves that Allen was born before 1900 and indicates that the birthdate of July 26, 1895 may be correct. Additionally, her senior year high school year book has been located.
Double act
The Burns and Allen act began with Allen as the straight man, setting up Burns to deliver the punchlines and receive the laughs. In his book Gracie: A Love Story, Burns explained that he had noticed that Allen's straight lines were bringing more laughs than did his punchlines, so he cannily flipped the act, making himself the straight man so that Allen would elicit the laughter. Audiences immediately fell in love with Allen's character, which combined the traits of naivete, zaniness and innocence. The reformulated team, focusing on Allen, toured the country, eventually headlining in major vaudeville houses. Many of their famous routines were preserved in one- and two-reel short films, including Lambchops (1929), made while the couple was still performing on the stage.
Burns attributed all of the couple's early success to Allen, ignoring his own brilliance as a straight man. He summarized their act by saying: "All I had to do was say, 'Gracie, how's your brother?' and she talked for 38 years. And sometimes I didn't even have to remember to say 'Gracie, how's your brother?'"
Radio
In the early 1930s, like many stars of the era, Burns and Allen graduated to radio. The show was originally a continuation of the flirtation act from their vaudeville and short-film routines. Burns realized that they were too old for that type of material and changed the show's format in the fall of 1941 into the situation comedy for which they are best remembered: a working showbusiness married couple negotiating ordinary problems caused by Gracie's "illogical logic", usually with the help of neighbors Harry and Blanche Morton and their announcer Bill Goodwin (later replaced by Harry von Zell during the run of their television series).
Publicity stunts
Burns and Allen frequently used running gags as publicity stunts. During 1932–33, they pulled off one of the most successful in the business: a year-long search for Allen's supposedly missing brother. They would make unannounced cameo appearances on other shows, asking if anyone had seen Allen's brother. However, her brother did not find it comical and eventually asked them to stop; he was so irked by the gag's popularity that he disappeared from society at the height of its popularity.
In 1940, Allen announced that she was running for president of the United States on the Surprise Party ticket. Burns and Allen embarked on a cross-country whistle-stop campaign tour on a private train, performing their live radio show in various cities. In one of her campaign speeches, Gracie said, "I don't know much about the Lend-Lease Bill, but if we owe it we should pay it." Another typical quip on the campaign trail was: "Everybody knows a woman is better than a man when it comes to introducing bills into the house." The Surprise Party mascot was the kangaroo, and its motto was "It's in the bag." As part of the gag, Dwell, Sloan and Pearce published a book, How to Become President by Gracie Allen (in reality, written by Burns and Allen writer Charles Lofgren) that included photographs from their nationwide campaign tour and the Surprise Party convention. Allen received an endorsement from Harvard University.
Allen was also the subject of one of S. S. Van Dine's Philo Vance mystery novels, The Gracie Allen Murder Case. Allen said: "S.S. Van Dine is silly to spend six months writing a novel when you can buy one for $2.95."
In another publicity stunt, Allen played a piano concerto at the Hollywood Bowl (and later at Carnegie Hall). The Burns and Allen staff hired a composer to write the "Concerto for Index Finger", a joke piece in which the orchestra would play madly, only to pause while Allen played a one-finger scale with a final incorrect note. The orchestra would then play a musical piece that developed around the wrong note. On her final solo, Allen would finally hit the right note, causing the entire orchestra to applaud. The actual index-finger playing was performed offstage by a professional pianist. The concerto was featured in the film Two Girls and a Sailor (1944) with an orchestra conducted by Albert Coates.
Films
In the early 1930s, Burns and Allen appeared in several short films in which they performed some of their classic vaudeville routines. They also appeared in two full-length movies with W. C. Fields: International House (1933) and Six of a Kind (1934). Burns and Allen also appeared in three out of the four Big Broadcast ensemble comedies including The Big Broadcast (1932) with Bing Crosby, The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935) with Crosby, and The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936) with Jack Benny. They were also in We're Not Dressing (1934), billed directly under Crosby and Carole Lombard.
In 1937, Burns and Allen starred with Fred Astaire in A Damsel in Distress, a musical with an original score by George Gershwin that introduced the song "A Foggy Day". It was Astaire's first RKO film without dancing partner Ginger Rogers. Astaire's costar Joan Fontaine was not a dancer, and he was reluctant to dance on screen alone. He also felt the script needed more comic relief to enhance the overall appeal of the film. Burns and Allen had each worked in vaudeville as dancers before forming their act, and when word of the project reached them, they called Astaire and he asked them to audition. Burns contacted an act whom he had once seen performing a dance using small whisk brooms. For the next several weeks, he and Allen practiced the complicated routine for their audition. When they presented the dance to Astaire, he liked it so much that he asked them teach it to him, and it was added to the film with the three of them dancing together. Burns and Allen also matched Astaire step-by-step in the film's demandingly epic dance sequence in a funhouse including amazing visuals with distorted mirrors.
Their next film the following year was College Swing (1938) starring Burns and Allen top-billed above Martha Raye and Bob Hope with a stellar supporting cast featuring Edward Everett Horton, Betty Grable, Jackie Coogan, John Payne, Robert Cummings, and Jerry Colonna. The picture was directed by Raoul Walsh.
A lively musical comedy came next titled Honolulu (1939) starring Eleanor Powell, Robert Young and Burns and Allen billed above the title. Unusually, Burns and Allen performed separately through most of the film until the end, with Allen singing and dancing the energetic titular song with Powell at one point while Burns is off-screen.
That same year, Allen's popularity was such that S.S. Van Dine wrote one of his Philo Vance detective novels featuring her as the principal character titled The Gracie Allen Murder Case. The zanily comedic book was adapted into a film, also titled The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939). Allen was billed above Warren William (the actor then portraying Philo Vance in the series of Vance films), and without Burns. The result was so successful that Allen was cast two years later in a similar mystery/comedy film titled Mr. and Mrs. North (1942) in which she is top-billed as a comedic detective, again without Burns in the cast.
Allen made her last film appearance in a musical cameo as an amusing concert pianist in Two Girls and a Sailor, without Burns, but remained in radio and would segue into series television with her husband six years later.
Television
In the fall of 1949, having apparently put their movie career behind them but working continuously in radio, Burns and Allen became part of the CBS talent raid. Their good friend and frequent guest star Jack Benny had already departed NBC for CBS, and CBS head William S. Paley made it clear that he believed that talent, not the network, made the difference, which was not the case at NBC. Benny convinced Burns and Allen (among others) to join him in the move to CBS. The Burns and Allen radio show became part of the CBS lineup, and a year later, they also brought their show to television as The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. They continued to use the formula that had kept them longtime radio stars, playing themselves only now as television stars, still living next door to Harry and Blanche Morton. They concluded each show with a brief dialogue performance in the style of their classic vaudeville and earlier radio routines.
Allen retired in 1958, and Burns tried to continue without her. The show was renamed The George Burns Show with the cast intact except for Allen. The show's setting was changed from the Burns home to his office, with Blanche working as Burns' secretary so that she could help Allen keep an eye on him. The renamed show barely lasted a year.
"Say good night, Gracie"
During their vaudeville routine, and later on radio and television, as their show ended, Burns would look at Allen and say "Say good night, Gracie," to which she would usually simply reply "Good night." A popular legend holds that she would reply "Good night, Gracie," but according to Burns, recordings of their radio and television shows and several histories of old-time radio (such as John Dunning's On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio), she never used the phrase.
Private life
In the 1930s, Burns and Allen adopted two children, Sandra Jean and Ronald Jon, after discovering that they could not conceive on their own. They agreed to raise the children as Catholics and to permit them to make their own religious choices as adults. Ronnie eventually joined the cast of his parents' television show, playing their son, a serious drama student who disdains comedy. Sandy made only occasional appearances on the show (usually as a telephone operator, waitress, secretary or clerk), and left showbusiness to become a teacher.
As a child, Allen had been scalded badly on one arm, and she was extremely sensitive about the scarring. Throughout her life, she wore long or three-quarter length sleeves to hide the scars, and the half-forearm style became her trademark. When the couple moved to Beverly Hills and acquired a swimming pool, Allen wore a bathing suit and swam the length of the pool to prove to her children that she could swim; she had taken swimming lessons to fight a longtime fear of drowning. She never again wore a bathing suit or entered the pool.
Allen was said to be sensitive about having one green eye and one blue eye (heterochromia), and some speculation in various biographies report that plans to film the eighth season of The Burns & Allen Show in color prompted her retirement, but this seems unlikely as a color episode was filmed and broadcast in 1954 (a clip of the episode was included in a CBS anniversary show), plus there were many color publicity photographs published. Allen retired in 1958 for health reasons; Burns repeatedly noted that she had continued with the television show as long as she did in order to please him, in spite of her health problems.
In later years, Burns admitted that he had a very brief extramarital affair. Stricken by guilt, he phoned Jack Benny and told him about the indiscretion, but Allen overheard the conversation and Burns quietly bought her an expensive centerpiece. Burns also said that he spent $10,000 on a diamond ring for Gracie upon the cessation of the affair. Nothing more was said, but years later, Burns discovered that Allen had subsequently told one of her friends about the affair, finishing with, "You know, I really wish George would cheat on me again. I could use a new centerpiece."
Death
Allen, who had a history of heart disease, died from a heart attack in Hollywood on August 27, 1964 at age 62 (later found to be 69 according to census records). Her remains were interred in a crypt at the Freedom Mausoleum in the Sanctuary of Heritage at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.
Burns' remains were interred at her side in 1996 when he died at the age of 100. The marker on the crypt was changed from "Grace Allen Burns—Beloved Wife And Mother (1895–1964)" to "Gracie Allen (1895–1964) and George Burns (1896–1996)—Together Again".
Filmography
Lambchops (1929; short) as Gracie the Girlfriend
The Big Broadcast (1932; first feature film) as Gracie
International House (1933) as Nurse Allen
College Humor (1933) as Herself
Six of a Kind (1934) as Gracie Devore
We're Not Dressing (1934) as Gracie
Many Happy Returns (1934, first leading role) as Herself
Love in Bloom (1935) as Gracie Downey
Here Comes Cookie (1935) as Herself
The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935) as Herself
The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936) as Mrs. Platt
College Holiday (1936) as Calliope 'Gracie' Dove
A Damsel in Distress (1937) as Gracie
College Swing (1938) as Gracie Alden
Honolulu (1939) as Millie De Grasse
The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939; without George Burns – a "Philo Vance" mystery by S. S. Van Dine) as Herself
Mr. and Mrs. North (1941; second murder mystery film without Burns) as Pamela North
Two Girls and a Sailor (1944, guest appearance without Burns; last movie role) as Herself
Radio series
The Robert Burns Panatella Show: 1932–1933, CBS
The White Owl Program: 1933–1934, CBS
The Adventures of Gracie: 1934–1935, CBS
The Campbell's Tomato Juice Program: 1935–1937, CBS
The Grape Nuts Program: 1937–1938, NBC
The Chesterfield Program: 1938–1939, CBS
The Hinds Honey and Almond Cream Program: 1939–1940, CBS
The Hormel Program: 1940–1941, NBC
The Swan Soap Show: 1941–1945, NBC, CBS
Maxwell House Coffee Time: 1945–1949, NBC
The Amm-i-Dent Toothpaste Show: 1949–1950, CBS
Gracie Award
The Gracie Award is presented by the Alliance for Women in Media to recognize exemplary programming created by women, for women and about women in radio, television, cable and web-based media, including news, drama, comedy, commercials, public service, documentary and sports. The awards program encourages the realistic and multifaceted portrayal of women in entertainment, news, features and other programs. Allen has twice been nominated to the National Women's Hall of Fame, though she has not been inducted. She has been honored by James L. Brooks, who named Gracie Films after her.
See also
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, 1950–58, CBS
References
Further reading
Gracie a Love Story by George Burns (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1988)
The Great American Broadcast by Leonard Maltin (New York: Dutton, 1997)
I Love Her, That's Why!: An Autobiography by George Burns (1955, 2003, 2011)
Mcclintock, Walter. Current Biography Yearbook: 1951. Place of publication not identified: H W Wilson, 1951.
On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio by John Dunning (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998)
Say Goodnight, Gracie: The Story of Burns and Allen by Cheryl Blythe and Susan Sackett (1986, 1989)
Revised and Updated (2016) Amazon eBook
The Third Time Around by George Burns (New York: Putnam, 1980), including transcripts of several classic Burns & Allen routines.
External links
Home of George Burns & Gracie Allen-Radio Television Mirror – December 1940 (page 17)
Category:1895 births
Category:1964 deaths
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:Actresses from Los Angeles
Category:Actresses from San Francisco
Category:Age controversies
Category:American female dancers
Category:Dancers from California
Category:American film actresses
Category:American people of Irish descent
Category:American radio actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:Television personalities from Los Angeles
Category:American women television personalities
Category:American women comedians
Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Category:Female candidates for President of the United States
Category:Candidates in the 1940 United States presidential election
Category:Vaudeville performers
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:Comedians from California
Category:20th-century American women singers
Category:20th-century American comedians | [] | [
"The context does not provide information on why they did running gags.",
"The context does not provide information on any stunt she did at the Hollywood Bowl.",
"The context does not provide information on any position they ran for in 1940.",
"The context does not provide information on who wrote a book about her."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_1 | Josh Turner | Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs. In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. | 2005-2006: Your Man | In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later. "Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006. Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts. In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants. Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_1_q#0",
"C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_1_q#1",
"C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_1_q#2",
"C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_1_q#3",
"C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_1_q#4",
"C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_1_q#5",
"C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_1_q#6",
"C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_1_q#7",
"C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_1_q#8",
"C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_1_q#9",
"C_c883d96c04b848838e4f9658f7f6e279_1_q#10"
] | [
"what happened in 2005?",
"what was the second album?",
"did it have any hit singles?",
"was that song successful?",
"did they have any other hit singles?",
"was that a success as well?",
"did they tour at all?",
"what was the live album called?",
"did that album chart at all?",
"why just that restaurant?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
2,
2,
1,
1,
0
] | [
2,
2,
0,
0,
0,
0,
2,
2,
1,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
49
],
[
59
],
[
202
],
[
391
],
[
493
],
[
1347
],
[
1496
],
[
1540
],
[
1264
],
[
750
]
],
"texts": [
[
"In early 2006, Turner released his second album,"
],
[
"Your Man."
],
[
"The album's first single and title track, \"Your Man"
],
[
"\"Your Man\" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1"
],
[
"\"Would You Go with Me\""
],
[
"Would You Go with Me\" also reached the top of the country singles charts,"
],
[
"Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded,"
],
[
"Live At The Ryman"
],
[
"is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants."
],
[
"He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries."
],
[
"a song called \"Me and God\" was released as a single to Christian radio."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
49,
59,
202,
391,
493,
1347,
1496,
1540,
1264,
750
],
"texts": [
"In early 2006, Turner released his second album,",
"Your Man.",
"The album's first single and title track, \"Your Man",
"\"Your Man\" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1",
" \"Would You Go with Me\"",
"Would You Go with Me\" also reached the top of the country singles charts,",
"Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded,",
"Live At The Ryman",
"is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.",
"He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries.",
"a song called \"Me and God\" was released as a single to Christian radio."
]
} | Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and songwriter. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, "Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single release. His second album, Your Man (2006) accounted for his first two number-one hits: "Your Man" and "Would You Go with Me", while 2007's Everything Is Fine included a No. 2 in "Firecracker". Haywire, released in 2010, produced his biggest hit, the four week No. 1 "Why Don't We Just Dance" and another number one in "All Over Me". It was followed by Punching Bag (2012), whose lead-off single "Time Is Love" was the biggest country hit of 2012 according to Billboard Year-End.
Early life
Turner was born in Hannah, South Carolina. Growing up in the church, he founded a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts, where he sang bass, in addition to singing the bass and baritone parts in choirs.
In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal cord. Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic, where doctors advised him to let it heal on its own. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to rest his voice for a year. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal technique and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really well during that year."
After Hannah-Pamplico High School, he spent some time at Francis Marion University before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music and enrolled in Belmont University. After college, his fledgling career got a boost on Dec. 21, 2001, during his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, when he debuted a song he wrote titled "Long Black Train". He received a standing ovation in the middle of the song, then sang it again for an encore.
Career
2001–2004: Long Black Train
On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with the song "Long Black Train".
In 2003, Turner released his debut album, also entitled Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go on You" and "Long Black Train". Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go on You" were successful (the latter peaking at No. 46 on the country charts), "Long Black Train" spent more than forty weeks on the Billboard country charts, reaching a peak of No. 13 and receiving a gold certification. The third single, "What It Ain't", was less successful, reaching No. 31.
2005–2006: Your Man
In early 2006, Turner released his second album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton and released in late 2005. "Your Man" also climbed the charts slowly, eventually reaching No. 1 in early 2006. Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA four weeks after its release, and went Platinum six months later.
"Would You Go with Me" was the second single released from Your Man. Like the album's title track, "Would You Go with Me" also reached the top of the country singles charts, holding that position for two weeks; it also reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Turner also performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006.
Shortly after the album's release, a song called "Me and God" was released as a single to Christian radio. A duet with bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley, the song also featured members of the band Diamond Rio on background vocals. "Me and God" reached a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.
In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album. That same month, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded, singing a song called, "Church in the Holler". Turner's album Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman was recorded in April and is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Turner, along with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, wrote a song entitled "Say Yes"; recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007, the song was a minor Top 40 country hit for Drake, peaking at No. 36.
2007–2011: Everything Is Fine and Haywire
On September 29, 2007, while giving an award to Roy Clark on Clark's 20th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry, Turner was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted by Vince Gill on October 27, 2007. He is the second youngest member after Carrie Underwood.
Turner's third studio album for MCA Nashville, titled Everything Is Fine, was released on October 30, 2007. Its lead-off single, "Firecracker", became Turner's third Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at No. 2. The second single from Everything Is Fine, a duet with Trisha Yearwood entitled "Another Try", was released in late January 2008, peaking at No. 15. The title track was released as the third single and peaked at No. 20. Everything Is Fine has been certified gold.
At the end of June, Turner wrapped up recording his fourth album, Haywire. The lead-off single, "Why Don't We Just Dance", which was released on August 12, 2009, debuted at No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of September 5, 2009. The song went on to become Turner's third Number One hit, spending four consecutive weeks at the top in February 2010. The album was released on February 9, 2010, along with a deluxe version. "All Over Me" was released in April 2010 as the album's second single; it became Turner's fourth Number One. On September 27, 2010, Turner shot the video for "I Wouldn't Be a Man" in Nashville, which was the third single from Haywire. "Haywire" is now certified gold.
2012–2017: Punching Bag and Deep South
Turner's fifth studio album, Punching Bag, was released via MCA Nashville on June 12, 2012, and preceded by the single "Time Is Love". The song, written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, and Mark Nesler, was released digitally on December 20, 2011, and went for radio adds on January 9. The song reached No. 2 but finished the year as the No. 1 country song of 2012 according to Billboard. The album's second single "Find Me a Baby", was released to country radio on October 15, 2012, but it failed to make top 40 on the country charts.
Also in 2012, Turner released Live Across America with twelve of his songs recorded in concert in different cities. This album was distributed through Cracker Barrel. Turner said, "Those are the most magical performances of each song."
The lead single from Turner's upcoming sixth studio album, "Lay Low", was released to country radio on September 1, 2014. It reached a peak of No. 25 on Country Airplay, at which it remained stalled at for several weeks. The single did not perform as expected on the charts, so Turner's label decided to delay the release of the album and next single. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016.
At Turner's show in Reading, PA on November 5, 2016, he announced that his new album would be released sometime in March 2017.
The album, titled "Deep South", was released on March 10, 2017, preceded by two sneak preview songs, "Deep South" and "Where the Girls Are" released on February 23, 2017. "Deep South" scored Turner his third No. 1 album on the US Top Country Album's Chart upon its release. Turner's second single "Hometown Girl" from "Deep South" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the Mediabase chart, which makes it Turner's 5th No. 1 single.
. Turner's third single "All About You," written by Craig Wiseman and Justin Weaver, was released on May 15, 2017.
2018–present: I Serve a Savior
After the release of Deep South, Turner began work on a project of gospel music. Titled I Serve a Savior, his seventh studio album was issued on October 26, 2018. It consists of a collection of mostly gospel standards with a few original songs, including its title track that Turner co-wrote. The album also features appearances by Sonya Isaacs, Bobby Osborne, and Turner's own family (who sing and play instruments on a track penned by his wife and oldest son), and new live renditions of both "Long Black Train" and "Me and God."
Acting
Turner played George Beverly Shea in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, about the evangelist Billy Graham. Shea was the soloist for the Billy Graham Crusades.
Personal life
Turner has one brother and one sister. He married his wife Jennifer Ford in 2003. They met at Belmont University, a private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee, where they both attended school at the time. Jennifer travels with Josh when he's on tour, playing keyboards and singing background vocals. They have four sons together.
Turner is a devout Christian. Regarding his religion, Turner said "I don't believe God wants me to be a gospel singer, he just wants me to be a Christian singer. That's who I am, a Christian."
On September 19, 2019, a tour bus carrying Turner's road crew crashed in California, killing one and injuring seven others, according to the California Highway Patrol. Turner was not on the bus.
Discography
Studio albums
Long Black Train (2003)
Your Man (2006)
Everything Is Fine (2007)
Haywire (2010)
Punching Bag (2012)
Deep South (2017)
I Serve a Savior (2018)
Country State of Mind (2020)
King Size Manger (2021)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official Josh Turner page at Universal Music Group Nashville
Josh Turner Interview at CountryMusicPride.com
Category:1977 births
Category:American bass-baritones
Category:American country singer-songwriters
Category:American male singer-songwriters
Category:Belmont University alumni
Category:Country musicians from South Carolina
Category:Francis Marion University alumni
Category:Grand Ole Opry members
Category:Living people
Category:MCA Records artists
Category:People from Florence, South Carolina
Category:21st-century American singers
Category:21st-century American male singers
Category:Singer-songwriters from South Carolina | [] | [
"In 2005, the first single and title track, \"Your Man\", from Turner's second album was released. This song was written by Jace Everett, Chris DuBois and Chris Stapleton.",
"The second album was \"Your Man.\"",
"Yes, the album \"Your Man\" had hit singles. The title track \"Your Man\" and \"Would You Go with Me\" both reached the top of the country singles charts. Additionally, \"Me and God\" peaked at No. 16 on the country charts.",
"Yes, the song \"Your Man\" was successful. It slowly climbed the charts and eventually reached No. 1 in early 2006.",
"Yes, besides the title track \"Your Man\", the album also produced other hit singles like \"Would You Go with Me\", which topped the country singles charts and reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, and \"Me and God\", which peaked at No. 16 on the country charts.",
"Yes, \"Would You Go with Me\" was also a success, as it also reached the top of the country singles charts and held that position for two weeks. Furthermore, it paved its way to No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. Similarly, \"Me and God\" was successful as well, reaching a peak of No. 16 on the country charts.",
"The text does not provide information on whether Turner went on tour following the release of his album \"Your Man.\"",
"The live album was called \"Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman\".",
"The text does not provide information on whether the album \"Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman\" charted.",
"The text does not provide specific reasons why the album \"Josh Turner: Live At The Ryman\" was exclusively available through Cracker Barrel restaurants.",
"The article mentions that after the release of the album \"Your Man,\" Turner was nominated for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards. It also mentions that Turner performed at the Ryman Auditorium where a live album was recorded. Additionally, he co-wrote a song called \"Say Yes\" with veteran songwriters Brett James and Don Schlitz, which was recorded and released by singer Dusty Drake in 2007 and became a minor Top 40 country hit. Also of note is that Turner wanted his music to sound like that of the 18th and 19th centuries, as shared in a CMT Insider featurette."
] | [
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"no",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"No"
] |
C_952d2026949149b399b7ff1aea7fddce_0 | Nadia Comăneci | Nadia Elena Comaneci was born on November 12, 1961, in Onesti, which is a small town in the Carpathian Mountains, in Bacau County, Romania, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. Comaneci was born to Gheorghe and Stefania Comaneci, and has a younger brother. Her parents separated in the 1970s, and her father (1936-2012) later moved to Bucharest. She and her younger brother Adrian were raised in the faith of the Romanian Orthodox Church. | Summer Olympics in Montreal | "At Montreal [Comaneci] received four of her seven 10s on the uneven bars. The apparatus demands such a spectacular burst of energy in such a short time--only 23 seconds--that it attracts the most fanfare. But it is on the beam that her work seems more representative of her unbelievable skill. She scored three of her seven 10s on the beam. Her hands speak there as much as her body. Her pace magnifies her balance. Her command and distance hush the crowd. On July 18, Comaneci made history at the 1976 Summer Olympics, when during the team compulsory portion of the competition, she was awarded the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics for her routine on the uneven bars. However, Omega SA--the traditional Olympics scoreboard manufacturer-- was led to believe that it was impossible to receive a perfect ten, thus the scoreboard was not programmed to display that score. Comaneci's perfect 10 thus appeared as "1.00," the only means by which the judges could indicate that she had indeed received a 10. The crowd was at first confused, but soon understood and gave her a rousing ovation. During the remainder of the Montreal Games, Comaneci earned six additional tens. She won gold medals for the individual all-around, the balance beam and uneven bars. She also won a bronze for the floor exercise and a silver as part of the team all-around. Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim was her main rival during the Montreal Olympics; Kim became the second gymnast to receive a perfect ten for her performance on the vault. Comaneci also took over the spotlight from Olga Korbut, who had been the darling of the 1972 Munich Games. Comaneci's achievements are pictured in the entrance area of Madison Square Garden in New York City, where she is shown presenting her perfect beam exercise. Comaneci was the first Romanian gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title. She also holds the record for being the youngest Olympic gymnastics all-around champion ever. The sport has now revised its age-eligibility requirements. Gymnasts must now turn 16 in the same calendar year of the Olympics to compete during the Games. When Comaneci competed in 1976, gymnasts had to be 14 by the first day of the competition. Legally breaking this record is not currently possible. She was the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year for 1976 and the Associated Press's 1976 "Female Athlete of the Year". Back home in Romania, Comaneci's success led her to be awarded the Sickle and Hammer Gold Medal, and named a Hero of Socialist Labor; she was the youngest Romanian to receive such recognition during the administration of Nicolae Ceausescu. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_952d2026949149b399b7ff1aea7fddce_0_q#0",
"C_952d2026949149b399b7ff1aea7fddce_0_q#1",
"C_952d2026949149b399b7ff1aea7fddce_0_q#2",
"C_952d2026949149b399b7ff1aea7fddce_0_q#3"
] | [
"What did Comaneci do at the summer Olympics?",
"What year did she participate in the Olympics?",
"Did she win any medals?",
"What other events did she participate in?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
582
],
[
500
],
[
1176
],
[
1261
]
],
"texts": [
[
"she was awarded the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics for her routine on the uneven bars."
],
[
"1976"
],
[
"She won gold medals for the individual all-around, the balance beam and uneven bars."
],
[
"She also won a bronze for the floor exercise and a silver as part of the team all-around."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
582,
500,
1176,
1261
],
"texts": [
"she was awarded the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics for her routine on the uneven bars.",
"1976",
"She won gold medals for the individual all-around, the balance beam and uneven bars.",
"She also won a bronze for the floor exercise and a silver as part of the team all-around."
]
} | Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner (born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian retired gymnast and a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. In 1976, at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games. At the same Games (1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal) she received six more perfect 10s for events en route to winning three gold medals. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Comăneci won two more gold medals and achieved two more perfect 10s. During her career Comăneci won nine Olympic medals and four World Artistic Gymnastics Championship medals.
One of the world's best-known gymnasts, Comăneci, along with Olga Korbut of the Soviet Union, displayed artistry and grace, which brought unprecedented global popularity to the sport in the mid-1970s. In 2000, Comăneci was named one of the Athletes of the 20th Century by the Laureus World Sports Academy. She has lived in the United States since 1989, when she defected from then-Communist Romania before its revolution in December that year. She later worked with and married American Olympic gold-medal gymnast Bart Conner, who set up his own school.
Early life
Nadia Elena Comăneci was born on November 12, 1961, in Onești, a small town in the Carpathian Mountains, in Bacău County, Romania, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. She was born to Gheorghe (1936–2012) and Ștefania Comăneci, and has a younger brother. Her parents separated in the 1970s and her father later moved to Bucharest, the capital. She and her brother, Adrian, were raised in the Romanian Orthodox Church. In a 2011 interview Nadia's mother said that she enrolled her daughter into gymnastics classes because as a child she was so full of energy and active that she was difficult to manage. After years of top-level athletic competition Comăneci graduated from Politehnica University of Bucharest with a degree in sports education, which qualified her to coach gymnastics.
Early gymnastics career
Comăneci began gymnastics in kindergarten with a local team called Flacăra ("The Flame"), with coaches Duncan and Munteanu. At age 6, she was chosen to attend Béla Károlyi's experimental gymnastics school after Károlyi spotted her and a friend turning cartwheels in a schoolyard. Károlyi was looking for gymnasts he could train from a young age. When recess ended, the girls quickly went inside and Károlyi went around the classrooms trying to find them; he eventually spotted Comăneci. (The other girl, Viorica Dumitru, developed in a different direction and became one of Romania's top ballerinas.)
By 1968, when she was seven, Comăneci started training with Károlyi. She was one of the first students at the gymnastics school established in Onești by Béla and his wife, Márta. As a resident of the town, Comăneci was able to live at home for many years; most of the other students boarded at the school.
In 1970 Comăneci began competing as a member of her home town team and, at age nine, became the youngest gymnast ever to win the Romanian Nationals. In 1971 she participated in her first international competition, a dual junior meet between Romania and Yugoslavia, winning her first all-around title and contributing to the team gold. For the next few years she competed as a junior in numerous national contests in Romania and dual meets with countries such as Hungary, Italy and Poland. At the age of 11, in 1973, she won the all-around gold, as well as the vault and uneven bars titles, at the Junior Friendship Tournament (Druzhba), an important international meet for junior gymnasts.
Comăneci's first major international success came at the age of 13, when she nearly swept the board at the 1975 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Skien, Norway. She won the all-around and gold medals in every event but the floor exercise, in which she was placed second. She continued to enjoy success that year, winning the all-around at the ‘Champions All’ competition and coming first in the all-around, vault, beam and bars at the Romanian National Championships. In the pre-Olympic test event in Montreal Comăneci won the all-around and the balance beam golds as well as silvers in the vault, floor and bars. Accomplished Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim won the golds in those events and was one of Comăneci's greatest rivals for the next five years.
1976
American Cup
In March 1976, Comăneci competed in the inaugural edition of the American Cup at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. She received rare scores of 10, which signified a perfect routine without any deductions, for her vault in the preliminary stage and for her floor exercise routine in the final of the all-around competition, which she won. During this competition, Comăneci met American gymnast Bart Conner for the first time. While he remembered this meeting, Comăneci noted in her memoirs that she had to be reminded of it later in life. She was 14 and Conner was celebrating his 18th birthday. They both won a silver cup and were photographed together. A few months later, they participated in the 1976 Summer Olympics that Comăneci dominated, while Conner was a marginal figure. Conner later said, "Nobody knew me, and [Comăneci] certainly didn't pay attention to me."
Summer Olympics in Montreal
On July 18, 1976, Comăneci made history at the Montreal Olympics. During the team compulsory portion of the competition, she was awarded the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics for her routine on the uneven bars. Omega SA, the official Olympics scoreboard manufacturer, had been led to believe that competitors could not receive a perfect ten, and had not programmed the scoreboard to display this score. Comăneci's perfect 10 thus appeared as "1.00," the only means by which the judges could indicate that she had received a 10.
During the remainder of the Montreal Games, Comăneci earned six additional "10s". She won gold medals for the individual all-around, the balance beam and uneven bars. She also won a bronze for the floor exercise and a silver as part of the team all-around. Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim was her main rival during the Montreal Olympics; Kim became the second gymnast to receive a perfect ten, in her case for her performance on the vault. Comăneci took over the media spotlight from gymnast Olga Korbut, who had been the darling of the 1972 Munich Games.
Comăneci was the first Romanian gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title. She also holds the record as the youngest ever Olympic gymnastics all-around champion at age 14. The sport has since raised its age-eligibility requirements so that gymnasts must be at least 16 in the same calendar year of the Olympics in order to compete. When Comăneci competed in 1976, gymnasts had only to be 14 by the first day of the competition. Unless the age of eligibility is lowered, Comăneci's record cannot be broken.
She was ranked as the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year for 1976 and the Associated Press's 1976 "Female Athlete of the Year". Back home in Romania, Comăneci was awarded the Sickle and Hammer Gold Medal for her success, and she was named a Hero of Socialist Labor. She was the youngest Romanian to receive such recognition during the administration of Nicolae Ceaușescu.
"Nadia's Theme"
"Nadia's Theme" refers to an instrumental piece that became linked to Comăneci shortly after the 1976 Olympics. It was part of the musical score of the 1971 film Bless the Beasts and Children and originally titled "Cotton's Dream". It was also used as the title theme music for the American soap opera The Young and the Restless.
Robert Riger used it in association with slow-motion montages of Comăneci on the television program ABC's Wide World Of Sports. The song became a top-10 single in the fall of 1976, and composers Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin Jr. renamed it as "Nadia's Theme" in Comăneci's honor. Comăneci never performed to "Nadia's Theme", however. Her floor exercise music was a medley of the songs "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" and "Jump in the Line," arranged for piano.
1977–1979
Comăneci successfully defended her European all-around title at the championship competition in 1977. When questions were raised at the competition about the scoring, Ceaușescu ordered the Romanian gymnasts to return home. The team followed orders amid controversy and walked out of the competition during the event finals.
Following the 1977 Europeans, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation removed Comăneci from her longtime coaches, the Károlyis, and sent her to Bucharest on August 23 to train at the sports complex. She did not find this change positive and was struggling with bodily changes as she grew older. Her gymnastics skills suffered, and she was unhappy to the point of losing the desire to live. After surviving a suicide attempt, Comăneci competed in the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg "seven inches taller and a stone and a half [21 pounds] heavier" than she was in the 1976 Olympics. A fall from the uneven bars resulted in a fourth-place finish in the all-around behind Soviets Elena Mukhina, Nellie Kim, and Natalia Shaposhnikova. Comăneci did win the world title on beam, and a silver on vault.
After the 1978 "Worlds", Comăneci was permitted to return to Deva and the Károlyis' school. In 1979, Comăneci won her third consecutive European all-around title, becoming the first gymnast, male or female, to achieve this feat. At the World Championships in Fort Worth that December, Comăneci led the field after the compulsory competition. She was hospitalized before the optional portion of the team competition for blood poisoning, which had resulted from a cut in her wrist from her metal grip buckle. Against doctors' orders, she left the hospital and competed on the beam, where she scored a 9.95. Her performance helped give the Romanians their first team gold medal. After her performance, Comăneci spent several days recovering in All Saints Hospital. She had to undergo a minor surgical procedure for the infected hand, which had developed an abscess.
1980–1984
1980 Summer Olympics
Comăneci was chosen to participate in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. As a result of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter declared that the United States would boycott the Olympics (several other countries also participated in the boycott, though their reasons varied). According to Comăneci, the Romanian government "touted the 1980 Olympic games as the first all-Communist Games." However, she also noted in her memoir, "in Moscow, we walked into the mouth of a lion's den; it was the Russians' home turf." She won two gold medals, one for the balance beam and one for the floor exercise (in which she tied with Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim, against whom she had also competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and other events). She also won two silver medals, one for the team all-around and one for individual all-around. Controversies arose concerning the scoring in the all-around and floor exercise competitions. As of the 2020 Summer Games, she is the only gymnast to defend her Olympic gold medal in the balance beam apparatus.
Her coach, Bela Károlyi, protested that she was scored unfairly. His protests were captured on television. According to Comăneci's memoir, the Romanian government was upset about Károlyi's public behavior, feeling that he had humiliated them. Life became very difficult for Károlyi from that point on.
"Nadia '81"
In 1981, the Gymnastics Federation contacted Comăneci and informed her that she would be part of an official tour of the United States named "Nadia '81" and her coaches Béla and Márta Károlyi would lead the group. During this tour, Comăneci's team shared a bus trip with American gymnasts; it was the third time she had encountered Bart Conner. They had earlier met in 1976. She later remembered thinking, "Conner was cute. He bounced around the bus talking to everyone—he was incredibly friendly and fun."
Her coaches Béla and Márta Károlyi defected on the last day of the tour, along with the Romanian team choreographer Géza Pozsár. Prior to defecting, Károlyi hinted a few times to Comăneci that he might attempt to do so and indirectly asked if she wanted to join him. At that time, she had no interest in defecting, and said she wanted to go home to Romania. After the defection of the Károlyis, life changed drastically for Comăneci in Romania, as she could not have predicted. Officials feared that she would also defect. Feeling she was a national asset, they strictly monitored her actions, refusing to allow her to travel outside the country.
1984 Summer Olympics
The government did allow Comăneci to participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles as part of the Romanian delegation. Although a number of Communist nations boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in a tit-for-tat against the U.S.-led boycott of the Olympics in Moscow four years before, Romania chose to participate. Comăneci later wrote in her memoir that many believed Romania went to the Olympics because an agreement had been made with the United States not to accept defectors. But Comăneci did not participate in the Games as a member of the Romanian team; she served as an observer. She was able to see Károlyi's new protégé, American gymnast Mary Lou Retton, who won five medals including one gold. The Romanian delegation did not allow her to talk with Károlyi and closely watched her the entire time.
1984–1990
The Romanian government continued to restrict Comăneci from leaving Romania, aside from a few select trips to Moscow and Cuba. She had started thinking about retiring a few years earlier, but her official retirement ceremony took place in Bucharest in 1984. It was attended by the chairman of the International Olympic Committee.
Comăneci later wrote in her memoir:
Life took on a new bleakness. I was cut off from making the small amount of extra money that had really made a difference in my family's life. It was also insulting that a normal person in Romania had the chance to travel, whereas I could not…. when my gymnastics career was over, there was no longer any need to keep me happy. I was to do as I was instructed, just as I'd done my entire life…. If Bela hadn't defected, I would still have been watched, but his defection brought a spotlight on my life, and it was blinding. I started to feel like a prisoner.
On the night of November 27, 1989, a few weeks before the Romanian Revolution, Comăneci defected with a group of other Romanians, crossing the Hungary–Romania border around Cenad. They were guided by Constantin Panait, a Romanian who later became an American citizen after defecting. Their journey was mostly on foot and at night. They traveled through Hungary and Austria and finally were able to take a plane to the United States.
1990–present
Comăneci moved to Oklahoma in 1991 to help her friend Bart Conner, another Olympic gold medalist, with his gymnastics school. She lived with the family of Paul Ziert and eventually hired him as her manager. Comăneci and Conner initially were just friends. They were together for four years before they became engaged.
Since 1994, the Nadia Comăneci International Invitational has welcomed gymnasts ranging from USAG level 4 to level 10. The competition has also hosted international elite competition in the mid-2010s, with Rebeca Andrade being a notable attendee in 2013 among others.
She returned to Romania for their 1996 wedding, which was held in Bucharest. This was after the fall of the Communist regime and the establishment of a capitalist Romania; the government welcomed her as a national hero. The wedding was televised live throughout Romania, and the couple's reception was held in the former presidential palace.
On May 18, 1997, Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner guest-starred on the Season 3 finale of Touched by an Angel where they performed a brief floor exercise within a montage scene.
Comăneci became a naturalized US citizen in 2001, while retaining her Romanian citizenship. In 2006, the couple's son Dylan was born.
She was the featured speaker at the 50th annual Independence Day Naturalization Ceremony on July 4, 2012, at Monticello, the first athlete invited to speak in the history of the ceremony. In October 2017, an area in the Olympic Park in Montreal was renamed "Place Nadia Comaneci" in her honor.
Leadership roles
Comăneci is a well-known figure in the world of gymnastics; she serves as the honorary president of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, the honorary president of the Romanian Olympic Committee, the sports ambassador of Romania, and as a member of the International Gymnastics Federation Foundation. She and Conner own the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy, the Perfect 10 Production Company, and several sports equipment shops, and are the editors of International Gymnast Magazine.
She is also still involved with the Olympic Games. During the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, one of her perfect-10 Montreal uneven bars routines was featured in a commercial for Adidas. In addition, both Comăneci and her husband Bart Conner provided television commentary for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. A few years later, on July 21, 2012, Comăneci, along with former basketball star John Amaechi, carried the Olympic torch to the roof of the O2 Arena as part of the torch relay for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Comăneci appeared in a TIDE advertisement called "The Evolution of Power" with Simone Biles and three-time Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes. She also offered daily analysis of the 2016 games (along with other Olympic champions such as Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, and Conner), for the late-night show É Campeão, broadcast on Brazil's SporTV.
In addition, Comăneci is highly involved in fundraising for a number of charities. She personally funded the construction and operation of the Nadia Comăneci Children's Clinic in Bucharest that provides low-cost and free medical and social support to Romanian children. In 2003, the Romanian government appointed her as an honorary consul general of Romania to the United States to deal with bilateral relations between the two nations. In addition, both Comăneci and Conner are involved with the Special Olympics.
To raise money for charity, Comăneci participated in Donald Trump's reality show, The Celebrity Apprentice, season seven. Comăneci was a member of "The Empresario" team (all women), which lost to "The Hydra" team (all men) in the second episode. Trump responded to this loss by firing Comăneci, thwarting her plan for raising money. Comăneci later commented on her participation in the show, saying she "had great fun. I only did it because it was all for charity."
Honors and awards
1975 and 1976: The United Press International Athlete of the Year Award
1976: Hero of Socialist Labour
1976: Associated Press Athlete of the Year
1976: BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year
1983: The Olympic Order
1990: International Women's Sports Hall of Fame
1993: International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
1998: Marca Leyenda
1998: Flo Hyman Award
2004: The Olympic Order
2016: Great Immigrant Honoree: Carnegie Corporation of New York
2017: She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2017.
2021: Order of the Star of Romania, Grand Officer
Skills
Comăneci was known for her clean technique, innovative and difficult original skills, and her stoic, cool demeanor in competition. On the balance beam, she was the first gymnast to successfully perform an aerial cartwheel-back handspring series. She is also credited as being the first gymnast to perform a double-twist dismount. Her skills on the floor exercise included a tucked double back salto and a double twist.
Comăneci has two eponymous uneven bars skills listed in the Code of Points, the Comăneci salto and the Comăneci dismount.
Competitive history
Book and films
Comăneci's 2004 memoir, Letters to a Young Gymnast, is part of the Art of Mentoring series by Basic Books.
Katie Holmes directed a short 2015 documentary for ESPN about Comăneci entitled Eternal Princess that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
In 2016, Arte France produced a Pola Rapaport documentary about Comăneci entitled Nadia Comăneci, la gymnast et le dictateur (Nadia Comăneci: The Gymnast and the Dictator).
In 1984, Comăneci was the subject of a biopic television film, Nadia. The film was developed without her involvement (although the content was described to her by others). She later stated publicly that the producers never made contact with her: "I sincerely don't even want to see it; I feel so badly about it. It distorts my life so totally."
In 2012, Universal Pictures chose Comăneci to dub Granny Norma in Romanian in the animated movie The Lorax.
In 2021, Stejărel Olaru published in Romanian a biographical volume, Nadia și Securitatea (Nadia and the Securitate), at Epica Publishing House.
See also
List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
List of Olympic female gymnasts for Romania
List of Olympic medal leaders in women's gymnastics
List of multiple Olympic medalists at a single Games
List of multiple Summer Olympic medalists
References
Citations
Cited sources
Further reading
External links
Voices of Oklahoma interview with Bart Conner. First person interview conducted on February 28, 2013, with Bart Conner, husband of Nadia Comăneci.
Video clips:
Nadia Comăneci makes history at the Montreal 1976 Olympics – The Olympic Channel, 2010
Nadia Comăneci – First Olympics Perfect 10 (Uneven Bars)- Montreal 1976 Olympics – The Olympic Channel, 2015
Nadia Comăneci – Selections from all of her routines – Montreal 1976 Olympics (overview) – The Olympic Channel, 2012
The Adorable Way This Olympic Couple First Met | Where Are They Now | Oprah Winfrey Network – Oprah Winfrey Network (U.S. TV channel), 2016
Nadia Comaneci & Bart Conner Commentate on Their Perfect Olympic Routines | Take the Mic – The Olympic Channel, 2016
Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner, 11 Olympic Medals in this Olympic Family – The Olympic Channel, 2016
Category:1961 births
Category:Living people
Category:BBC 100 Women
Category:Defectors to the United States
Category:Gymnasts at the 1976 Summer Olympics
Category:Gymnasts at the 1980 Summer Olympics
Category:Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics
Category:Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics
Category:Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Romania
Category:Olympic gold medalists for Romania
Category:Olympic silver medalists for Romania
Category:Olympic gymnasts for Romania
Category:Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics
Category:People from Onești
Category:People of the Cold War
Category:People with acquired American citizenship
Category:Recipients of the Olympic Order
Category:Romanian defectors
Category:Romanian emigrants to the United States
Category:Romanian female artistic gymnasts
Category:Romanian gymnastics coaches
Category:Special Olympics
Category:Universiade medalists in gymnastics
Category:World champion gymnasts
Category:BBC Sports Personality World Sport Star of the Year winners
Category:FISU World University Games gold medalists for Romania
Category:Olympic medalists in gymnastics
Category:The Apprentice (franchise) contestants
Category:Participants in American reality television series
Category:Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade
Category:European champions in gymnastics
Category:Sportspeople from Bacău County | [] | [
"At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Comaneci made history by being awarded the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics for her routine on the uneven bars. Due to assumptions that a perfect ten was impossible, her score was displayed as \"1.00\". During the rest of the Games, she earned six additional tens and won gold medals for the individual all-around, the balance beam, and uneven bars. She also won a bronze for the floor exercise and a silver as part of the team all-around.",
"She participated in the Olympics in the year 1976.",
"Yes, at the 1976 Summer Olympics, Comaneci won gold medals for the individual all-around, the balance beam, and uneven bars. She also won a bronze for the floor exercise and a silver as part of the team all-around.",
"Aside from the events where she won medals (individual all-around, balance beam, uneven bars, floor exercise, and team all-around), the context does not provide information on any other events that Comaneci participated in at the 1976 Olympics."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_1 | Beyoncé | Beyonce Giselle Knowles was born in Houston, Texas, to Celestine "Tina" Knowles (nee Beyince), a hairdresser and salon owner, and Mathew Knowles, a Xerox sales manager. Beyonce's name is a tribute to her mother's maiden name. Beyonce's younger sister Solange is also a singer and a former back up dancer for Destiny's Child. | Voice and songwriting | Jody Rosen highlights her tone and timbre as particularly distinctive, describing her voice as "one of the most compelling instruments in popular music". Her vocal abilities mean she is identified as the centerpiece of Destiny's Child. Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that her voice is "velvety yet tart, with an insistent flutter and reserves of soul belting". Rosen notes that the hip hop era highly influenced Beyonce's unique rhythmic vocal style, but also finds her quite traditionalist in her use of balladry, gospel and falsetto. Other critics praise her range and power, with Chris Richards of The Washington Post saying she was "capable of punctuating any beat with goose-bump-inducing whispers or full-bore diva-roars." Beyonce's music is generally R&B, but she also incorporates pop, soul and funk into her songs. 4 demonstrated Beyonce's exploration of 1990s-style R&B, as well as further use of soul and hip hop than compared to previous releases. While she almost exclusively releases English songs, Beyonce recorded several Spanish songs for Irreemplazable (re-recordings of songs from B'Day for a Spanish-language audience), and the re-release of B'Day. To record these, Beyonce was coached phonetically by American record producer Rudy Perez. She has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Destiny's Child and her solo efforts. Her early songs were personally driven and female-empowerment themed compositions like "Independent Women" and "Survivor", but after the start of her relationship with Jay-Z, she transitioned to more man-tending anthems such as "Cater 2 U". Beyonce has also received co-producing credits for most of the records in which she has been involved, especially during her solo efforts. However, she does not formulate beats herself, but typically comes up with melodies and ideas during production, sharing them with producers. In 2001, she became the first black woman and second female lyricist to win the Pop Songwriter of the Year award at the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Pop Music Awards. Beyonce was the third woman to have writing credits on three number one songs ("Irreplaceable", "Grillz" and "Check on It") in the same year, after Carole King in 1971 and Mariah Carey in 1991. She is tied with American lyricist Diane Warren at third with nine song-writing credits on number-one singles. (The latter wrote her 9/11-motivated song "I Was Here" for 4.) In May 2011, Billboard magazine listed Beyonce at number 17 on their list of the "Top 20 Hot 100 Songwriters", for having co-written eight singles that hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She was one of only three women on that list, along with Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_1_q#0",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_1_q#1",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_1_q#2",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_1_q#3",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_1_q#4",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_1_q#5",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_1_q#6",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_1_q#7",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_1_q#8"
] | [
"what happened with voice and songwriting?",
"what else does she say about her voice?",
"did anyone else have anything to say about her voice? good or bad.",
"what else did he comment about her voice?",
"what do people have to say about her songwriting?",
"did she win any awards at all?",
"what was her greatest accomplishment?",
"who did she work with?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
0,
1,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
154
],
[
236
],
[
298
],
[
1274
],
[
1907
],
[
2667
],
[
1625
],
[
1511
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Jody Rosen highlights her tone and timbre as particularly distinctive, describing her voice as \"one of the most compelling instruments in popular music"
],
[
"Her vocal abilities mean she is identified as the centerpiece of Destiny's Child."
],
[
"Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that her voice is \"velvety yet tart,"
],
[
"\"velvety yet tart, with an insistent flutter and reserves of soul belting\"."
],
[
"She has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Destiny's Child and her solo efforts."
],
[
"In 2001, she became the first black woman and second female lyricist to win the Pop Songwriter of the Year award"
],
[
"She was one of only three women on that list, along with Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift."
],
[
"Beyonce has also received co-producing credits for most of the records in which she has been involved,"
],
[
"after the start of her relationship with Jay-Z, she transitioned to more man-tending anthems such as \"Cater 2 U\"."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
154,
236,
298,
1274,
1907,
2667,
1625,
1511
],
"texts": [
"Jody Rosen highlights her tone and timbre as particularly distinctive, describing her voice as \"one of the most compelling instruments in popular music",
"Her vocal abilities mean she is identified as the centerpiece of Destiny's Child.",
"Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that her voice is \"velvety yet tart,",
"\"velvety yet tart, with an insistent flutter and reserves of soul belting\".",
"She has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Destiny's Child and her solo efforts.",
"In 2001, she became the first black woman and second female lyricist to win the Pop Songwriter of the Year award",
"She was one of only three women on that list, along with Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift.",
"Beyonce has also received co-producing credits for most of the records in which she has been involved,",
"after the start of her relationship with Jay-Z, she transitioned to more man-tending anthems such as \"Cater 2 U\"."
]
} | Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ) (born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and businesswoman. Nicknamed "Queen Bey", she has been widely recognized for her boundary-pushing artistry and vocal performances. Beyoncé is regarded as one of the greatest entertainers of her generation, and an influential figure in contemporary popular music. Her contributions to music and visual media have made her a prominent pop culture icon of the 2000s and 2010s.
Beyoncé started performing in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. Their hiatus saw the release of her debut album Dangerously in Love (2003). Following the 2006 disbanding of Destiny's Child, Beyoncé released the commercially successful solo albums B'Day (2006) and I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008). After professionally splitting from her manager and father, Mathew Knowles, in 2010, Beyoncé's artistry achieved wider critical acclaim for releasing sonically experimental visual albums, including 4 (2011), Beyoncé (2013), Lemonade (2016), and Renaissance (2022), all of which explored societal themes such as infidelity, feminism, womanism, escapism, and hedonism. She became the first solo artist to have their first seven studio albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200. Throughout her career, she has amassed multiple chart-topping singles worldwide, including "Crazy in Love", "Baby Boy", "Check on It", "Irreplaceable", "If I Were a Boy", "Halo", "Single Ladies", "Perfect Duet", "Savage" and "Break My Soul."
Beyoncé's other music ventures included Everything Is Love (2018), a collaborative album with her husband, Jay-Z, as the Carters, and the musical film Black Is King (2020), inspired by the music of the film soundtrack The Lion King: The Gift (2019). She also starred in multiple films such as Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), The Pink Panther (2006), Dreamgirls (2006), Cadillac Records (2008), Obsessed (2009), and The Lion King (2019).
Having sold 200 million records worldwide, Beyoncé is one of the world's best-selling recording artists. Her accolades include 32 Grammy Awards, 26 MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in 2014), 24 NAACP Image Awards, 31 BET Awards, and 17 Soul Train Music Awards, all of which are more than any other artist. With 31 career top-ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 – including eight chart-toppers – she became the first female artist and third overall to achieve at least twenty as a solo artist and ten as a group member. Her success during the 2000s earned her recognition as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)'s Top Certified Artist of the Decade and Billboard Top Female Artist of the Decade. In 2014, Billboard named her the highest-earning black musician of all time. She is the most successful black touring act in history. In 2020, Time magazine featured her among a list of 100 women who defined the last century. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked her the eighth-greatest singer of all time.
Life and career
1981–1996: Early life and career beginnings
Beyonce Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, 1981, in Houston, Texas, to Celestine "Tina" Knowles (née Beyonce), a hairdresser and salon owner, and Mathew Knowles, a Xerox sales manager. Tina is Louisiana Creole, and Mathew is African American. Beyoncé's younger sister, Solange Knowles, is also a singer and a former backup dancer for Destiny's Child. Solange and Beyoncé are the first sisters to have both had number one solo albums.
Beyoncé's maternal grandparents, Lumas Beyince, and Agnez Dereon (daughter of Odilia Broussard and Eugene DeRouen), were French-speaking Louisiana Creoles, with roots in New Iberia. Beyoncé is considered a Creole, passed on to her by her grandparents. Through her mother, Beyoncé is a descendant of many French aristocrats from the southwest of France, including the family of the Viscounts de Béarn since the 9th century, and the Viscounts de Belzunce. She is a descendant of Acadian militia officer Joseph Broussard, who was exiled to French Louisiana after the expulsion of the Acadians.
Her fourth great-grandmother, Marie-Françoise Trahan, was born in 1774 in Bangor, located on Belle Île, France. Trahan was a daughter of Acadians who had taken refuge on Belle Île after the Acadian expulsion. The Estates of Brittany had divided the lands of Belle Île to distribute them among 78 other Acadian families and the already settled inhabitants. The Trahan family lived on Belle Île for over ten years before immigrating to Louisiana, where she married a Broussard descendant. Beyoncé researched her ancestry and discovered that she is descended from a slave owner who married his slave. Her mother is also of distant Jewish, Spanish, Chinese and Indonesian ancestry.
Beyoncé was raised Catholic and attended St. Mary's Montessori School in Houston, where she enrolled in dance classes. Her singing was discovered when dance instructor Darlette Johnson began humming a song and she finished it, able to hit the high-pitched notes. Beyoncé's interest in music and performing continued after winning a school talent show at age seven, singing John Lennon's "Imagine" to beat 15/16-year-olds. In the fall of 1990, Beyoncé enrolled in Parker Elementary School, a music magnet school in Houston, where she would perform with the school's choir. She also attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and later Alief Elsik High School. Beyoncé was also a member of the choir at St. John's United Methodist Church as a soloist for two years.
When Beyoncé was eight, she met LaTavia Roberson at an audition for an all-girl entertainment group. They were placed into a group called Girl's Tyme with three other girls, and rapped and danced on the talent show circuit in Houston. After seeing the group, R&B producer Arne Frager brought them to his Northern California studio and placed them in Star Search, the largest talent show on national TV at the time. Girl's Tyme failed to win, and Beyoncé later said the song they performed was not good. In 1995, Beyoncé's father resigned from his job to manage the group. The move reduced Beyoncé's family's income by half, and her parents were forced to sell their house and cars and move into separated apartments.
Mathew cut the original line-up to four and the group continued performing as an opening act for other established R&B girl groups. The girls auditioned before record labels and were finally signed to Elektra Records, moving to Atlanta Records briefly to work on their first recording, only to be cut by the company. This put further strain on the family, and Beyoncé's parents separated. On October 5, 1995, Dwayne Wiggins's Grass Roots Entertainment signed the group. In 1996, the girls began recording their debut album under an agreement with Sony Music, the Knowles family reunited, and shortly after, the group got a contract with Columbia Records with the assistance of Columbia talent scout Teresa LaBarbera Whites.
1997–2002: Destiny's Child
The group changed their name to Destiny's Child in 1996, based upon a passage in the Book of Isaiah. In 1997, Destiny's Child released their major label debut song "Killing Time" on the soundtrack to the 1997 film Men in Black. In November, the group released their debut single and first major hit, "No, No, No". They released their self-titled debut album in February 1998, which established the group as a viable act in the music industry, with moderate sales and winning the group three Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards for Best R&B/Soul Album of the Year, Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist, and Best R&B/Soul Single for "No, No, No".
The group released their Multi-Platinum second album The Writing's on the Wall in 1999. The record features some of the group's most widely known songs such as "Bills, Bills, Bills", the group's first number-one single, "Jumpin' Jumpin' and "Say My Name", which became their most successful song at the time, and would remain one of their signature songs. "Say My Name" won the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and the Best R&B Song at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. The Writing's on the Wall sold more than eight million copies worldwide. During this time, Beyoncé recorded a duet with Marc Nelson, an original member of Boyz II Men, on the song "After All Is Said and Done" for the soundtrack to the 1999 film, The Best Man.
LeToya Luckett and Roberson became unhappy with Mathew's managing of the band and eventually were replaced by Farrah Franklin and Michelle Williams. Beyoncé experienced depression following the split with Luckett and Roberson after being publicly blamed by the media, critics, and blogs for its cause. Her long-standing boyfriend left her at this time. The depression was so severe it lasted for a couple of years, during which she occasionally kept herself in her bedroom for days and refused to eat anything. Beyoncé stated that she struggled to speak about her depression because Destiny's Child had just won their first Grammy Award, and she feared no one would take her seriously. Beyoncé would later speak of her mother as the person who helped her fight it. Franklin was then dismissed, leaving just Beyoncé, Rowland, and Williams.
The remaining band members recorded "Independent Women Part I", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 2000 film Charlie's Angels. It became their best-charting single, topping the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for eleven consecutive weeks. In early 2001, while Destiny's Child was completing their third album, Beyoncé landed a major role in the MTV made-for-television film, Carmen: A Hip Hopera, starring alongside American actor Mekhi Phifer. Set in Philadelphia, the film is a modern interpretation of the 19th-century opera Carmen by French composer Georges Bizet. When the third album Survivor was released in May 2001, Luckett and Roberson filed a lawsuit claiming that the songs were aimed at them. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 663,000 copies sold. The album spawned other number-one hits, "Bootylicious" and the title track, "Survivor", the latter of which earned the group a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. After releasing their holiday album 8 Days of Christmas in October 2001, the group announced a hiatus to further pursue solo careers.
In July 2002, Beyoncé made her theatrical film debut, playing Foxxy Cleopatra alongside Mike Myers in the comedy film Austin Powers in Goldmember, which spent its first weekend atop the U.S. box office and grossed $73 million. Beyoncé released "Work It Out" as the lead single from its soundtrack album which entered the top ten in the UK, Norway, and Belgium. In 2003, Beyoncé starred opposite Cuba Gooding, Jr., in the musical comedy The Fighting Temptations as Lilly, a single mother with whom Gooding's character falls in love. The film received mixed reviews from critics but grossed $30 million in the U.S. Beyoncé released "Fighting Temptation" as the lead single from the film's soundtrack album, with Missy Elliott, MC Lyte, and Free which was also used to promote the film. Another of Beyoncé's contributions to the soundtrack, "Summertime", fared better on the U.S. charts.
2003–2005: Dangerously in Love and Destiny Fulfilled
Beyoncé's first solo recording was a feature on Jay-Z's song '03 Bonnie & Clyde" that was released in October 2002, peaking at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. On June 14, 2003, Beyoncé premiered songs from her first solo album Dangerously in Love during her first solo concert and the pay-per-view television special, "Ford Presents Beyoncé Knowles, Friends & Family, Live From Ford's 100th Anniversary Celebration in Dearborn, Michigan". The album was released on June 24, 2003, after Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland had released their solo efforts. The album sold 317,000 copies in its first week, debuted atop the Billboard 200, and has since sold 11 million copies worldwide.
The album's lead single, "Crazy in Love", featuring Jay-Z, became Beyoncé's first number-one single as a solo artist in the US. The single "Baby Boy" also reached number one, and singles, "Me, Myself and I" and "Naughty Girl", both reached the top-five. The album earned Beyoncé a then record-tying five awards at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards; Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Dangerously in Love 2", Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Crazy in Love", and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "The Closer I Get to You" with Luther Vandross. During the ceremony, she performed with Prince.
In November 2003, she embarked on the Dangerously in Love Tour in Europe and later toured alongside Missy Elliott and Alicia Keys for the Verizon Ladies First Tour in North America. On February 1, 2004, Beyoncé performed the American national anthem at Super Bowl XXXVIII, at the Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. After the release of Dangerously in Love, Beyoncé had planned to produce a follow-up album using several of the left-over tracks. However, this was put on hold so she could concentrate on recording Destiny Fulfilled, the final studio album by Destiny's Child. Released on November 15, 2004, in the US and peaking at number two on the Billboard 200, Destiny Fulfilled included the singles "Lose My Breath" and "Soldier", which reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Destiny's Child embarked on a worldwide concert tour, Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It sponsored by McDonald's Corporation, and performed hits such as "No, No, No", "Survivor", "Say My Name", "Independent Women" and "Lose My Breath". In addition to renditions of the group's recorded material, they also performed songs from each singer's solo careers, most notably numbers from Dangerously in Love. and during the last stop of their European tour, in Barcelona on June 11, 2005, Rowland announced that Destiny's Child would disband following the North American leg of the tour. The group released their first compilation album Number 1's on October 25, 2005, in the US and accepted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2006. The group has sold 60 million records worldwide.
2006–2007: B'Day and Dreamgirls
Beyoncé's second solo album B'Day was released on September 4, 2006, in the US, to coincide with her twenty-fifth birthday. It sold 541,000 copies in its first week and debuted atop the Billboard 200, becoming Beyoncé's second consecutive number-one album in the United States. The album's lead single "Déjà Vu", featuring Jay-Z, reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second international single "Irreplaceable" was a commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in Australia, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand and the United States. B'Day also produced three other singles; "Ring the Alarm", "Get Me Bodied", and "Green Light" (released in the United Kingdom only).
At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards (2007), B'Day was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Ring the Alarm" and Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration"for "Déjà Vu"; the Freemasons club mix of "Déjà Vu" without the rap was put forward in the Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category. B'Day won the award for Best Contemporary R&B Album. The following year, B'Day received two nominations – for Record of the Year for "Irreplaceable" and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Beautiful Liar" (with Shakira), also receiving a nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Pictures, Television or Other Visual Media for her appearance on Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture (2006).
Her first acting role of 2006 was in the comedy film The Pink Panther starring opposite Steve Martin, grossing $158.8 million at the box office worldwide. Her second film Dreamgirls, the film version of the 1981 Broadway musical loosely based on The Supremes, received acclaim from critics and grossed $154 million internationally. In it, she starred opposite Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx, and Eddie Murphy playing a pop singer based on Diana Ross. To promote the film, Beyoncé released "Listen" as the lead single from the soundtrack album. In April 2007, Beyoncé embarked on The Beyoncé Experience, her first worldwide concert tour, visiting 97 venues and grossed over $24 million. Beyoncé conducted pre-concert food donation drives during six major stops in conjunction with her pastor at St. John's and America's Second Harvest. At the same time, B'Day was re-released with five additional songs, including her duet with Shakira "Beautiful Liar".
2008–2010: I Am... Sasha Fierce
I Am... Sasha Fierce was released on November 18, 2008, in the United States. The album formally introduces Beyoncé's alter ego Sasha Fierce, conceived during the making of her 2003 single "Crazy in Love". It was met with generally mediocre reviews from critics, but sold 482,000 copies in its first week, debuting atop the Billboard 200, and giving Beyoncé her third consecutive number-one album in the US. The album featured the number-one song "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and the top-five songs "If I Were a Boy" and "Halo". Achieving the accomplishment of becoming her longest-running Hot 100 single in her career,
"Halos success in the U.S. helped Beyoncé attain more top-ten singles on the list than any other woman during the 2000s. It also included the successful "Sweet Dreams", and singles "Diva", "Ego", "Broken-Hearted Girl" and "Video Phone". The music video for "Single Ladies" has been parodied and imitated around the world, spawning the "first major dance craze" of the Internet age according to the Toronto Star. The video has won several awards, including Best Video at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards, the 2009 Scottish MOBO Awards, and the 2009 BET Awards.
At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the video was nominated for nine awards, ultimately winning three including Video of the Year. Its failure to win the Best Female Video category, which went to American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me", led to Kanye West interrupting the ceremony and Beyoncé improvising a re-presentation of Swift's award during her own acceptance speech. In March 2009, Beyoncé embarked on the I Am... World Tour, her second headlining worldwide concert tour, consisting of 108 shows, grossing $119.5 million.
Beyoncé further expanded her acting career, starring as blues singer Etta James in the 2008 musical biopic Cadillac Records. Her performance in the film received praise from critics, and she garnered several nominations for her portrayal of James, including a Satellite Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and a NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. Beyoncé donated her entire salary from the film to Phoenix House, an organization of rehabilitation centers for heroin addicts around the country. On January 20, 2009, Beyoncé performed James' "At Last" at First Couple Barack and Michelle Obama's first inaugural ball.
Beyoncé starred opposite Ali Larter and Idris Elba in the thriller, Obsessed. She played Sharon Charles, a mother and wife whose family is threatened by her husband's stalker. Although the film received negative reviews from critics, the movie did well at the U.S. box office, grossing $68 million – $60 million more than Cadillac Records – on a budget of $20 million. The fight scene finale between Sharon and the character played by Ali Larter also won the 2010 MTV Movie Award for Best Fight.
At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé received ten nominations, including Album of the Year for I Am... Sasha Fierce, Record of the Year for "Halo", and Song of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", among others. She tied with Lauryn Hill for most Grammy nominations in a single year by a female artist. Beyoncé went on to win six of those nominations, breaking a record she previously tied in 2004 for the most Grammy awards won in a single night by a female artist with six. In 2010, Beyoncé was featured on Lady Gaga's single "Telephone" and appeared in its music video. The song topped the U.S. Pop Songs chart, becoming the sixth number-one for both Beyoncé and Gaga, tying them with Mariah Carey for most number-ones since the Nielsen Top 40 airplay chart launched in 1992. "Telephone" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
Beyoncé announced a hiatus from her music career in January 2010, heeding her mother's advice, "to live life, to be inspired by things again". During the break she and her father parted ways as business partners. Beyoncé's musical break lasted nine months and saw her visit multiple European cities, the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramids, Australia, English music festivals and various museums and ballet performances.
2011–2013: 4 and Super Bowl XLVII halftime show
On June 26, 2011, she became the first solo female artist to headline the main Pyramid stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival in over twenty years. Her fourth studio album 4 was released two days later in the US. 4 sold 310,000 copies in its first week and debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, giving Beyoncé her fourth consecutive number-one album in the US. The album was preceded by two of its singles "Run the World (Girls)" and "Best Thing I Never Had". The fourth single "Love on Top" spent seven consecutive weeks at number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while peaking at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest peak from the album. 4 produced four other singles; "Party", "Countdown", "I Care" and "End of Time". "Eat, Play, Love", a cover story written by Beyoncé for Essence that detailed her 2010 career break, won her a writing award from the New York Association of Black Journalists.
In late 2011, she took the stage at New York's Roseland Ballroom for four nights of special performances: the 4 Intimate Nights with Beyoncé concerts saw the performance of her 4 album to a standing room only. On August 1, 2011, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having shipped 1 million copies to retail stores. By December 2015, it reached sales of 1.5 million copies in the US. The album reached one billion Spotify streams on February 5, 2018, making Beyoncé the first female artist to have three of their albums surpass one billion streams on the platform.
In June 2012, she performed for four nights at Revel Atlantic City's Ovation Hall to celebrate the resort's opening, her first performances since giving birth to her daughter.
In January 2013, Destiny's Child released Love Songs, a compilation album of the romance-themed songs from their previous albums and a newly recorded track, "Nuclear". Beyoncé performed the American national anthem singing along with a pre-recorded track at President Obama's second inauguration in Washington, D.C. The following month, Beyoncé performed at the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show, held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The performance stands as the second most tweeted about moment in history at 268,000 tweets per minute. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé won for Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Love on Top". Her feature-length documentary film, Life Is But a Dream, first aired on HBO on February 16, 2013. The film was co-directed by Beyoncé herself.
2013–2015: Beyoncé
Beyoncé embarked on The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour on April 15 in Belgrade, Serbia; the tour included 132 dates that ran through to March 2014. It became the most successful tour of her career and one of the most successful tours of all time. In May, Beyoncé's cover of Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" with André 3000 on The Great Gatsby soundtrack was released. Beyoncé voiced Queen Tara in the 3D CGI animated film, Epic, released by 20th Century Fox on May 24, and recorded an original song for the film, "Rise Up", co-written with Sia.
On December 13, 2013, Beyoncé unexpectedly released her eponymous fifth studio album on the iTunes Store without any prior announcement or promotion. The album debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, giving Beyoncé her fifth consecutive number-one album in the US. This made her the first woman in the chart's history to have her first five studio albums debut at number one. Beyoncé received critical acclaim and commercial success, selling one million digital copies worldwide in six days; Musically an electro-R&B album, it concerns darker themes previously unexplored in her work, such as "bulimia, postnatal depression [and] the fears and insecurities of marriage and motherhood". The single "Drunk in Love", featuring Jay-Z, peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
In April 2014, Beyoncé and Jay-Z officially announced their On the Run Tour. It served as the couple's first co-headlining stadium tour together. On August 24, 2014, she received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Beyoncé also won home three competitive awards: Best Video with a Social Message and Best Cinematography for "Pretty Hurts", as well as best collaboration for "Drunk in Love". In November, Forbes reported that Beyoncé was the top-earning woman in music for the second year in a row – earning $115 million in the year, more than double her earnings in 2013.
Beyoncé was reissued with new material as part of a platinum edition box set. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), in the last 19 days of 2013, the album sold 2.3 million units worldwide, becoming the tenth best-selling album of 2013. The album also went on to become the twentieth best-selling album of 2014. , Beyoncé has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and has generated over 1 billion streams, .
At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2015, Beyoncé was nominated for six awards, ultimately winning three: Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for "Drunk in Love", and Best Surround Sound Album for Beyoncé. She was nominated for Album of the Year, but the award went to Beck for his album Morning Phase.
2016–2018: Lemonade and Everything Is Love
On February 6, 2016, Beyoncé released "Formation" and its accompanying music video exclusively on the music streaming platform Tidal; the song was made available to download for free. She performed "Formation" live for the first time during the NFL Super Bowl 50 halftime show. The appearance was considered controversial as it appeared to reference the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party and the NFL forbids political statements in its performances. Immediately following the performance, Beyoncé announced The Formation World Tour, which highlighted stops in both North America and Europe. It ended on October 7, with Beyoncé bringing out her husband Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Serena Williams for the last show. The tour went on to win Tour of the Year at the 44th American Music Awards.
In April 2016, Beyoncé released a teaser clip for a project called Lemonade. A one-hour film which aired on HBO on April 23, a corresponding album with the same title was released on the same day exclusively on Tidal. Lemonade debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, making Beyoncé the first act in Billboard history to have their first six studio albums debut atop the chart; she broke a record previously tied with DMX in 2013. With all 12 tracks of Lemonade debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Beyoncé also became the first female act to chart 12 or more songs at the same time.
Lemonade was streamed 115 million times through Tidal, setting a record for the most-streamed album in a single week by a female artist in history. It was 2016's third highest-selling album in the U.S. with 1.554 million copies sold in that time period within the country as well as the best-selling album worldwide with global sales of 2.5 million throughout the year. In June 2019, Lemonade was certified 3× Platinum, having sold up to 3 million album-equivalent units in the United States alone.
Lemonade became her most critically acclaimed work to date, receiving universal acclaim according to Metacritic, a website collecting reviews from professional music critics. Several music publications included the album among the best of 2016, including Rolling Stone, which listed Lemonade at number one. The album's visuals were nominated in 11 categories at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, the most ever received by Beyoncé in a single year, and went on to win 8 awards, including Video of the Year for "Formation". The eight wins made Beyoncé the most-awarded artist in the history of the VMAs (24), surpassing Madonna (20). Beyoncé occupied the sixth place for Time magazine's 2016 Person of the Year.
In January 2017, it was announced that Beyoncé would headline the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. This would make Beyoncé only the second female headliner of the festival since it was founded in 1999. It was later announced on February 23, 2017, that Beyoncé would no longer be able to perform at the festival due to doctor's concerns regarding her pregnancy. The festival owners announced that she will instead headline the 2018 festival. Upon the announcement of Beyoncé's departure from the festival lineup, ticket prices dropped by 12%. At the 59th Grammy Awards in February 2017, Lemonade led the nominations with nine, including Album, Record, and Song of the Year for Lemonade and "Formation" respectively. and ultimately won two, Best Urban Contemporary Album for Lemonade and Best Music Video for "Formation". Adele, upon winning her Grammy for Album of the Year, stated Lemonade was monumental and more deserving.
In September 2017, Beyoncé collaborated with J Balvin and Willy William, to release a remix of the song "Mi Gente". Beyoncé donated all proceeds from the song to hurricane charities for those affected by Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma in Texas, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean Islands. On November 10, Eminem released "Walk on Water" featuring Beyoncé as the lead single from his album Revival. On November 30, Ed Sheeran announced that Beyoncé would feature on the remix to his song "Perfect". "Perfect Duet" was released on December 1, 2017. The song reached number-one in the United States, becoming Beyoncé's sixth song of her solo career to do so.
On January 4, 2018, the music video of Beyoncé and Jay-Z's 4:44 collaboration, "Family Feud" was released. It was directed by Ava DuVernay. On March 1, 2018, DJ Khaled released "Top Off" as the first single from his forthcoming album Father of Asahd featuring Beyoncé, husband Jay-Z, and Future. On March 5, 2018, a joint tour with Knowles's husband Jay-Z, was leaked on Facebook. Information about the tour was later taken down. The couple announced the joint tour officially as On the Run II Tour on March 12 and simultaneously released a trailer for the tour on YouTube.
On April 14, 2018, Beyoncé played the first of two weekends as the headlining act of the Coachella Music Festival. Her performance of April 14, attended by 125,000 festival-goers, was immediately praised, with multiple media outlets describing it as historic. The performance became the most-tweeted-about performance of weekend one, as well as the most-watched live Coachella performance and the most-watched live performance on YouTube of all time. The show paid tribute to black culture, specifically historically black colleges and universities and featured a live band with over 100 dancers. Destiny's Child also reunited during the show.
On June 6, 2018, Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z kicked-off the On the Run II Tour in Cardiff, United Kingdom. Ten days later, at their final London performance, the pair unveiled Everything Is Love, their joint studio album, credited under the name The Carters, and initially available exclusively on Tidal. The pair also released the video for the album's lead single, "Apeshit", on Beyoncé's official YouTube channel. Everything Is Love received generally positive reviews, and debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200, with 123,000 album-equivalent units, of which 70,000 were pure album sales. On December 2, 2018, Beyoncé alongside Jay-Z headlined the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 which was held at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Their 2-hour performance had concepts similar to the On the Run II Tour and Beyoncé was praised for her outfits, which paid tribute to Africa's diversity.
2019–2021: Homecoming, The Lion King and Black Is King
Homecoming, a documentary and concert film focusing on Beyoncé's historic 2018 Coachella performances, was released by Netflix on April 17, 2019. The film was accompanied by the surprise live album Homecoming: The Live Album. It was later reported that Beyoncé and Netflix had signed a $60 million deal to produce three different projects, one of which is Homecoming. Homecoming received six nominations at the 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Beyoncé starred as the voice of Nala in the remake The Lion King, which was released in July 2019. Beyoncé is featured on the film's soundtrack, released on July 11, 2019, with a remake of the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" alongside Donald Glover, Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen, which was originally composed by Elton John. An original song from the film by Beyoncé, "Spirit", was released as the lead single from both the soundtrack and The Lion King: The Gift – a companion album released alongside the film, produced and curated by Beyoncé.
Beyoncé called The Lion King: The Gift a "sonic cinema". She stated that the album is influenced by everything from R&B, pop, hip hop and Afro Beat. The songs were produced by African producers, which Beyoncé said was because "authenticity and heart were important to [her]", since the film is set in Africa. In September of the same year, a documentary chronicling the development, production and early music video filming of The Lion King: The Gift entitled "Beyoncé Presents: Making The Gift" was aired on ABC.
In April 2020, Beyoncé was featured on the remix of Megan Thee Stallion's song "Savage", marking her first material of music for the year. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Beyoncé's eleventh song to do so across all acts. On June 19, 2020, Beyoncé released the nonprofit charity single "Black Parade". On June 23, she followed up the release of its studio version with an a cappella version exclusively on Tidal. Black Is King, a visual album based on the music of The Lion King: The Gift, premiered globally on Disney+ on July 31, 2020. Produced by Disney and Parkwood Entertainment, the film was written, directed and executive produced by Beyoncé. The film was described by Disney as "a celebratory memoir for the world on the Black experience". Beyoncé received the most nominations (9) at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards and the most awards (4), which made her the most-awarded singer, most-awarded female artist, and second-most-awarded artist in Grammy history.
Beyoncé wrote and recorded a song titled "Be Alive" for the biographical drama film King Richard. She received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 94th Academy Awards for the song, alongside co-writer DIXSON.
2022–present: Renaissance
On June 9, 2022, Beyoncé removed her profile pictures across various social media platforms causing speculation that she would be releasing new music. Days later, Beyoncé caused further speculation via her nonprofit BeyGood's Twitter account hinting at her upcoming seventh studio album. On June 15, 2022, Beyoncé officially announced her seventh studio album, titled Renaissance. The album was released on July 29, 2022. The first single from Renaissance, "Break My Soul", was released on June 20, 2022. The song became Beyoncé's 20th top ten single on the Billboard Hot 100, and in doing so, Beyoncé joined Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson as the only artists in Hot 100 history to achieve at least twenty top tens as a solo artist and ten as a member of a group.
Upon release, Renaissance received universal acclaim from critics. Renaissance debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, and in doing so, Beyoncé became the first female artist to have her first seven studio albums debut at number one in the United States. "Break My Soul" concurrently rose to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the twelfth song to do so across her career discography.
The song "Heated," which was co-written with Canadian rapper Drake, originally included the lyrics Spazzin' on that ass / spazz on that ass". Critics, including a number of disability charities and activists, argued that the word "spaz" represented a derogatory term for spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy. In response, in August 2022, a representative for Beyoncé issued a statement and explained that "The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced".
On January 21, 2023, Beyoncé performed in Dubai at a private show. The performance, which was her first full concert in more than four years, was delivered to an audience of influencers and journalists. Beyoncé was reportedly paid $24 million to perform. Beyoncé faced criticism for her decision to perform in the United Arab Emirates where homosexuality is illegal. On February 1, Beyoncé announced the Renaissance World Tour with dates in North America and Europe.
Artistry
Voice and musical style
Beyoncé's voice type is classified as Coloratura mezzo-soprano. Jody Rosen highlights her tone and timbre as particularly distinctive, describing her voice as "one of the most compelling instruments in popular music". Her vocal abilities mean she is identified as the centerpiece of Destiny's Child. Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that her voice is "velvety yet tart, with an insistent flutter and reserves of soul belting". Rosen notes that the hip hop era highly influenced Beyoncé's unique rhythmic vocal style, but also finds her quite traditionalist in her use of balladry, gospel and falsetto.
Other critics praise her range and power, with Chris Richards of The Washington Post saying she was "capable of punctuating any beat with goose-bump-inducing whispers or full-bore diva-roars." On the 2023 Rolling Stones list of the 200 Greatest Singers of all time, Beyoncé ranked at number 8, with the publication noting that "in [her] voice lies the entire history of Black music".
Beyoncé's music is generally R&B, pop and hip hop but she also incorporates soul and funk into her songs. 4 demonstrated Beyoncé's exploration of 1990s-style R&B, as well as further use of soul and hip hop than compared to previous releases. While she almost exclusively releases English songs, Beyoncé recorded several Spanish songs for Irreemplazable (re-recordings of songs from B'Day for a Spanish-language audience), and the re-release of B'Day. To record these, Beyoncé was coached phonetically by American record producer Rudy Perez.
Songwriting
Beyoncé has received co-writing credits for most of her songs. In regards to the way she approaches collaborative songwriting, Beyoncé explained: "I love being around great writers because I'm finding that a lot of the things I want to say, I don't articulate as good as maybe Amanda Ghost, so I want to keep collaborating with writers, and I love classics and I want to make sure years from now the song is still something that's relevant." Her early songs with Destiny's Child were personally driven and female-empowerment themed compositions like "Independent Women" and "Survivor", but after the start of her relationship with Jay-Z, she transitioned to more man-tending anthems such as "Cater 2 U".
Beyoncé's songwriting process is also notorious for combining parts of different tracks, resulting in alteration of song structures. Sia, who co-wrote "Pretty Hurts", called Beyoncé "very Frankenstein when she comes to songs"; Diana Gordon, who co-wrote "Don't Hurt Yourself" called her a "scientist of songs"; Caroline Polachek who co-wrote "No Angel", called her a "genius writer and producer for this reason. She's so good at seeing connections."
In 2001, she became the first Black woman and second female lyricist to win the Pop Songwriter of the Year award at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards. Beyoncé was the third woman to have writing credits on three number-one songs ("Irreplaceable", "Grillz" and "Check on It") in the same year, after Carole King in 1971 and Mariah Carey in 1991. She is tied with American lyricist Diane Warren at third with nine songwriting credits on number-one singles. The latter wrote her 9/11-motivated song "I Was Here" for 4. In May 2011, Billboard magazine listed Beyoncé at number 17 on their list of the Top 20 Hot 100 Songwriters for having co-written eight singles that hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She was one of only three women on that list, along with Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift.
Influences
Beyoncé names Michael Jackson as her major musical influence. Aged five, Beyoncé attended her first ever concert where Jackson performed and she claims to have realized her purpose. When she presented him with a tribute award at the World Music Awards in 2006, Beyoncé said, "if it wasn't for Michael Jackson, I would never ever have performed." Beyoncé was heavily influenced by Tina Turner, who she said "Tina Turner is someone that I admire, because she made her strength feminine and sexy".
She admires Diana Ross as an "all-around entertainer", and Whitney Houston, who she said "inspired me to get up there and do what she did." Beyoncé cited Madonna as an influence "not only for her musical style, but also for her business sense", saying that she wanted to "follow in the footsteps of Madonna and be a powerhouse and have my own empire." She also credits Mariah Carey's singing and her song "Vision of Love" as influencing her to begin practicing vocal runs as a child. Her other musical influences include Rachelle Ferrell, Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, Prince, Shakira, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Mary J. Blige, Anita Baker, and Toni Braxton.
The feminism and female empowerment themes on Beyoncé's second solo album B'Day were inspired by her role in Dreamgirls and by singer Josephine Baker. Beyoncé paid homage to Baker by performing "Déjà Vu" at the 2006 Fashion Rocks concert wearing Baker's trademark mini-hula skirt embellished with fake bananas. Beyoncé's third solo album, I Am... Sasha Fierce, was inspired by Jay-Z and especially by Etta James, whose "boldness" inspired Beyoncé to explore other musical genres and styles. Her fourth solo album, 4, was inspired by Fela Kuti, 1990s R&B, Earth, Wind & Fire, DeBarge, Lionel Richie, Teena Marie, The Jackson 5, New Edition, Adele, Florence and the Machine, and Prince.
Beyoncé has stated that she is personally inspired by Michelle Obama (the 44th First Lady of the United States), saying "she proves you can do it all", and has described Oprah Winfrey as "the definition of inspiration and a strong woman." She has also discussed how Jay-Z is a continuing inspiration to her, both with what she describes as his lyrical genius and in the obstacles he has overcome in his life. Beyoncé has expressed admiration for the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, posting in a letter "what I find in the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, I search for in every day in music ... he is lyrical and raw". Beyoncé also cited Cher as a fashion inspiration.
Music videos and stage
In 2006, Beyoncé introduced her all-female tour band Suga Mama (also the name of a song on B'Day) which includes bassists, drummers, guitarists, horn players, keyboardists and percussionists. Her background singers, The Mamas, consist of Montina Cooper-Donnell, Crystal Collins and Tiffany Moniqué Riddick. They made their debut appearance at the 2006 BET Awards and re-appeared in the music videos for "Irreplaceable" and "Green Light". The band have supported Beyoncé in most subsequent live performances, including her 2007 concert tour The Beyoncé Experience, I Am... World Tour (2009–2010), The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour (2013–2014) and The Formation World Tour (2016).
Beyoncé has received praise for her stage presence and voice during live performances. Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post placed her at number one on her list of the Five Best Singer/Dancers. According to Barbara Ellen of The Guardian Beyoncé is the most in-charge female artist she's seen onstage, while Alice Jones of The Independent wrote she "takes her role as entertainer so seriously she's almost too good." The ex-President of Def Jam L.A. Reid has described Beyoncé as the greatest entertainer alive. Jim Farber of the Daily News and Stephanie Classen of The StarPhoenix both praised her strong voice and her stage presence. Beyoncé's stage outfits have been met with criticism from many countries, such as Malaysia, where she has postponed or cancelled performances due to the country's strict laws banning revealing costumes.
Beyoncé has worked with numerous directors for her music videos throughout her career, including Melina Matsoukas, Jonas Åkerlund, and Jake Nava. Bill Condon, director of Beauty and the Beast, stated that the Lemonade visuals in particular served as inspiration for his film, commenting, "You look at Beyoncé's brilliant movie Lemonade, this genre is taking on so many different forms ... I do think that this very old-school break-out-into-song traditional musical is something that people understand again and really want."
Alter ego
Described as being "sexy, seductive and provocative" when performing on stage, Beyoncé has said that she originally created the alter ego "Sasha Fierce" to keep that stage persona separate from who she really is. She described Sasha as being "too aggressive, too strong, too sassy [and] too sexy", stating, "I'm not like her in real life at all." Sasha was conceived during the making of "Crazy in Love", and Beyoncé introduced her with the release of her 2008 album, I Am... Sasha Fierce. In February 2010, she announced in an interview with Allure magazine that she was comfortable enough with herself to no longer need Sasha Fierce. However, Beyoncé announced in May 2012 that she would bring her back for her Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live shows later that month.
Public image
Beyoncé has been described as having a wide-ranging sex appeal, with music journalist Touré writing that since the release of Dangerously in Love, she has "become a crossover sex symbol". Offstage Beyoncé says that while she likes to dress sexily, her onstage dress "is absolutely for the stage". Due to her curves and the term's catchiness, in the 2000s, the media often used the term "bootylicious" (a portmanteau of the words "booty" and "delicious") to describe Beyoncé, the term popularized by Destiny's Child's single of the same name. In 2006, it was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
In September 2010, Beyoncé made her runway modelling debut at Tom Ford's Spring/Summer 2011 fashion show. She was named the "World's Most Beautiful Woman" by People and the "Hottest Female Singer of All Time" by Complex in 2012. In January 2013, GQ placed her on its cover, featuring her atop its "100 Sexiest Women of the 21st Century" list. VH1 listed her at number 1 on its 100 Sexiest Artists list. Several wax figures of Beyoncé are found at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums in major cities around the world, including New York, Washington, D.C., Amsterdam, Bangkok, Hollywood and Sydney.
According to Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, Beyoncé uses different fashion styles to work with her music while performing. Her mother co-wrote a book, published in 2002, titled Destiny's Style, an account of how fashion affected the trio's success. The B'Day Anthology Video Album showed many instances of fashion-oriented footage, depicting classic to contemporary wardrobe styles. In 2007, Beyoncé was featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, becoming the second African American woman after Tyra Banks, and People magazine recognized Beyoncé as the best-dressed celebrity.
Beyoncé has been named "Queen Bey" from publications over the years. The term is a reference to the common phrase "queen bee", a term used for the leader of a group of females. The nickname also refers to the queen of a beehive, with her fan base being named "The BeyHive". The BeyHive was previously titled "The Beyontourage", (a portmanteau of Beyoncé and entourage), but was changed after online petitions on Twitter and online news reports during competitions.
In 2006, the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), criticized Beyoncé for wearing and using fur in her clothing line House of Deréon. In 2011, she appeared on the cover of French fashion magazine L'Officiel, in "blackface" and tribal makeup that drew criticism from the media. A statement released from a spokesperson for the magazine said that Beyoncé's look was "far from the glamorous Sasha Fierce" and that it was "a return to her African roots".
Beyoncé's lighter skin color and costuming has drawn criticism from some in the African-American community. Emmett Price, a professor of music at Northeastern University, wrote in 2007 that he thinks race plays a role in many of these criticisms, saying white celebrities who dress similarly do not attract as many comments. In 2008, L'Oréal was accused of whitening her skin in their Feria hair color advertisements, responding that "it is categorically untrue", and in 2013, Beyoncé herself criticized H&M for their proposed "retouching" of promotional images of her, and according to Vogue requested that only "natural pictures be used".
Beyoncé has been a vocal advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement. The release of "Formation" on February 6, 2016, saw her celebrate her heritage, with the song's music video featuring pro-black imagery and most notably a shot of wall graffiti that says "Stop shooting us". The day after the song's release she performed it at the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show with back up dancers dressed to represent the Black Panther Party. This incited criticism from politicians and police officers, with some police boycotting Beyoncé's then upcoming Formation World Tour. Beyoncé responded to the backlash by releasing tour merchandise that said "Boycott Beyoncé", and later clarified her sentiment, saying: "Anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken. I have so much admiration and respect for officers and the families of officers who sacrifice themselves to keep us safe," Beyoncé said. "But let's be clear: I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things."
Personal life
Marriage and children
In 2002, Beyoncé and Jay-Z collaborated on the song "'03 Bonnie & Clyde", which appeared on his seventh album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002). Beyoncé appeared as Jay-Z's girlfriend in the music video for the song, fueling speculation about their relationship. On April 4, 2008, Beyoncé and Jay-Z married without publicity. , the couple had sold a combined 300 million records together. They are known for their private relationship, although they have appeared to become more relaxed since 2013. Both have acknowledged difficulty that arose in their marriage after Jay-Z had an affair.
Beyoncé miscarried around 2010 or 2011, describing it as "the saddest thing" she had ever endured. She returned to the studio and wrote music to cope with the loss. In April 2011, Beyoncé and Jay-Z traveled to Paris to shoot the album cover for 4, and she unexpectedly became pregnant in Paris. In August, the couple attended the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, at which Beyoncé performed "Love on Top" and ended the performance by revealing she was pregnant. Her appearance helped that year's MTV Video Music Awards become the most-watched broadcast in MTV history, pulling in 12.4 million viewers; the announcement was listed in Guinness World Records for "most tweets per second recorded for a single event" on Twitter, receiving 8,868 tweets per second and "Beyonce pregnant" was the most Googled phrase the week of August 29, 2011. On January 7, 2012, Beyoncé gave birth to a daughter, Blue Ivy, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Following the release of Lemonade, which included the single "Sorry", in 2016, speculations arose about Jay-Z's alleged infidelity with a mistress referred to as "Becky". Jon Pareles in The New York Times pointed out that many of the accusations were "aimed specifically and recognizably" at him. Similarly, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine noted the lines "Suck on my balls, I've had enough" were an "unmistakable hint" that the lyrics revolve around Jay-Z.
On February 1, 2017, she revealed on her Instagram account that she was expecting twins. Her announcement gained over 6.3 million likes within eight hours, breaking the world record for the most liked image on the website at the time. On July 13, 2017, Beyoncé uploaded the first image of herself and the twins onto her Instagram account, confirming their birth date as a month prior, on June 13, 2017, with the post becoming the second most liked on Instagram, behind her own pregnancy announcement. The twins, a daughter named Rumi and a son named Sir, were born at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in California. She wrote of her pregnancy and its aftermath in the September 2018 issue of Vogue, in which she had full control of the cover, shot at Hammerwood Park by photographer Tyler Mitchell.
Activism
Beyoncé performed "America the Beautiful" at President Barack Obama's 2009 presidential inauguration, as well as "At Last" during the first inaugural dance at the Neighborhood Ball two days later. The couple held a fundraiser at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club in Manhattan for President Obama's 2012 presidential campaign which raised $4 million. Beyoncé voted for Obama in the 2012 presidential election. She performed the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" at his second inauguration in January 2013.
The Washington Post reported in May 2015, that Beyoncé attended a major celebrity fundraiser for 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. She also headlined for Clinton in a concert held the weekend before Election Day the next year. In this performance, Beyoncé and her entourage of backup dancers wore pantsuits; a clear allusion to Clinton's frequent dress-of-choice. The backup dancers also wore "I'm with her" tee shirts, the campaign slogan for Clinton. In a brief speech at this performance Beyoncé said, "I want my daughter to grow up seeing a woman lead our country and knowing that her possibilities are limitless." She endorsed the bid of Beto O'Rourke during the 2018 United States Senate election in Texas.
In 2013, Beyoncé stated in an interview in Vogue that she considered herself to be "a modern-day feminist". She would later align herself more publicly with the movement, sampling "We should all be feminists", a speech delivered by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at a TEDx talk in April 2013, in her song "Flawless", released later that year. The next year she performed live at the MTV Video Awards in front a giant backdrop reading "Feminist". Her self-identification incited a circulation of opinions and debate about whether her feminism is aligned with older, more established feminist ideals. Annie Lennox, celebrated artist and feminist advocate, referred to Beyoncé's use of her word feminist as 'feminist lite'.
bell hooks critiqued Beyoncé, referring to her as a "terrorist" towards feminism, harmfully impacting her audience of young girls. Adichie responded with "her type of feminism is not mine, as it is the kind that, at the same time, gives quite a lot of space to the necessity of men." Adichie expands upon what "feminist lite" means to her, referring that "more troubling is the idea, in Feminism Lite, that men are naturally superior but should be expected to 'treat women well'" and "we judge powerful women more harshly than we judge powerful men. And Feminism Lite enables this."
Beyoncé responded about her intent by utilizing the definition of feminist with her platform was to "give clarity to the true meaning" behind it. She says to understand what being a feminist is, "it's very simple. It's someone who believes in equal rights for men and women." She advocated to provide equal opportunities for young boys and girls, men and women must begin to understand the double standards that remain persistent in our societies and the issue must be illuminated in effort to start making changes.
She has also contributed to the Ban Bossy campaign, which uses TV and social media to encourage leadership in girls. Following Beyoncé's public identification as a feminist, the sexualized nature of her performances and the fact that she championed her marriage was questioned.
In December 2012, Beyoncé along with a variety of other celebrities teamed up and produced a video campaign for "Demand A Plan", a bipartisan effort by a group of 950 U.S. mayors and others designed to influence the federal government into rethinking its gun control laws, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Beyoncé publicly endorsed same-sex marriage on March 26, 2013, after the Supreme Court debate on California's Proposition 8. She spoke against North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, a bill passed (and later repealed) that discriminated against the LGBT community in public places in a statement during her concert in Raleigh as part of the Formation World Tour in 2016.
She has condemned police brutality against black Americans. She and Jay-Z attended a rally in 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin. The film for her sixth album Lemonade included the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, holding pictures of their sons in the video for "Freedom". In a 2016 interview with Elle, Beyoncé responded to the controversy surrounding her song "Formation" which was perceived to be critical of the police. She clarified, "I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things. If celebrating my roots and culture during Black History Month made anyone uncomfortable, those feelings were there long before a video and long before me".
In February 2017, Beyoncé spoke out against the withdrawal of protections for transgender students in public schools by Donald Trump's presidential administration. Posting a link to the 100 Days of Kindness campaign on her Facebook page, Beyoncé voiced her support for transgender youth and joined a roster of celebrities who spoke out against Trump's decision.
In November 2017, Beyoncé presented Colin Kaepernick with the 2017 Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, stating, "Thank you for your selfless heart and your conviction, thank you for your personal sacrifice", and that "Colin took action with no fear of consequence ... To change perception, to change the way we treat each other, especially people of color. We're still waiting for the world to catch up." Muhammad Ali was heavily penalized in his career for protesting the status quo of US civil rights through opposition to the Vietnam War, by refusing to serve in the military. 40 years later, Kaepernick had already lost one professional year due to taking a much quieter and legal stand "for people that are oppressed".
Wealth
Forbes magazine began reporting on Beyoncé's earnings in 2008, calculating that the $80 million earned between June 2007 to June 2008, for her music, tour, films and clothing line made her the world's best-paid music personality at the time, above Madonna and Celine Dion. It placed her fourth on the Celebrity 100 list in 2009 and ninth on the "Most Powerful Women in the World" list in 2010. The following year, the magazine placed her eighth on the "Best-Paid Celebrities Under 30" list, having earned $35 million in the past year for her clothing line and endorsement deals. In 2012, Forbes placed Beyoncé at number 16 on the Celebrity 100 list, twelve places lower than three years ago yet still having earned $40 million in the past year for her album 4, clothing line and endorsement deals.
In 2012, Beyoncé and Jay-Z placed at number one on the "World's Highest-Paid Celebrity Couples", for collectively earning $78 million. The couple made it into the previous year's Guinness World Records as the "highest-earning power couple" for collectively earning $122 million in 2009. For the years 2009 to 2011, Beyoncé earned an average of $70 million per year, and earned $40 million in 2012. In 2013, Beyoncé's endorsements of Pepsi and H&M made her and Jay-Z the world's first billion dollar couple in the music industry. That year, Beyoncé was published as the fourth most-powerful celebrity in the Forbes rankings.
MTV estimated that by the end of 2014, Beyoncé would become the highest-paid Black musician in history; this became the case in April 2014. In June 2014, Beyoncé ranked at number one on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, earning an estimated $115 million throughout June 2013 – June 2014. This in turn was the first time she had topped the Celebrity 100 list as well as being her highest yearly earnings to date. In 2016, Beyoncé ranked at number 34 on the Celebrity 100 list with earnings of $54 million. She and Jay-Z also topped the highest paid celebrity couple list, with combined earnings of $107.5 million.
, Forbes calculated her net worth to be $355 million, and in June of the same year, ranked her as the 35th highest earning celebrity with annual earnings of $60 million. This tied Beyoncé with Madonna as the only two female artists to earn more than $100 million within a single year twice. As a couple, Beyoncé and Jay-Z have a combined net worth of $1.16 billion. In July 2017, Billboard announced that Beyoncé was the highest paid musician of 2016, with an estimated total of $62.1 million.
In 2023 the couple bought 27712 Pacific Coast Highway, a house in Malibu, California designed by the architect Tadao Ando, for $200 million. It established a record for the most expensive residence sold in California.
Legacy
Beyoncé's success has led to her becoming a cultural icon and earning her the nickname "Queen Bey". Constance Grady wrote for Vox, "The transformation of Beyoncé from well-liked pop star to cultural icon came in three phases, punctuated by the self-titled Beyoncé album of 2013, 2016's Lemonade, and 2018's Homecoming concert at Coachella." In The New Yorker, music critic Jody Rosen described Beyoncé as "the most important and compelling popular musician of the twenty-first century ... the result, the logical end point, of a century-plus of pop." She topped NPR list of the "21st Century's Most Influential Women Musicians". James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits (2018), draws a parallel between Beyoncé's success and the dramatic transformations in modern society: "In the last one hundred years, we have seen the rise of the car, the airplane, the television, the personal computer, the internet, the smartphone, and Beyoncé." The Observer named her Artist of the Decade (2000s) in 2009.
Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Alex Suskind noticed how Beyoncé was the decade's (2010s) defining pop star, stating that "no one dominated music in the 2010s like Queen Bey", explaining that her "songs, album rollouts, stage presence, social justice initiatives, and disruptive public relations strategy have influenced the way we've viewed music since 2010." British publication NME also shared similar thoughts on her impact in the 2010s, including Beyoncé on their list of the "10 Artists Who Defined The Decade". In 2018, Rolling Stone included her on its Millennial 100 list.
Music critics have often credited Beyoncé with the invention of the staccato rap-singing style that has since dominated pop, R&B, and rap music. Lakin Starling of The Fader wrote that Beyoncé's innovative implementation of the delivery style on Destiny's Child's 1999 album The Writing's on the Wall invented a new form of R&B. Beyoncé's new style subsequently changed the nature of music, revolutionizing both singing in urban music and rapping in pop music, and becoming the dominant sound of both genres. The style helped to redefine both the breadth of commercial R&B and the sound of hip hop, with artists such as Kanye West and Drake implementing Beyoncé's cadence in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The staccato rap-singing style continued to be used in the music industry in the late 2010s and early 2020s; Aaron Williams of Uproxx described Beyoncé as the "primary pioneer" of the rapping style that dominates the music industry today, with many contemporary rappers implementing Beyoncé's rap-singing. Michael Eric Dyson agrees, saying that Beyoncé "changed the whole genre" and has become the "godmother" of mumble rappers, who use the staccato rap-singing cadence. Dyson added: "She doesn't get credit for the remarkable way in which she changed the musical vocabulary of contemporary art."
Beyoncé has been credited with reviving the album as an art form in an era dominated by singles and streaming. This started with her 2011 album 4; while mainstream R&B artists were forgoing albums-led R&B in favor of singles-led EDM, Beyoncé aimed to place the focus back on albums as an art form and re-establish R&B as a mainstream concern. This remained a focus of Beyoncé's, and in 2013, she made her eponymous album only available to purchase as a full album on iTunes, rather than being able to purchase individual tracks or consume the album via streaming. Kaitlin Menza of Marie Claire wrote that this made listeners "experience the album as one whole sonic experience, the way people used to, noting the musical and lyrical themes".
Jamieson Cox for The Verge described how Beyoncé's 2013 album initiated a gradual trend of albums becoming more cohesive and self-referential, and this phenomenon reached its endpoint with Lemonade, which set "a new standard for pop storytelling at the highest possible scale". Megan Carpentier of The Guardian wrote that with Lemonade, Beyoncé has "almost revived the album format" by releasing an album that can only be listened to in its entirety. Myf Warhurst on Double J's "Lunch With Myf" explained that while most artists' albums consist of a few singles plus filler songs, Beyoncé "brought the album back", changing the art form of the album "to a narrative with an arc and a story and you have to listen to the entire thing to get the concept".
She is known for coining popular phrases such as "put a ring on it", a euphemism for marriage proposal, "I woke up like this", which started a trend of posting morning selfies with the hashtag #iwokeuplikethis, and "boy, bye", which was used as part of the Democratic National Committee's campaign for the 2020 election. Similarly, she also came up with the phrase "visual album" following the release of her fifth studio album, which had a video for every song. This has been recreated by many other artists since, such as Frank Ocean and Melanie Martinez. The album also popularized surprise releases, with many artists releasing songs, videos or albums with no prior announcement, such as Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Frank Ocean, Jay-Z and Drake.
In January 2012, research scientist Bryan Lessard named Scaptia beyonceae, a species of horse-fly found in Northern Queensland, Australia after Beyoncé due to the fly's unique golden hairs on its abdomen.
Influence on other artists
Various recording artists and celebrities have cited Beyoncé as their influence. Lady Gaga explained how Beyoncé gave her the determination to become a musician, recalling seeing her in Destiny's Child music video and saying: "Oh, she's a star. I want that." Rihanna was inspired to start her singing career after watching Beyoncé, telling etalk that after Beyoncé released Dangerously In Love (2003), "I was like 'wow, I want to be just like that.' She's huge and just an inspiration." Lizzo was first inspired by Beyoncé to start singing after watching her perform at a Destiny's Child concert, and she also taught herself to sing by copying Beyoncé's B'Day (2006).
Ariana Grande said she learned to sing by mimicking Beyoncé. Adele cited Beyoncé as her inspiration and favorite artist, telling Vogue: "She's been a huge and constant part of my life as an artist since I was about ten or eleven ... I think she's inspiring. She's beautiful. She's ridiculously talented, and she is one of the kindest people I've ever met ... She makes me want to do things with my life." Both Paul McCartney and Garth Brooks said they watch Beyoncé's performances to get inspiration for their shows, with Brooks saying that when watching one of her performances, "take out your notebook and take notes. No matter how long you've been on the stage – take notes on that one." Beyoncé has also been cited as an influence by various other mainstream artists.
Achievements
Beyoncé has received numerous awards and is the most-awarded female artist of all time. Having sold over 200 million records worldwide (a further 60 million additionally with Destiny's Child), Beyoncé is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) listed Beyoncé as the top certified artist of the 2000s decade, with a total of 64 certifications. Her songs "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", "Halo", and "Irreplaceable" are some of the best-selling singles of all time worldwide. In 2009, Billboard named her the Top Female Artist and Top Radio Songs Artist of the Decade.
In 2010, Billboard named her in their Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years list at number 15. In 2012, VH1 ranked her third on their list of the "100 Greatest Women in Music", behind Mariah Carey and Madonna. In 2002, she received Songwriter of the Year from American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers becoming the First African American woman to win the award. In 2004 and 2019, she received NAACP Image Award for Entertainer of the Year and the Soul Train Music Award for Sammy Davis Jr. – Entertainer of the Year.
In 2005, she also received APEX Award at the Trumpet Award honoring the achievements of Black African Americans. In 2007, Beyoncé received the International Artist of Excellence award by the American Music Awards. She also received Honorary Otto at the Bravo Otto. The following year, she received the Legend Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts at the World Music Awards and Career Achievement Award at the LOS40 Music Awards. In 2010, she received the Award of Honor for Artist of the Decade at the NRJ Music Award. At the 2011 Billboard Music Awards, Beyoncé received the inaugural Billboard Millennium Award.
Beyoncé received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards and was honored as Honorary Mother of the Year at the Australian Mother of the Year Award in Barnardo's Australia for her Humanitarian Effort in the region and the Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Icon Award in 2016. In 2019, alongside Jay-Z, she received GLAAD Vanguard Award which is presented to a member of the entertainment community who does not identify as LGBT but who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for LGBT people. In 2020, she was awarded the BET Humanitarian Award. Consequence of Sound named her the 30th best singer of all time.
Beyoncé has won 32 Grammy Awards, both as a solo artist and member of Destiny's Child and The Carters, making her the most honored singer, male or female, by the Grammys. She is also the most nominated artist in Grammy Award history with a total of 88 nominations. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" won Song of the Year in 2010 while "Say My Name", "Crazy in Love" and "Drunk in Love" have each won Best R&B Song. Dangerously in Love, B'Day and I Am... Sasha Fierce have won Best Contemporary R&B Album, while Lemonade has won Best Urban Contemporary Album. Beyoncé set the record for the most Grammy awards won by a female artist in one night in 2010 when she won six awards, breaking the tie she previously held with Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, Alison Krauss, and Amy Winehouse, with Adele equaling this in 2012.
Beyoncé has won 29 MTV Video Music Awards, making her the most-awarded artist in Video Music Award history. She won two awards each with The Carters and Destiny's Child making her lifetime total of 29 VMAs. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and "Formation" won Video of the Year in 2009 and 2016 respectively. Beyoncé tied the record set by Lady Gaga in 2010 for the most VMAs won in one night for a female artist with eight in 2016. She is also the most-awarded and nominated artist in BET Award history, winning 29 awards from a total of 60 nominations, the most-awarded person at the Soul Train Music Awards with 17 awards as a solo artist, and the most-awarded person at the NAACP Image Awards with 24 awards as a solo artist.
Additionally, Beyoncé is the most-awarded artist at the NAACP Image Awards with 22 awards, the BET Awards with 32 awards, and the Soul Train Music Awards with 21 awards.
Following her role in Dreamgirls, Beyoncé was nominated for Best Original Song for "Listen" and Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards, and Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards. Beyoncé won two awards at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2006; Best Song for "Listen" and Best Original Soundtrack for Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture. According to Fuse in 2014, Beyoncé is the second-most award-winning artist of all time, after Michael Jackson. Lemonade won a Peabody Award in 2017. In 2022, "Be Alive" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.
She was named on the 2016 BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Power List as one of seven women judged to have had the biggest impact on women's lives over the past 70 years, alongside Margaret Thatcher, Barbara Castle, Helen Brook, Germaine Greer, Jayaben Desai and Bridget Jones, She was named the Most Powerful Woman in Music on the same list in 2020. In the same year, Billboard named her with Destiny's Child the third Greatest Music Video artists of all time, behind Madonna and Michael Jackson.
On June 16, 2021, Beyoncé was among several celebrities at the Pollstar Awards where she won the award of "top touring artist" of the decade (2010s). On June 17, 2021, Beyoncé was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame as a member of the inaugural class.
Business and ventures
In 2010, Beyoncé founded her own entertainment company Parkwood Entertainment which formed as an imprint based from Columbia Records, the company began as a production unit for videos and films in 2008. Parkwood Entertainment is named after a street in Houston, Texas where Beyoncé once lived. With headquarters in New York City, the company serves as an umbrella for the entertainer's various brands in music, movies, videos, and fashion. The staff of Parkwood Entertainment have experiences in arts and entertainment, from filmmaking and video production to web and fashion design. In addition to departments in marketing, digital, creative, publicity, fashion design and merchandising, the company houses a state-of-the-art editing suite, where Beyoncé works on content for her worldwide tours, music videos, and television specials. Parkwood Entertainment's first production was the musical biopic Cadillac Records (2008), in which Beyoncé starred and co-produced. The company has distributed Beyoncé's albums such as her self-titled fifth studio album (2013), Lemonade (2016) and The Carters, Everything is Love (2018). Beyoncé has signed other artists to Parkwood such as Chloe x Halle, who performed at Super Bowl LIII in February 2019.
Endorsements and partnerships
Beyoncé has worked with Pepsi since 2002, and in 2004 appeared in a Gladiator-themed commercial with Britney Spears, Pink, and Enrique Iglesias. In 2012, Beyoncé signed a $50 million deal to endorse Pepsi. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPINET) wrote Beyoncé an open letter asking her to reconsider the deal because of the unhealthiness of the product and to donate the proceeds to a medical organisation. Nevertheless, NetBase found that Beyoncé's campaign was the most talked about endorsement in April 2013, with a 70 percent positive audience response to the commercial and print ads.
Beyoncé has worked with Tommy Hilfiger for the fragrances True Star (singing a cover version of "Wishing on a Star") and True Star Gold; she also promoted Emporio Armani's Diamonds fragrance in 2007. Beyoncé launched her first official fragrance, Heat, in 2010. The commercial, which featured the 1956 song "Fever", was shown after the watershed in the United Kingdom as it begins with an image of Beyoncé appearing to lie naked in a room. In February 2011, Beyoncé launched her second fragrance, Heat Rush. Beyoncé's third fragrance, Pulse, was launched in September 2011. In 2013, The Mrs. Carter Show Limited Edition version of Heat was released. The six editions of Heat are the world's best-selling celebrity fragrance line, with sales of over $400 million.
The release of a video-game Starpower: Beyoncé was cancelled after Beyoncé pulled out of a $100 million with GateFive who alleged the cancellation meant the sacking of 70 staff and millions of pounds lost in development. It was settled out of court by her lawyers in June 2013 who said that they had cancelled because GateFive had lost its financial backers. Beyoncé also has had deals with American Express, Nintendo DS and L'Oréal since the age of 18.
In March 2015, Beyoncé became a co-owner, with other artists, of the music streaming service Tidal. The service specializes in lossless audio and high definition music videos. Beyoncé's husband Jay-Z acquired the parent company of Tidal, Aspiro, in the first quarter of 2015. Including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, sixteen artist stakeholders (such as Kanye West, Rihanna, Madonna, Chris Martin, Nicki Minaj and more) co-own Tidal, with the majority owning a 3% equity stake. The idea of having an all artist owned streaming service was created by those involved to adapt to the increased demand for streaming within the current music industry.
In November 2020, Beyoncé formed a multi-year partnership with exercise equipment and media company Peloton. The partnership was formed to celebrate homecoming season in historically black colleges and universities, providing themed workout experiences inspired by Beyoncé's 2019 Homecoming film and live album after 2020's homecoming celebrations were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the partnership, Beyoncé and Peloton are donating free memberships to all students at 10 HBCUs, and Peloton are pursuing long-term recruiting partnerships at the HCBUs. Gwen Bethel Riley, head of music at Peloton, said: "When we had conversations with Beyoncé around how critical a social impact component was to all of us, it crystallized how important it was to embrace Homecoming as an opportunity to celebrate and create dialogue around Black culture and music, in partnership with HBCUs." Upon news of the partnership, a decline in Peloton's shares reversed, and its shares rose by 8.6%.
In 2021, Beyoncé and Jay-Z partnered with Tiffany & Co. for the company's "About Love" campaign. Beyoncé became the fourth woman, and first Black woman, to wear the Tiffany Yellow Diamond. The campaign featured a robin egg blue painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat titled Equals Pi (1982).
Fashion lines
Beyoncé and her mother introduced House of Deréon, a contemporary women's fashion line, in 2005. The concept is inspired by three generations of women in their family, with the name paying tribute to Beyoncé's grandmother, Agnèz Deréon, a respected seamstress. According to Tina, the overall style of the line best reflects her and Beyoncé's taste and style. Beyoncé and her mother founded their family's company Beyond Productions, which provides the licensing and brand management for House of Deréon, and its junior collection, Deréon. House of Deréon pieces were exhibited in Destiny's Child's shows and tours, during their Destiny Fulfilled era. The collection features sportswear, denim offerings with fur, outerwear and accessories that include handbags and footwear, and are available at department and specialty stores across the U.S. and Canada.
In 2005, Beyoncé teamed up with House of Brands, a shoe company, to produce a range of footwear for House of Deréon. In January 2008, Starwave Mobile launched Beyoncé Fashion Diva, a "high-style" mobile game with a social networking component, featuring the House of Deréon collection. In July 2009, Beyoncé and her mother launched a new junior apparel label, Sasha Fierce for Deréon, for back-to-school selling. The collection included sportswear, outerwear, handbags, footwear, eyewear, lingerie and jewelry. It was available at department stores including Macy's and Dillard's, and specialty stores Jimmy Jazz and Against All Odds. In May 2010, Beyoncé teamed up with clothing store C&A to launch Deréon by Beyoncé at their stores in Brazil. The collection included tailored blazers with padded shoulders, little black dresses, embroidered tops and shirts and bandage dresses.
In October 2014, Beyoncé signed a deal to launch an activewear line of clothing with British fashion retailer Topshop. The 50–50 venture is called Ivy Park and was launched in April 2016. The brand's name is a nod to Beyoncé's daughter and her favorite number four (IV in Roman numerals), and also references the park where she used to run in Texas. She has since bought out Topshop owner Philip Green from his 50% share after he was alleged to have sexually harassed, bullied and racially abused employees. She now owns the brand herself.
In April 2019, it was announced that Beyoncé would become a creative partner with Adidas and further develop her athletic brand Ivy Park with the company. Knowles will also develop new clothes and footwear for Adidas. Shares for the company rose 1.3% upon the news release. In December 2019, they announced a launch date of January 18, 2020. Beyoncé uploaded a teaser on her website and Instagram. The collection was previewed on the upcoming Elle January 2020 issue, where Beyoncé is seen wearing several garments, accessories and footwear from the first collection. In March, 2023, it was announced that Beyoncé and Adidas reached a mutual decision to end their partnership.
Later in March, 2023, Olivier Rousteing, the creative director of Balmain, announced that he and Beyoncé collaborated on a couture collection complete with sixteen looks corresponding to the sixteen tracks on her album Renaissance. This "Renaissance Couture" collection marked the first time that a Black woman oversaw the development of a collection from a Parisian couture house.
Philanthropy
In 2002, Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Tina Knowles built the Knowles-Rowland Center for Youth, a community center in Downtown Houston. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Beyoncé and Rowland founded the Survivor Foundation to provide transitional housing to displaced families and provide means for new building construction, to which Beyoncé contributed an initial $250,000. The foundation has since expanded to work with other charities in the city, and also provided relief following Hurricane Ike three years later. Beyoncé also donated $100,000 to the Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund. In 2007, Beyoncé founded the Knowles-Temenos Place Apartments, a housing complex offering living space for 43 displaced individuals. As of 2016, Beyoncé had donated $7 million for the maintenance of the complex.
After starring in Cadillac Records in 2009 and learning about Phoenix House, a non-profit drug and alcohol rehabilitation organization, Beyoncé donated her full $4 million salary from the film to the organization. Beyoncé and her mother subsequently established the Beyoncé Cosmetology Center, which offers a seven-month cosmetology training course helping Phoenix House's clients gain career skills during their recovery.
In January 2010, Beyoncé participated in George Clooney and Wyclef Jean's Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief telethon, donated a large sum to the organization, and was named the official face of the limited edition CFDA "Fashion For Haiti" T-shirt, made by Theory which raised a total of $1 million. In April 2011, Beyoncé joined forces with U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation, to help boost the latter's campaign against child obesity by reworking her single "Get Me Bodied". Following the death of Osama bin Laden, Beyoncé released her cover of the Lee Greenwood song "God Bless the USA", as a charity single to help raise funds for the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund.
Beyoncé became an ambassador for the 2012 World Humanitarian Day campaign donating her song "I Was Here" and its music video, shot in the UN, to the campaign. In 2013, it was announced that Beyoncé would work with Salma Hayek and Frida Giannini on a Gucci "Chime for Change" campaign that aims to spread female empowerment. The campaign, which aired on February 28, was set to her new music. A concert for the cause took place on June 1, 2013, in London. With help of the crowdfunding platform Catapult, visitors of the concert could choose between several projects promoting education of women and girls. Beyoncé also took part in "Miss a Meal", a food-donation campaign, and supported Goodwill Industries through online charity auctions at Charitybuzz that support job creation throughout Europe and the U.S.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z secretly donated tens of thousands of dollars to bail out Black Lives Matter protesters in Baltimore and Ferguson, as well as funded infrastructure for the establishment of Black Lives Matter chapters across the US. Before Beyoncé's Formation World Tour show in Tampa, her team held a private luncheon for more than 20 community leaders to discuss how Beyoncé could support local charitable initiatives, including pledging on the spot to fund 10 scholarships to provide students with financial aid. Tampa Sports Authority board member Thomas Scott said: "I don't know of a prior artist meeting with the community, seeing what their needs are, seeing how they can invest in the community. It says a lot to me about Beyoncé. She not only goes into a community and walks away with (money), but she also gives money back to that community."
In June 2016, Beyoncé donated over $82,000 to the United Way of Genesee County to support victims of the Flint water crisis. Beyoncé additionally donated money to support 14 students in Michigan with their college expenses. In August 2016, Beyoncé and Jay-Z donated $1.5 million to civil rights groups including Black Lives Matter, Hands Up United and Dream Defenders. After Hurricane Matthew, Beyoncé and Jay-Z donated $15 million to the Usain Bolt Foundation to support its efforts in rebuilding homes in Haiti.
During Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, Beyoncé launched BeyGOOD Houston to support those affected by the hurricane in Houston. The organization donated necessities such as cots, blankets, pillows, baby products, feminine products and wheelchairs, and funded long-term revitalization projects. On September 8, Beyoncé visited Houston, where she sponsored a lunch for 400 survivors at her local church, visited the George R Brown Convention Center to discuss with people displaced by the flooding about their needs, served meals to those who lost their homes, and made a significant donation to local causes. Beyoncé additionally donated $75,000 worth of new mattresses to survivors of the hurricane. Later that month, Beyoncé released a remix of J Balvin and Willy William's "Mi Gente", with all of her proceeds being donated to disaster relief charities in Puerto Rico, Mexico, the U.S. and the Caribbean after hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, and the Chiapas and Puebla earthquakes.
In April 2020, Beyoncé donated $6 million to the National Alliance in Mental Health, UCLA and local community-based organizations in order to provide mental health and personal wellness services to essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. BeyGOOD also teamed up with local organizations to help provide resources to communities of color, including food, water, cleaning supplies, medicines and face masks. The same month Beyoncé released a remix of Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage", with all proceeds benefiting Bread of Life Houston's COVID-19 relief efforts, which includes providing over 14 tons of food and supplies to 500 families and 100 senior citizens in Houston weekly.
In May 2020, Beyoncé provided 1,000 free COVID-19 tests in Houston as part of her and her mother's #IDidMyPart initiative, which was established due to the disproportionate deaths in African-American communities. Additionally, 1,000 gloves, masks, hot meals, essential vitamins, grocery vouchers and household items were provided. In July 2020, Beyoncé established the Black-Owned Small Business Impact Fund in partnership with the NAACP, which offers $10,000 grants to black-owned small businesses in need following the George Floyd protests. All proceeds from Beyoncé's single "Black Parade" were donated to the fund. In September 2020, Beyoncé announced that she had donated an additional $1 million to the fund. As of December 31, 2020, the fund had given 715 grants to black-owned small businesses, amounting to $7.15 million donated.
In October 2020, Beyoncé released a statement that she has been working with the Feminist Coalition to assist supporters of the End Sars movement in Nigeria, including covering medical costs for injured protestors, covering legal fees for arrested protestors, and providing food, emergency shelter, transportation and telecommunication means to those in need. Beyoncé also showed support for those fighting against other issues in Africa, such as the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon, ShutItAllDown in Namibia, Zimbabwean Lives Matter in Zimbabwe and the Rape National Emergency in Liberia. In December 2020, Beyoncé donated $500,000 to help alleviate the housing crisis in the U.S. caused by the cessation of the eviction moratorium, giving 100 $5,000 grants to individuals and families facing foreclosures and evictions.
Discography Studio albums Dangerously in Love (2003)
B'Day (2006)
I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008)
4 (2011)
Beyoncé (2013)
Lemonade (2016)
Renaissance (2022)with Destiny's Child Destiny's Child (1998)
The Writing's on the Wall (1999)
Survivor (2001)
8 Days of Christmas (2001)
Destiny Fulfilled (2004)with Jay-Z (as The Carters) Everything Is Love (2018)Soundtrack albums The Lion King: The Gift (2019)
Filmography Films starred Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001)
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
The Fighting Temptations (2003)
Fade to Black (2004)
The Pink Panther (2006)
Dreamgirls (2006)
Cadillac Records (2008)
Obsessed (2009)
Epic (2013)
The Lion King (2019)Films directed Life Is But a Dream (2013)
Beyoncé: Lemonade (2016)
Homecoming (2019)
Black Is King (2020)
Tours and residencies Headlining tours Dangerously in Love Tour (2003)
The Beyoncé Experience (2007)
I Am... World Tour (2009–2010)
The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour (2013–2014)
The Formation World Tour (2016)
Renaissance World Tour (2023)Co-headlining tours Verizon Ladies First Tour (with Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott) (2004)
On the Run Tour (with Jay-Z) (2014)
On the Run II Tour (with Jay-Z) (2018)Residencies'
I Am... Yours (2009)
4 Intimate Nights with Beyoncé (2011)
Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live (2012)
See also
Forbes list of highest-earning musicians
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of artists with the most number-one European singles
List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
List of black Golden Globe Award winners and nominees
List of highest-grossing live music artists
List of best-selling female music artists
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
Notes
References
External links
Category:1981 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century African-American businesspeople
Category:20th-century African-American women
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:20th-century American businesswomen
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:20th-century American women singers
Category:21st-century African-American women
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:21st-century American businesspeople
Category:21st-century American businesswomen
Category:21st-century American singers
Category:21st-century American women singers
Category:Actresses from Houston
Category:African-American actresses
Category:African-American artists
Category:African-American choreographers
Category:African-American dancers
Category:African-American fashion designers
Category:American fashion designers
Category:African-American female dancers
Category:African-American women rappers
Category:African-American women singers
Category:African-American feminists
Category:American feminists
Category:African-American Methodists
Category:African-American record producers
Category:African-American women in business
Category:African-American women writers
Category:American choreographers
Category:American contemporary R&B singers
Category:American cosmetics businesspeople
Category:American fashion businesspeople
Category:American women pop singers
Category:American film actresses
Category:American mezzo-sopranos
Category:American music publishers (people)
Category:American music video directors
Category:American people of Acadian descent
Category:American people of Creole descent
Category:American retail chief executives
Category:American television actresses
Category:American United Methodists
Category:American voice actresses
Category:American women business executives
Category:American women philanthropists
Category:American women record producers
Category:Black Lives Matter people
Category:Brit Award winners
Category:Businesspeople from Houston
Category:Businesspeople from Texas
Category:Columbia Records artists
Category:Dance-pop musicians
Category:Destiny's Child members
Category:Female music video directors
Category:Feminist musicians
Category:Gold Star Records artists
Category:Grammy Award winners
Category:Grammy Award winners for rap music
Category:High School for the Performing and Visual Arts alumni
Category:Ivor Novello Award winners
Category:Jay-Z
Category:Solange Knowles
Category:Louisiana Creole people
Category:MTV Europe Music Award winners
Category:MTV Video Music Award winners
Category:Music video codirectors
Category:Musicians from Houston
Category:Musicians from Texas
Category:NME Awards winners
Category:Parkwood Entertainment artists
Category:Record producers from Texas
Category:Shoe designers
Category:Singers from Texas
Category:Singers with a four-octave vocal range
Category:Texas Democrats
Category:Women who experienced pregnancy loss
Category:World Music Awards winners
Category:Writers from Houston | [] | null | null |
C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_0 | Beyoncé | Beyonce Giselle Knowles was born in Houston, Texas, to Celestine "Tina" Knowles (nee Beyince), a hairdresser and salon owner, and Mathew Knowles, a Xerox sales manager. Beyonce's name is a tribute to her mother's maiden name. Beyonce's younger sister Solange is also a singer and a former back up dancer for Destiny's Child. | Influences | Beyonce names Michael Jackson as her major musical influence. Aged five, Beyonce attended her first ever concert where Jackson performed and she claims to have realized her purpose. When she presented him with a tribute award at the World Music Awards in 2006, Beyonce said, "if it wasn't for Michael Jackson, I would never ever have performed." She admires Diana Ross as an "all-around entertainer" and Whitney Houston, who she said "inspired me to get up there and do what she did." She credits Mariah Carey's singing and her song "Vision of Love" as influencing her to begin practicing vocal runs as a child. Her other musical influences include Aaliyah, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, Anita Baker and Rachelle Ferrell. The feminism and female empowerment themes on Beyonce's second solo album B'Day were inspired by her role in Dreamgirls and by singer Josephine Baker. Beyonce paid homage to Baker by performing "Deja Vu" at the 2006 Fashion Rocks concert wearing Baker's trademark mini-hula skirt embellished with fake bananas. Beyonce's third solo album I Am... Sasha Fierce was inspired by Jay-Z and especially by Etta James, whose "boldness" inspired Beyonce to explore other musical genres and styles. Her fourth solo album, 4, was inspired by Fela Kuti, 1990s R&B, Earth, Wind & Fire, DeBarge, Lionel Richie, Teena Marie, The Jackson 5, New Edition, Adele, Florence and the Machine, and Prince. Beyonce has stated that she is personally inspired by Michelle Obama (the 44th First Lady of the United States), saying "She proves you can do it all" and she has described Oprah Winfrey as "the definition of inspiration and a strong woman". She has also discussed how Jay-Z is a continuing inspiration to her, both with what she describes as his lyrical genius and in the obstacles he has overcome in his life. Beyonce has expressed admiration for the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, posting in a letter "what I find in the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, I search for in every day in music... he is lyrical and raw". In February 2013, Beyonce said that Madonna inspired her to take control of her own career. She commented: "I think about Madonna and how she took all of the great things she achieved and started the label and developed other artists. But there are not enough of those women.". CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_0_q#0",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_0_q#1",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_0_q#2",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_0_q#3",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_0_q#4",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_0_q#5",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_0_q#6",
"C_1128b8d67bcb48feb77ec450ae614b45_0_q#7"
] | [
"Who are her influences?",
"Why does she say that?",
"what concert did she attend?",
"what else has influenced beyonce?",
"does she admire any other performers?",
"why does she admire Houston?",
"is there anyone else who has had an influence on Beyonce?",
"Is there anyone else who Beyonce credits with impacting her?"
] | [
0,
0,
1,
0,
0,
2,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
0,
0,
2,
0,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
62
],
[
2344
],
[
346
],
[
404
],
[
421
],
[
485
],
[
649
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Beyonce names Michael Jackson as her major musical influence."
],
[
"Aged five, Beyonce attended her first ever concert"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"She admires Diana Ross as an \"all-around entertainer\""
],
[
"Whitney Houston,"
],
[
"who she said \"inspired me to get up there and do what she did."
],
[
"She credits Mariah Carey's singing"
],
[
"Aaliyah, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Mary J. Blige,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
62,
2344,
346,
404,
421,
485,
649
],
"texts": [
"Beyonce names Michael Jackson as her major musical influence.",
"Aged five, Beyonce attended her first ever concert",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"She admires Diana Ross as an \"all-around entertainer\"",
"Whitney Houston,",
"who she said \"inspired me to get up there and do what she did.",
"She credits Mariah Carey's singing",
"Aaliyah, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Mary J. Blige,"
]
} | Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ) (born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and businesswoman. Nicknamed "Queen Bey", she has been widely recognized for her boundary-pushing artistry and vocal performances. Beyoncé is regarded as one of the greatest entertainers of her generation, and an influential figure in contemporary popular music. Her contributions to music and visual media have made her a prominent pop culture icon of the 2000s and 2010s.
Beyoncé started performing in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. Their hiatus saw the release of her debut album Dangerously in Love (2003). Following the 2006 disbanding of Destiny's Child, Beyoncé released the commercially successful solo albums B'Day (2006) and I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008). After professionally splitting from her manager and father, Mathew Knowles, in 2010, Beyoncé's artistry achieved wider critical acclaim for releasing sonically experimental visual albums, including 4 (2011), Beyoncé (2013), Lemonade (2016), and Renaissance (2022), all of which explored societal themes such as infidelity, feminism, womanism, escapism, and hedonism. She became the first solo artist to have their first seven studio albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200. Throughout her career, she has amassed multiple chart-topping singles worldwide, including "Crazy in Love", "Baby Boy", "Check on It", "Irreplaceable", "If I Were a Boy", "Halo", "Single Ladies", "Perfect Duet", "Savage" and "Break My Soul."
Beyoncé's other music ventures included Everything Is Love (2018), a collaborative album with her husband, Jay-Z, as the Carters, and the musical film Black Is King (2020), inspired by the music of the film soundtrack The Lion King: The Gift (2019). She also starred in multiple films such as Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), The Pink Panther (2006), Dreamgirls (2006), Cadillac Records (2008), Obsessed (2009), and The Lion King (2019).
Having sold 200 million records worldwide, Beyoncé is one of the world's best-selling recording artists. Her accolades include 32 Grammy Awards, 26 MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in 2014), 24 NAACP Image Awards, 31 BET Awards, and 17 Soul Train Music Awards, all of which are more than any other artist. With 31 career top-ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 – including eight chart-toppers – she became the first female artist and third overall to achieve at least twenty as a solo artist and ten as a group member. Her success during the 2000s earned her recognition as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)'s Top Certified Artist of the Decade and Billboard Top Female Artist of the Decade. In 2014, Billboard named her the highest-earning black musician of all time. She is the most successful black touring act in history. In 2020, Time magazine featured her among a list of 100 women who defined the last century. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked her the eighth-greatest singer of all time.
Life and career
1981–1996: Early life and career beginnings
Beyonce Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, 1981, in Houston, Texas, to Celestine "Tina" Knowles (née Beyonce), a hairdresser and salon owner, and Mathew Knowles, a Xerox sales manager. Tina is Louisiana Creole, and Mathew is African American. Beyoncé's younger sister, Solange Knowles, is also a singer and a former backup dancer for Destiny's Child. Solange and Beyoncé are the first sisters to have both had number one solo albums.
Beyoncé's maternal grandparents, Lumas Beyince, and Agnez Dereon (daughter of Odilia Broussard and Eugene DeRouen), were French-speaking Louisiana Creoles, with roots in New Iberia. Beyoncé is considered a Creole, passed on to her by her grandparents. Through her mother, Beyoncé is a descendant of many French aristocrats from the southwest of France, including the family of the Viscounts de Béarn since the 9th century, and the Viscounts de Belzunce. She is a descendant of Acadian militia officer Joseph Broussard, who was exiled to French Louisiana after the expulsion of the Acadians.
Her fourth great-grandmother, Marie-Françoise Trahan, was born in 1774 in Bangor, located on Belle Île, France. Trahan was a daughter of Acadians who had taken refuge on Belle Île after the Acadian expulsion. The Estates of Brittany had divided the lands of Belle Île to distribute them among 78 other Acadian families and the already settled inhabitants. The Trahan family lived on Belle Île for over ten years before immigrating to Louisiana, where she married a Broussard descendant. Beyoncé researched her ancestry and discovered that she is descended from a slave owner who married his slave. Her mother is also of distant Jewish, Spanish, Chinese and Indonesian ancestry.
Beyoncé was raised Catholic and attended St. Mary's Montessori School in Houston, where she enrolled in dance classes. Her singing was discovered when dance instructor Darlette Johnson began humming a song and she finished it, able to hit the high-pitched notes. Beyoncé's interest in music and performing continued after winning a school talent show at age seven, singing John Lennon's "Imagine" to beat 15/16-year-olds. In the fall of 1990, Beyoncé enrolled in Parker Elementary School, a music magnet school in Houston, where she would perform with the school's choir. She also attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and later Alief Elsik High School. Beyoncé was also a member of the choir at St. John's United Methodist Church as a soloist for two years.
When Beyoncé was eight, she met LaTavia Roberson at an audition for an all-girl entertainment group. They were placed into a group called Girl's Tyme with three other girls, and rapped and danced on the talent show circuit in Houston. After seeing the group, R&B producer Arne Frager brought them to his Northern California studio and placed them in Star Search, the largest talent show on national TV at the time. Girl's Tyme failed to win, and Beyoncé later said the song they performed was not good. In 1995, Beyoncé's father resigned from his job to manage the group. The move reduced Beyoncé's family's income by half, and her parents were forced to sell their house and cars and move into separated apartments.
Mathew cut the original line-up to four and the group continued performing as an opening act for other established R&B girl groups. The girls auditioned before record labels and were finally signed to Elektra Records, moving to Atlanta Records briefly to work on their first recording, only to be cut by the company. This put further strain on the family, and Beyoncé's parents separated. On October 5, 1995, Dwayne Wiggins's Grass Roots Entertainment signed the group. In 1996, the girls began recording their debut album under an agreement with Sony Music, the Knowles family reunited, and shortly after, the group got a contract with Columbia Records with the assistance of Columbia talent scout Teresa LaBarbera Whites.
1997–2002: Destiny's Child
The group changed their name to Destiny's Child in 1996, based upon a passage in the Book of Isaiah. In 1997, Destiny's Child released their major label debut song "Killing Time" on the soundtrack to the 1997 film Men in Black. In November, the group released their debut single and first major hit, "No, No, No". They released their self-titled debut album in February 1998, which established the group as a viable act in the music industry, with moderate sales and winning the group three Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards for Best R&B/Soul Album of the Year, Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist, and Best R&B/Soul Single for "No, No, No".
The group released their Multi-Platinum second album The Writing's on the Wall in 1999. The record features some of the group's most widely known songs such as "Bills, Bills, Bills", the group's first number-one single, "Jumpin' Jumpin' and "Say My Name", which became their most successful song at the time, and would remain one of their signature songs. "Say My Name" won the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and the Best R&B Song at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. The Writing's on the Wall sold more than eight million copies worldwide. During this time, Beyoncé recorded a duet with Marc Nelson, an original member of Boyz II Men, on the song "After All Is Said and Done" for the soundtrack to the 1999 film, The Best Man.
LeToya Luckett and Roberson became unhappy with Mathew's managing of the band and eventually were replaced by Farrah Franklin and Michelle Williams. Beyoncé experienced depression following the split with Luckett and Roberson after being publicly blamed by the media, critics, and blogs for its cause. Her long-standing boyfriend left her at this time. The depression was so severe it lasted for a couple of years, during which she occasionally kept herself in her bedroom for days and refused to eat anything. Beyoncé stated that she struggled to speak about her depression because Destiny's Child had just won their first Grammy Award, and she feared no one would take her seriously. Beyoncé would later speak of her mother as the person who helped her fight it. Franklin was then dismissed, leaving just Beyoncé, Rowland, and Williams.
The remaining band members recorded "Independent Women Part I", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 2000 film Charlie's Angels. It became their best-charting single, topping the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for eleven consecutive weeks. In early 2001, while Destiny's Child was completing their third album, Beyoncé landed a major role in the MTV made-for-television film, Carmen: A Hip Hopera, starring alongside American actor Mekhi Phifer. Set in Philadelphia, the film is a modern interpretation of the 19th-century opera Carmen by French composer Georges Bizet. When the third album Survivor was released in May 2001, Luckett and Roberson filed a lawsuit claiming that the songs were aimed at them. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 663,000 copies sold. The album spawned other number-one hits, "Bootylicious" and the title track, "Survivor", the latter of which earned the group a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. After releasing their holiday album 8 Days of Christmas in October 2001, the group announced a hiatus to further pursue solo careers.
In July 2002, Beyoncé made her theatrical film debut, playing Foxxy Cleopatra alongside Mike Myers in the comedy film Austin Powers in Goldmember, which spent its first weekend atop the U.S. box office and grossed $73 million. Beyoncé released "Work It Out" as the lead single from its soundtrack album which entered the top ten in the UK, Norway, and Belgium. In 2003, Beyoncé starred opposite Cuba Gooding, Jr., in the musical comedy The Fighting Temptations as Lilly, a single mother with whom Gooding's character falls in love. The film received mixed reviews from critics but grossed $30 million in the U.S. Beyoncé released "Fighting Temptation" as the lead single from the film's soundtrack album, with Missy Elliott, MC Lyte, and Free which was also used to promote the film. Another of Beyoncé's contributions to the soundtrack, "Summertime", fared better on the U.S. charts.
2003–2005: Dangerously in Love and Destiny Fulfilled
Beyoncé's first solo recording was a feature on Jay-Z's song '03 Bonnie & Clyde" that was released in October 2002, peaking at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. On June 14, 2003, Beyoncé premiered songs from her first solo album Dangerously in Love during her first solo concert and the pay-per-view television special, "Ford Presents Beyoncé Knowles, Friends & Family, Live From Ford's 100th Anniversary Celebration in Dearborn, Michigan". The album was released on June 24, 2003, after Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland had released their solo efforts. The album sold 317,000 copies in its first week, debuted atop the Billboard 200, and has since sold 11 million copies worldwide.
The album's lead single, "Crazy in Love", featuring Jay-Z, became Beyoncé's first number-one single as a solo artist in the US. The single "Baby Boy" also reached number one, and singles, "Me, Myself and I" and "Naughty Girl", both reached the top-five. The album earned Beyoncé a then record-tying five awards at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards; Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Dangerously in Love 2", Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Crazy in Love", and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "The Closer I Get to You" with Luther Vandross. During the ceremony, she performed with Prince.
In November 2003, she embarked on the Dangerously in Love Tour in Europe and later toured alongside Missy Elliott and Alicia Keys for the Verizon Ladies First Tour in North America. On February 1, 2004, Beyoncé performed the American national anthem at Super Bowl XXXVIII, at the Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. After the release of Dangerously in Love, Beyoncé had planned to produce a follow-up album using several of the left-over tracks. However, this was put on hold so she could concentrate on recording Destiny Fulfilled, the final studio album by Destiny's Child. Released on November 15, 2004, in the US and peaking at number two on the Billboard 200, Destiny Fulfilled included the singles "Lose My Breath" and "Soldier", which reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Destiny's Child embarked on a worldwide concert tour, Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It sponsored by McDonald's Corporation, and performed hits such as "No, No, No", "Survivor", "Say My Name", "Independent Women" and "Lose My Breath". In addition to renditions of the group's recorded material, they also performed songs from each singer's solo careers, most notably numbers from Dangerously in Love. and during the last stop of their European tour, in Barcelona on June 11, 2005, Rowland announced that Destiny's Child would disband following the North American leg of the tour. The group released their first compilation album Number 1's on October 25, 2005, in the US and accepted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2006. The group has sold 60 million records worldwide.
2006–2007: B'Day and Dreamgirls
Beyoncé's second solo album B'Day was released on September 4, 2006, in the US, to coincide with her twenty-fifth birthday. It sold 541,000 copies in its first week and debuted atop the Billboard 200, becoming Beyoncé's second consecutive number-one album in the United States. The album's lead single "Déjà Vu", featuring Jay-Z, reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second international single "Irreplaceable" was a commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in Australia, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand and the United States. B'Day also produced three other singles; "Ring the Alarm", "Get Me Bodied", and "Green Light" (released in the United Kingdom only).
At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards (2007), B'Day was nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Ring the Alarm" and Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration"for "Déjà Vu"; the Freemasons club mix of "Déjà Vu" without the rap was put forward in the Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category. B'Day won the award for Best Contemporary R&B Album. The following year, B'Day received two nominations – for Record of the Year for "Irreplaceable" and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Beautiful Liar" (with Shakira), also receiving a nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Pictures, Television or Other Visual Media for her appearance on Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture (2006).
Her first acting role of 2006 was in the comedy film The Pink Panther starring opposite Steve Martin, grossing $158.8 million at the box office worldwide. Her second film Dreamgirls, the film version of the 1981 Broadway musical loosely based on The Supremes, received acclaim from critics and grossed $154 million internationally. In it, she starred opposite Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx, and Eddie Murphy playing a pop singer based on Diana Ross. To promote the film, Beyoncé released "Listen" as the lead single from the soundtrack album. In April 2007, Beyoncé embarked on The Beyoncé Experience, her first worldwide concert tour, visiting 97 venues and grossed over $24 million. Beyoncé conducted pre-concert food donation drives during six major stops in conjunction with her pastor at St. John's and America's Second Harvest. At the same time, B'Day was re-released with five additional songs, including her duet with Shakira "Beautiful Liar".
2008–2010: I Am... Sasha Fierce
I Am... Sasha Fierce was released on November 18, 2008, in the United States. The album formally introduces Beyoncé's alter ego Sasha Fierce, conceived during the making of her 2003 single "Crazy in Love". It was met with generally mediocre reviews from critics, but sold 482,000 copies in its first week, debuting atop the Billboard 200, and giving Beyoncé her third consecutive number-one album in the US. The album featured the number-one song "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and the top-five songs "If I Were a Boy" and "Halo". Achieving the accomplishment of becoming her longest-running Hot 100 single in her career,
"Halos success in the U.S. helped Beyoncé attain more top-ten singles on the list than any other woman during the 2000s. It also included the successful "Sweet Dreams", and singles "Diva", "Ego", "Broken-Hearted Girl" and "Video Phone". The music video for "Single Ladies" has been parodied and imitated around the world, spawning the "first major dance craze" of the Internet age according to the Toronto Star. The video has won several awards, including Best Video at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards, the 2009 Scottish MOBO Awards, and the 2009 BET Awards.
At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the video was nominated for nine awards, ultimately winning three including Video of the Year. Its failure to win the Best Female Video category, which went to American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me", led to Kanye West interrupting the ceremony and Beyoncé improvising a re-presentation of Swift's award during her own acceptance speech. In March 2009, Beyoncé embarked on the I Am... World Tour, her second headlining worldwide concert tour, consisting of 108 shows, grossing $119.5 million.
Beyoncé further expanded her acting career, starring as blues singer Etta James in the 2008 musical biopic Cadillac Records. Her performance in the film received praise from critics, and she garnered several nominations for her portrayal of James, including a Satellite Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and a NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. Beyoncé donated her entire salary from the film to Phoenix House, an organization of rehabilitation centers for heroin addicts around the country. On January 20, 2009, Beyoncé performed James' "At Last" at First Couple Barack and Michelle Obama's first inaugural ball.
Beyoncé starred opposite Ali Larter and Idris Elba in the thriller, Obsessed. She played Sharon Charles, a mother and wife whose family is threatened by her husband's stalker. Although the film received negative reviews from critics, the movie did well at the U.S. box office, grossing $68 million – $60 million more than Cadillac Records – on a budget of $20 million. The fight scene finale between Sharon and the character played by Ali Larter also won the 2010 MTV Movie Award for Best Fight.
At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé received ten nominations, including Album of the Year for I Am... Sasha Fierce, Record of the Year for "Halo", and Song of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", among others. She tied with Lauryn Hill for most Grammy nominations in a single year by a female artist. Beyoncé went on to win six of those nominations, breaking a record she previously tied in 2004 for the most Grammy awards won in a single night by a female artist with six. In 2010, Beyoncé was featured on Lady Gaga's single "Telephone" and appeared in its music video. The song topped the U.S. Pop Songs chart, becoming the sixth number-one for both Beyoncé and Gaga, tying them with Mariah Carey for most number-ones since the Nielsen Top 40 airplay chart launched in 1992. "Telephone" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
Beyoncé announced a hiatus from her music career in January 2010, heeding her mother's advice, "to live life, to be inspired by things again". During the break she and her father parted ways as business partners. Beyoncé's musical break lasted nine months and saw her visit multiple European cities, the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramids, Australia, English music festivals and various museums and ballet performances.
2011–2013: 4 and Super Bowl XLVII halftime show
On June 26, 2011, she became the first solo female artist to headline the main Pyramid stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival in over twenty years. Her fourth studio album 4 was released two days later in the US. 4 sold 310,000 copies in its first week and debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, giving Beyoncé her fourth consecutive number-one album in the US. The album was preceded by two of its singles "Run the World (Girls)" and "Best Thing I Never Had". The fourth single "Love on Top" spent seven consecutive weeks at number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while peaking at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest peak from the album. 4 produced four other singles; "Party", "Countdown", "I Care" and "End of Time". "Eat, Play, Love", a cover story written by Beyoncé for Essence that detailed her 2010 career break, won her a writing award from the New York Association of Black Journalists.
In late 2011, she took the stage at New York's Roseland Ballroom for four nights of special performances: the 4 Intimate Nights with Beyoncé concerts saw the performance of her 4 album to a standing room only. On August 1, 2011, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having shipped 1 million copies to retail stores. By December 2015, it reached sales of 1.5 million copies in the US. The album reached one billion Spotify streams on February 5, 2018, making Beyoncé the first female artist to have three of their albums surpass one billion streams on the platform.
In June 2012, she performed for four nights at Revel Atlantic City's Ovation Hall to celebrate the resort's opening, her first performances since giving birth to her daughter.
In January 2013, Destiny's Child released Love Songs, a compilation album of the romance-themed songs from their previous albums and a newly recorded track, "Nuclear". Beyoncé performed the American national anthem singing along with a pre-recorded track at President Obama's second inauguration in Washington, D.C. The following month, Beyoncé performed at the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show, held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The performance stands as the second most tweeted about moment in history at 268,000 tweets per minute. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé won for Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Love on Top". Her feature-length documentary film, Life Is But a Dream, first aired on HBO on February 16, 2013. The film was co-directed by Beyoncé herself.
2013–2015: Beyoncé
Beyoncé embarked on The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour on April 15 in Belgrade, Serbia; the tour included 132 dates that ran through to March 2014. It became the most successful tour of her career and one of the most successful tours of all time. In May, Beyoncé's cover of Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" with André 3000 on The Great Gatsby soundtrack was released. Beyoncé voiced Queen Tara in the 3D CGI animated film, Epic, released by 20th Century Fox on May 24, and recorded an original song for the film, "Rise Up", co-written with Sia.
On December 13, 2013, Beyoncé unexpectedly released her eponymous fifth studio album on the iTunes Store without any prior announcement or promotion. The album debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, giving Beyoncé her fifth consecutive number-one album in the US. This made her the first woman in the chart's history to have her first five studio albums debut at number one. Beyoncé received critical acclaim and commercial success, selling one million digital copies worldwide in six days; Musically an electro-R&B album, it concerns darker themes previously unexplored in her work, such as "bulimia, postnatal depression [and] the fears and insecurities of marriage and motherhood". The single "Drunk in Love", featuring Jay-Z, peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
In April 2014, Beyoncé and Jay-Z officially announced their On the Run Tour. It served as the couple's first co-headlining stadium tour together. On August 24, 2014, she received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Beyoncé also won home three competitive awards: Best Video with a Social Message and Best Cinematography for "Pretty Hurts", as well as best collaboration for "Drunk in Love". In November, Forbes reported that Beyoncé was the top-earning woman in music for the second year in a row – earning $115 million in the year, more than double her earnings in 2013.
Beyoncé was reissued with new material as part of a platinum edition box set. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), in the last 19 days of 2013, the album sold 2.3 million units worldwide, becoming the tenth best-selling album of 2013. The album also went on to become the twentieth best-selling album of 2014. , Beyoncé has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and has generated over 1 billion streams, .
At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2015, Beyoncé was nominated for six awards, ultimately winning three: Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for "Drunk in Love", and Best Surround Sound Album for Beyoncé. She was nominated for Album of the Year, but the award went to Beck for his album Morning Phase.
2016–2018: Lemonade and Everything Is Love
On February 6, 2016, Beyoncé released "Formation" and its accompanying music video exclusively on the music streaming platform Tidal; the song was made available to download for free. She performed "Formation" live for the first time during the NFL Super Bowl 50 halftime show. The appearance was considered controversial as it appeared to reference the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party and the NFL forbids political statements in its performances. Immediately following the performance, Beyoncé announced The Formation World Tour, which highlighted stops in both North America and Europe. It ended on October 7, with Beyoncé bringing out her husband Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Serena Williams for the last show. The tour went on to win Tour of the Year at the 44th American Music Awards.
In April 2016, Beyoncé released a teaser clip for a project called Lemonade. A one-hour film which aired on HBO on April 23, a corresponding album with the same title was released on the same day exclusively on Tidal. Lemonade debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, making Beyoncé the first act in Billboard history to have their first six studio albums debut atop the chart; she broke a record previously tied with DMX in 2013. With all 12 tracks of Lemonade debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Beyoncé also became the first female act to chart 12 or more songs at the same time.
Lemonade was streamed 115 million times through Tidal, setting a record for the most-streamed album in a single week by a female artist in history. It was 2016's third highest-selling album in the U.S. with 1.554 million copies sold in that time period within the country as well as the best-selling album worldwide with global sales of 2.5 million throughout the year. In June 2019, Lemonade was certified 3× Platinum, having sold up to 3 million album-equivalent units in the United States alone.
Lemonade became her most critically acclaimed work to date, receiving universal acclaim according to Metacritic, a website collecting reviews from professional music critics. Several music publications included the album among the best of 2016, including Rolling Stone, which listed Lemonade at number one. The album's visuals were nominated in 11 categories at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, the most ever received by Beyoncé in a single year, and went on to win 8 awards, including Video of the Year for "Formation". The eight wins made Beyoncé the most-awarded artist in the history of the VMAs (24), surpassing Madonna (20). Beyoncé occupied the sixth place for Time magazine's 2016 Person of the Year.
In January 2017, it was announced that Beyoncé would headline the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. This would make Beyoncé only the second female headliner of the festival since it was founded in 1999. It was later announced on February 23, 2017, that Beyoncé would no longer be able to perform at the festival due to doctor's concerns regarding her pregnancy. The festival owners announced that she will instead headline the 2018 festival. Upon the announcement of Beyoncé's departure from the festival lineup, ticket prices dropped by 12%. At the 59th Grammy Awards in February 2017, Lemonade led the nominations with nine, including Album, Record, and Song of the Year for Lemonade and "Formation" respectively. and ultimately won two, Best Urban Contemporary Album for Lemonade and Best Music Video for "Formation". Adele, upon winning her Grammy for Album of the Year, stated Lemonade was monumental and more deserving.
In September 2017, Beyoncé collaborated with J Balvin and Willy William, to release a remix of the song "Mi Gente". Beyoncé donated all proceeds from the song to hurricane charities for those affected by Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma in Texas, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean Islands. On November 10, Eminem released "Walk on Water" featuring Beyoncé as the lead single from his album Revival. On November 30, Ed Sheeran announced that Beyoncé would feature on the remix to his song "Perfect". "Perfect Duet" was released on December 1, 2017. The song reached number-one in the United States, becoming Beyoncé's sixth song of her solo career to do so.
On January 4, 2018, the music video of Beyoncé and Jay-Z's 4:44 collaboration, "Family Feud" was released. It was directed by Ava DuVernay. On March 1, 2018, DJ Khaled released "Top Off" as the first single from his forthcoming album Father of Asahd featuring Beyoncé, husband Jay-Z, and Future. On March 5, 2018, a joint tour with Knowles's husband Jay-Z, was leaked on Facebook. Information about the tour was later taken down. The couple announced the joint tour officially as On the Run II Tour on March 12 and simultaneously released a trailer for the tour on YouTube.
On April 14, 2018, Beyoncé played the first of two weekends as the headlining act of the Coachella Music Festival. Her performance of April 14, attended by 125,000 festival-goers, was immediately praised, with multiple media outlets describing it as historic. The performance became the most-tweeted-about performance of weekend one, as well as the most-watched live Coachella performance and the most-watched live performance on YouTube of all time. The show paid tribute to black culture, specifically historically black colleges and universities and featured a live band with over 100 dancers. Destiny's Child also reunited during the show.
On June 6, 2018, Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z kicked-off the On the Run II Tour in Cardiff, United Kingdom. Ten days later, at their final London performance, the pair unveiled Everything Is Love, their joint studio album, credited under the name The Carters, and initially available exclusively on Tidal. The pair also released the video for the album's lead single, "Apeshit", on Beyoncé's official YouTube channel. Everything Is Love received generally positive reviews, and debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200, with 123,000 album-equivalent units, of which 70,000 were pure album sales. On December 2, 2018, Beyoncé alongside Jay-Z headlined the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 which was held at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Their 2-hour performance had concepts similar to the On the Run II Tour and Beyoncé was praised for her outfits, which paid tribute to Africa's diversity.
2019–2021: Homecoming, The Lion King and Black Is King
Homecoming, a documentary and concert film focusing on Beyoncé's historic 2018 Coachella performances, was released by Netflix on April 17, 2019. The film was accompanied by the surprise live album Homecoming: The Live Album. It was later reported that Beyoncé and Netflix had signed a $60 million deal to produce three different projects, one of which is Homecoming. Homecoming received six nominations at the 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Beyoncé starred as the voice of Nala in the remake The Lion King, which was released in July 2019. Beyoncé is featured on the film's soundtrack, released on July 11, 2019, with a remake of the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" alongside Donald Glover, Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen, which was originally composed by Elton John. An original song from the film by Beyoncé, "Spirit", was released as the lead single from both the soundtrack and The Lion King: The Gift – a companion album released alongside the film, produced and curated by Beyoncé.
Beyoncé called The Lion King: The Gift a "sonic cinema". She stated that the album is influenced by everything from R&B, pop, hip hop and Afro Beat. The songs were produced by African producers, which Beyoncé said was because "authenticity and heart were important to [her]", since the film is set in Africa. In September of the same year, a documentary chronicling the development, production and early music video filming of The Lion King: The Gift entitled "Beyoncé Presents: Making The Gift" was aired on ABC.
In April 2020, Beyoncé was featured on the remix of Megan Thee Stallion's song "Savage", marking her first material of music for the year. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Beyoncé's eleventh song to do so across all acts. On June 19, 2020, Beyoncé released the nonprofit charity single "Black Parade". On June 23, she followed up the release of its studio version with an a cappella version exclusively on Tidal. Black Is King, a visual album based on the music of The Lion King: The Gift, premiered globally on Disney+ on July 31, 2020. Produced by Disney and Parkwood Entertainment, the film was written, directed and executive produced by Beyoncé. The film was described by Disney as "a celebratory memoir for the world on the Black experience". Beyoncé received the most nominations (9) at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards and the most awards (4), which made her the most-awarded singer, most-awarded female artist, and second-most-awarded artist in Grammy history.
Beyoncé wrote and recorded a song titled "Be Alive" for the biographical drama film King Richard. She received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 94th Academy Awards for the song, alongside co-writer DIXSON.
2022–present: Renaissance
On June 9, 2022, Beyoncé removed her profile pictures across various social media platforms causing speculation that she would be releasing new music. Days later, Beyoncé caused further speculation via her nonprofit BeyGood's Twitter account hinting at her upcoming seventh studio album. On June 15, 2022, Beyoncé officially announced her seventh studio album, titled Renaissance. The album was released on July 29, 2022. The first single from Renaissance, "Break My Soul", was released on June 20, 2022. The song became Beyoncé's 20th top ten single on the Billboard Hot 100, and in doing so, Beyoncé joined Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson as the only artists in Hot 100 history to achieve at least twenty top tens as a solo artist and ten as a member of a group.
Upon release, Renaissance received universal acclaim from critics. Renaissance debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, and in doing so, Beyoncé became the first female artist to have her first seven studio albums debut at number one in the United States. "Break My Soul" concurrently rose to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the twelfth song to do so across her career discography.
The song "Heated," which was co-written with Canadian rapper Drake, originally included the lyrics Spazzin' on that ass / spazz on that ass". Critics, including a number of disability charities and activists, argued that the word "spaz" represented a derogatory term for spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy. In response, in August 2022, a representative for Beyoncé issued a statement and explained that "The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced".
On January 21, 2023, Beyoncé performed in Dubai at a private show. The performance, which was her first full concert in more than four years, was delivered to an audience of influencers and journalists. Beyoncé was reportedly paid $24 million to perform. Beyoncé faced criticism for her decision to perform in the United Arab Emirates where homosexuality is illegal. On February 1, Beyoncé announced the Renaissance World Tour with dates in North America and Europe.
Artistry
Voice and musical style
Beyoncé's voice type is classified as Coloratura mezzo-soprano. Jody Rosen highlights her tone and timbre as particularly distinctive, describing her voice as "one of the most compelling instruments in popular music". Her vocal abilities mean she is identified as the centerpiece of Destiny's Child. Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that her voice is "velvety yet tart, with an insistent flutter and reserves of soul belting". Rosen notes that the hip hop era highly influenced Beyoncé's unique rhythmic vocal style, but also finds her quite traditionalist in her use of balladry, gospel and falsetto.
Other critics praise her range and power, with Chris Richards of The Washington Post saying she was "capable of punctuating any beat with goose-bump-inducing whispers or full-bore diva-roars." On the 2023 Rolling Stones list of the 200 Greatest Singers of all time, Beyoncé ranked at number 8, with the publication noting that "in [her] voice lies the entire history of Black music".
Beyoncé's music is generally R&B, pop and hip hop but she also incorporates soul and funk into her songs. 4 demonstrated Beyoncé's exploration of 1990s-style R&B, as well as further use of soul and hip hop than compared to previous releases. While she almost exclusively releases English songs, Beyoncé recorded several Spanish songs for Irreemplazable (re-recordings of songs from B'Day for a Spanish-language audience), and the re-release of B'Day. To record these, Beyoncé was coached phonetically by American record producer Rudy Perez.
Songwriting
Beyoncé has received co-writing credits for most of her songs. In regards to the way she approaches collaborative songwriting, Beyoncé explained: "I love being around great writers because I'm finding that a lot of the things I want to say, I don't articulate as good as maybe Amanda Ghost, so I want to keep collaborating with writers, and I love classics and I want to make sure years from now the song is still something that's relevant." Her early songs with Destiny's Child were personally driven and female-empowerment themed compositions like "Independent Women" and "Survivor", but after the start of her relationship with Jay-Z, she transitioned to more man-tending anthems such as "Cater 2 U".
Beyoncé's songwriting process is also notorious for combining parts of different tracks, resulting in alteration of song structures. Sia, who co-wrote "Pretty Hurts", called Beyoncé "very Frankenstein when she comes to songs"; Diana Gordon, who co-wrote "Don't Hurt Yourself" called her a "scientist of songs"; Caroline Polachek who co-wrote "No Angel", called her a "genius writer and producer for this reason. She's so good at seeing connections."
In 2001, she became the first Black woman and second female lyricist to win the Pop Songwriter of the Year award at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards. Beyoncé was the third woman to have writing credits on three number-one songs ("Irreplaceable", "Grillz" and "Check on It") in the same year, after Carole King in 1971 and Mariah Carey in 1991. She is tied with American lyricist Diane Warren at third with nine songwriting credits on number-one singles. The latter wrote her 9/11-motivated song "I Was Here" for 4. In May 2011, Billboard magazine listed Beyoncé at number 17 on their list of the Top 20 Hot 100 Songwriters for having co-written eight singles that hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She was one of only three women on that list, along with Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift.
Influences
Beyoncé names Michael Jackson as her major musical influence. Aged five, Beyoncé attended her first ever concert where Jackson performed and she claims to have realized her purpose. When she presented him with a tribute award at the World Music Awards in 2006, Beyoncé said, "if it wasn't for Michael Jackson, I would never ever have performed." Beyoncé was heavily influenced by Tina Turner, who she said "Tina Turner is someone that I admire, because she made her strength feminine and sexy".
She admires Diana Ross as an "all-around entertainer", and Whitney Houston, who she said "inspired me to get up there and do what she did." Beyoncé cited Madonna as an influence "not only for her musical style, but also for her business sense", saying that she wanted to "follow in the footsteps of Madonna and be a powerhouse and have my own empire." She also credits Mariah Carey's singing and her song "Vision of Love" as influencing her to begin practicing vocal runs as a child. Her other musical influences include Rachelle Ferrell, Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, Prince, Shakira, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Mary J. Blige, Anita Baker, and Toni Braxton.
The feminism and female empowerment themes on Beyoncé's second solo album B'Day were inspired by her role in Dreamgirls and by singer Josephine Baker. Beyoncé paid homage to Baker by performing "Déjà Vu" at the 2006 Fashion Rocks concert wearing Baker's trademark mini-hula skirt embellished with fake bananas. Beyoncé's third solo album, I Am... Sasha Fierce, was inspired by Jay-Z and especially by Etta James, whose "boldness" inspired Beyoncé to explore other musical genres and styles. Her fourth solo album, 4, was inspired by Fela Kuti, 1990s R&B, Earth, Wind & Fire, DeBarge, Lionel Richie, Teena Marie, The Jackson 5, New Edition, Adele, Florence and the Machine, and Prince.
Beyoncé has stated that she is personally inspired by Michelle Obama (the 44th First Lady of the United States), saying "she proves you can do it all", and has described Oprah Winfrey as "the definition of inspiration and a strong woman." She has also discussed how Jay-Z is a continuing inspiration to her, both with what she describes as his lyrical genius and in the obstacles he has overcome in his life. Beyoncé has expressed admiration for the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, posting in a letter "what I find in the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, I search for in every day in music ... he is lyrical and raw". Beyoncé also cited Cher as a fashion inspiration.
Music videos and stage
In 2006, Beyoncé introduced her all-female tour band Suga Mama (also the name of a song on B'Day) which includes bassists, drummers, guitarists, horn players, keyboardists and percussionists. Her background singers, The Mamas, consist of Montina Cooper-Donnell, Crystal Collins and Tiffany Moniqué Riddick. They made their debut appearance at the 2006 BET Awards and re-appeared in the music videos for "Irreplaceable" and "Green Light". The band have supported Beyoncé in most subsequent live performances, including her 2007 concert tour The Beyoncé Experience, I Am... World Tour (2009–2010), The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour (2013–2014) and The Formation World Tour (2016).
Beyoncé has received praise for her stage presence and voice during live performances. Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post placed her at number one on her list of the Five Best Singer/Dancers. According to Barbara Ellen of The Guardian Beyoncé is the most in-charge female artist she's seen onstage, while Alice Jones of The Independent wrote she "takes her role as entertainer so seriously she's almost too good." The ex-President of Def Jam L.A. Reid has described Beyoncé as the greatest entertainer alive. Jim Farber of the Daily News and Stephanie Classen of The StarPhoenix both praised her strong voice and her stage presence. Beyoncé's stage outfits have been met with criticism from many countries, such as Malaysia, where she has postponed or cancelled performances due to the country's strict laws banning revealing costumes.
Beyoncé has worked with numerous directors for her music videos throughout her career, including Melina Matsoukas, Jonas Åkerlund, and Jake Nava. Bill Condon, director of Beauty and the Beast, stated that the Lemonade visuals in particular served as inspiration for his film, commenting, "You look at Beyoncé's brilliant movie Lemonade, this genre is taking on so many different forms ... I do think that this very old-school break-out-into-song traditional musical is something that people understand again and really want."
Alter ego
Described as being "sexy, seductive and provocative" when performing on stage, Beyoncé has said that she originally created the alter ego "Sasha Fierce" to keep that stage persona separate from who she really is. She described Sasha as being "too aggressive, too strong, too sassy [and] too sexy", stating, "I'm not like her in real life at all." Sasha was conceived during the making of "Crazy in Love", and Beyoncé introduced her with the release of her 2008 album, I Am... Sasha Fierce. In February 2010, she announced in an interview with Allure magazine that she was comfortable enough with herself to no longer need Sasha Fierce. However, Beyoncé announced in May 2012 that she would bring her back for her Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live shows later that month.
Public image
Beyoncé has been described as having a wide-ranging sex appeal, with music journalist Touré writing that since the release of Dangerously in Love, she has "become a crossover sex symbol". Offstage Beyoncé says that while she likes to dress sexily, her onstage dress "is absolutely for the stage". Due to her curves and the term's catchiness, in the 2000s, the media often used the term "bootylicious" (a portmanteau of the words "booty" and "delicious") to describe Beyoncé, the term popularized by Destiny's Child's single of the same name. In 2006, it was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
In September 2010, Beyoncé made her runway modelling debut at Tom Ford's Spring/Summer 2011 fashion show. She was named the "World's Most Beautiful Woman" by People and the "Hottest Female Singer of All Time" by Complex in 2012. In January 2013, GQ placed her on its cover, featuring her atop its "100 Sexiest Women of the 21st Century" list. VH1 listed her at number 1 on its 100 Sexiest Artists list. Several wax figures of Beyoncé are found at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums in major cities around the world, including New York, Washington, D.C., Amsterdam, Bangkok, Hollywood and Sydney.
According to Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, Beyoncé uses different fashion styles to work with her music while performing. Her mother co-wrote a book, published in 2002, titled Destiny's Style, an account of how fashion affected the trio's success. The B'Day Anthology Video Album showed many instances of fashion-oriented footage, depicting classic to contemporary wardrobe styles. In 2007, Beyoncé was featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, becoming the second African American woman after Tyra Banks, and People magazine recognized Beyoncé as the best-dressed celebrity.
Beyoncé has been named "Queen Bey" from publications over the years. The term is a reference to the common phrase "queen bee", a term used for the leader of a group of females. The nickname also refers to the queen of a beehive, with her fan base being named "The BeyHive". The BeyHive was previously titled "The Beyontourage", (a portmanteau of Beyoncé and entourage), but was changed after online petitions on Twitter and online news reports during competitions.
In 2006, the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), criticized Beyoncé for wearing and using fur in her clothing line House of Deréon. In 2011, she appeared on the cover of French fashion magazine L'Officiel, in "blackface" and tribal makeup that drew criticism from the media. A statement released from a spokesperson for the magazine said that Beyoncé's look was "far from the glamorous Sasha Fierce" and that it was "a return to her African roots".
Beyoncé's lighter skin color and costuming has drawn criticism from some in the African-American community. Emmett Price, a professor of music at Northeastern University, wrote in 2007 that he thinks race plays a role in many of these criticisms, saying white celebrities who dress similarly do not attract as many comments. In 2008, L'Oréal was accused of whitening her skin in their Feria hair color advertisements, responding that "it is categorically untrue", and in 2013, Beyoncé herself criticized H&M for their proposed "retouching" of promotional images of her, and according to Vogue requested that only "natural pictures be used".
Beyoncé has been a vocal advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement. The release of "Formation" on February 6, 2016, saw her celebrate her heritage, with the song's music video featuring pro-black imagery and most notably a shot of wall graffiti that says "Stop shooting us". The day after the song's release she performed it at the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show with back up dancers dressed to represent the Black Panther Party. This incited criticism from politicians and police officers, with some police boycotting Beyoncé's then upcoming Formation World Tour. Beyoncé responded to the backlash by releasing tour merchandise that said "Boycott Beyoncé", and later clarified her sentiment, saying: "Anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken. I have so much admiration and respect for officers and the families of officers who sacrifice themselves to keep us safe," Beyoncé said. "But let's be clear: I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things."
Personal life
Marriage and children
In 2002, Beyoncé and Jay-Z collaborated on the song "'03 Bonnie & Clyde", which appeared on his seventh album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002). Beyoncé appeared as Jay-Z's girlfriend in the music video for the song, fueling speculation about their relationship. On April 4, 2008, Beyoncé and Jay-Z married without publicity. , the couple had sold a combined 300 million records together. They are known for their private relationship, although they have appeared to become more relaxed since 2013. Both have acknowledged difficulty that arose in their marriage after Jay-Z had an affair.
Beyoncé miscarried around 2010 or 2011, describing it as "the saddest thing" she had ever endured. She returned to the studio and wrote music to cope with the loss. In April 2011, Beyoncé and Jay-Z traveled to Paris to shoot the album cover for 4, and she unexpectedly became pregnant in Paris. In August, the couple attended the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, at which Beyoncé performed "Love on Top" and ended the performance by revealing she was pregnant. Her appearance helped that year's MTV Video Music Awards become the most-watched broadcast in MTV history, pulling in 12.4 million viewers; the announcement was listed in Guinness World Records for "most tweets per second recorded for a single event" on Twitter, receiving 8,868 tweets per second and "Beyonce pregnant" was the most Googled phrase the week of August 29, 2011. On January 7, 2012, Beyoncé gave birth to a daughter, Blue Ivy, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Following the release of Lemonade, which included the single "Sorry", in 2016, speculations arose about Jay-Z's alleged infidelity with a mistress referred to as "Becky". Jon Pareles in The New York Times pointed out that many of the accusations were "aimed specifically and recognizably" at him. Similarly, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine noted the lines "Suck on my balls, I've had enough" were an "unmistakable hint" that the lyrics revolve around Jay-Z.
On February 1, 2017, she revealed on her Instagram account that she was expecting twins. Her announcement gained over 6.3 million likes within eight hours, breaking the world record for the most liked image on the website at the time. On July 13, 2017, Beyoncé uploaded the first image of herself and the twins onto her Instagram account, confirming their birth date as a month prior, on June 13, 2017, with the post becoming the second most liked on Instagram, behind her own pregnancy announcement. The twins, a daughter named Rumi and a son named Sir, were born at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in California. She wrote of her pregnancy and its aftermath in the September 2018 issue of Vogue, in which she had full control of the cover, shot at Hammerwood Park by photographer Tyler Mitchell.
Activism
Beyoncé performed "America the Beautiful" at President Barack Obama's 2009 presidential inauguration, as well as "At Last" during the first inaugural dance at the Neighborhood Ball two days later. The couple held a fundraiser at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club in Manhattan for President Obama's 2012 presidential campaign which raised $4 million. Beyoncé voted for Obama in the 2012 presidential election. She performed the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" at his second inauguration in January 2013.
The Washington Post reported in May 2015, that Beyoncé attended a major celebrity fundraiser for 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. She also headlined for Clinton in a concert held the weekend before Election Day the next year. In this performance, Beyoncé and her entourage of backup dancers wore pantsuits; a clear allusion to Clinton's frequent dress-of-choice. The backup dancers also wore "I'm with her" tee shirts, the campaign slogan for Clinton. In a brief speech at this performance Beyoncé said, "I want my daughter to grow up seeing a woman lead our country and knowing that her possibilities are limitless." She endorsed the bid of Beto O'Rourke during the 2018 United States Senate election in Texas.
In 2013, Beyoncé stated in an interview in Vogue that she considered herself to be "a modern-day feminist". She would later align herself more publicly with the movement, sampling "We should all be feminists", a speech delivered by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at a TEDx talk in April 2013, in her song "Flawless", released later that year. The next year she performed live at the MTV Video Awards in front a giant backdrop reading "Feminist". Her self-identification incited a circulation of opinions and debate about whether her feminism is aligned with older, more established feminist ideals. Annie Lennox, celebrated artist and feminist advocate, referred to Beyoncé's use of her word feminist as 'feminist lite'.
bell hooks critiqued Beyoncé, referring to her as a "terrorist" towards feminism, harmfully impacting her audience of young girls. Adichie responded with "her type of feminism is not mine, as it is the kind that, at the same time, gives quite a lot of space to the necessity of men." Adichie expands upon what "feminist lite" means to her, referring that "more troubling is the idea, in Feminism Lite, that men are naturally superior but should be expected to 'treat women well'" and "we judge powerful women more harshly than we judge powerful men. And Feminism Lite enables this."
Beyoncé responded about her intent by utilizing the definition of feminist with her platform was to "give clarity to the true meaning" behind it. She says to understand what being a feminist is, "it's very simple. It's someone who believes in equal rights for men and women." She advocated to provide equal opportunities for young boys and girls, men and women must begin to understand the double standards that remain persistent in our societies and the issue must be illuminated in effort to start making changes.
She has also contributed to the Ban Bossy campaign, which uses TV and social media to encourage leadership in girls. Following Beyoncé's public identification as a feminist, the sexualized nature of her performances and the fact that she championed her marriage was questioned.
In December 2012, Beyoncé along with a variety of other celebrities teamed up and produced a video campaign for "Demand A Plan", a bipartisan effort by a group of 950 U.S. mayors and others designed to influence the federal government into rethinking its gun control laws, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Beyoncé publicly endorsed same-sex marriage on March 26, 2013, after the Supreme Court debate on California's Proposition 8. She spoke against North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, a bill passed (and later repealed) that discriminated against the LGBT community in public places in a statement during her concert in Raleigh as part of the Formation World Tour in 2016.
She has condemned police brutality against black Americans. She and Jay-Z attended a rally in 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin. The film for her sixth album Lemonade included the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, holding pictures of their sons in the video for "Freedom". In a 2016 interview with Elle, Beyoncé responded to the controversy surrounding her song "Formation" which was perceived to be critical of the police. She clarified, "I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things. If celebrating my roots and culture during Black History Month made anyone uncomfortable, those feelings were there long before a video and long before me".
In February 2017, Beyoncé spoke out against the withdrawal of protections for transgender students in public schools by Donald Trump's presidential administration. Posting a link to the 100 Days of Kindness campaign on her Facebook page, Beyoncé voiced her support for transgender youth and joined a roster of celebrities who spoke out against Trump's decision.
In November 2017, Beyoncé presented Colin Kaepernick with the 2017 Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, stating, "Thank you for your selfless heart and your conviction, thank you for your personal sacrifice", and that "Colin took action with no fear of consequence ... To change perception, to change the way we treat each other, especially people of color. We're still waiting for the world to catch up." Muhammad Ali was heavily penalized in his career for protesting the status quo of US civil rights through opposition to the Vietnam War, by refusing to serve in the military. 40 years later, Kaepernick had already lost one professional year due to taking a much quieter and legal stand "for people that are oppressed".
Wealth
Forbes magazine began reporting on Beyoncé's earnings in 2008, calculating that the $80 million earned between June 2007 to June 2008, for her music, tour, films and clothing line made her the world's best-paid music personality at the time, above Madonna and Celine Dion. It placed her fourth on the Celebrity 100 list in 2009 and ninth on the "Most Powerful Women in the World" list in 2010. The following year, the magazine placed her eighth on the "Best-Paid Celebrities Under 30" list, having earned $35 million in the past year for her clothing line and endorsement deals. In 2012, Forbes placed Beyoncé at number 16 on the Celebrity 100 list, twelve places lower than three years ago yet still having earned $40 million in the past year for her album 4, clothing line and endorsement deals.
In 2012, Beyoncé and Jay-Z placed at number one on the "World's Highest-Paid Celebrity Couples", for collectively earning $78 million. The couple made it into the previous year's Guinness World Records as the "highest-earning power couple" for collectively earning $122 million in 2009. For the years 2009 to 2011, Beyoncé earned an average of $70 million per year, and earned $40 million in 2012. In 2013, Beyoncé's endorsements of Pepsi and H&M made her and Jay-Z the world's first billion dollar couple in the music industry. That year, Beyoncé was published as the fourth most-powerful celebrity in the Forbes rankings.
MTV estimated that by the end of 2014, Beyoncé would become the highest-paid Black musician in history; this became the case in April 2014. In June 2014, Beyoncé ranked at number one on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, earning an estimated $115 million throughout June 2013 – June 2014. This in turn was the first time she had topped the Celebrity 100 list as well as being her highest yearly earnings to date. In 2016, Beyoncé ranked at number 34 on the Celebrity 100 list with earnings of $54 million. She and Jay-Z also topped the highest paid celebrity couple list, with combined earnings of $107.5 million.
, Forbes calculated her net worth to be $355 million, and in June of the same year, ranked her as the 35th highest earning celebrity with annual earnings of $60 million. This tied Beyoncé with Madonna as the only two female artists to earn more than $100 million within a single year twice. As a couple, Beyoncé and Jay-Z have a combined net worth of $1.16 billion. In July 2017, Billboard announced that Beyoncé was the highest paid musician of 2016, with an estimated total of $62.1 million.
In 2023 the couple bought 27712 Pacific Coast Highway, a house in Malibu, California designed by the architect Tadao Ando, for $200 million. It established a record for the most expensive residence sold in California.
Legacy
Beyoncé's success has led to her becoming a cultural icon and earning her the nickname "Queen Bey". Constance Grady wrote for Vox, "The transformation of Beyoncé from well-liked pop star to cultural icon came in three phases, punctuated by the self-titled Beyoncé album of 2013, 2016's Lemonade, and 2018's Homecoming concert at Coachella." In The New Yorker, music critic Jody Rosen described Beyoncé as "the most important and compelling popular musician of the twenty-first century ... the result, the logical end point, of a century-plus of pop." She topped NPR list of the "21st Century's Most Influential Women Musicians". James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits (2018), draws a parallel between Beyoncé's success and the dramatic transformations in modern society: "In the last one hundred years, we have seen the rise of the car, the airplane, the television, the personal computer, the internet, the smartphone, and Beyoncé." The Observer named her Artist of the Decade (2000s) in 2009.
Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Alex Suskind noticed how Beyoncé was the decade's (2010s) defining pop star, stating that "no one dominated music in the 2010s like Queen Bey", explaining that her "songs, album rollouts, stage presence, social justice initiatives, and disruptive public relations strategy have influenced the way we've viewed music since 2010." British publication NME also shared similar thoughts on her impact in the 2010s, including Beyoncé on their list of the "10 Artists Who Defined The Decade". In 2018, Rolling Stone included her on its Millennial 100 list.
Music critics have often credited Beyoncé with the invention of the staccato rap-singing style that has since dominated pop, R&B, and rap music. Lakin Starling of The Fader wrote that Beyoncé's innovative implementation of the delivery style on Destiny's Child's 1999 album The Writing's on the Wall invented a new form of R&B. Beyoncé's new style subsequently changed the nature of music, revolutionizing both singing in urban music and rapping in pop music, and becoming the dominant sound of both genres. The style helped to redefine both the breadth of commercial R&B and the sound of hip hop, with artists such as Kanye West and Drake implementing Beyoncé's cadence in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The staccato rap-singing style continued to be used in the music industry in the late 2010s and early 2020s; Aaron Williams of Uproxx described Beyoncé as the "primary pioneer" of the rapping style that dominates the music industry today, with many contemporary rappers implementing Beyoncé's rap-singing. Michael Eric Dyson agrees, saying that Beyoncé "changed the whole genre" and has become the "godmother" of mumble rappers, who use the staccato rap-singing cadence. Dyson added: "She doesn't get credit for the remarkable way in which she changed the musical vocabulary of contemporary art."
Beyoncé has been credited with reviving the album as an art form in an era dominated by singles and streaming. This started with her 2011 album 4; while mainstream R&B artists were forgoing albums-led R&B in favor of singles-led EDM, Beyoncé aimed to place the focus back on albums as an art form and re-establish R&B as a mainstream concern. This remained a focus of Beyoncé's, and in 2013, she made her eponymous album only available to purchase as a full album on iTunes, rather than being able to purchase individual tracks or consume the album via streaming. Kaitlin Menza of Marie Claire wrote that this made listeners "experience the album as one whole sonic experience, the way people used to, noting the musical and lyrical themes".
Jamieson Cox for The Verge described how Beyoncé's 2013 album initiated a gradual trend of albums becoming more cohesive and self-referential, and this phenomenon reached its endpoint with Lemonade, which set "a new standard for pop storytelling at the highest possible scale". Megan Carpentier of The Guardian wrote that with Lemonade, Beyoncé has "almost revived the album format" by releasing an album that can only be listened to in its entirety. Myf Warhurst on Double J's "Lunch With Myf" explained that while most artists' albums consist of a few singles plus filler songs, Beyoncé "brought the album back", changing the art form of the album "to a narrative with an arc and a story and you have to listen to the entire thing to get the concept".
She is known for coining popular phrases such as "put a ring on it", a euphemism for marriage proposal, "I woke up like this", which started a trend of posting morning selfies with the hashtag #iwokeuplikethis, and "boy, bye", which was used as part of the Democratic National Committee's campaign for the 2020 election. Similarly, she also came up with the phrase "visual album" following the release of her fifth studio album, which had a video for every song. This has been recreated by many other artists since, such as Frank Ocean and Melanie Martinez. The album also popularized surprise releases, with many artists releasing songs, videos or albums with no prior announcement, such as Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Frank Ocean, Jay-Z and Drake.
In January 2012, research scientist Bryan Lessard named Scaptia beyonceae, a species of horse-fly found in Northern Queensland, Australia after Beyoncé due to the fly's unique golden hairs on its abdomen.
Influence on other artists
Various recording artists and celebrities have cited Beyoncé as their influence. Lady Gaga explained how Beyoncé gave her the determination to become a musician, recalling seeing her in Destiny's Child music video and saying: "Oh, she's a star. I want that." Rihanna was inspired to start her singing career after watching Beyoncé, telling etalk that after Beyoncé released Dangerously In Love (2003), "I was like 'wow, I want to be just like that.' She's huge and just an inspiration." Lizzo was first inspired by Beyoncé to start singing after watching her perform at a Destiny's Child concert, and she also taught herself to sing by copying Beyoncé's B'Day (2006).
Ariana Grande said she learned to sing by mimicking Beyoncé. Adele cited Beyoncé as her inspiration and favorite artist, telling Vogue: "She's been a huge and constant part of my life as an artist since I was about ten or eleven ... I think she's inspiring. She's beautiful. She's ridiculously talented, and she is one of the kindest people I've ever met ... She makes me want to do things with my life." Both Paul McCartney and Garth Brooks said they watch Beyoncé's performances to get inspiration for their shows, with Brooks saying that when watching one of her performances, "take out your notebook and take notes. No matter how long you've been on the stage – take notes on that one." Beyoncé has also been cited as an influence by various other mainstream artists.
Achievements
Beyoncé has received numerous awards and is the most-awarded female artist of all time. Having sold over 200 million records worldwide (a further 60 million additionally with Destiny's Child), Beyoncé is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) listed Beyoncé as the top certified artist of the 2000s decade, with a total of 64 certifications. Her songs "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", "Halo", and "Irreplaceable" are some of the best-selling singles of all time worldwide. In 2009, Billboard named her the Top Female Artist and Top Radio Songs Artist of the Decade.
In 2010, Billboard named her in their Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years list at number 15. In 2012, VH1 ranked her third on their list of the "100 Greatest Women in Music", behind Mariah Carey and Madonna. In 2002, she received Songwriter of the Year from American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers becoming the First African American woman to win the award. In 2004 and 2019, she received NAACP Image Award for Entertainer of the Year and the Soul Train Music Award for Sammy Davis Jr. – Entertainer of the Year.
In 2005, she also received APEX Award at the Trumpet Award honoring the achievements of Black African Americans. In 2007, Beyoncé received the International Artist of Excellence award by the American Music Awards. She also received Honorary Otto at the Bravo Otto. The following year, she received the Legend Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts at the World Music Awards and Career Achievement Award at the LOS40 Music Awards. In 2010, she received the Award of Honor for Artist of the Decade at the NRJ Music Award. At the 2011 Billboard Music Awards, Beyoncé received the inaugural Billboard Millennium Award.
Beyoncé received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards and was honored as Honorary Mother of the Year at the Australian Mother of the Year Award in Barnardo's Australia for her Humanitarian Effort in the region and the Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Icon Award in 2016. In 2019, alongside Jay-Z, she received GLAAD Vanguard Award which is presented to a member of the entertainment community who does not identify as LGBT but who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for LGBT people. In 2020, she was awarded the BET Humanitarian Award. Consequence of Sound named her the 30th best singer of all time.
Beyoncé has won 32 Grammy Awards, both as a solo artist and member of Destiny's Child and The Carters, making her the most honored singer, male or female, by the Grammys. She is also the most nominated artist in Grammy Award history with a total of 88 nominations. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" won Song of the Year in 2010 while "Say My Name", "Crazy in Love" and "Drunk in Love" have each won Best R&B Song. Dangerously in Love, B'Day and I Am... Sasha Fierce have won Best Contemporary R&B Album, while Lemonade has won Best Urban Contemporary Album. Beyoncé set the record for the most Grammy awards won by a female artist in one night in 2010 when she won six awards, breaking the tie she previously held with Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, Alison Krauss, and Amy Winehouse, with Adele equaling this in 2012.
Beyoncé has won 29 MTV Video Music Awards, making her the most-awarded artist in Video Music Award history. She won two awards each with The Carters and Destiny's Child making her lifetime total of 29 VMAs. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and "Formation" won Video of the Year in 2009 and 2016 respectively. Beyoncé tied the record set by Lady Gaga in 2010 for the most VMAs won in one night for a female artist with eight in 2016. She is also the most-awarded and nominated artist in BET Award history, winning 29 awards from a total of 60 nominations, the most-awarded person at the Soul Train Music Awards with 17 awards as a solo artist, and the most-awarded person at the NAACP Image Awards with 24 awards as a solo artist.
Additionally, Beyoncé is the most-awarded artist at the NAACP Image Awards with 22 awards, the BET Awards with 32 awards, and the Soul Train Music Awards with 21 awards.
Following her role in Dreamgirls, Beyoncé was nominated for Best Original Song for "Listen" and Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards, and Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards. Beyoncé won two awards at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2006; Best Song for "Listen" and Best Original Soundtrack for Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture. According to Fuse in 2014, Beyoncé is the second-most award-winning artist of all time, after Michael Jackson. Lemonade won a Peabody Award in 2017. In 2022, "Be Alive" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.
She was named on the 2016 BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Power List as one of seven women judged to have had the biggest impact on women's lives over the past 70 years, alongside Margaret Thatcher, Barbara Castle, Helen Brook, Germaine Greer, Jayaben Desai and Bridget Jones, She was named the Most Powerful Woman in Music on the same list in 2020. In the same year, Billboard named her with Destiny's Child the third Greatest Music Video artists of all time, behind Madonna and Michael Jackson.
On June 16, 2021, Beyoncé was among several celebrities at the Pollstar Awards where she won the award of "top touring artist" of the decade (2010s). On June 17, 2021, Beyoncé was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame as a member of the inaugural class.
Business and ventures
In 2010, Beyoncé founded her own entertainment company Parkwood Entertainment which formed as an imprint based from Columbia Records, the company began as a production unit for videos and films in 2008. Parkwood Entertainment is named after a street in Houston, Texas where Beyoncé once lived. With headquarters in New York City, the company serves as an umbrella for the entertainer's various brands in music, movies, videos, and fashion. The staff of Parkwood Entertainment have experiences in arts and entertainment, from filmmaking and video production to web and fashion design. In addition to departments in marketing, digital, creative, publicity, fashion design and merchandising, the company houses a state-of-the-art editing suite, where Beyoncé works on content for her worldwide tours, music videos, and television specials. Parkwood Entertainment's first production was the musical biopic Cadillac Records (2008), in which Beyoncé starred and co-produced. The company has distributed Beyoncé's albums such as her self-titled fifth studio album (2013), Lemonade (2016) and The Carters, Everything is Love (2018). Beyoncé has signed other artists to Parkwood such as Chloe x Halle, who performed at Super Bowl LIII in February 2019.
Endorsements and partnerships
Beyoncé has worked with Pepsi since 2002, and in 2004 appeared in a Gladiator-themed commercial with Britney Spears, Pink, and Enrique Iglesias. In 2012, Beyoncé signed a $50 million deal to endorse Pepsi. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPINET) wrote Beyoncé an open letter asking her to reconsider the deal because of the unhealthiness of the product and to donate the proceeds to a medical organisation. Nevertheless, NetBase found that Beyoncé's campaign was the most talked about endorsement in April 2013, with a 70 percent positive audience response to the commercial and print ads.
Beyoncé has worked with Tommy Hilfiger for the fragrances True Star (singing a cover version of "Wishing on a Star") and True Star Gold; she also promoted Emporio Armani's Diamonds fragrance in 2007. Beyoncé launched her first official fragrance, Heat, in 2010. The commercial, which featured the 1956 song "Fever", was shown after the watershed in the United Kingdom as it begins with an image of Beyoncé appearing to lie naked in a room. In February 2011, Beyoncé launched her second fragrance, Heat Rush. Beyoncé's third fragrance, Pulse, was launched in September 2011. In 2013, The Mrs. Carter Show Limited Edition version of Heat was released. The six editions of Heat are the world's best-selling celebrity fragrance line, with sales of over $400 million.
The release of a video-game Starpower: Beyoncé was cancelled after Beyoncé pulled out of a $100 million with GateFive who alleged the cancellation meant the sacking of 70 staff and millions of pounds lost in development. It was settled out of court by her lawyers in June 2013 who said that they had cancelled because GateFive had lost its financial backers. Beyoncé also has had deals with American Express, Nintendo DS and L'Oréal since the age of 18.
In March 2015, Beyoncé became a co-owner, with other artists, of the music streaming service Tidal. The service specializes in lossless audio and high definition music videos. Beyoncé's husband Jay-Z acquired the parent company of Tidal, Aspiro, in the first quarter of 2015. Including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, sixteen artist stakeholders (such as Kanye West, Rihanna, Madonna, Chris Martin, Nicki Minaj and more) co-own Tidal, with the majority owning a 3% equity stake. The idea of having an all artist owned streaming service was created by those involved to adapt to the increased demand for streaming within the current music industry.
In November 2020, Beyoncé formed a multi-year partnership with exercise equipment and media company Peloton. The partnership was formed to celebrate homecoming season in historically black colleges and universities, providing themed workout experiences inspired by Beyoncé's 2019 Homecoming film and live album after 2020's homecoming celebrations were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the partnership, Beyoncé and Peloton are donating free memberships to all students at 10 HBCUs, and Peloton are pursuing long-term recruiting partnerships at the HCBUs. Gwen Bethel Riley, head of music at Peloton, said: "When we had conversations with Beyoncé around how critical a social impact component was to all of us, it crystallized how important it was to embrace Homecoming as an opportunity to celebrate and create dialogue around Black culture and music, in partnership with HBCUs." Upon news of the partnership, a decline in Peloton's shares reversed, and its shares rose by 8.6%.
In 2021, Beyoncé and Jay-Z partnered with Tiffany & Co. for the company's "About Love" campaign. Beyoncé became the fourth woman, and first Black woman, to wear the Tiffany Yellow Diamond. The campaign featured a robin egg blue painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat titled Equals Pi (1982).
Fashion lines
Beyoncé and her mother introduced House of Deréon, a contemporary women's fashion line, in 2005. The concept is inspired by three generations of women in their family, with the name paying tribute to Beyoncé's grandmother, Agnèz Deréon, a respected seamstress. According to Tina, the overall style of the line best reflects her and Beyoncé's taste and style. Beyoncé and her mother founded their family's company Beyond Productions, which provides the licensing and brand management for House of Deréon, and its junior collection, Deréon. House of Deréon pieces were exhibited in Destiny's Child's shows and tours, during their Destiny Fulfilled era. The collection features sportswear, denim offerings with fur, outerwear and accessories that include handbags and footwear, and are available at department and specialty stores across the U.S. and Canada.
In 2005, Beyoncé teamed up with House of Brands, a shoe company, to produce a range of footwear for House of Deréon. In January 2008, Starwave Mobile launched Beyoncé Fashion Diva, a "high-style" mobile game with a social networking component, featuring the House of Deréon collection. In July 2009, Beyoncé and her mother launched a new junior apparel label, Sasha Fierce for Deréon, for back-to-school selling. The collection included sportswear, outerwear, handbags, footwear, eyewear, lingerie and jewelry. It was available at department stores including Macy's and Dillard's, and specialty stores Jimmy Jazz and Against All Odds. In May 2010, Beyoncé teamed up with clothing store C&A to launch Deréon by Beyoncé at their stores in Brazil. The collection included tailored blazers with padded shoulders, little black dresses, embroidered tops and shirts and bandage dresses.
In October 2014, Beyoncé signed a deal to launch an activewear line of clothing with British fashion retailer Topshop. The 50–50 venture is called Ivy Park and was launched in April 2016. The brand's name is a nod to Beyoncé's daughter and her favorite number four (IV in Roman numerals), and also references the park where she used to run in Texas. She has since bought out Topshop owner Philip Green from his 50% share after he was alleged to have sexually harassed, bullied and racially abused employees. She now owns the brand herself.
In April 2019, it was announced that Beyoncé would become a creative partner with Adidas and further develop her athletic brand Ivy Park with the company. Knowles will also develop new clothes and footwear for Adidas. Shares for the company rose 1.3% upon the news release. In December 2019, they announced a launch date of January 18, 2020. Beyoncé uploaded a teaser on her website and Instagram. The collection was previewed on the upcoming Elle January 2020 issue, where Beyoncé is seen wearing several garments, accessories and footwear from the first collection. In March, 2023, it was announced that Beyoncé and Adidas reached a mutual decision to end their partnership.
Later in March, 2023, Olivier Rousteing, the creative director of Balmain, announced that he and Beyoncé collaborated on a couture collection complete with sixteen looks corresponding to the sixteen tracks on her album Renaissance. This "Renaissance Couture" collection marked the first time that a Black woman oversaw the development of a collection from a Parisian couture house.
Philanthropy
In 2002, Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Tina Knowles built the Knowles-Rowland Center for Youth, a community center in Downtown Houston. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Beyoncé and Rowland founded the Survivor Foundation to provide transitional housing to displaced families and provide means for new building construction, to which Beyoncé contributed an initial $250,000. The foundation has since expanded to work with other charities in the city, and also provided relief following Hurricane Ike three years later. Beyoncé also donated $100,000 to the Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund. In 2007, Beyoncé founded the Knowles-Temenos Place Apartments, a housing complex offering living space for 43 displaced individuals. As of 2016, Beyoncé had donated $7 million for the maintenance of the complex.
After starring in Cadillac Records in 2009 and learning about Phoenix House, a non-profit drug and alcohol rehabilitation organization, Beyoncé donated her full $4 million salary from the film to the organization. Beyoncé and her mother subsequently established the Beyoncé Cosmetology Center, which offers a seven-month cosmetology training course helping Phoenix House's clients gain career skills during their recovery.
In January 2010, Beyoncé participated in George Clooney and Wyclef Jean's Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief telethon, donated a large sum to the organization, and was named the official face of the limited edition CFDA "Fashion For Haiti" T-shirt, made by Theory which raised a total of $1 million. In April 2011, Beyoncé joined forces with U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation, to help boost the latter's campaign against child obesity by reworking her single "Get Me Bodied". Following the death of Osama bin Laden, Beyoncé released her cover of the Lee Greenwood song "God Bless the USA", as a charity single to help raise funds for the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund.
Beyoncé became an ambassador for the 2012 World Humanitarian Day campaign donating her song "I Was Here" and its music video, shot in the UN, to the campaign. In 2013, it was announced that Beyoncé would work with Salma Hayek and Frida Giannini on a Gucci "Chime for Change" campaign that aims to spread female empowerment. The campaign, which aired on February 28, was set to her new music. A concert for the cause took place on June 1, 2013, in London. With help of the crowdfunding platform Catapult, visitors of the concert could choose between several projects promoting education of women and girls. Beyoncé also took part in "Miss a Meal", a food-donation campaign, and supported Goodwill Industries through online charity auctions at Charitybuzz that support job creation throughout Europe and the U.S.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z secretly donated tens of thousands of dollars to bail out Black Lives Matter protesters in Baltimore and Ferguson, as well as funded infrastructure for the establishment of Black Lives Matter chapters across the US. Before Beyoncé's Formation World Tour show in Tampa, her team held a private luncheon for more than 20 community leaders to discuss how Beyoncé could support local charitable initiatives, including pledging on the spot to fund 10 scholarships to provide students with financial aid. Tampa Sports Authority board member Thomas Scott said: "I don't know of a prior artist meeting with the community, seeing what their needs are, seeing how they can invest in the community. It says a lot to me about Beyoncé. She not only goes into a community and walks away with (money), but she also gives money back to that community."
In June 2016, Beyoncé donated over $82,000 to the United Way of Genesee County to support victims of the Flint water crisis. Beyoncé additionally donated money to support 14 students in Michigan with their college expenses. In August 2016, Beyoncé and Jay-Z donated $1.5 million to civil rights groups including Black Lives Matter, Hands Up United and Dream Defenders. After Hurricane Matthew, Beyoncé and Jay-Z donated $15 million to the Usain Bolt Foundation to support its efforts in rebuilding homes in Haiti.
During Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, Beyoncé launched BeyGOOD Houston to support those affected by the hurricane in Houston. The organization donated necessities such as cots, blankets, pillows, baby products, feminine products and wheelchairs, and funded long-term revitalization projects. On September 8, Beyoncé visited Houston, where she sponsored a lunch for 400 survivors at her local church, visited the George R Brown Convention Center to discuss with people displaced by the flooding about their needs, served meals to those who lost their homes, and made a significant donation to local causes. Beyoncé additionally donated $75,000 worth of new mattresses to survivors of the hurricane. Later that month, Beyoncé released a remix of J Balvin and Willy William's "Mi Gente", with all of her proceeds being donated to disaster relief charities in Puerto Rico, Mexico, the U.S. and the Caribbean after hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, and the Chiapas and Puebla earthquakes.
In April 2020, Beyoncé donated $6 million to the National Alliance in Mental Health, UCLA and local community-based organizations in order to provide mental health and personal wellness services to essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. BeyGOOD also teamed up with local organizations to help provide resources to communities of color, including food, water, cleaning supplies, medicines and face masks. The same month Beyoncé released a remix of Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage", with all proceeds benefiting Bread of Life Houston's COVID-19 relief efforts, which includes providing over 14 tons of food and supplies to 500 families and 100 senior citizens in Houston weekly.
In May 2020, Beyoncé provided 1,000 free COVID-19 tests in Houston as part of her and her mother's #IDidMyPart initiative, which was established due to the disproportionate deaths in African-American communities. Additionally, 1,000 gloves, masks, hot meals, essential vitamins, grocery vouchers and household items were provided. In July 2020, Beyoncé established the Black-Owned Small Business Impact Fund in partnership with the NAACP, which offers $10,000 grants to black-owned small businesses in need following the George Floyd protests. All proceeds from Beyoncé's single "Black Parade" were donated to the fund. In September 2020, Beyoncé announced that she had donated an additional $1 million to the fund. As of December 31, 2020, the fund had given 715 grants to black-owned small businesses, amounting to $7.15 million donated.
In October 2020, Beyoncé released a statement that she has been working with the Feminist Coalition to assist supporters of the End Sars movement in Nigeria, including covering medical costs for injured protestors, covering legal fees for arrested protestors, and providing food, emergency shelter, transportation and telecommunication means to those in need. Beyoncé also showed support for those fighting against other issues in Africa, such as the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon, ShutItAllDown in Namibia, Zimbabwean Lives Matter in Zimbabwe and the Rape National Emergency in Liberia. In December 2020, Beyoncé donated $500,000 to help alleviate the housing crisis in the U.S. caused by the cessation of the eviction moratorium, giving 100 $5,000 grants to individuals and families facing foreclosures and evictions.
Discography Studio albums Dangerously in Love (2003)
B'Day (2006)
I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008)
4 (2011)
Beyoncé (2013)
Lemonade (2016)
Renaissance (2022)with Destiny's Child Destiny's Child (1998)
The Writing's on the Wall (1999)
Survivor (2001)
8 Days of Christmas (2001)
Destiny Fulfilled (2004)with Jay-Z (as The Carters) Everything Is Love (2018)Soundtrack albums The Lion King: The Gift (2019)
Filmography Films starred Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001)
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
The Fighting Temptations (2003)
Fade to Black (2004)
The Pink Panther (2006)
Dreamgirls (2006)
Cadillac Records (2008)
Obsessed (2009)
Epic (2013)
The Lion King (2019)Films directed Life Is But a Dream (2013)
Beyoncé: Lemonade (2016)
Homecoming (2019)
Black Is King (2020)
Tours and residencies Headlining tours Dangerously in Love Tour (2003)
The Beyoncé Experience (2007)
I Am... World Tour (2009–2010)
The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour (2013–2014)
The Formation World Tour (2016)
Renaissance World Tour (2023)Co-headlining tours Verizon Ladies First Tour (with Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott) (2004)
On the Run Tour (with Jay-Z) (2014)
On the Run II Tour (with Jay-Z) (2018)Residencies'
I Am... Yours (2009)
4 Intimate Nights with Beyoncé (2011)
Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live (2012)
See also
Forbes list of highest-earning musicians
Honorific nicknames in popular music
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
List of artists with the most number-one European singles
List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
List of black Golden Globe Award winners and nominees
List of highest-grossing live music artists
List of best-selling female music artists
List of most-followed Instagram accounts
Notes
References
External links
Category:1981 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century African-American businesspeople
Category:20th-century African-American women
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:20th-century American businesswomen
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:20th-century American women singers
Category:21st-century African-American women
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:21st-century American businesspeople
Category:21st-century American businesswomen
Category:21st-century American singers
Category:21st-century American women singers
Category:Actresses from Houston
Category:African-American actresses
Category:African-American artists
Category:African-American choreographers
Category:African-American dancers
Category:African-American fashion designers
Category:American fashion designers
Category:African-American female dancers
Category:African-American women rappers
Category:African-American women singers
Category:African-American feminists
Category:American feminists
Category:African-American Methodists
Category:African-American record producers
Category:African-American women in business
Category:African-American women writers
Category:American choreographers
Category:American contemporary R&B singers
Category:American cosmetics businesspeople
Category:American fashion businesspeople
Category:American women pop singers
Category:American film actresses
Category:American mezzo-sopranos
Category:American music publishers (people)
Category:American music video directors
Category:American people of Acadian descent
Category:American people of Creole descent
Category:American retail chief executives
Category:American television actresses
Category:American United Methodists
Category:American voice actresses
Category:American women business executives
Category:American women philanthropists
Category:American women record producers
Category:Black Lives Matter people
Category:Brit Award winners
Category:Businesspeople from Houston
Category:Businesspeople from Texas
Category:Columbia Records artists
Category:Dance-pop musicians
Category:Destiny's Child members
Category:Female music video directors
Category:Feminist musicians
Category:Gold Star Records artists
Category:Grammy Award winners
Category:Grammy Award winners for rap music
Category:High School for the Performing and Visual Arts alumni
Category:Ivor Novello Award winners
Category:Jay-Z
Category:Solange Knowles
Category:Louisiana Creole people
Category:MTV Europe Music Award winners
Category:MTV Video Music Award winners
Category:Music video codirectors
Category:Musicians from Houston
Category:Musicians from Texas
Category:NME Awards winners
Category:Parkwood Entertainment artists
Category:Record producers from Texas
Category:Shoe designers
Category:Singers from Texas
Category:Singers with a four-octave vocal range
Category:Texas Democrats
Category:Women who experienced pregnancy loss
Category:World Music Awards winners
Category:Writers from Houston | [] | [
"Beyonce's influences include Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Aaliyah, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, Anita Baker, Rachelle Ferrell, Josephine Baker, Jay-Z, Etta James, Fela Kuti, 1990s R&B, Earth, Wind & Fire, DeBarge, Lionel Richie, Teena Marie, The Jackson 5, New Edition, Adele, Florence and the Machine, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Madonna.",
"Beyonce credits these individuals as her influences due to a variety of reasons. She admires Michael Jackson for inspiring her to become a performer and Mariah Carey for influencing her to practice vocal runs. Diana Ross is admired as an all-around entertainer and Whitney Houston inspired her to excel in performance. The themes of feminism and female empowerment in her album B'Day were influenced by her role in Dreamgirls and Josephine Baker. Her husband Jay-Z inspired her with his lyrical genius and overcoming life's obstacles. She looked up to Madonna for her business acumen in addition to her musical talent. Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey are lauded for their strength and accomplishments. Jean-Michel Basquiat also influenced her with his raw and lyrical art.",
"When Beyonce was five, she attended a concert where Michael Jackson performed. This was her first ever concert.",
"In addition to the numerous musical influences, Beyonce has cited personal figures and experiences as influential. She heralded Michelle Obama due to her ability to handle multiple roles, admiring that she \"proves you can do it all\". She described Oprah Winfrey as \"the definition of inspiration and a strong woman\" and also mentioned her husband, rapper Jay-Z, as a continual inspiration because of his lyrical genius and his journey in overcoming obstacles in his life. She pointed to artist Jean-Michel Basquiat's work as a source of inspiration, finding a connection between his raw, lyrical style and her own musical values. Madonna was also named as an inspiration for taking control of her career, including developing other artists. Beyond this, her role in Dreamgirls and specific styles like 1990s R&B, contributed to her music.",
"Yes, Beyonce admires several performers such as Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Aaliyah, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, Anita Baker, Rachelle Ferrell, Josephine Baker, Etta James, Fela Kuti, Earth, Wind & Fire, DeBarge, Lionel Richie, Teena Marie, The Jackson 5, New Edition, Adele, and Florence and the Machine.",
"Beyonce admires Whitney Houston because she said Houston \"inspired me to get up there and do what she did.\"",
"Beyonce has cited a number of individuals however, based on the information provided in the context, those include Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Aaliyah, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, Anita Baker, Rachelle Ferrell, Josephine Baker, Jay-Z, Etta James, Fela Kuti, 1990s R&B, Earth, Wind & Fire, DeBarge, Lionel Richie, Teena Marie, The Jackson 5, New Edition, Adele, Florence and the Machine, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Madonna.",
"Based on the context given, Beyonce has also credited Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Jay-Z as personal and career inspirations, along with Jean-Michel Basquiat as an artistic influence. Madonna inspired Beyonce with her career decisions, especially her move to take control of her own career."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes"
] |
C_c4adbc7f0277460d96f0e9848fbfdcab_0 | A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 21 November 1975 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, it was the most expensive album ever recorded at the time of its release. The album takes its name from the Marx Brothers film of the same name, which the band watched one night at the studio complex when recording. A Night at the Opera incorporates a wide range of styles, including ballads, songs in a music hall style, hard rock tracks and progressive rock influences. | "Bohemian Rhapsody" | "Bohemian Rhapsody" was written by Mercury with the first guitar solo composed by May. All piano, bass and drum parts, as well as the vocal arrangements, were thought up by Mercury on a daily basis and written down "in blocks" (using note names instead of sheets) on a phonebook. The other members recorded their respective instruments with no concept of how their tracks would be utilised in the final mix. The famous operatic section was originally intended to be only a short interlude of "Galileos" that connected the ballad and hard rock portions of the song. The interlude is full of "obscure classical characters: Scaramouche, a clown from the commedia dell'arte; astronomer Galileo; Figaro, the principal character in Beaumarchais' The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro...Beelzebub; identified in the Christian New Testament as Satan, Prince of Demons, but in Arabic as "Lord of the Flies". Also in Arabic the word Bismillah', which is a noun from a phrase in the Qur'an; "Bismi-llahi r-rahmani r-rahiim", meaning "In the name of God, most gracious, most merciful". During the recording, the song became affectionately known as "Fred's Thing" to the band, and the title only emerged during the final sessions. Despite being twice as long as the average single in 1975 and garnering mixed critical reviews initially, the song became immensely popular, topping charts worldwide (where it remained for an unprecedented nine weeks in the UK) and is widely regarded as one of the most significant rock songs in history. After Freddie Mercury's death, the song was rereleased as a double A-side to "These Are The Days Of Our Lives" on 9 December 1991 in the UK and September 5, 1991, in US. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_c4adbc7f0277460d96f0e9848fbfdcab_0_q#0",
"C_c4adbc7f0277460d96f0e9848fbfdcab_0_q#1",
"C_c4adbc7f0277460d96f0e9848fbfdcab_0_q#2",
"C_c4adbc7f0277460d96f0e9848fbfdcab_0_q#3",
"C_c4adbc7f0277460d96f0e9848fbfdcab_0_q#4"
] | [
"Did it win any awards?",
"What inspired the song?",
"who wrote the song?",
"What was the song about?",
"What was most notable about the song?"
] | [
1,
1,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
1708
],
[
1708
],
[
1
],
[
566
],
[
1087
]
],
"texts": [
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Bohemian Rhapsody\" was written by Mercury"
],
[
"The interlude is full of \"obscure classical characters: Scaramouche, a clown from the commedia dell'arte; astronomer Galileo;"
],
[
"During the recording, the song became affectionately known as \"Fred's Thing\" to the band, and the title only emerged during the final sessions."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
1708,
1708,
1,
566,
1087
],
"texts": [
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Bohemian Rhapsody\" was written by Mercury",
"The interlude is full of \"obscure classical characters: Scaramouche, a clown from the commedia dell'arte; astronomer Galileo;",
"During the recording, the song became affectionately known as \"Fred's Thing\" to the band, and the title only emerged during the final sessions."
]
} | A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 21 November 1975 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, it was reportedly the most expensive album ever recorded at the time of its release.
Named after the Marx Brothers' film of the same name, A Night at the Opera was recorded at various studios across a four-month period in 1975. Due to management issues, Queen had received almost none of the money they earned for their previous albums. Subsequently, they ended their contract with Trident Studios and did not use their studios for the album (the sole exception being "God Save the Queen", which had been recorded the previous year). They employed a complex production that extensively used multitrack recording, and the songs incorporated a wide range of styles, such as ballads, music hall, dixieland, hard rock and progressive rock influences. Aside from their usual equipment, Queen also utilised a diverse range of instruments such as a double bass, harp, ukulele and more.
Upon release, A Night at the Opera topped the UK Albums Chart for four non-consecutive weeks. It peaked at number four on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart and became the band's first platinum-certified album in the US. It also produced the band's most successful single in the UK, "Bohemian Rhapsody", which became their first UK number one. Despite being twice as long as the average length of singles during the 1970s, the song became immensely popular worldwide.
Contemporary reviews for A Night at the Opera were mixed, with praise for its production and the diverse musical themes, and recognition as the album that established Queen as worldwide superstars. At the 19th Grammy Awards, its first single "Bohemian Rhapsody" received Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus and Best Arrangement for Voices. It has been hailed as Queen's best album, and one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it at number 128 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2018, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Background
Queen's previous album, Sheer Heart Attack (1974), had obtained commercial success and brought the band mainstream attention, with the single "Killer Queen" reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart. The album was a minor hit in the US, reaching number twelve, while "Killer Queen" hit the top 20. Despite this success, the band was broke at the time, largely due to a contract they had signed which meant that they would produce albums for a production company, who would then sell the album to a record label. This meant that Queen saw almost none of the money they earned, as Trident Studios paid them £60 weekly. Guitarist Brian May was living in a bedsit in Earls Court, West London while frontman Freddie Mercury lived in a flat in Kensington that suffered from rising damp. The matter eventually reached a turning point when bassist John Deacon, who had recently married, was denied a cash advance of £4,000 by manager Norman Sheffield to put a deposit on a house. This increasing frustration led to Mercury writing the song "Death on Two Legs", which would serve as the opening track to A Night at the Opera.
In December 1974, the band hired Jim Beach as their lawyer and began negotiating their way out of Trident. While Beach studied the group's contracts, the group continued touring. They began their first tour of Japan in April 1975, where thousands of fans met them at Haneda Airport and they played two sold out shows at the Nippon Budokan, Tokyo. After a nine-month dispute, Queen were finally free of Trident and signed directly with EMI Records in the UK and Elektra Records in North America. They regained control of their back catalogue, while their former publishing company, Feldman, was taken over by EMI. Because Trident had invested over £200,000 in promoting Queen, the group were required to pay half that to buy out their contracts, and they had to give Trident 1% royalties from their next six albums. Additionally, a tour of America scheduled for September 1975 had to be cancelled as it had been organised by Jack Nelson, who was associated with Trident, despite the already booked venues and sold tickets. This tour was necessary for regaining funds, and its cancellation was a major setback.
With funds running low, Queen immediately began searching for new management. Three names were shortlisted: Peter Rudge, Peter Grant, who was then Led Zeppelin's manager, and John Reid, who was Elton John's manager at the time. Rudge was on tour with the Rolling Stones and could not be reached, so they contacted Grant. Grant, who was eager to manage Queen, had intended the band would sign with Swan Song, Led Zeppelin's label, and suggested Queen go on tour while he sorted out their finances. The group feared Grant would prioritise Led Zeppelin over them, and were reluctant to sign with Swan Song, so they contacted Reid. Reid was initially doubtful about managing another band; however, he accepted after learning it was Queen, and advised the group to "go into the studio and make the best record you can".
Recording and production
Queen worked with producer Roy Thomas Baker, who had also split from Trident, and engineer Mike Stone. It was the last time they would work with Baker until 1978's Jazz. Gary Langan, then 19 years old and who had been a tape operator on two of Sheer Heart Attacks songs, was promoted to an assistant engineer on the album. It was reportedly the most expensive album ever made at the time, with the estimated cost being £40,000 (equivalent to £ in ).
The album was recorded at seven different studios over a period of four months. Queen spent a month during the summer of 1975 rehearsing in a barn at what would become Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey. The group then had a three-week writing and rehearsing session in a rented house near Kington, Herefordshire before recording began. From August to September 1975, the group worked at Rockfield in Monmouthshire. For the remainder of recording sessions, which lasted until November, the group recorded at Lansdowne, Sarm Studios, Roundhouse, Scorpio Sound and Olympic Sound Studios. As their deal with Trident had ended, Trident Studios was not used during recording. The only song on the album recorded at Trident was "God Save the Queen", which had been recorded on 27 October the previous year, shortly before the band embarked on their Sheer Heart Attack Tour.
The group required multi-tracking for their complex vocal harmonies which typically consisted of May singing lower registers, Mercury singing middle registers and Taylor performing the higher parts (Deacon did not sing). Unlike their first three albums, which had used 16-track tape, A Night at the Opera was recorded using 24-track tape. Their vocal harmonies are particularly notable on the song "Bohemian Rhapsody", which features an elaborate opera sequence dominated by multitracked vocals. Similarly, "The Prophet's Song" has an a capella middle section that utilises delay on Mercury's vocals. For their self-titled "guitar orchestrations", May overdubbed his homemade Red Special guitar through an amplifier built by Deacon, known as the Deacy Amp, later released commercially as the "Brian May" amplifier by Vox. Guitar layering is one of May's distinctive techniques as a rock guitarist. He has said that the technique was developed whilst looking for a violin sound.
Aside from their usual equipment, the group used various instruments on the album. Mercury used a grand piano for most of the songs, contributing a jangle piano on "Seaside Rendezvous", while Taylor used a timpani and gong on "Bohemian Rhapsody". Deacon played double bass on "'39" and Wurlitzer Electric Piano on "You're My Best Friend". In the album liner notes, May was credited to "orchestral backdrops" – a reference to the fact that he played a number of instruments not typically found in Queen songs. He played an acoustic guitar on "Love of My Life" and "'39", as well a harp on "Love of My Life", and a toy koto on "The Prophet's Song". The song "Good Company" also features May recreating a Dixieland jazz band, which was done on his Red Special.
Songs
Overview
The album has been affiliated with progressive rock, pop, heavy metal, hard rock and avant-pop. It contains a diverse range of influences including folk, skiffle, British camp and music hall, jazz and opera. Each member wrote at least one song: Mercury wrote five of the songs, May wrote four, and Taylor and Deacon wrote one song each. The closing track was an instrumental cover of "God Save the Queen", the British national anthem, for which May was credited as the arranger.
For their first two albums, much of Queen's songwriting combined contemporary progressive rock and heavy metal, which led to a "Led Zeppelin meets Yes" description of the band. However, starting with Sheer Heart Attack, Queen began drawing inspiration from their everyday lives, and embraced more mainstream musical styles, a trend which A Night at the Opera would continue. Lyrical themes ranged from science fiction and fantasy to heartbreak and romance, often with a tongue in cheek sense of humour. The Winnipeg Free Press noted that the group blended "clever, often poignant lyrics with attractively-arranged melodies".
Side one
"Death on Two Legs" is considered to be Mercury's hate letter to Queen's first manager, Norman Sheffield, who for some years was reputed to have mistreated the band and abused his role as their manager from 1972 to 1975. The lyrics refer to "blood-sucking leeches" and "decaying sewer rats". Though the song never makes direct reference to him, after listening to a playback of the song at Trident Studios around the time of the album's release, Sheffield sued the band and the record label for defamation, which resulted in an out-of-court settlement, but also confirmed his connection to the song. Executives at EMI were unsure that the song was a good idea, May was unsure about the lyrics and felt bad that Mercury was singing it, but ultimately realised it was the songwriter's final choice as to what should be sung. As with "Bohemian Rhapsody", most of the guitar parts on this song were initially played on piano by Mercury, to demonstrate to May how they needed to be played on guitar. During live performances, Mercury would usually rededicate the song to "a real motherfucker of a gentleman", although this line was censored on the version that appeared on their Live Killers album in 1979. Other than on the live album, he said it was dedicated to a "motherfucker I used to know". "Death on Two Legs" remained on the setlist until, and well into, The Game Tour in 1981, and was then dropped. However, the piano introduction was played occasionally during the Hot Space and Works tours.
"Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon" is another song by Mercury. He played piano and performed all of the vocals. The lead vocal was sung in the studio and reproduced through headphones in a tin bucket elsewhere in the studio. A microphone picked up the sound from the bucket, which gives it a hollow "megaphone" sound. The guitar solo is also reported to have been recorded on the vocal track, as there were no more tracks to record on, as explained by producer Roy Thomas Baker during the Classic Albums documentary.
"I'm in Love with My Car" was written and sung by Taylor. The song was initially taken as a joke by May, who thought that Taylor was not serious when he heard a demo recording. Taylor played the guitars in the original demo, but they were later re-recorded by May on his Red Special. The lead vocals were performed by Taylor on the studio version, and all released live versions. The revving sounds at the conclusion of the song were recorded by Taylor's then current car, an Alfa Romeo. The lyrics were inspired by one of the band's roadies, Johnathan Harris, whose Triumph TR4 was evidently the "love of his life". The song is dedicated to him, with the album saying: "Dedicated to Johnathan Harris, boy racer to the end". When it came down to releasing the album's first single, Taylor was so fond of his song that he urged Mercury, the writer of the first single, "Bohemian Rhapsody", to allow it to be the B-side. This decision would later become the cause of much internal friction in the band, in that while it was only the B-side, it generated an equal amount of publishing royalties for Taylor as the A-side did for Mercury. The song was often played live during the 1977–1981 period. Taylor sang it from the drums while Mercury played piano and provided backing vocals. It was played in the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour in 2005 and the Rock the Cosmos Tour in 2008. Taylor would again play the song for his concerts with The Cross and solo tours, where instead of drums he played rhythm guitar.
"You're My Best Friend" was the second song and first Queen single to be written by John Deacon. He composed it while he was learning to play piano, and played the Wurlitzer electric piano (which Mercury disliked) on the recording and overdubbed the bass guitar afterwards. The song was written for his wife, Veronica. It was released as the album's second single after "Bohemian Rhapsody" and was also a top 10 hit in the UK, reaching number 7.
"'39" was May's attempt to do "sci-fi skiffle", inspired by the poet and novelist Hermann Hesse. It relates the tale of a group of space explorers who embark on what is, from their perspective, a year-long voyage. Upon their return, however, they realise that a hundred years have passed, because of the time dilation effect in Einstein's theory of relativity, and the loved ones they left behind are now all dead or aged. May sings the song on the album, with backing vocals by Mercury and Taylor. During live performances, Mercury sang the lead vocal. May had asked Deacon to play double bass as a joke but a couple of days later he found Deacon in the studio with the instrument, and he had already learned to play it. George Michael performed "'39" at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert on 20 April 1992. Michael cited this song as his favourite Queen song, claiming he used to busk it on the London Underground. Recently, Queen have included the song on the setlists of their recent tours with Adam Lambert and before Lambert with Paul Rodgers; for all these tours since 2005 it is sung, as it is on the album, by May.
"Sweet Lady" is a fast rocker written by May. The song is an unusual rock style in meter (which gives way to at the bridge).
"Seaside Rendezvous", written by Mercury, has a mock-instrumental bridge section which begins at around 0:51 into the song. The section is performed entirely by Mercury and Taylor using their voices alone. Mercury imitates woodwind instruments including a clarinet and Taylor mostly brass instruments, including tubas and trumpets, and even a kazoo; during this section Taylor hits the highest note on the album, C6. The "tap dance" segment is performed by Mercury and Taylor on the mixing desk with thimbles on their fingers. Mercury plays both grand piano and jangle honky-tonk.
Side two
"The Prophet's Song" was composed by May. He explained that he wrote the song after a dream he had had about The Great Flood and his fears about the human race and its general lack of empathy. He spent several days assembling the song, and it includes a vocal canon sung by Mercury. The vocal, and later instrumental canon was produced by early tape delay devices. Over eight minutes long, it is also Queen's longest studio song. The speed-up effect that happens in the middle of the guitar solo was achieved by starting a reel-to-reel player with the tape on it, as the original tape player was stopped.
"Love of My Life" is one of Queen's most covered songs (there have been versions by many acts like Extreme featuring May, Scorpions and Elaine Paige). Mercury played piano (including a classical solo) and sang all vocals, including multi-tracked harmonies. May played harp (doing it chord by chord and pasting the takes to form the entire part), Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar (which he had bought in Japan) and his Red Special. May eventually arranged the song so it could be played on an acoustic 12 string for live performances. "Love of My Life" was such a concert favourite that Mercury frequently stopped singing and allowed the audience to take over. It was especially well received during concerts in South America, and the band released the song as a single there. When Queen and Paul Rodgers performed the song (specifically Brian solo) he sang almost none of the words and let the audience sing it all, continuing the tradition. When Queen and Adam Lambert performed it, Brian would play along to a projection of Freddie singing. When they performed with Paul Rodgers during 2004–2008, Mercury was also projected during the show, but not in a round display as they use with Adam Lambert.
"Good Company" was written and sung by May, who sings all vocals and plays ukulele. The recording features a recreation of a Dixieland-style jazz band using May's Red Special guitar and Deacy Amp. May composed the song on his father's Banjo ukulele, but recorded the song with a regular ukulele. Mercury was not involved with the song's recording, making it one of the few Queen songs not to feature their lead singer.
May recorded a version of "God Save the Queen", the British national anthem, on 27 October 1974 at Trident Studios before their Sheer Heart Attack tour. He played a guide piano which was edited out later and added several layers of guitars. After the song was completed it was played as a coda at virtually every Queen concert. When recording the track May played a rough version on piano for Roy Thomas Baker, producer, and Mike Stone, engineer. He called his own skills on the piano sub-par at the time. He performed the song live on the roof of Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002. May has stated that he performed the song on the roof of Buckingham Palace as a homage to Jimi Hendrix's version of "The Star-Spangled Banner".
"Bohemian Rhapsody"
"Bohemian Rhapsody" was written by Mercury with the first guitar solo composed by May. All piano, bass and drum parts, as well as the vocal arrangements, were thought up by Mercury on a daily basis and written down "in blocks" (using note names instead of sheets) on a phonebook. During the recording, the song became affectionately known as "Fred's Thing" to the band, and the title only emerged during the final sessions. The other members recorded their respective instruments with no concept of how their tracks would be utilised in the final mix.
The operatic section was originally intended to be only a short interlude of "Galileos" that connected the ballad and hard rock portions of the song. The interlude is full of "obscure classical characters: Scaramouche, a clown from the Commedia dell'arte; astronomer Galileo; Figaro, the principal character in Beaumarchais' The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro; and Beelzebub, identified in the Christian New Testament as Satan, Prince of Demons, but in Arabic as "Lord of the Flies". Also in Arabic the word Bismillah', which is a noun from a phrase in the Qur'an; "Bismi-llahi r-rahmani r-rahiim", meaning "In the name of God, most gracious, most merciful".
Despite being twice as long as the average single in 1975 and garnering mixed critical reviews initially, the song became immensely popular, topping charts worldwide (where it remained for a then unprecedented nine weeks in the UK) and is widely regarded as one of the greatest songs in music history. The song was rereleased as a double A-side to "These Are the Days of Our Lives" on 5 September 1991, Mercury's 45th birthday, in the US and on 9 December 1991, after Mercury's death, in the UK.
Release
The album title was inspired by the Marx Brothers film of the same name, which the band had watched during recording sessions. Subsequently, they became good friends with the film's star Groucho Marx, to the point where Marx sent the band a letter praising their 1976 album A Day at the Races. Marx also invited Queen to visit him at his Los Angeles home in March 1977 (five months before he died). The band thanked him, and performed "'39" a cappella. The cover artwork features the band's logo, which was designed by Mercury, on a white background. The band's next album, A Day at the Races, featured a similar design but on a black background.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" was released as the lead single on 31 October 1975, with "I'm in Love with My Car" as its B-side. Their management initially refused to release it; however, Kenny Everett played a copy of the song on his show 14 times, at which point audience demand for the song intensified and the band's label EMI was forced to release it. It subsequently topped the UK charts for nine weeks and peaked at number nine in the US. A second single, "You're My Best Friend" was released on 18 May 1976, with "'39" as its B-side. It reached number sixteen in the US and number seven in the UK.
The album was completed a week before the group were to embark on their A Night at the Opera Tour in support of the album. This resulted in a 36-hour mixing session, as the group wanted to have time to rehearse their setlist before touring. Due to time constraints, the group only had three and a half days to rehearse, at Elstree, with four hours taken off to shoot the music video for "Bohemian Rhapsody". The tour spanned 1975 and 1976, and covered the UK, the US, Japan, and Australia.
Re-releases
The album was first re-released in the U.S. by Hollywood Records on 3 September 1991 with two bonus remixes, as part of a complete re-release of all Queen albums.
On 30 April 2002, the album was again re-released on DVD-Audio with a 96 kHz/24bit Linear PCM stereo mix and a 5.1-channel mix in DTS 96/24 surround sound for standard DVD-Video players and 96 kHz/24bit MLP surround sound for DVD-Audio capable machines. It also includes the original 1975 video of Bohemian Rhapsody.
On 21 November 2005, it was once more re-released by Hollywood Records Catalogue Number 2061-62572-2 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the album and its first single, "Bohemian Rhapsody". This release is accompanied by a DVD-Video disc with the same track listing featuring the original videos, old and new concert footage (including "'39" from the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour and Brian May on the roof of Buckingham Palace playing "God Save the Queen") and audio commentary by all four band members.
On 8 November 2010, record company Universal Music announced a remastered and expanded reissue of the album set for release in May 2011. This as part of a new record deal between Queen and Universal Music, which meant Queen's association with EMI Records came to an end after almost 40 years. According to Universal Music, all Queen albums were to be remastered and reissued in 2011. By September 2012 the reissue program was completed. Along with this came a 5.1 channel release of the album on Blu-ray Audio.
Reception
Contemporary critical reaction
A Night at the Opera was not reviewed by the majority of the UK music magazines when it came out because the band were remixing the album until the last moment, and consequently no preview discs were sent out to the media before the album was officially released. In Record Mirror & Disc, Ray Fox-Cumming attempted to review the album based on a single listening at the playback party held for the press, which he admitted "isn't really enough" to form a proper critical opinion. However, he described his first impressions of "an amazing rush of music with one track running helter-skelter into the next ... The orchestral effects, all done by voices, are dazzling but come and go too quickly to appreciate on a solo listening." Fox-Cumming stated that the album had three highlights – "Death on Two Legs", "The Prophet's Song" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" – and only one bad track, "Sweet Lady". He concluded that "as a whole, A Night at the Opera is faster, flashier and more complex than Sheer Heart Attack, but they haven't gone over the top". Phil Sutcliffe of Sounds reviewed the album from a cassette copy, and gave it a five-star review: "You can feel the colossal effort that went into every second of this long album – and yet there's a hardly a moment when I would criticise it for being contrived or overproduced." He singled out "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "The Prophet's Song" as the two tracks that "make a good album extraordinary", despite stating that the latter song's lyrics were "not appealing", and overall highlighting the album's "musical range power and consistently incisive lyrics".
On its release in the US four months later, Kris Nicholson of Rolling Stone said that although they share other heavy metal groups' penchant for "manipulating dynamics", Queen are an elite act in the genre and set themselves apart by incorporating "unlikely effects: acoustic piano, harp, a capella vocals, no synthesisers. Coupled with good songs." Robert Christgau, writing in The Village Voice, felt that the album "doesn't actually botch any of a half-dozen arty-to-heavy 'eclectic' modes ... and achieves a parodic tone often enough to suggest more than meets the ear. Maybe if they come up with a coherent masterwork I'll figure out what that more is." The Winnipeg Free Press wrote: "The group's potential is practically limitless, indicating that Queen is destined to finally take its place among the small handful of truly major acts working in rock today."
Grooves noted that "Sharp operatic interludes, abrupt rhythmic changes, A Night at the Opera defies convention and places Queen in that rarefied circle of genuine superstars." Tony Stewart of NME opined that "More than anything else, A Night at the Opera is a consolidation of the previous album's success, skillfully balancing artistry and effectology. Throughout the album, they display their individual songwriting abilities and musicianship to devastating effect...If it's the most expensive album ever made in a British studio, it's also arguably the best. God save 'em."
Legacy
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album "a self-consciously ridiculous and overblown hard rock masterpiece" and "prog rock with a sense of humour as well as dynamics". Erlewine felt that Queen "never bettered their approach anywhere else". Progressive rock historian Stephen Lambe has disputed that the album itself is progressive rock in his book Citizens of Hope and Glory: The Story of Progressive Rock. He wrote: "While far from progressive rock, it was the band's most grandiose and ambitious album yet, full of great songwriting and prog influences." He said the album was "a neat symbol of the furthest reach of the progressive rock movement".
While reviewing for Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot gave the album a very positive rating, stating how he believed "the band hit its artistic peak, with sterling contributions from all four band members..." alongside A Day at the Races.
In 1992, Mojo called the album "an imperial extravaganza, a cornucopia", and Queen "a band of hungrily competitive individualists on a big roll of friendship and delight". In 2004, Jason Warburg of the Daily Vault stated that the album "absolutely blew me away" and that "A Night at the Opera was the disc that would catapult Queen from British hitmakers to global superstars. As with many such landmark albums it became part milestone and part millstone, with every album that followed compared in some way or another to the musical and commercial success they achieved here. Be that as it may, the music is what counts – and it is simply amazing."
In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at number 230 on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, number 231 on its 2012 list, and number 128 on its 2020 list. According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 147th most celebrated album in popular music history.
In a 2006 review, Paul Rees of Q observed that although A Night at the Opera was "released the same year as both Bowie's arch soul pastiche Young Americans and the sleek art rock of Roxy's Siren, it has rarely been heralded as either. Yet it was, and is, every bit as brash, bold and full of the joys of its own possibilities." Feeling that Queen "never came close to bettering their fourth album", Rees concluded that "later albums would expose the lack of soul at the heart of Queen's music; they were all surface, no feeling. They elected themselves the great entertainers, and this heady rush of experimentation was not to be repeated. But A Night at the Opera remains glorious, monumental. It is British rock's greatest extravagance." In 2007, Chris Jones of BBC Music noted the diverse range of musical styles on the album, saying, "Sheer Heart Attack had hinted at a working knowledge of 19th century parlour balladry, 20s ragtime and Jimi Hendrix. A Night at the Opera was to add opera, trad jazz, heavy metal and more to the mix." He concluded that the album "remains their finest hour".
In 2011, digitally remastered versions of the earlier Queen albums were released, prompting another batch of reviews. Uncut said that the album "proved there was no limit to their capabilities" and concluded, "Containing not one but two monumental epics ('Bohemian Rhapsody', 'The Prophet's Song'), and gorging on grandiose gestures galore, A Night at the Opera secured itself instant classic status". Pitchforks Dominique Leone stated, "No punches pulled, no expense spared: A Night at the Opera was Queen at the top of the mountain". AJ Ramirez of PopMatters wrote, "Kicking off with the downright ominous high-drama of 'Death on Two Legs' (a retort against the group's recently deposed management where Mercury spits out venomous invectives at the targets of his ire), the album gives way to a kaleidoscope of styles, from 1920 jazz to space-folk narratives to top-of-the-line contemporary pop-rock. Amazingly, while the transitions between genres would conceivably throw listeners for a loop, none are jarring. Instead, Queen succeeds because it pulls from all the best tricks in the library of showbiz history to deliver laughs, heartache, grandeur, and spectacle to its audience at precisely the right moments." He observed that "it is the realization of such a unique sonic vision that pushes [the album] into the realm of true excellence ... A Night at the Opera stands as a breathtaking, involving creation, and unequivocally Queen's finest album."
Accolades
In 1977, "Bohemian Rhapsody" received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus and Best Arrangement for Voices.
Band comments
Track listing
Original release
All lead vocals by Freddie Mercury unless noted.
On the cassette, the positions of "Seaside Rendezvous" and "Good Company" were swapped to maintain a similar duration for each side.
Universal Music reissue (2011)
iTunes deluxe edition (2011)
Personnel
Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of the album.
Queen
Freddie Mercury – lead vocals , backing vocals , piano , jangle piano
Brian May – electric guitar , backing vocals , acoustic guitar , lead vocals , koto , harp , ukulele
Roger Taylor – drums , backing vocals , percussion , lead vocals and additional electric guitar
John Deacon – bass guitar , electric piano , double bass backing vocals (11)
Production
Roy Thomas Baker – production
Mike Stone – engineering
Gary Lyons – engineering
John Harris – equipment supervision
David Costa – art direction
Rick Curtin and Brian Palmer – special thanks
John Reid – management
Charts
Weekly charts
Weekly charts (reissues)
Year-end charts
Certifications
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
Queen official website: Discography: A Night at the Opera: includes lyrics of all non-bonus tracks.
Category:1975 albums
Category:Albums produced by Roy Thomas Baker
Category:Albums recorded at Olympic Sound Studios
Category:Albums recorded at Rockfield Studios
Category:Albums recorded at Trident Studios
Category:Cultural depictions of the Marx Brothers
Category:Elektra Records albums
Category:EMI Records albums
Category:Hollywood Records albums
Category:Parlophone albums
Category:Queen (band) albums | [
{
"text": "Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes bibliography as a word having two senses: one, a list of books for further study or of works consulted by an author (or enumerative bibliography); the other one, applicable for collectors, is \"the study of books as physical objects\" and \"the systematic description of books as objects\" (or descriptive bibliography).\n\nEtymology \nThe word was used by Greek writers in the first three centuries CE to mean the copying of books by hand. In the 12th century, the word started being used for \"the intellectual activity of composing books.\" The 17th century then saw the emergence of the modern meaning, that of description of books. Currently, the field of bibliography has expanded to include studies that consider the book as a material object. Bibliography, in its systematic pursuit of understanding the past and the present through written and printed documents, describes a way and means of extracting information from this material. Bibliographers are interested in comparing versions of texts to each other rather than in interpreting their meaning or assessing their significance.\n\nField of study \nBibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868–1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about \"the science of bibliography.\" However, there have recently been voices claiming that \"the bibliographical paradigm\" is obsolete, and it is not today common in LIS. A defence of the bibliographical paradigm was provided by Hjørland (2007).\n\nThe quantitative study of bibliographies is known as bibliometrics, which is today an influential subfield in LIS and is used for major collection decisions such as the cancellation of big deals, through data analysis tools like Unpaywall Journals.\n\nBranches \nCarter and Barker describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). These two distinct concepts and practices have separate rationales and serve differing purposes. Innovators and originators in the field include W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, Philip Gaskell and G. Thomas Tanselle.\n\nBowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production (3). He refers to descriptive bibliography as the systematic description of a book as a material or physical artefact. Analytical bibliography, the cornerstone of descriptive bibliography, investigates the printing and all physical features of a book that yield evidence establishing a book's history and transmission (Feather 10). It is the preliminary phase of bibliographic description and provides the vocabulary, principles and techniques of analysis that descriptive bibliographers apply and on which they base their descriptive practice.\n\nDescriptive bibliographers follow specific conventions and associated classification in their description. Titles and title pages are transcribed in a quasi-facsimile style and representation. Illustration, typeface, binding, paper, and all physical elements related to identifying a book follow formulaic conventions, as Bowers established in his foundational opus, The Principles of Bibliographic Description. The thought expressed in this book expands substantively on W. W. Greg's groundbreaking theory that argued for the adoption of formal bibliographic principles (Greg 29). Fundamentally, analytical bibliography is concerned with objective, physical analysis and history of a book while descriptive bibliography employs all data that analytical bibliography furnishes and then codifies it with a view to identifying the ideal copy or form of a book that most nearly represents the printer's initial conception and intention in printing.\n\nIn addition to viewing bibliographic study as being composed of four interdependent approaches (enumerative, descriptive, analytical, and textual), Bowers notes two further subcategories of research, namely historical bibliography and aesthetic bibliography. Both historical bibliography, which involves the investigation of printing practices, tools, and related documents, and aesthetic bibliography, which examines the art of designing type and books, are often employed by analytical bibliographers.\n\nD. F. McKenzie extended previous notions of bibliography as set forth by Greg, Bowers, Gaskell and Tanselle. He describes the nature of bibliography as \"the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the processes of their transmission, including their production and reception\" (1999 12). This concept broadens the scope of bibliography to include \"non-book texts\" and an accounting for their material form and structure, as well as textual variations, technical and production processes that bring sociocultural context and effects into play. McKenzie's perspective contextualizes textual objects or artefacts with sociological and technical factors that have an effect on production, transmission and, ultimately, ideal copy (2002 14). Bibliography, generally, concerns the material conditions of books [as well as other texts] how they are designed, edited, printed, circulated, reprinted, collected.\n\nBibliographic works differ in the amount of detail depending on the purpose and can generally be divided into two categories: enumerative bibliography (also called compilative, reference or systematic), which results in an overview of publications in a particular category and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books. In earlier times, bibliography mostly focused on books. Now, both categories of bibliography cover works in other media including audio recordings, motion pictures and videos, graphic objects, databases, CD-ROMs and websites.\n\nEnumerative bibliography \n\nAn enumerative bibliography is a systematic list of books and other works such as journal articles. Bibliographies range from \"works cited\" lists at the end of books and articles, to complete and independent publications. A notable example of a complete, independent publication is Gow's A. E. Housman: A Sketch, Together with a List of His Classical Papers (1936). As separate works, they may be in bound volumes such as those shown on the right, or computerized bibliographic databases. A library catalog, while not referred to as a \"bibliography,\" is bibliographic in nature. Bibliographical works are almost always considered to be tertiary sources.\n\nEnumerative bibliographies are based on a unifying principle such as creator, subject, date, topic or other characteristic. An entry in an enumerative bibliography provides the core elements of a text resource including a title, the creator(s), publication date and place of publication. Belanger (1977) distinguishes an enumerative bibliography from other bibliographic forms such as descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography or textual bibliography in that its function is to record and list, rather than describe a source in detail or with any reference to the source's physical nature, materiality or textual transmission. The enumerative list may be comprehensive or selective. One noted example would be Tanselle's bibliography that exhaustively enumerates topics and sources related to all forms of bibliography. A more common and particular instance of an enumerative bibliography relates to specific sources used or considered in preparing a scholarly paper or academic term paper.\n\nCitation styles vary.\nAn entry for a book in a bibliography usually contains the following elements:\n creator(s)\n title\n place of publication\n publisher or printer\n date of publication\n\nAn entry for a journal or periodical article usually contains:\n creator(s)\n article title\n journal title\n volume\n pages\n date of publication\n\nA bibliography may be arranged by author, topic, or some other scheme. Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument. These descriptions, usually a few sentences long, provide a summary of the source and describe its relevance. Reference management software may be used to keep track of references and generate bibliographies as required.\n\nBibliographies differ from library catalogs by including only relevant items rather than all items present in a particular library. However, the catalogs of some national libraries effectively serve as national bibliographies, as the national libraries own almost all their countries' publications.\n\nDescriptive bibliography \nFredson Bowers described and formulated a standardized practice of descriptive bibliography in his Principles of Bibliographical Description\n(1949). Scholars to this day treat Bowers' scholarly guide as authoritative. In this classic text, Bowers describes the basic function of bibliography as, \"[providing] sufficient data so that a reader may identify the book described, understand the printing, and recognize the precise contents\" (124).\n\nDescriptive bibliographies as scholarly product \nDescriptive bibliographies as a scholarly product usually include information on the following aspect of a given book as a material object:\nFormat and Collation/Pagination Statement—a conventional, symbolic formula that describes the book block in terms of sheets, folds, quires, signatures, and pages\n\nAccording to Bowers (193), the format of a book is usually abbreviated in the collation formula:\nBroadsheet: I° or b.s. or bs.\nFolio: 2° or fol.\nQuarto: 4° or 4to or Q° or Q\nOctavo: 8° or 8vo\nDuodecimo: 12° or 12mo\nSexto-decimo: 16° or 16mo\nTricesimo-secundo: 32° or 32mo\nSexagesimo-quarto: 64° or 64mo\nThe collation, which follows the format, is the statement of the order and size of the gatherings.\nFor example, a quarto that consists of the signed gatherings:\n2 leaves signed A, 4 leaves signed B, 4 leaves signed C, and 2 leaves signed D\nwould be represented in the collation formula:\n4°: A2B-C4D2\nBinding—a description of the binding techniques (generally for books printed after 1800)\nTitle Page Transcription—a transcription of the title page, including rule lines and ornaments\nContents—a listing of the contents (by section) in the book\nPaper—a description of the physical properties of the paper, including production process, an account of chain-line measurements, and a description of watermarks (if present)\nIllustrations—a description of the illustrations found in the book, including printing process (e.g. woodblock, intaglio, etc.), measurements, and locations in the text\nPresswork—miscellaneous details gleaned from the text about its production\nCopies Examined—an enumeration of the copies examined, including those copies' location (i.e. belonging to which library or collector)\n\nAnalytical bibliography \nThis branch of the bibliographic discipline examines the material features of a textual artefact—such as type, ink, paper, imposition, format, impressions and states of a book—to essentially recreate the conditions of its production. Analytical bibliography often uses collateral evidence—such as general printing practices, trends in format, responses and non-responses to design, etc.—to scrutinize the historical conventions and influences underlying the physical appearance of a text. The bibliographer utilizes knowledge gained from the investigation of physical evidence in the form of a descriptive bibliography or textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination and cataloging of a text as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while textual bibliography (or textual criticism) identifies variations—and the aetiology of variations—in a text with a view to determining \"the establishment of the most correct form of [a] text\" (Bowers 498[1]).\n\nBibliographers \n\nA bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. A person who limits such efforts to a specific field or discipline is a subject bibliographer.\"\n\nA bibliographer, in the technical meaning of the word, is anyone who writes about books. But the accepted meaning since at least the 18th century is a person who attempts a comprehensive account—sometimes just a list, sometimes a fuller reckoning—of the books written on a particular subject. In the present, bibliography is no longer a career, generally speaking; bibliographies tend to be written on highly specific subjects and by specialists in the field.\n\nThe term bibliographer is sometimes—in particular subject bibliographer—today used about certain roles performed in libraries and bibliographic databases.\n\nOne of the first bibliographers was Conrad Gessner who sought to list all books printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in Bibliotheca Universalis (1545).\n\nNon-book material \nSystematic lists of media other than books can be referred to with terms formed analogously to bibliography:\n Discography—recorded music\n Filmography—films\n Webography (or webliography)—websites\n Arachniography, a term coined by NASA research historian Andrew J. Butrica, which means a reference list of URLs about a particular subject. It is equivalent to a bibliography in a book. The name derives from arachne in reference to a spider and its web.\n\nSee also \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (in Wikipedia)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Blum, Rudolf. (1980) Bibliographia. An Inquiry in Its Definition and Designations, Dawson, American Library Association.\n Bowers, Fredson. (1995) Principles of Bibliographical Description, Oak Knoll Press.\n Duncan, Paul Shaner. (1973) How to Catalog a Rare Book, 2nd ed., rev., American Library Association.\n \n Gaskell, Philip. (2000) A New Introduction to Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press.\n McKerrow, R. B. (1927) An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford: Clarendon Press\n Schneider, Georg. (1934) Theory and History of Bibliography, New York: Scarecrow Press.\n National Library of Canada, Committee on Bibliography and Information Services for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Guidelines for the Compilation of a Bibliography (National Library of Canada, 1987). N.B.: This is a brief guide to accurately practical bibliography, not a study concerning more precise and systematic bibliography.\n \nRobinson, A. M. Lewin (1966) Systematic Bibliography; rev. ed. London: Clive Bingley\n\nExternal links \n\n Oxford Bibliographies Online, in-depth annotated bibliographies by scholars in selected fields\n Introduction to Bibliography, a comprehensive syllabus by G. Thomas Tanselle\n The Bibliographical Society of America, a resource for information about current work in the field of bibliography\n Studies in Bibliography, the journal of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia\n A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology, (University of Zaragoza) includes thousands of listings on literary, philological and other subjects\n\n \nCategory:Book design\nCategory:Book terminology\nCategory:Textual scholarship",
"title": "Bibliography"
}
] | [
"CANNOTANSWER",
"The context does not provide specific information on what inspired the song \"Bohemian Rhapsody\".",
"The song \"Bohemian Rhapsody\" was written by Mercury.",
"The context does not provide specific information on what the song \"Bohemian Rhapsody\" is about. However, it does mention that the song includes an interlude with references to obscure classical characters, mentions of Arabic terms, and several other aspects thought up by Mercury.",
"The song \"Bohemian Rhapsody\" is most notably known for being twice as long as the average single in 1975. Despite initial mixed reviews, it gained immense popularity, topping charts worldwide, including remaining at the top of the charts in the UK for an unprecedented nine weeks. It is widely regarded as one of the most significant rock songs in history."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_1 | Stone Sour | Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992, performing for five years, before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2006, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Rand (guitar) and Roy Mayorga (drums). Longtime members Joel Ekman (drums, percussion), Shawn Economaki (bass guitar), and Jim Root (guitar) left the group in 2006, 2011, and 2014 respectively. To date, Stone Sour have released six studio albums Stone Sour (2002); Come What(ever) | Audio Secrecy (2009-2011) | The band's third album Audio Secrecy, was recorded at the Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who was the producer for the band's second album Come What(ever) May. and released on September 7, 2010 . Taylor stated that "Audio Secrecy is the summation of everything we want, everything we crave and everything we fight for...The dimensions go further than anything we've ever tried before. It's metal, rock, slow, soft, hard, fast, bitter, beautiful and most importantly, it's real. You can't get an album like this out of a band that doesn't exist. We're throwing caution out the damn window." Stone Sour played the first annual Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival with Avenged Sevenfold and Hollywood Undead among others. Stone Sour set the release date of Audio Secrecy as September 7. Stone Sour were part of the Soundwave Festival in late February/early March in Australia 2011. Stone Sour headlined The Avalanche Tour, supported by Theory of a Deadman, Skillet, Halestorm and Art of Dying. It was also announced that a Stone Sour live DVD will be released, filmed at the Brighton Centre in the United Kingdom. The band toured with Avenged Sevenfold, New Medicine and Hollywood Undead on the "Nightmare After Christmas Tour" 2011. On April 16, 2011, it was announced that bassist Shawn Economaki had left the tour for personal reasons. Jason Christopher, who had played with Corey Taylor previously during his solo performances and with the Junk Beer Kidnap Band, filled in for the tour. In May 2011, Stone Sour canceled the remaining dates from their headline tour as drummer, Roy Mayorga suffered a minor stroke. He made a full recovery. The band played their last show of 2011 at the second day of the Rock in Rio IV festival, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between September 23 - October 2. Drummer Roy Mayorga was not present at the show as he was expecting his first child back home, and filling-in for him was ex-Dream Theater and The Winery Dogs drummer Mike Portnoy. Bassist Shawn Economaki was also absent from the performance. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_1_q#0",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_1_q#1",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_1_q#2",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_1_q#3",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_1_q#4",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_1_q#5",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_1_q#6",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_1_q#7"
] | [
"how did this audio secrecy start?",
"what is known of audio secrecy?",
"which year dd this album come out?",
"what was the best part of this album?",
"what else happened to stone sour during this period?",
"and then what happened?",
"what was the most interesting part of this section?",
"anything else you would like to tell me about audio secrecy period?"
] | [
1,
0,
2,
1,
0,
0,
1,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
2097
],
[
0
],
[
231
],
[
257
],
[
1547
],
[
1661
],
[
2097
],
[
1843
]
],
"texts": [
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"The band's third album Audio Secrecy,"
],
[
"2010"
],
[
"\"Audio Secrecy is the summation of everything we want, everything we crave and everything we fight for..."
],
[
"Stone Sour canceled the remaining dates from their headline tour as drummer, Roy Mayorga suffered a minor stroke."
],
[
"He made a full recovery."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"October 2. Drummer Roy Mayorga was not present at the show as he was expecting his first child back home,"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
2097,
0,
231,
257,
1547,
1661,
2097,
1843
],
"texts": [
"CANNOTANSWER",
"The band's third album Audio Secrecy,",
"2010",
"\"Audio Secrecy is the summation of everything we want, everything we crave and everything we fight for...",
"Stone Sour canceled the remaining dates from their headline tour as drummer, Roy Mayorga suffered a minor stroke.",
"He made a full recovery.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"October 2. Drummer Roy Mayorga was not present at the show as he was expecting his first child back home,"
]
} | Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992. The band performed for five years before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2015, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Rand (guitar), Christian Martucci (guitar), Johny Chow (bass) and Roy Mayorga (drums). Longtime members Joel Ekman (drums, percussion) and Shawn Economaki (bass guitar) left the band in 2006 and 2011, respectively. Former lead guitarist Jim Root left in 2014. The band has been on an indefinite hiatus since 2020.
To date, Stone Sour has released six studio albums: Stone Sour (2002); Come What(ever) May (2006); Audio Secrecy (2010); House of Gold & Bones – Part 1 (2012); House of Gold & Bones – Part 2 (2013) and Hydrograd (2017). They also released a digital live album, Live in Moscow, in 2007. Their album, Hydrograd was released in June 2017 and is their first album to feature guitarist Christian Martucci and bassist Johny Chow.
Stone Sour earned the group two Grammy Award nominations, both for Best Metal Performance, for the singles "Get Inside", in 2003, and "Inhale", in 2004. From their album Come What(ever) May, the group received another Grammy Award nomination for Best Metal Performance for the single "30/30-150", in 2007. The band has sold 2.1 million albums in the United States as of April 2017.
History
Formation and early years (1992–1997)
Stone Sour was founded by Corey Taylor, who later became the vocalist of Slipknot, and former drummer Joel Ekman; the band's name comes from a cocktail menu at a local bar. Taylor's longtime friend Shawn Economaki joined shortly after, and filled in as the bass player. During these formative years, Stone Sour recorded two demo tapes, in 1993 and 1994. In 1995, Jim Root, who is now part of Slipknot with Taylor, joined the band. In 1996, this lineup recorded another demo tape, songs from which would be used in 2002 on their self-titled debut album. In 1997, the band went on hiatus, during which Taylor and Root spent most of their time with Slipknot, who were another up-and-coming act in Des Moines and would soon earn a record deal.
Stone Sour and hiatus (2000–2004)
After Josh Rand joined the band, the band recorded their debut self-titled album in Cedar Falls. Upon release, the album charted at number 46 on the Billboard 200. The song "Bother", which was featured on the Spider-Man soundtrack (credited only to Taylor), peaked at number 2 on the Mainstream Rock Chart as well as number 4 on the Modern Rock Tracks and 56 on the Billboard Hot 100. The next single, "Inhale", peaked at 18 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The group received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Metal Performance for the singles "Get Inside" and "Inhale" in 2003 and 2004 respectively. The album went on to achieve Gold certification. The band toured for six months with label mates Sinch and Chevelle before going on a temporary hiatus as Taylor and Root went back to join Slipknot for another album and tour.
Come What(ever) May (2005–2007)
The band came back in 2006 to release their second studio album, Come What(ever) May. They parted ways with drummer Joel Ekman, currently drumming for Isaac James, who left to take care of his cancer-stricken son, and later recruited current drummer, Roy Mayorga (Soulfly, and later Amebix and Hellyeah). The track "30/30-150" was recorded with Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin. The album was released on August 1, 2006. It was met with positive reviews from critics, and sold 80,000 copies in the first week, allowing it to debut at number four on the Billboard 200. The band toured for the next year and a half, releasing the Live in Moscow album exclusively to iTunes on August 14, 2007.
The single "Sillyworld" peaked at number 2 on the Mainstream Rock charts in 2006. "Through Glass" proved to be successful peaking at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Chart, 2 on the Modern Rock Tracks, 12 on the Adult Top 40 and 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 also in 2006. They released two more singles in 2007, "Made of Scars" and "Zzyzx Rd.", which managed to peak at numbers 21 and 29 on the Mainstream Rock charts respectively. In 2006 they received a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance nomination for the single "30/30-150".
Audio Secrecy (2009–2011)
The band's third album Audio Secrecy, was recorded at the Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who was the producer for the band's second album Come What(ever) May. and released on September 7, 2010. Taylor stated that "Audio Secrecy is the summation of everything we want, everything we crave and everything we fight for...The dimensions go further than anything we've ever tried before. It's metal, rock, slow, soft, hard, fast, bitter, beautiful and most importantly, it's real. You can't get an album like this out of a band that doesn't exist. We're throwing caution out the damn window."
Stone Sour played the first annual Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival with Avenged Sevenfold and Hollywood Undead among others. Stone Sour set the release date of Audio Secrecy as September 7. Stone Sour were part of the Soundwave Festival in late February/early March in Australia 2011. Stone Sour headlined The Avalanche Tour in 2011, supported by Theory of a Deadman, Skillet, Halestorm and Art of Dying. It was also announced that a Stone Sour live DVD will be released, filmed at the Brighton Centre in the United Kingdom. The band toured with Avenged Sevenfold, New Medicine and Hollywood Undead on the "Nightmare After Christmas Tour" 2011.
On April 16, 2011, it was announced that bassist Shawn Economaki had left the tour for personal reasons. Jason Christopher, who had played with Corey Taylor previously during his solo performances and with the Junk Beer Kidnap Band, filled in for the tour. In May 2011, Stone Sour canceled the remaining dates from their headline tour as drummer Roy Mayorga suffered a minor stroke. He made a full recovery. The band played their last show of 2011 at the second day of the Rock in Rio IV festival, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between September 23 – October 2. Drummer Roy Mayorga was not present at the show as he was expecting his first child back home, and filling-in for him was ex-Dream Theater and The Winery Dogs drummer Mike Portnoy. Bassist Shawn Economaki was also absent from the performance.
It was during this time that Paul Gray, the bass player of Slipknot died in 2010 causing a further hiatus in Slipknot. This gave Corey an opportunity to write 2 more albums called House of Gold and Bones parts 1&2.
House of Gold & Bones (2012–2013)
The band released a song called "The Pessimist" as a free download on their Facebook page on March 27, 2012. The song was previously only available on the iTunes deluxe version of the soundtrack to Transformers: Dark of the Moon. They also released their first DVD Live at Brighton in the same year, capturing their performance on November 7, 2010.
It was announced via Instagram on May 3, 2012, that bassist Shawn Economaki had parted ways with the band on amicable terms. He was replaced in the studio by current Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan. Stone Sour started recording their fourth studio album in early 2012. Corey Taylor stated that the album would end up being a double album or concept album, and described the album's sound as "Pink Floyd's The Wall meets Alice in Chains's Dirt". It was later announced that the new material would be released as two separate albums. The first album, House of Gold & Bones – Part 1 was released worldwide on October 23, 2012, and the second album House of Gold & Bones – Part 2 was released worldwide on April 9, 2013. The project also has a 4-part graphic novel series that accompanies the albums, telling the linear storyline featured in the twin albums' lyrics.
The first two songs from Part 1, "Gone Sovereign" and the first official single, "Absolute Zero" were released for radio airplay in mid/late August 2012. The first single from House of Gold & Bones Part 2 was "Do Me a Favor". It was released digitally on February 12. Guitarist Josh Rand stated in an interview with O2 Academy that there was a song recorded for Part 1, an instrumental which was deemed 'not up to par' by the band. The song will likely be released in the future once James Root and Josh Rand do 'some stuff to it guitar-wise'.
On October 5, 2012, Johny Chow of Fireball Ministry and Cavalera Conspiracy was announced as the bassist for the band on the House of Gold & Bones tour cycle. Stone Sour subsequently played Soundwave Festival 2013 in Australia and on the Sunday at Download Festival 2013. Guitarist James Root did not tour with Stone Sour in the winter of 2013, as he had to take a brief hiatus from the group to work on .5: The Gray Chapter with Slipknot, although it was later revealed that he was fired from the band due to musical differences. He claimed that the band wanted to focus on "radio play and money," which Root fought against, leading to his departure. Christian Martucci filled in for Root during that period.
The Burbank EP duology (2014–2016)
On October 5, 2014, it was announced via Stone Sour's Facebook page that the band had begun recording a covers EP, which is due to be titled Meanwhile in Burbank... and released in 2015. Corey Taylor stated about the covers EP: "This is something that we've been talking about since the first album came out, with [Stone Sour]. We've always wanted to do this. Even as people have come, people have gone, this is still something we've always come back to, and we just never had the opportunity to do it. And we just kind of said, 'Well, screw it.'" On February 9, 2015, Stone Sour released an official music video and track, which is a cover version of the Metal Church's song "The Dark". The EP was released on April 18, 2015. Corey Taylor confirmed that two more covers EPs are to be produced, they will be titled Straight Outta Burbank and No Sleep Till Burbank and will feature covers of songs by Rage Against The Machine, Mötley Crüe, Bad Brains and Violent Femmes. Straight Outta Burbank..., the second volume in the series, has since been released.
Per Blabbermouth.net, On March 29, 2016, frontman Corey Taylor told the "Someone Who Isn't Me" podcast: "Originally we were going to do three [covers EPs], and now it sounds like we're just going to do the two and just keep the other stuff we recorded as extra content for when we make the next album."
Hydrograd (2017–2019)
On July 26, 2016, Taylor announced the band had written and demoed 18 songs for their sixth studio album, with plans to enter the studio in January for a likely mid-2017 release. On January 23, 2017, Taylor revealed that the band was in the process of recording their upcoming album named Hydrograd. Taylor indicated that the album would incorporate heavy metal elements found in previous releases, alongside hard rock styles. Four singles have been released ahead of the album in promotion; "Fabuless", "Song #3", "Taipei Person/Allah Tea" and "Mercy" (A live recording from Sphere Studios), with St. Marie being released as single following the album's release. Hydrograd released worldwide on June 30, 2017 to generally positive reviews. The band also released an exclusive cover of the Rage Against the Machine song "Bombtrack" for the Metal Hammer compilation Metal Hammer Goes 90s in August 2017.
In Spring 2018, Stone Sour embarked on Ozzy Osbourne's US 2018 tour for the Spring and Fall. On May 6, 2019, it was announced that Roy Mayorga joining Hellyeah as their new drummer, and replacing the original Hellyeah drummer Vinnie Paul, who died on June 22, 2018.
On November 6, 2019, the band announced that they would be releasing a live album titled, Hello, You Bastards: Live in Reno, on December 13 of the same year.
Indefinite hiatus (2020–present)
On August 10, 2020, Taylor announced on 'The Green Room with Neil Griffiths' podcast that Stone Sour was taking a hiatus, saying: "I feel like Stone Sour has kinda run its course for now," "We all talked as a band and decided to kinda put Stone Sour in indefinite hiatus. That's the way it is. We've put it on the shelf for now. Everyone's kind of going and doing their own thing."
Musical style
Throughout the band's career, their musical style has been described as alternative metal, hard rock, heavy metal, and alternative rock. Their music features double bass drum patterns, heavy guitar riffs, dual guitar harmonies and vocally combining screaming with singing.
Guitarist Josh Rand stated in an interview, that he tries to bring a metal aspect and elements of thrash metal in their music. He also stated that his writing style is different than Slipknot's writing style.
Stone Sour's fourth and fifth albums, House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 and Part 2 are notable for their concept album format, and have led to comparisons to progressive rock bands. When asked about this, Josh Rand stated: "I still think it's us. We never said that we would be Genesis or Dream Theater or Yes or any of those types of bands. We're not a prog band. We said we're going to adopt the ideas of those stories and stuff, but it's still going to be a Stone Sour record, where you can still pull those individual songs. We just wanted to offer something more - in a world where it's all about singles, we just wanted to do something different. We've always evolved from record to record, if you listen to our entire catalog."
Band members
Last active lineup
Corey Taylor – lead vocals, occasional rhythm guitar, keyboards (1992–1997, 2000–2020)
Josh Rand – rhythm guitar, occasional lead guitar, backing vocals (2000–2020), bass (2000)
Roy Mayorga – drums, keyboards (2006–2020)
Johny Chow – bass, backing vocals (2012–2020)
Christian Martucci – lead guitar, backing vocals (2014–2020)
Earlier members
Jim Root – lead guitar (1995–1997, 2000–2014)
Joel Ekman – drums (1992–1997, 2000–2006)
Shawn Economaki – bass (1993–1997, 2000–2012)
Former touring musicians
Jason Christopher – bass, backing vocals (2011)
Mike Portnoy – drums (2011)
Jonah Nimoy – rhythm guitar (2018)
R.J. Ronquillo – rhythm guitar (2018)
Timeline (2000–2020)
Recording timeline
Discography
Stone Sour (2002)
Come What(ever) May (2006)
Audio Secrecy (2010)
House of Gold & Bones – Part 1 (2012)
House of Gold & Bones – Part 2 (2013)
Hydrograd (2017)
Accolades
Grammy Awards
|-
| || "Get Inside" || Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance ||
|-
| || "Inhale" || Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance ||
|-
| || "30/30-150" || Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance ||
Revolver Golden Gods
|-
| 2013 || Roy Mayorga || Golden Gods Award for Best Drummer ||
|-
| 2013 || Corey Taylor || Golden Gods Award for Best Vocalist ||
|-
| 2012 || "House of Gold & Bones - Part 1" || Golden Gods Award for Album of the Year ||
Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards
|-
| 2013 || Stone Sour || Best International Band ||
Loudwire Music Awards
|-
| 2012 || Stone Sour || Rock Band of the Year ||
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2017 || Stone Sour || Hard Rock Artist of the Year ||
|-
| Hydrograd || Hard Rock Album of the Year ||
|-
| Corey Taylor || Best Vocalist ||
Bandit Rock Awards
|-
| 2018 || Hydrograd || Best International Album ||
References
External links
Category:1992 establishments in Iowa
Category:Musical groups established in 1992
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1997
Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2001
Category:Roadrunner Records artists
Category:Alternative rock groups from Iowa
Category:Heavy metal musical groups from Iowa
Category:Musical groups from Des Moines, Iowa
Category:American alternative metal musical groups
Category:American hard rock musical groups
Category:American post-grunge musical groups | [] | [
"The album Audio Secrecy by Stone Sour was recorded at the Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz.",
"Audio Secrecy is the third album by the band Stone Sour, recorded at the Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz. It was released on September 7, 2010. According to band member Taylor, the album is a summation of everything the band wants, craves, and fights for. It encompasses a variety of music styles including metal, rock, slow, soft, hard, fast, and is referred to as bitter, beautiful, and real. The release date of the album was set as September 7.",
"The album Audio Secrecy was released on September 7, 2010.",
"The text does not provide information on what the best part of the album \"Audio Secrecy\" is.",
"During the period around the release of \"Audio Secrecy,\" Stone Sour also played in the first annual Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival with Avenged Sevenfold and Hollywood Undead among others. They were part of the Soundwave Festival in Australia in early 2011 and headlined The Avalanche Tour, supported by other artists. A Stone Sour live DVD was also announced to be released, which was filmed at the Brighton Centre in the United Kingdom. They also toured under the \"Nightmare After Christmas Tour\" 2011. However, some changes occurred, with bassist Shawn Economaki leaving the tour for personal reasons and drummer Roy Mayorga suffering a minor stroke that led to the cancellation of the remaining tour dates. They played their last show of 2011 at the second day of the Rock in Rio IV festival.",
"After drummer Roy Mayorga suffered a minor stroke, the band cancelled the remaining tour dates. However, Mayorga recovered fully. Their last show for that year was at the second day of the Rock in Rio IV festival, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between September 23 - October 2. At this show, Mayorga was not present as he was expecting his first child, and Mike Portnoy, former drummer for Dream Theater and The Winery Dogs, filled in for him. Bassist Shawn Economaki was also absent from this performance.",
"The text does not provide information on what the most interesting part of this section is.",
"The album \"Audio Secrecy\" was an important one for Stone Sour, marking an evolution in their music and playing style, according to Taylor. During the period surrounding this album, the band faced a number of challenges with bassist Shawn Economaki leaving the tour for personal reasons, and drummer Roy Mayorga suffering a minor stroke. They had tour performances and festivals worldwide and were also working on a live DVD. Despite these hurdles, they continued to perform and produce music. When members were unable to perform, other artists stepped in, showcasing solidarity in the music industry."
] | [
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_0 | Stone Sour | Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992, performing for five years, before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2006, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Rand (guitar) and Roy Mayorga (drums). Longtime members Joel Ekman (drums, percussion), Shawn Economaki (bass guitar), and Jim Root (guitar) left the group in 2006, 2011, and 2014 respectively. To date, Stone Sour have released six studio albums Stone Sour (2002); Come What(ever) | House of Gold & Bones (2012-2013) | The band released a song called "The Pessimist" as a free download on their Facebook page on March 27, 2012. The song was previously only available on the iTunes deluxe version of the soundtrack to Transformers: Dark of the Moon. They also released their first DVD Live at Brighton in the same year, capturing their performance on November 7, 2010. It was announced via Instagram on May 3, 2012 that bassist Shawn Economaki had parted ways with the band on amicable terms. He was replaced in the studio by current Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan. Stone Sour started recording their fourth studio album in early 2012. Corey Taylor stated that the album would end up being a double album or concept album, and described the album's sound as "Pink Floyd's The Wall meets Alice in Chains's Dirt". It was later announced that the new material would be released as two separate albums. The first album, House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 was released worldwide on October 23, 2012, and the second album House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 was released worldwide on April 9, 2013. The project also has a 4-part graphic novel series that accompanies the albums, telling the linear storyline featured in the twin albums' lyrics. The first two songs from Part 1, "Gone Sovereign" and the first official single, "Absolute Zero" were released for radio airplay in mid/late August 2012. The first single from House of Gold & Bones Part 2 was "Do Me a Favor". It was released digitally on February 12. Guitarist Josh Rand stated in an interview with O2 Academy that there was a song recorded for Part 1, an instrumental which was deemed 'not up to par' by the band. The song will likely be released in the future once James Root and Josh Rand do 'some stuff to it guitar-wise'. On October 5, 2012, Johny Chow of Fireball Ministry and Cavalera Conspiracy was announced as the bassist for the band on the House of Gold & Bones tour cycle. Stone Sour subsequently played Soundwave Festival 2013 in Australia and on the Sunday at Download Festival 2013. Guitarist James Root did not tour with Stone Sour in the winter of 2013, as he had to take a brief hiatus from the group to work on .5: The Gray Chapter with Slipknot, although it was later revealed that he was fired from the band due to musical differences. He claimed that the band wanted to focus on "radio play and money," in which Root fought against, and that led to a split. Christian Martucci filled in for Root during that period. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_0_q#0",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_0_q#1",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_0_q#2",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_0_q#3",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_0_q#4",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_0_q#5",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_0_q#6",
"C_0717906292ac468487970f367414f5bd_0_q#7"
] | [
"Was the house of Gold and Bones an album",
"Was there a part 2",
"Did they do these songs on tour",
"Did they perform with other artists",
"what other albums did they have",
"why did Bolan join",
"did they win any awards",
"what countires did they play in"
] | [
0,
0,
2,
0,
0,
2,
1,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
879
],
[
971
],
[
2468
],
[
474
],
[
546
],
[
396
],
[
2468
],
[
2468
]
],
"texts": [
[
"The first album, House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 was released worldwide on October 23, 2012,"
],
[
"and the second album House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 was released worldwide on April 9, 2013."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"He was replaced in the studio by current Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan."
],
[
"Stone Sour started recording their fourth studio album in early 2012. Corey Taylor"
],
[
"that bassist Shawn Economaki had parted ways with the band on amicable terms. He was replaced in the studio by current Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
879,
971,
2468,
474,
546,
396,
2468,
2468
],
"texts": [
"The first album, House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 was released worldwide on October 23, 2012,",
"and the second album House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 was released worldwide on April 9, 2013.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"He was replaced in the studio by current Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan.",
"Stone Sour started recording their fourth studio album in early 2012. Corey Taylor",
"that bassist Shawn Economaki had parted ways with the band on amicable terms. He was replaced in the studio by current Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992. The band performed for five years before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2015, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Rand (guitar), Christian Martucci (guitar), Johny Chow (bass) and Roy Mayorga (drums). Longtime members Joel Ekman (drums, percussion) and Shawn Economaki (bass guitar) left the band in 2006 and 2011, respectively. Former lead guitarist Jim Root left in 2014. The band has been on an indefinite hiatus since 2020.
To date, Stone Sour has released six studio albums: Stone Sour (2002); Come What(ever) May (2006); Audio Secrecy (2010); House of Gold & Bones – Part 1 (2012); House of Gold & Bones – Part 2 (2013) and Hydrograd (2017). They also released a digital live album, Live in Moscow, in 2007. Their album, Hydrograd was released in June 2017 and is their first album to feature guitarist Christian Martucci and bassist Johny Chow.
Stone Sour earned the group two Grammy Award nominations, both for Best Metal Performance, for the singles "Get Inside", in 2003, and "Inhale", in 2004. From their album Come What(ever) May, the group received another Grammy Award nomination for Best Metal Performance for the single "30/30-150", in 2007. The band has sold 2.1 million albums in the United States as of April 2017.
History
Formation and early years (1992–1997)
Stone Sour was founded by Corey Taylor, who later became the vocalist of Slipknot, and former drummer Joel Ekman; the band's name comes from a cocktail menu at a local bar. Taylor's longtime friend Shawn Economaki joined shortly after, and filled in as the bass player. During these formative years, Stone Sour recorded two demo tapes, in 1993 and 1994. In 1995, Jim Root, who is now part of Slipknot with Taylor, joined the band. In 1996, this lineup recorded another demo tape, songs from which would be used in 2002 on their self-titled debut album. In 1997, the band went on hiatus, during which Taylor and Root spent most of their time with Slipknot, who were another up-and-coming act in Des Moines and would soon earn a record deal.
Stone Sour and hiatus (2000–2004)
After Josh Rand joined the band, the band recorded their debut self-titled album in Cedar Falls. Upon release, the album charted at number 46 on the Billboard 200. The song "Bother", which was featured on the Spider-Man soundtrack (credited only to Taylor), peaked at number 2 on the Mainstream Rock Chart as well as number 4 on the Modern Rock Tracks and 56 on the Billboard Hot 100. The next single, "Inhale", peaked at 18 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The group received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Metal Performance for the singles "Get Inside" and "Inhale" in 2003 and 2004 respectively. The album went on to achieve Gold certification. The band toured for six months with label mates Sinch and Chevelle before going on a temporary hiatus as Taylor and Root went back to join Slipknot for another album and tour.
Come What(ever) May (2005–2007)
The band came back in 2006 to release their second studio album, Come What(ever) May. They parted ways with drummer Joel Ekman, currently drumming for Isaac James, who left to take care of his cancer-stricken son, and later recruited current drummer, Roy Mayorga (Soulfly, and later Amebix and Hellyeah). The track "30/30-150" was recorded with Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin. The album was released on August 1, 2006. It was met with positive reviews from critics, and sold 80,000 copies in the first week, allowing it to debut at number four on the Billboard 200. The band toured for the next year and a half, releasing the Live in Moscow album exclusively to iTunes on August 14, 2007.
The single "Sillyworld" peaked at number 2 on the Mainstream Rock charts in 2006. "Through Glass" proved to be successful peaking at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Chart, 2 on the Modern Rock Tracks, 12 on the Adult Top 40 and 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 also in 2006. They released two more singles in 2007, "Made of Scars" and "Zzyzx Rd.", which managed to peak at numbers 21 and 29 on the Mainstream Rock charts respectively. In 2006 they received a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance nomination for the single "30/30-150".
Audio Secrecy (2009–2011)
The band's third album Audio Secrecy, was recorded at the Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who was the producer for the band's second album Come What(ever) May. and released on September 7, 2010. Taylor stated that "Audio Secrecy is the summation of everything we want, everything we crave and everything we fight for...The dimensions go further than anything we've ever tried before. It's metal, rock, slow, soft, hard, fast, bitter, beautiful and most importantly, it's real. You can't get an album like this out of a band that doesn't exist. We're throwing caution out the damn window."
Stone Sour played the first annual Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival with Avenged Sevenfold and Hollywood Undead among others. Stone Sour set the release date of Audio Secrecy as September 7. Stone Sour were part of the Soundwave Festival in late February/early March in Australia 2011. Stone Sour headlined The Avalanche Tour in 2011, supported by Theory of a Deadman, Skillet, Halestorm and Art of Dying. It was also announced that a Stone Sour live DVD will be released, filmed at the Brighton Centre in the United Kingdom. The band toured with Avenged Sevenfold, New Medicine and Hollywood Undead on the "Nightmare After Christmas Tour" 2011.
On April 16, 2011, it was announced that bassist Shawn Economaki had left the tour for personal reasons. Jason Christopher, who had played with Corey Taylor previously during his solo performances and with the Junk Beer Kidnap Band, filled in for the tour. In May 2011, Stone Sour canceled the remaining dates from their headline tour as drummer Roy Mayorga suffered a minor stroke. He made a full recovery. The band played their last show of 2011 at the second day of the Rock in Rio IV festival, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between September 23 – October 2. Drummer Roy Mayorga was not present at the show as he was expecting his first child back home, and filling-in for him was ex-Dream Theater and The Winery Dogs drummer Mike Portnoy. Bassist Shawn Economaki was also absent from the performance.
It was during this time that Paul Gray, the bass player of Slipknot died in 2010 causing a further hiatus in Slipknot. This gave Corey an opportunity to write 2 more albums called House of Gold and Bones parts 1&2.
House of Gold & Bones (2012–2013)
The band released a song called "The Pessimist" as a free download on their Facebook page on March 27, 2012. The song was previously only available on the iTunes deluxe version of the soundtrack to Transformers: Dark of the Moon. They also released their first DVD Live at Brighton in the same year, capturing their performance on November 7, 2010.
It was announced via Instagram on May 3, 2012, that bassist Shawn Economaki had parted ways with the band on amicable terms. He was replaced in the studio by current Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan. Stone Sour started recording their fourth studio album in early 2012. Corey Taylor stated that the album would end up being a double album or concept album, and described the album's sound as "Pink Floyd's The Wall meets Alice in Chains's Dirt". It was later announced that the new material would be released as two separate albums. The first album, House of Gold & Bones – Part 1 was released worldwide on October 23, 2012, and the second album House of Gold & Bones – Part 2 was released worldwide on April 9, 2013. The project also has a 4-part graphic novel series that accompanies the albums, telling the linear storyline featured in the twin albums' lyrics.
The first two songs from Part 1, "Gone Sovereign" and the first official single, "Absolute Zero" were released for radio airplay in mid/late August 2012. The first single from House of Gold & Bones Part 2 was "Do Me a Favor". It was released digitally on February 12. Guitarist Josh Rand stated in an interview with O2 Academy that there was a song recorded for Part 1, an instrumental which was deemed 'not up to par' by the band. The song will likely be released in the future once James Root and Josh Rand do 'some stuff to it guitar-wise'.
On October 5, 2012, Johny Chow of Fireball Ministry and Cavalera Conspiracy was announced as the bassist for the band on the House of Gold & Bones tour cycle. Stone Sour subsequently played Soundwave Festival 2013 in Australia and on the Sunday at Download Festival 2013. Guitarist James Root did not tour with Stone Sour in the winter of 2013, as he had to take a brief hiatus from the group to work on .5: The Gray Chapter with Slipknot, although it was later revealed that he was fired from the band due to musical differences. He claimed that the band wanted to focus on "radio play and money," which Root fought against, leading to his departure. Christian Martucci filled in for Root during that period.
The Burbank EP duology (2014–2016)
On October 5, 2014, it was announced via Stone Sour's Facebook page that the band had begun recording a covers EP, which is due to be titled Meanwhile in Burbank... and released in 2015. Corey Taylor stated about the covers EP: "This is something that we've been talking about since the first album came out, with [Stone Sour]. We've always wanted to do this. Even as people have come, people have gone, this is still something we've always come back to, and we just never had the opportunity to do it. And we just kind of said, 'Well, screw it.'" On February 9, 2015, Stone Sour released an official music video and track, which is a cover version of the Metal Church's song "The Dark". The EP was released on April 18, 2015. Corey Taylor confirmed that two more covers EPs are to be produced, they will be titled Straight Outta Burbank and No Sleep Till Burbank and will feature covers of songs by Rage Against The Machine, Mötley Crüe, Bad Brains and Violent Femmes. Straight Outta Burbank..., the second volume in the series, has since been released.
Per Blabbermouth.net, On March 29, 2016, frontman Corey Taylor told the "Someone Who Isn't Me" podcast: "Originally we were going to do three [covers EPs], and now it sounds like we're just going to do the two and just keep the other stuff we recorded as extra content for when we make the next album."
Hydrograd (2017–2019)
On July 26, 2016, Taylor announced the band had written and demoed 18 songs for their sixth studio album, with plans to enter the studio in January for a likely mid-2017 release. On January 23, 2017, Taylor revealed that the band was in the process of recording their upcoming album named Hydrograd. Taylor indicated that the album would incorporate heavy metal elements found in previous releases, alongside hard rock styles. Four singles have been released ahead of the album in promotion; "Fabuless", "Song #3", "Taipei Person/Allah Tea" and "Mercy" (A live recording from Sphere Studios), with St. Marie being released as single following the album's release. Hydrograd released worldwide on June 30, 2017 to generally positive reviews. The band also released an exclusive cover of the Rage Against the Machine song "Bombtrack" for the Metal Hammer compilation Metal Hammer Goes 90s in August 2017.
In Spring 2018, Stone Sour embarked on Ozzy Osbourne's US 2018 tour for the Spring and Fall. On May 6, 2019, it was announced that Roy Mayorga joining Hellyeah as their new drummer, and replacing the original Hellyeah drummer Vinnie Paul, who died on June 22, 2018.
On November 6, 2019, the band announced that they would be releasing a live album titled, Hello, You Bastards: Live in Reno, on December 13 of the same year.
Indefinite hiatus (2020–present)
On August 10, 2020, Taylor announced on 'The Green Room with Neil Griffiths' podcast that Stone Sour was taking a hiatus, saying: "I feel like Stone Sour has kinda run its course for now," "We all talked as a band and decided to kinda put Stone Sour in indefinite hiatus. That's the way it is. We've put it on the shelf for now. Everyone's kind of going and doing their own thing."
Musical style
Throughout the band's career, their musical style has been described as alternative metal, hard rock, heavy metal, and alternative rock. Their music features double bass drum patterns, heavy guitar riffs, dual guitar harmonies and vocally combining screaming with singing.
Guitarist Josh Rand stated in an interview, that he tries to bring a metal aspect and elements of thrash metal in their music. He also stated that his writing style is different than Slipknot's writing style.
Stone Sour's fourth and fifth albums, House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 and Part 2 are notable for their concept album format, and have led to comparisons to progressive rock bands. When asked about this, Josh Rand stated: "I still think it's us. We never said that we would be Genesis or Dream Theater or Yes or any of those types of bands. We're not a prog band. We said we're going to adopt the ideas of those stories and stuff, but it's still going to be a Stone Sour record, where you can still pull those individual songs. We just wanted to offer something more - in a world where it's all about singles, we just wanted to do something different. We've always evolved from record to record, if you listen to our entire catalog."
Band members
Last active lineup
Corey Taylor – lead vocals, occasional rhythm guitar, keyboards (1992–1997, 2000–2020)
Josh Rand – rhythm guitar, occasional lead guitar, backing vocals (2000–2020), bass (2000)
Roy Mayorga – drums, keyboards (2006–2020)
Johny Chow – bass, backing vocals (2012–2020)
Christian Martucci – lead guitar, backing vocals (2014–2020)
Earlier members
Jim Root – lead guitar (1995–1997, 2000–2014)
Joel Ekman – drums (1992–1997, 2000–2006)
Shawn Economaki – bass (1993–1997, 2000–2012)
Former touring musicians
Jason Christopher – bass, backing vocals (2011)
Mike Portnoy – drums (2011)
Jonah Nimoy – rhythm guitar (2018)
R.J. Ronquillo – rhythm guitar (2018)
Timeline (2000–2020)
Recording timeline
Discography
Stone Sour (2002)
Come What(ever) May (2006)
Audio Secrecy (2010)
House of Gold & Bones – Part 1 (2012)
House of Gold & Bones – Part 2 (2013)
Hydrograd (2017)
Accolades
Grammy Awards
|-
| || "Get Inside" || Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance ||
|-
| || "Inhale" || Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance ||
|-
| || "30/30-150" || Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance ||
Revolver Golden Gods
|-
| 2013 || Roy Mayorga || Golden Gods Award for Best Drummer ||
|-
| 2013 || Corey Taylor || Golden Gods Award for Best Vocalist ||
|-
| 2012 || "House of Gold & Bones - Part 1" || Golden Gods Award for Album of the Year ||
Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards
|-
| 2013 || Stone Sour || Best International Band ||
Loudwire Music Awards
|-
| 2012 || Stone Sour || Rock Band of the Year ||
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2017 || Stone Sour || Hard Rock Artist of the Year ||
|-
| Hydrograd || Hard Rock Album of the Year ||
|-
| Corey Taylor || Best Vocalist ||
Bandit Rock Awards
|-
| 2018 || Hydrograd || Best International Album ||
References
External links
Category:1992 establishments in Iowa
Category:Musical groups established in 1992
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1997
Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2001
Category:Roadrunner Records artists
Category:Alternative rock groups from Iowa
Category:Heavy metal musical groups from Iowa
Category:Musical groups from Des Moines, Iowa
Category:American alternative metal musical groups
Category:American hard rock musical groups
Category:American post-grunge musical groups | [] | [
"Yes, House of Gold & Bones was a project released as two separate albums: Part 1 and Part 2.",
"Yes, there was a part 2 of the House of Gold & Bones, and it was released worldwide on April 9, 2013.",
"The context does not provide specific information about whether the band performed the songs from the House of Gold & Bones albums during their tour.",
"The context does not provide specific information about whether Stone Sour performed with other artists.",
"The context only mentions the House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 and Part 2 albums, as well as the .5: The Gray Chapter album by Slipknot, which guitarist James Root worked on. No other albums are mentioned in the provided context.",
"Rachel Bolan joined Stone Sour in the studio as a replacement for bassist Shawn Economaki, who had parted ways with the band on amicable terms.",
"The context does not provide any information about Stone Sour winning any awards.",
"The context mentions that Stone Sour played at the Soundwave Festival 2013 in Australia and the Download Festival 2013 without specifying the country of the latter. No other specific countries are mentioned in the provided context."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_c4adbc7f0277460d96f0e9848fbfdcab_1 | A Night at the Opera (Queen album) | A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 21 November 1975 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, it was the most expensive album ever recorded at the time of its release. The album takes its name from the Marx Brothers film of the same name, which the band watched one night at the studio complex when recording. A Night at the Opera incorporates a wide range of styles, including ballads, songs in a music hall style, hard rock tracks and progressive rock influences. | "'39" | "Death on Two Legs" can be referred to as Freddie Mercury's hate letter to Queen's first manager, Norman Sheffield, who for some years was reputed to have mistreated the band and abused his role as their manager from 1972 to 1975. Sheffield denied the allegations in his 2013 autobiography entitled "Life on Two Legs: Set The Record Straight", and referred to copies of the original 1972 management contracts between Sheffield and Queen, which were included in the book as proof of his defence. Though the song never makes direct reference to him, after listening to a playback of the song at Trident Studios during the time of album release, Sheffield was appalled, and sued the band and the record label for defamation, which resulted in an out-of-court settlement, but also confirmed his connection to the song. During live performances, Mercury would usually rededicate the song to "a real motherfucker of a gentleman", although this line was censored on the version that appeared on their Live Killers album in 1979. Other than on the live album, he said it was dedicated to a "motherfucker I used to know". In the Classic Albums documentary about the making of A Night at the Opera, Brian May stated that the band was somewhat taken aback at first by the bitterness of Mercury's lyrics, and described by Mercury as being "so vindictive that he [May] felt bad singing it". After the song came together, it was agreed that the "author should have his way", and the song was recorded as written. As with "Bohemian Rhapsody", most of the guitar parts on this song were initially played on piano by Mercury, to demonstrate to May how they needed to be played on guitar. "Death on Two Legs" remained on the setlist until, and well into, The Game Tour in 1980, and was then dropped. However, the piano introduction was played during the Hot Space and Works tours. "I'm in Love with My Car" is amongst Roger Taylor's most famous songs in the Queen catalogue. The song was initially taken as a joke by May, who thought that Taylor was not serious when he heard a demo recording. Taylor played the guitars in the original demo, but they were later re-recorded by May on his Red Special. The lead vocals were performed by Taylor on the studio version, and all released live versions. The revving sounds at the conclusion of the song were recorded by Taylor's then current car, an Alfa Romeo. The lyrics were inspired by one of the band's roadies, Johnathan Harris, whose Triumph TR4 was evidently the "love of his life". The song is dedicated to him, the album says: "Dedicated to Johnathan Harris, boy racer to the end". When it came down to releasing the album's first single, Taylor was so fond of his song that he urged Mercury (author of the first single, "Bohemian Rhapsody") to allow it to be the B-side and reportedly locked himself in a cupboard until Mercury agreed. This decision would later become the cause of much internal friction in the band, in that while it was only the B-side, it generated an equal amount of publishing royalties for Taylor as the main single did for Mercury. The song was often played live during the 1977-81 period. Taylor sang it from the drums while Mercury played piano and provided backing vocals. It was played in the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour in 2005 and the Rock the Cosmos Tour in 2008. Taylor would again play the song for his concerts with The Cross and solo tours, where instead of drums he played rhythm guitar. "'39" was May's attempt to do "sci-fi skiffle". "'39" relates the tale of a group of space explorers who embark on what is, from their perspective, a year-long voyage. Upon their return, however, they realise that a hundred years have passed, because of the time dilation effect in Einstein's special theory of relativity, and the loved ones they left behind are now all dead or aged. May sings the song on the album, with backing vocals by Mercury and Taylor. During live performances, Mercury sang the lead vocal. May had asked bassist John Deacon to play double bass as a joke but a couple of days later he found Deacon in the studio with the instrument, and he had already learned to play it. Since Queen had named their albums A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races after two of the Marx Brothers' most popular films, surviving brother Groucho Marx invited Queen to visit him at his Los Angeles home in March 1977 (five months before he died). The band thanked him, and performed "'39" a cappella. George Michael performed "'39" at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert on 20 April 1992. Michael cited this song as his favourite Queen song, claiming he used to busk it on the London Underground. Recently, Queen have included the song on the setlists of their recent tours with Adam Lambert and before Adam with Paul Rodgers; for all these tours since 2005 it is sung as it is on the album by May. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_c4adbc7f0277460d96f0e9848fbfdcab_1_q#0",
"C_c4adbc7f0277460d96f0e9848fbfdcab_1_q#1",
"C_c4adbc7f0277460d96f0e9848fbfdcab_1_q#2",
"C_c4adbc7f0277460d96f0e9848fbfdcab_1_q#3",
"C_c4adbc7f0277460d96f0e9848fbfdcab_1_q#4"
] | [
"What was 39?",
"Did it win any awards",
"What was the song inspired by",
"Who wrote it?",
"Who composed it?"
] | [
0,
1,
0,
0,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
3103
],
[
4877
],
[
3511
],
[
3476
],
[
3852
]
],
"texts": [
[
"song was often played live during the 1977-81 period. Taylor sang it from the drums while Mercury played piano and provided backing vocals."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"\". \"'39\" relates the tale of a group of space explorers who embark on what is, from their perspective, a year-long voyage."
],
[
"May's"
],
[
"May sings the song on the album, with backing vocals by Mercury and Taylor. During live performances, Mercury sang the lead vocal."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
3103,
4877,
3511,
3476,
3852
],
"texts": [
"song was often played live during the 1977-81 period. Taylor sang it from the drums while Mercury played piano and provided backing vocals.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"\". \"'39\" relates the tale of a group of space explorers who embark on what is, from their perspective, a year-long voyage.",
"May's",
"May sings the song on the album, with backing vocals by Mercury and Taylor. During live performances, Mercury sang the lead vocal."
]
} | A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 21 November 1975 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, it was reportedly the most expensive album ever recorded at the time of its release.
Named after the Marx Brothers' film of the same name, A Night at the Opera was recorded at various studios across a four-month period in 1975. Due to management issues, Queen had received almost none of the money they earned for their previous albums. Subsequently, they ended their contract with Trident Studios and did not use their studios for the album (the sole exception being "God Save the Queen", which had been recorded the previous year). They employed a complex production that extensively used multitrack recording, and the songs incorporated a wide range of styles, such as ballads, music hall, dixieland, hard rock and progressive rock influences. Aside from their usual equipment, Queen also utilised a diverse range of instruments such as a double bass, harp, ukulele and more.
Upon release, A Night at the Opera topped the UK Albums Chart for four non-consecutive weeks. It peaked at number four on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart and became the band's first platinum-certified album in the US. It also produced the band's most successful single in the UK, "Bohemian Rhapsody", which became their first UK number one. Despite being twice as long as the average length of singles during the 1970s, the song became immensely popular worldwide.
Contemporary reviews for A Night at the Opera were mixed, with praise for its production and the diverse musical themes, and recognition as the album that established Queen as worldwide superstars. At the 19th Grammy Awards, its first single "Bohemian Rhapsody" received Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus and Best Arrangement for Voices. It has been hailed as Queen's best album, and one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it at number 128 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2018, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Background
Queen's previous album, Sheer Heart Attack (1974), had obtained commercial success and brought the band mainstream attention, with the single "Killer Queen" reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart. The album was a minor hit in the US, reaching number twelve, while "Killer Queen" hit the top 20. Despite this success, the band was broke at the time, largely due to a contract they had signed which meant that they would produce albums for a production company, who would then sell the album to a record label. This meant that Queen saw almost none of the money they earned, as Trident Studios paid them £60 weekly. Guitarist Brian May was living in a bedsit in Earls Court, West London while frontman Freddie Mercury lived in a flat in Kensington that suffered from rising damp. The matter eventually reached a turning point when bassist John Deacon, who had recently married, was denied a cash advance of £4,000 by manager Norman Sheffield to put a deposit on a house. This increasing frustration led to Mercury writing the song "Death on Two Legs", which would serve as the opening track to A Night at the Opera.
In December 1974, the band hired Jim Beach as their lawyer and began negotiating their way out of Trident. While Beach studied the group's contracts, the group continued touring. They began their first tour of Japan in April 1975, where thousands of fans met them at Haneda Airport and they played two sold out shows at the Nippon Budokan, Tokyo. After a nine-month dispute, Queen were finally free of Trident and signed directly with EMI Records in the UK and Elektra Records in North America. They regained control of their back catalogue, while their former publishing company, Feldman, was taken over by EMI. Because Trident had invested over £200,000 in promoting Queen, the group were required to pay half that to buy out their contracts, and they had to give Trident 1% royalties from their next six albums. Additionally, a tour of America scheduled for September 1975 had to be cancelled as it had been organised by Jack Nelson, who was associated with Trident, despite the already booked venues and sold tickets. This tour was necessary for regaining funds, and its cancellation was a major setback.
With funds running low, Queen immediately began searching for new management. Three names were shortlisted: Peter Rudge, Peter Grant, who was then Led Zeppelin's manager, and John Reid, who was Elton John's manager at the time. Rudge was on tour with the Rolling Stones and could not be reached, so they contacted Grant. Grant, who was eager to manage Queen, had intended the band would sign with Swan Song, Led Zeppelin's label, and suggested Queen go on tour while he sorted out their finances. The group feared Grant would prioritise Led Zeppelin over them, and were reluctant to sign with Swan Song, so they contacted Reid. Reid was initially doubtful about managing another band; however, he accepted after learning it was Queen, and advised the group to "go into the studio and make the best record you can".
Recording and production
Queen worked with producer Roy Thomas Baker, who had also split from Trident, and engineer Mike Stone. It was the last time they would work with Baker until 1978's Jazz. Gary Langan, then 19 years old and who had been a tape operator on two of Sheer Heart Attacks songs, was promoted to an assistant engineer on the album. It was reportedly the most expensive album ever made at the time, with the estimated cost being £40,000 (equivalent to £ in ).
The album was recorded at seven different studios over a period of four months. Queen spent a month during the summer of 1975 rehearsing in a barn at what would become Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey. The group then had a three-week writing and rehearsing session in a rented house near Kington, Herefordshire before recording began. From August to September 1975, the group worked at Rockfield in Monmouthshire. For the remainder of recording sessions, which lasted until November, the group recorded at Lansdowne, Sarm Studios, Roundhouse, Scorpio Sound and Olympic Sound Studios. As their deal with Trident had ended, Trident Studios was not used during recording. The only song on the album recorded at Trident was "God Save the Queen", which had been recorded on 27 October the previous year, shortly before the band embarked on their Sheer Heart Attack Tour.
The group required multi-tracking for their complex vocal harmonies which typically consisted of May singing lower registers, Mercury singing middle registers and Taylor performing the higher parts (Deacon did not sing). Unlike their first three albums, which had used 16-track tape, A Night at the Opera was recorded using 24-track tape. Their vocal harmonies are particularly notable on the song "Bohemian Rhapsody", which features an elaborate opera sequence dominated by multitracked vocals. Similarly, "The Prophet's Song" has an a capella middle section that utilises delay on Mercury's vocals. For their self-titled "guitar orchestrations", May overdubbed his homemade Red Special guitar through an amplifier built by Deacon, known as the Deacy Amp, later released commercially as the "Brian May" amplifier by Vox. Guitar layering is one of May's distinctive techniques as a rock guitarist. He has said that the technique was developed whilst looking for a violin sound.
Aside from their usual equipment, the group used various instruments on the album. Mercury used a grand piano for most of the songs, contributing a jangle piano on "Seaside Rendezvous", while Taylor used a timpani and gong on "Bohemian Rhapsody". Deacon played double bass on "'39" and Wurlitzer Electric Piano on "You're My Best Friend". In the album liner notes, May was credited to "orchestral backdrops" – a reference to the fact that he played a number of instruments not typically found in Queen songs. He played an acoustic guitar on "Love of My Life" and "'39", as well a harp on "Love of My Life", and a toy koto on "The Prophet's Song". The song "Good Company" also features May recreating a Dixieland jazz band, which was done on his Red Special.
Songs
Overview
The album has been affiliated with progressive rock, pop, heavy metal, hard rock and avant-pop. It contains a diverse range of influences including folk, skiffle, British camp and music hall, jazz and opera. Each member wrote at least one song: Mercury wrote five of the songs, May wrote four, and Taylor and Deacon wrote one song each. The closing track was an instrumental cover of "God Save the Queen", the British national anthem, for which May was credited as the arranger.
For their first two albums, much of Queen's songwriting combined contemporary progressive rock and heavy metal, which led to a "Led Zeppelin meets Yes" description of the band. However, starting with Sheer Heart Attack, Queen began drawing inspiration from their everyday lives, and embraced more mainstream musical styles, a trend which A Night at the Opera would continue. Lyrical themes ranged from science fiction and fantasy to heartbreak and romance, often with a tongue in cheek sense of humour. The Winnipeg Free Press noted that the group blended "clever, often poignant lyrics with attractively-arranged melodies".
Side one
"Death on Two Legs" is considered to be Mercury's hate letter to Queen's first manager, Norman Sheffield, who for some years was reputed to have mistreated the band and abused his role as their manager from 1972 to 1975. The lyrics refer to "blood-sucking leeches" and "decaying sewer rats". Though the song never makes direct reference to him, after listening to a playback of the song at Trident Studios around the time of the album's release, Sheffield sued the band and the record label for defamation, which resulted in an out-of-court settlement, but also confirmed his connection to the song. Executives at EMI were unsure that the song was a good idea, May was unsure about the lyrics and felt bad that Mercury was singing it, but ultimately realised it was the songwriter's final choice as to what should be sung. As with "Bohemian Rhapsody", most of the guitar parts on this song were initially played on piano by Mercury, to demonstrate to May how they needed to be played on guitar. During live performances, Mercury would usually rededicate the song to "a real motherfucker of a gentleman", although this line was censored on the version that appeared on their Live Killers album in 1979. Other than on the live album, he said it was dedicated to a "motherfucker I used to know". "Death on Two Legs" remained on the setlist until, and well into, The Game Tour in 1981, and was then dropped. However, the piano introduction was played occasionally during the Hot Space and Works tours.
"Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon" is another song by Mercury. He played piano and performed all of the vocals. The lead vocal was sung in the studio and reproduced through headphones in a tin bucket elsewhere in the studio. A microphone picked up the sound from the bucket, which gives it a hollow "megaphone" sound. The guitar solo is also reported to have been recorded on the vocal track, as there were no more tracks to record on, as explained by producer Roy Thomas Baker during the Classic Albums documentary.
"I'm in Love with My Car" was written and sung by Taylor. The song was initially taken as a joke by May, who thought that Taylor was not serious when he heard a demo recording. Taylor played the guitars in the original demo, but they were later re-recorded by May on his Red Special. The lead vocals were performed by Taylor on the studio version, and all released live versions. The revving sounds at the conclusion of the song were recorded by Taylor's then current car, an Alfa Romeo. The lyrics were inspired by one of the band's roadies, Johnathan Harris, whose Triumph TR4 was evidently the "love of his life". The song is dedicated to him, with the album saying: "Dedicated to Johnathan Harris, boy racer to the end". When it came down to releasing the album's first single, Taylor was so fond of his song that he urged Mercury, the writer of the first single, "Bohemian Rhapsody", to allow it to be the B-side. This decision would later become the cause of much internal friction in the band, in that while it was only the B-side, it generated an equal amount of publishing royalties for Taylor as the A-side did for Mercury. The song was often played live during the 1977–1981 period. Taylor sang it from the drums while Mercury played piano and provided backing vocals. It was played in the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour in 2005 and the Rock the Cosmos Tour in 2008. Taylor would again play the song for his concerts with The Cross and solo tours, where instead of drums he played rhythm guitar.
"You're My Best Friend" was the second song and first Queen single to be written by John Deacon. He composed it while he was learning to play piano, and played the Wurlitzer electric piano (which Mercury disliked) on the recording and overdubbed the bass guitar afterwards. The song was written for his wife, Veronica. It was released as the album's second single after "Bohemian Rhapsody" and was also a top 10 hit in the UK, reaching number 7.
"'39" was May's attempt to do "sci-fi skiffle", inspired by the poet and novelist Hermann Hesse. It relates the tale of a group of space explorers who embark on what is, from their perspective, a year-long voyage. Upon their return, however, they realise that a hundred years have passed, because of the time dilation effect in Einstein's theory of relativity, and the loved ones they left behind are now all dead or aged. May sings the song on the album, with backing vocals by Mercury and Taylor. During live performances, Mercury sang the lead vocal. May had asked Deacon to play double bass as a joke but a couple of days later he found Deacon in the studio with the instrument, and he had already learned to play it. George Michael performed "'39" at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert on 20 April 1992. Michael cited this song as his favourite Queen song, claiming he used to busk it on the London Underground. Recently, Queen have included the song on the setlists of their recent tours with Adam Lambert and before Lambert with Paul Rodgers; for all these tours since 2005 it is sung, as it is on the album, by May.
"Sweet Lady" is a fast rocker written by May. The song is an unusual rock style in meter (which gives way to at the bridge).
"Seaside Rendezvous", written by Mercury, has a mock-instrumental bridge section which begins at around 0:51 into the song. The section is performed entirely by Mercury and Taylor using their voices alone. Mercury imitates woodwind instruments including a clarinet and Taylor mostly brass instruments, including tubas and trumpets, and even a kazoo; during this section Taylor hits the highest note on the album, C6. The "tap dance" segment is performed by Mercury and Taylor on the mixing desk with thimbles on their fingers. Mercury plays both grand piano and jangle honky-tonk.
Side two
"The Prophet's Song" was composed by May. He explained that he wrote the song after a dream he had had about The Great Flood and his fears about the human race and its general lack of empathy. He spent several days assembling the song, and it includes a vocal canon sung by Mercury. The vocal, and later instrumental canon was produced by early tape delay devices. Over eight minutes long, it is also Queen's longest studio song. The speed-up effect that happens in the middle of the guitar solo was achieved by starting a reel-to-reel player with the tape on it, as the original tape player was stopped.
"Love of My Life" is one of Queen's most covered songs (there have been versions by many acts like Extreme featuring May, Scorpions and Elaine Paige). Mercury played piano (including a classical solo) and sang all vocals, including multi-tracked harmonies. May played harp (doing it chord by chord and pasting the takes to form the entire part), Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar (which he had bought in Japan) and his Red Special. May eventually arranged the song so it could be played on an acoustic 12 string for live performances. "Love of My Life" was such a concert favourite that Mercury frequently stopped singing and allowed the audience to take over. It was especially well received during concerts in South America, and the band released the song as a single there. When Queen and Paul Rodgers performed the song (specifically Brian solo) he sang almost none of the words and let the audience sing it all, continuing the tradition. When Queen and Adam Lambert performed it, Brian would play along to a projection of Freddie singing. When they performed with Paul Rodgers during 2004–2008, Mercury was also projected during the show, but not in a round display as they use with Adam Lambert.
"Good Company" was written and sung by May, who sings all vocals and plays ukulele. The recording features a recreation of a Dixieland-style jazz band using May's Red Special guitar and Deacy Amp. May composed the song on his father's Banjo ukulele, but recorded the song with a regular ukulele. Mercury was not involved with the song's recording, making it one of the few Queen songs not to feature their lead singer.
May recorded a version of "God Save the Queen", the British national anthem, on 27 October 1974 at Trident Studios before their Sheer Heart Attack tour. He played a guide piano which was edited out later and added several layers of guitars. After the song was completed it was played as a coda at virtually every Queen concert. When recording the track May played a rough version on piano for Roy Thomas Baker, producer, and Mike Stone, engineer. He called his own skills on the piano sub-par at the time. He performed the song live on the roof of Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002. May has stated that he performed the song on the roof of Buckingham Palace as a homage to Jimi Hendrix's version of "The Star-Spangled Banner".
"Bohemian Rhapsody"
"Bohemian Rhapsody" was written by Mercury with the first guitar solo composed by May. All piano, bass and drum parts, as well as the vocal arrangements, were thought up by Mercury on a daily basis and written down "in blocks" (using note names instead of sheets) on a phonebook. During the recording, the song became affectionately known as "Fred's Thing" to the band, and the title only emerged during the final sessions. The other members recorded their respective instruments with no concept of how their tracks would be utilised in the final mix.
The operatic section was originally intended to be only a short interlude of "Galileos" that connected the ballad and hard rock portions of the song. The interlude is full of "obscure classical characters: Scaramouche, a clown from the Commedia dell'arte; astronomer Galileo; Figaro, the principal character in Beaumarchais' The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro; and Beelzebub, identified in the Christian New Testament as Satan, Prince of Demons, but in Arabic as "Lord of the Flies". Also in Arabic the word Bismillah', which is a noun from a phrase in the Qur'an; "Bismi-llahi r-rahmani r-rahiim", meaning "In the name of God, most gracious, most merciful".
Despite being twice as long as the average single in 1975 and garnering mixed critical reviews initially, the song became immensely popular, topping charts worldwide (where it remained for a then unprecedented nine weeks in the UK) and is widely regarded as one of the greatest songs in music history. The song was rereleased as a double A-side to "These Are the Days of Our Lives" on 5 September 1991, Mercury's 45th birthday, in the US and on 9 December 1991, after Mercury's death, in the UK.
Release
The album title was inspired by the Marx Brothers film of the same name, which the band had watched during recording sessions. Subsequently, they became good friends with the film's star Groucho Marx, to the point where Marx sent the band a letter praising their 1976 album A Day at the Races. Marx also invited Queen to visit him at his Los Angeles home in March 1977 (five months before he died). The band thanked him, and performed "'39" a cappella. The cover artwork features the band's logo, which was designed by Mercury, on a white background. The band's next album, A Day at the Races, featured a similar design but on a black background.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" was released as the lead single on 31 October 1975, with "I'm in Love with My Car" as its B-side. Their management initially refused to release it; however, Kenny Everett played a copy of the song on his show 14 times, at which point audience demand for the song intensified and the band's label EMI was forced to release it. It subsequently topped the UK charts for nine weeks and peaked at number nine in the US. A second single, "You're My Best Friend" was released on 18 May 1976, with "'39" as its B-side. It reached number sixteen in the US and number seven in the UK.
The album was completed a week before the group were to embark on their A Night at the Opera Tour in support of the album. This resulted in a 36-hour mixing session, as the group wanted to have time to rehearse their setlist before touring. Due to time constraints, the group only had three and a half days to rehearse, at Elstree, with four hours taken off to shoot the music video for "Bohemian Rhapsody". The tour spanned 1975 and 1976, and covered the UK, the US, Japan, and Australia.
Re-releases
The album was first re-released in the U.S. by Hollywood Records on 3 September 1991 with two bonus remixes, as part of a complete re-release of all Queen albums.
On 30 April 2002, the album was again re-released on DVD-Audio with a 96 kHz/24bit Linear PCM stereo mix and a 5.1-channel mix in DTS 96/24 surround sound for standard DVD-Video players and 96 kHz/24bit MLP surround sound for DVD-Audio capable machines. It also includes the original 1975 video of Bohemian Rhapsody.
On 21 November 2005, it was once more re-released by Hollywood Records Catalogue Number 2061-62572-2 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the album and its first single, "Bohemian Rhapsody". This release is accompanied by a DVD-Video disc with the same track listing featuring the original videos, old and new concert footage (including "'39" from the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour and Brian May on the roof of Buckingham Palace playing "God Save the Queen") and audio commentary by all four band members.
On 8 November 2010, record company Universal Music announced a remastered and expanded reissue of the album set for release in May 2011. This as part of a new record deal between Queen and Universal Music, which meant Queen's association with EMI Records came to an end after almost 40 years. According to Universal Music, all Queen albums were to be remastered and reissued in 2011. By September 2012 the reissue program was completed. Along with this came a 5.1 channel release of the album on Blu-ray Audio.
Reception
Contemporary critical reaction
A Night at the Opera was not reviewed by the majority of the UK music magazines when it came out because the band were remixing the album until the last moment, and consequently no preview discs were sent out to the media before the album was officially released. In Record Mirror & Disc, Ray Fox-Cumming attempted to review the album based on a single listening at the playback party held for the press, which he admitted "isn't really enough" to form a proper critical opinion. However, he described his first impressions of "an amazing rush of music with one track running helter-skelter into the next ... The orchestral effects, all done by voices, are dazzling but come and go too quickly to appreciate on a solo listening." Fox-Cumming stated that the album had three highlights – "Death on Two Legs", "The Prophet's Song" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" – and only one bad track, "Sweet Lady". He concluded that "as a whole, A Night at the Opera is faster, flashier and more complex than Sheer Heart Attack, but they haven't gone over the top". Phil Sutcliffe of Sounds reviewed the album from a cassette copy, and gave it a five-star review: "You can feel the colossal effort that went into every second of this long album – and yet there's a hardly a moment when I would criticise it for being contrived or overproduced." He singled out "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "The Prophet's Song" as the two tracks that "make a good album extraordinary", despite stating that the latter song's lyrics were "not appealing", and overall highlighting the album's "musical range power and consistently incisive lyrics".
On its release in the US four months later, Kris Nicholson of Rolling Stone said that although they share other heavy metal groups' penchant for "manipulating dynamics", Queen are an elite act in the genre and set themselves apart by incorporating "unlikely effects: acoustic piano, harp, a capella vocals, no synthesisers. Coupled with good songs." Robert Christgau, writing in The Village Voice, felt that the album "doesn't actually botch any of a half-dozen arty-to-heavy 'eclectic' modes ... and achieves a parodic tone often enough to suggest more than meets the ear. Maybe if they come up with a coherent masterwork I'll figure out what that more is." The Winnipeg Free Press wrote: "The group's potential is practically limitless, indicating that Queen is destined to finally take its place among the small handful of truly major acts working in rock today."
Grooves noted that "Sharp operatic interludes, abrupt rhythmic changes, A Night at the Opera defies convention and places Queen in that rarefied circle of genuine superstars." Tony Stewart of NME opined that "More than anything else, A Night at the Opera is a consolidation of the previous album's success, skillfully balancing artistry and effectology. Throughout the album, they display their individual songwriting abilities and musicianship to devastating effect...If it's the most expensive album ever made in a British studio, it's also arguably the best. God save 'em."
Legacy
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album "a self-consciously ridiculous and overblown hard rock masterpiece" and "prog rock with a sense of humour as well as dynamics". Erlewine felt that Queen "never bettered their approach anywhere else". Progressive rock historian Stephen Lambe has disputed that the album itself is progressive rock in his book Citizens of Hope and Glory: The Story of Progressive Rock. He wrote: "While far from progressive rock, it was the band's most grandiose and ambitious album yet, full of great songwriting and prog influences." He said the album was "a neat symbol of the furthest reach of the progressive rock movement".
While reviewing for Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot gave the album a very positive rating, stating how he believed "the band hit its artistic peak, with sterling contributions from all four band members..." alongside A Day at the Races.
In 1992, Mojo called the album "an imperial extravaganza, a cornucopia", and Queen "a band of hungrily competitive individualists on a big roll of friendship and delight". In 2004, Jason Warburg of the Daily Vault stated that the album "absolutely blew me away" and that "A Night at the Opera was the disc that would catapult Queen from British hitmakers to global superstars. As with many such landmark albums it became part milestone and part millstone, with every album that followed compared in some way or another to the musical and commercial success they achieved here. Be that as it may, the music is what counts – and it is simply amazing."
In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at number 230 on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, number 231 on its 2012 list, and number 128 on its 2020 list. According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 147th most celebrated album in popular music history.
In a 2006 review, Paul Rees of Q observed that although A Night at the Opera was "released the same year as both Bowie's arch soul pastiche Young Americans and the sleek art rock of Roxy's Siren, it has rarely been heralded as either. Yet it was, and is, every bit as brash, bold and full of the joys of its own possibilities." Feeling that Queen "never came close to bettering their fourth album", Rees concluded that "later albums would expose the lack of soul at the heart of Queen's music; they were all surface, no feeling. They elected themselves the great entertainers, and this heady rush of experimentation was not to be repeated. But A Night at the Opera remains glorious, monumental. It is British rock's greatest extravagance." In 2007, Chris Jones of BBC Music noted the diverse range of musical styles on the album, saying, "Sheer Heart Attack had hinted at a working knowledge of 19th century parlour balladry, 20s ragtime and Jimi Hendrix. A Night at the Opera was to add opera, trad jazz, heavy metal and more to the mix." He concluded that the album "remains their finest hour".
In 2011, digitally remastered versions of the earlier Queen albums were released, prompting another batch of reviews. Uncut said that the album "proved there was no limit to their capabilities" and concluded, "Containing not one but two monumental epics ('Bohemian Rhapsody', 'The Prophet's Song'), and gorging on grandiose gestures galore, A Night at the Opera secured itself instant classic status". Pitchforks Dominique Leone stated, "No punches pulled, no expense spared: A Night at the Opera was Queen at the top of the mountain". AJ Ramirez of PopMatters wrote, "Kicking off with the downright ominous high-drama of 'Death on Two Legs' (a retort against the group's recently deposed management where Mercury spits out venomous invectives at the targets of his ire), the album gives way to a kaleidoscope of styles, from 1920 jazz to space-folk narratives to top-of-the-line contemporary pop-rock. Amazingly, while the transitions between genres would conceivably throw listeners for a loop, none are jarring. Instead, Queen succeeds because it pulls from all the best tricks in the library of showbiz history to deliver laughs, heartache, grandeur, and spectacle to its audience at precisely the right moments." He observed that "it is the realization of such a unique sonic vision that pushes [the album] into the realm of true excellence ... A Night at the Opera stands as a breathtaking, involving creation, and unequivocally Queen's finest album."
Accolades
In 1977, "Bohemian Rhapsody" received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus and Best Arrangement for Voices.
Band comments
Track listing
Original release
All lead vocals by Freddie Mercury unless noted.
On the cassette, the positions of "Seaside Rendezvous" and "Good Company" were swapped to maintain a similar duration for each side.
Universal Music reissue (2011)
iTunes deluxe edition (2011)
Personnel
Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of the album.
Queen
Freddie Mercury – lead vocals , backing vocals , piano , jangle piano
Brian May – electric guitar , backing vocals , acoustic guitar , lead vocals , koto , harp , ukulele
Roger Taylor – drums , backing vocals , percussion , lead vocals and additional electric guitar
John Deacon – bass guitar , electric piano , double bass backing vocals (11)
Production
Roy Thomas Baker – production
Mike Stone – engineering
Gary Lyons – engineering
John Harris – equipment supervision
David Costa – art direction
Rick Curtin and Brian Palmer – special thanks
John Reid – management
Charts
Weekly charts
Weekly charts (reissues)
Year-end charts
Certifications
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
Queen official website: Discography: A Night at the Opera: includes lyrics of all non-bonus tracks.
Category:1975 albums
Category:Albums produced by Roy Thomas Baker
Category:Albums recorded at Olympic Sound Studios
Category:Albums recorded at Rockfield Studios
Category:Albums recorded at Trident Studios
Category:Cultural depictions of the Marx Brothers
Category:Elektra Records albums
Category:EMI Records albums
Category:Hollywood Records albums
Category:Parlophone albums
Category:Queen (band) albums | [
{
"text": "Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes bibliography as a word having two senses: one, a list of books for further study or of works consulted by an author (or enumerative bibliography); the other one, applicable for collectors, is \"the study of books as physical objects\" and \"the systematic description of books as objects\" (or descriptive bibliography).\n\nEtymology \nThe word was used by Greek writers in the first three centuries CE to mean the copying of books by hand. In the 12th century, the word started being used for \"the intellectual activity of composing books.\" The 17th century then saw the emergence of the modern meaning, that of description of books. Currently, the field of bibliography has expanded to include studies that consider the book as a material object. Bibliography, in its systematic pursuit of understanding the past and the present through written and printed documents, describes a way and means of extracting information from this material. Bibliographers are interested in comparing versions of texts to each other rather than in interpreting their meaning or assessing their significance.\n\nField of study \nBibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868–1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about \"the science of bibliography.\" However, there have recently been voices claiming that \"the bibliographical paradigm\" is obsolete, and it is not today common in LIS. A defence of the bibliographical paradigm was provided by Hjørland (2007).\n\nThe quantitative study of bibliographies is known as bibliometrics, which is today an influential subfield in LIS and is used for major collection decisions such as the cancellation of big deals, through data analysis tools like Unpaywall Journals.\n\nBranches \nCarter and Barker describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). These two distinct concepts and practices have separate rationales and serve differing purposes. Innovators and originators in the field include W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, Philip Gaskell and G. Thomas Tanselle.\n\nBowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production (3). He refers to descriptive bibliography as the systematic description of a book as a material or physical artefact. Analytical bibliography, the cornerstone of descriptive bibliography, investigates the printing and all physical features of a book that yield evidence establishing a book's history and transmission (Feather 10). It is the preliminary phase of bibliographic description and provides the vocabulary, principles and techniques of analysis that descriptive bibliographers apply and on which they base their descriptive practice.\n\nDescriptive bibliographers follow specific conventions and associated classification in their description. Titles and title pages are transcribed in a quasi-facsimile style and representation. Illustration, typeface, binding, paper, and all physical elements related to identifying a book follow formulaic conventions, as Bowers established in his foundational opus, The Principles of Bibliographic Description. The thought expressed in this book expands substantively on W. W. Greg's groundbreaking theory that argued for the adoption of formal bibliographic principles (Greg 29). Fundamentally, analytical bibliography is concerned with objective, physical analysis and history of a book while descriptive bibliography employs all data that analytical bibliography furnishes and then codifies it with a view to identifying the ideal copy or form of a book that most nearly represents the printer's initial conception and intention in printing.\n\nIn addition to viewing bibliographic study as being composed of four interdependent approaches (enumerative, descriptive, analytical, and textual), Bowers notes two further subcategories of research, namely historical bibliography and aesthetic bibliography. Both historical bibliography, which involves the investigation of printing practices, tools, and related documents, and aesthetic bibliography, which examines the art of designing type and books, are often employed by analytical bibliographers.\n\nD. F. McKenzie extended previous notions of bibliography as set forth by Greg, Bowers, Gaskell and Tanselle. He describes the nature of bibliography as \"the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the processes of their transmission, including their production and reception\" (1999 12). This concept broadens the scope of bibliography to include \"non-book texts\" and an accounting for their material form and structure, as well as textual variations, technical and production processes that bring sociocultural context and effects into play. McKenzie's perspective contextualizes textual objects or artefacts with sociological and technical factors that have an effect on production, transmission and, ultimately, ideal copy (2002 14). Bibliography, generally, concerns the material conditions of books [as well as other texts] how they are designed, edited, printed, circulated, reprinted, collected.\n\nBibliographic works differ in the amount of detail depending on the purpose and can generally be divided into two categories: enumerative bibliography (also called compilative, reference or systematic), which results in an overview of publications in a particular category and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books. In earlier times, bibliography mostly focused on books. Now, both categories of bibliography cover works in other media including audio recordings, motion pictures and videos, graphic objects, databases, CD-ROMs and websites.\n\nEnumerative bibliography \n\nAn enumerative bibliography is a systematic list of books and other works such as journal articles. Bibliographies range from \"works cited\" lists at the end of books and articles, to complete and independent publications. A notable example of a complete, independent publication is Gow's A. E. Housman: A Sketch, Together with a List of His Classical Papers (1936). As separate works, they may be in bound volumes such as those shown on the right, or computerized bibliographic databases. A library catalog, while not referred to as a \"bibliography,\" is bibliographic in nature. Bibliographical works are almost always considered to be tertiary sources.\n\nEnumerative bibliographies are based on a unifying principle such as creator, subject, date, topic or other characteristic. An entry in an enumerative bibliography provides the core elements of a text resource including a title, the creator(s), publication date and place of publication. Belanger (1977) distinguishes an enumerative bibliography from other bibliographic forms such as descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography or textual bibliography in that its function is to record and list, rather than describe a source in detail or with any reference to the source's physical nature, materiality or textual transmission. The enumerative list may be comprehensive or selective. One noted example would be Tanselle's bibliography that exhaustively enumerates topics and sources related to all forms of bibliography. A more common and particular instance of an enumerative bibliography relates to specific sources used or considered in preparing a scholarly paper or academic term paper.\n\nCitation styles vary.\nAn entry for a book in a bibliography usually contains the following elements:\n creator(s)\n title\n place of publication\n publisher or printer\n date of publication\n\nAn entry for a journal or periodical article usually contains:\n creator(s)\n article title\n journal title\n volume\n pages\n date of publication\n\nA bibliography may be arranged by author, topic, or some other scheme. Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument. These descriptions, usually a few sentences long, provide a summary of the source and describe its relevance. Reference management software may be used to keep track of references and generate bibliographies as required.\n\nBibliographies differ from library catalogs by including only relevant items rather than all items present in a particular library. However, the catalogs of some national libraries effectively serve as national bibliographies, as the national libraries own almost all their countries' publications.\n\nDescriptive bibliography \nFredson Bowers described and formulated a standardized practice of descriptive bibliography in his Principles of Bibliographical Description\n(1949). Scholars to this day treat Bowers' scholarly guide as authoritative. In this classic text, Bowers describes the basic function of bibliography as, \"[providing] sufficient data so that a reader may identify the book described, understand the printing, and recognize the precise contents\" (124).\n\nDescriptive bibliographies as scholarly product \nDescriptive bibliographies as a scholarly product usually include information on the following aspect of a given book as a material object:\nFormat and Collation/Pagination Statement—a conventional, symbolic formula that describes the book block in terms of sheets, folds, quires, signatures, and pages\n\nAccording to Bowers (193), the format of a book is usually abbreviated in the collation formula:\nBroadsheet: I° or b.s. or bs.\nFolio: 2° or fol.\nQuarto: 4° or 4to or Q° or Q\nOctavo: 8° or 8vo\nDuodecimo: 12° or 12mo\nSexto-decimo: 16° or 16mo\nTricesimo-secundo: 32° or 32mo\nSexagesimo-quarto: 64° or 64mo\nThe collation, which follows the format, is the statement of the order and size of the gatherings.\nFor example, a quarto that consists of the signed gatherings:\n2 leaves signed A, 4 leaves signed B, 4 leaves signed C, and 2 leaves signed D\nwould be represented in the collation formula:\n4°: A2B-C4D2\nBinding—a description of the binding techniques (generally for books printed after 1800)\nTitle Page Transcription—a transcription of the title page, including rule lines and ornaments\nContents—a listing of the contents (by section) in the book\nPaper—a description of the physical properties of the paper, including production process, an account of chain-line measurements, and a description of watermarks (if present)\nIllustrations—a description of the illustrations found in the book, including printing process (e.g. woodblock, intaglio, etc.), measurements, and locations in the text\nPresswork—miscellaneous details gleaned from the text about its production\nCopies Examined—an enumeration of the copies examined, including those copies' location (i.e. belonging to which library or collector)\n\nAnalytical bibliography \nThis branch of the bibliographic discipline examines the material features of a textual artefact—such as type, ink, paper, imposition, format, impressions and states of a book—to essentially recreate the conditions of its production. Analytical bibliography often uses collateral evidence—such as general printing practices, trends in format, responses and non-responses to design, etc.—to scrutinize the historical conventions and influences underlying the physical appearance of a text. The bibliographer utilizes knowledge gained from the investigation of physical evidence in the form of a descriptive bibliography or textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination and cataloging of a text as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while textual bibliography (or textual criticism) identifies variations—and the aetiology of variations—in a text with a view to determining \"the establishment of the most correct form of [a] text\" (Bowers 498[1]).\n\nBibliographers \n\nA bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. A person who limits such efforts to a specific field or discipline is a subject bibliographer.\"\n\nA bibliographer, in the technical meaning of the word, is anyone who writes about books. But the accepted meaning since at least the 18th century is a person who attempts a comprehensive account—sometimes just a list, sometimes a fuller reckoning—of the books written on a particular subject. In the present, bibliography is no longer a career, generally speaking; bibliographies tend to be written on highly specific subjects and by specialists in the field.\n\nThe term bibliographer is sometimes—in particular subject bibliographer—today used about certain roles performed in libraries and bibliographic databases.\n\nOne of the first bibliographers was Conrad Gessner who sought to list all books printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in Bibliotheca Universalis (1545).\n\nNon-book material \nSystematic lists of media other than books can be referred to with terms formed analogously to bibliography:\n Discography—recorded music\n Filmography—films\n Webography (or webliography)—websites\n Arachniography, a term coined by NASA research historian Andrew J. Butrica, which means a reference list of URLs about a particular subject. It is equivalent to a bibliography in a book. The name derives from arachne in reference to a spider and its web.\n\nSee also \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (in Wikipedia)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Blum, Rudolf. (1980) Bibliographia. An Inquiry in Its Definition and Designations, Dawson, American Library Association.\n Bowers, Fredson. (1995) Principles of Bibliographical Description, Oak Knoll Press.\n Duncan, Paul Shaner. (1973) How to Catalog a Rare Book, 2nd ed., rev., American Library Association.\n \n Gaskell, Philip. (2000) A New Introduction to Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press.\n McKerrow, R. B. (1927) An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford: Clarendon Press\n Schneider, Georg. (1934) Theory and History of Bibliography, New York: Scarecrow Press.\n National Library of Canada, Committee on Bibliography and Information Services for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Guidelines for the Compilation of a Bibliography (National Library of Canada, 1987). N.B.: This is a brief guide to accurately practical bibliography, not a study concerning more precise and systematic bibliography.\n \nRobinson, A. M. Lewin (1966) Systematic Bibliography; rev. ed. London: Clive Bingley\n\nExternal links \n\n Oxford Bibliographies Online, in-depth annotated bibliographies by scholars in selected fields\n Introduction to Bibliography, a comprehensive syllabus by G. Thomas Tanselle\n The Bibliographical Society of America, a resource for information about current work in the field of bibliography\n Studies in Bibliography, the journal of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia\n A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology, (University of Zaragoza) includes thousands of listings on literary, philological and other subjects\n\n \nCategory:Book design\nCategory:Book terminology\nCategory:Textual scholarship",
"title": "Bibliography"
}
] | [
"\"'39\" was a song by Queen that attempts to do \"sci-fi skiffle\". It tells the story of a group of space explorers who experience time dilation effect as outlined in Einstein's special theory of relativity during their year-long voyage. They return to find a hundred years have passed and their loved ones are now either dead or aged. Brian May sings the song on the album.",
"The context does not provide information on whether the song \"'39\" won any awards.",
"The song \"'39\" was inspired by the concept of space exploration and the time dilation effect in Einstein's special theory of relativity. The lyrics tell the story of space explorers who, from their perspective carry out a year-long voyage, but upon their return, they realise that a hundred years have passed on Earth.",
"The context does not provide information on who wrote the song \"'39\".",
"The context does not provide information on who composed the song \"'39\"."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"No"
] |
C_707acfa46bf04f039117428990113bbc_0 | Rudolf Friml | Born in Prague, Czech Republic (then part of the Austro Hungarian empire) Friml showed aptitude for music at an early age. He entered the Prague Conservatory in 1895, where he studied the piano and composition with Antonin Dvorak. Friml was expelled from the conservatory in 1901 for performing without permission. | Friml's greatest successes | Friml wrote his most famous operettas in the 1920s. In 1924, he wrote Rose-Marie. This operetta, on which Friml collaborated with lyricists Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach and co-composer Herbert Stothart, was a hit worldwide, and a few of the songs from it also became hits including "The Mounties" and "Indian Love Call". The use of murder as part of the plot was ground-breaking among operettas and musical theatre pieces at the time. After Rose-Marie's success came two other hit operettas, The Vagabond King in 1925, with lyrics by Brian Hooker and William H. Post, and The Three Musketeers in 1928, with lyrics by P. G. Wodehouse and Clifford Grey, based on Alexandre Dumas's famous swashbuckling novel. In addition, Friml contributed to the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 and 1923. Friml wrote music for many films during the 1930s, often songs adapted from previous work. The Vagabond King, Rose-Marie and The Firefly were all made into films and included at least some of Friml's music. Oddly enough, his operetta version of The Three Musketeers was never filmed, despite the fact that the novel itself has been filmed many times. In 1930, he wrote a new operetta score for film, The Lottery Bride. Like his contemporary, Ivor Novello, Friml was sometimes ridiculed for the sentimental and insubstantial nature of his compositions and was often called trite. Friml was also criticized for the old-fashioned, Old World sentiments found in his works. Friml's last stage musical was Music Hath Charms in 1934. During the 1930s, Friml's music fell out of fashion on Broadway and in Hollywood. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_707acfa46bf04f039117428990113bbc_0_q#0",
"C_707acfa46bf04f039117428990113bbc_0_q#1",
"C_707acfa46bf04f039117428990113bbc_0_q#2",
"C_707acfa46bf04f039117428990113bbc_0_q#3",
"C_707acfa46bf04f039117428990113bbc_0_q#4"
] | [
"What are Friml's greatest successes?",
"Did this do well for him?",
"What was interesting about Rose Marie?",
"What did he write next?",
"Did he work on anything else?"
] | [
0,
2,
1,
2,
2
] | [
2,
0,
2,
2,
0
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
52
],
[
212
],
[
106
],
[
502
],
[
791
]
],
"texts": [
[
"In 1924, he wrote Rose-Marie."
],
[
"was a hit worldwide, and a few of the songs from it also became hits including \"The Mounties\""
],
[
"Friml collaborated with lyricists Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach and co-composer Herbert Stothart, was a hit worldwide,"
],
[
"The Vagabond King in 1925, with lyrics by Brian Hooker and William H. Post, and The Three Musketeers in 1928,"
],
[
"Friml wrote music for many films during the 1930s, often songs adapted from previous work."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
52,
212,
106,
502,
791
],
"texts": [
"In 1924, he wrote Rose-Marie.",
"was a hit worldwide, and a few of the songs from it also became hits including \"The Mounties\"",
"Friml collaborated with lyricists Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach and co-composer Herbert Stothart, was a hit worldwide,",
"The Vagabond King in 1925, with lyrics by Brian Hooker and William H. Post, and The Three Musketeers in 1928,",
"Friml wrote music for many films during the 1930s, often songs adapted from previous work."
]
} | Charles Rudolf Friml (December 7, 1879 – November 12, 1972) was a Czech-born composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces, as well as a pianist. After musical training and a brief performing career in his native Prague, Friml moved to the United States, where he became a composer. His best-known works are Rose-Marie and The Vagabond King, each of which enjoyed success on Broadway and in London and were adapted for film.
Early life
Friml was born Rudolf Antonín Frymel on December 2, 1879 in Staré Město 445, Prague, Bohemia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire) and was baptized Roman Catholic at the Kostel svatého Jiljí. Friml showed aptitude for music at an early age. He entered the Prague Conservatory in 1895, where he studied the piano and composition with Antonín Dvořák. Friml was expelled from the conservatory in 1901 for performing without permission. In Prague and soon afterwards in America he composed and published songs, piano pieces and other music, including the prize-winning set of songs, Písně Závišovy. The last of these, Za tichých nocí, later became the basis for a famous film in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1941.
After the conservatory, Friml took a position as accompanist to the violinist Jan Kubelík. He toured with Kubelik twice in the United States (1901–02 and 1904) and moved there permanently in 1906, apparently with the support of the Czech singer Emmy Destinn. His first regular post in New York was as a repetiteur at the Metropolitan Opera, but he had made his American piano debut at Carnegie Hall. On November 17, 1904, there, he gave the premiere of his Piano Concerto in B-flat major with the New York Symphony, under the baton of Walter Damrosch, in a concert that also included Friml playing his own Etude de concert, Op. 4, Smetana's "Am Seegestade", Liszt's Liebesträume No. 3, the Grieg A minor piano concerto with the orchestra, and a solo improvisation. He later settled for a brief time in Los Angeles where he married Mathilde Baruch (1909). They had two children, Charles Rudolf (Jr.) (1910) and Marie Lucille (1911). His second marriage was to Blanch Betters, an actress who had appeared in the chorus of Friml's musical Katinka; his third was to actress Elsie Lawson (who played the maid in Friml's Glorianna, and by whom he had a son, William); and his fourth and final marriage was to Kay Wong Ling. The first three marriages ended in divorce.
The Firefly and early operettas
One of the most popular theatrical forms in the early decades of the 20th century in America was the operetta, and its most famous composer was Irish-born Victor Herbert. It was announced in 1912 that operetta diva Emma Trentini would be starring in a new operetta on Broadway by Herbert with lyricist Otto Harbach entitled The Firefly. Shortly before the writing of the operetta, Trentini appeared in a special performance of Herbert's Naughty Marietta conducted by Herbert himself. When Trentini refused to sing "Italian Street Song" for the encore, an enraged Herbert stormed out of the orchestra pit refusing any further work with Trentini.
Arthur Hammerstein, the operetta's sponsor, frantically began to search for another composer. Not finding any other theatre composer who could compose as well as Herbert, Hammerstein settled on the almost unknown Friml because of his classical training. After a month of work, Friml produced the score for what would be his first theatrical success. After tryouts in Syracuse, New York, The Firefly opened at the Lyric Theatre on December 2, 1912 to a warm reception by both the audience and the critics. The production moved to the Casino Theatre after Christmas, where it ran until March 15, 1913, for a total of 120 performances. After The Firefly, Friml produced three more operettas that each had longer runs than The Firefly, although they are not as enduringly successful. These were High Jinks (1913), Katinka (1915) and You're in Love (1917). He also contributed songs to a musical in 1915 entitled The Peasant Girl.
Trentini was named as a co-respondent in Friml's divorce from his first wife in 1915, and evidence was introduced that they were having an affair. Another show, Sometime, written with Rida Johnson Young and starring Ed Wynn and Mae West, ran well on Broadway in 1918–1919.
Success
Friml wrote his most successful operettas in the 1920s. In 1924, he wrote Rose-Marie. This operetta, on which Friml collaborated with lyricists Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach and co-composer Herbert Stothart, was a hit worldwide, and a few of the songs from it also became hits including "The Mounties" and "Indian Love Call". The use of murder as part of the plot was ground-breaking among operettas and musical theatre pieces at the time.
After Rose-Marie's success came two other hit operettas, The Vagabond King in 1925, with lyrics by Brian Hooker and William H. Post, and The Three Musketeers in 1928, with lyrics by P. G. Wodehouse and Clifford Grey, based on Alexandre Dumas's famous swashbuckling novel. In addition, Friml contributed to the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 and 1923.
Friml wrote music for many films during the 1930s, often songs adapted from previous work. The Vagabond King, Rose-Marie and The Firefly were all made into films and included at least some of Friml's music. His operetta version of The Three Musketeers was never filmed. In 1930, he wrote a new operetta score for film, The Lottery Bride. Like his contemporary, Ivor Novello, Friml was sometimes ridiculed for the sentimental and insubstantial nature of his compositions and was often called trite. Friml was also criticized for the old-fashioned, Old World sentiments found in his works. Friml's last stage musical was Music Hath Charms in 1934. During the 1930s, Friml's music fell out of fashion on Broadway and in Hollywood.
Later years and legacy
Rather than trying to adapt to popular taste, Friml decided to focus on playing the piano in concert and composing art music, which he did into his nineties. He also composed the music for the 1947 film Northwest Outpost, starring Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey. A few of Friml's works have seen revivals on Broadway; these include a 1943 production of The Vagabond King and a 1984 production of The Three Musketeers. "The Donkey Serenade" from the film version of The Firefly, "The Mounties" and "Indian Love Call" are still frequently heard, often in romantic parody or comic situations. His piano music is also often performed.
In 1967, Friml performed in a special concert at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco. As he often did in his concerts, he began the concert with a piano improvisation, then played special arrangements of his own compositions as well as composers who had influenced him. He even played Dvořák's Humoresque as a special tribute to his teacher. He also appeared on Lawrence Welk's television program in 1971. He was one of the original inductees into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
His two sons also worked as musicians. Rudolf Jr. was a big band leader in the 1930s and 1940s, and William, a son from Friml's third marriage, was a composer and arranger in Hollywood. In 1969, Friml was celebrated by Ogden Nash on the occasion of his 90th birthday in a couplet which ended: "I trust your conclusion and mine are similar: 'Twould be a happier world if it were Frimler." Similarly, satiric songwriter Tom Lehrer made a reference to Friml on his first album, Songs by Tom Lehrer (1953). The song "The Wiener Schnitzel Waltz" includes the lyric, "Your lips were like wine (if you'll pardon the simile) / The music was lovely, and quite Rudolf Friml-y." Near the end of the 1957 musical The Music Man, Harold Hill lies to Marian Paroo: "I'm expecting a telegram from Rudy Friml, and this could be it."
Friml died in Los Angeles in 1972 and was interred in the "Court of Honor" at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. On August 18, 2007, a death notice in the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Kay Wong Ling Friml (born March 16, 1913), Friml's last wife, died on August 9, 2007 and would be buried with him in Forest Lawn.
Works
Písně Závišovy (1906) and other songs
The Firefly (1912)
High Jinks (1913)
The Ballet Girl (1914)
Katinka (1915)
The Peasant Girl (1915) - contributor.
You're in Love (1917)
Kitty Darlin''' (1917)Sometime (1918)Glorianna (1918)Sometime (1918)Tumble In (1919)The Little Whopper (1919)June Love (1921)Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 - contributorThe Blue Kitten (1922)Bibi of the Boulevards (1922)Cinders (1923)Dew Drop Inn (1923) - contributorZiegfeld Follies of 1923 - contributorRose-Marie (1924)The Vagabond King (1925)Ziegfeld's Revue "No Foolin'" (1926)The Wild Rose (1926)White Eagle (1927)The Three Musketeers (1928)The Lottery Bride (1930 film)Luana (1930)Music Hath Charms (1934)Northwest Outpost (1947 film)
Notes
ReferencesCambridge Guide to Theatre, 1992.Ceskoslovensky hudebni slovnik, vol. 1, 1963.
Everett, William. Rudolf Friml, University of Illinois Press, 2008
Green, Stanley. Broadway Musicals Show by Show, 5th Ed. Hal Leonard, New York. 1996.
Green, Stanley. The World of Musical Comedy. Ziff-Davis, New York. 1960.
Ganzl, Kurt. The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre (3 Volumes). New York: Schirmer Books, 2001.
Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983.
Bordman, Gerald. American Operetta''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
External links
Friml Archive, UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. Manuscripts, recordings, correspondence, memorabilia (in process)
List of Friml's stage works with information about librettists and theatres
Rudolf Friml recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
Category:1879 births
Category:1972 deaths
Category:20th-century classical composers
Category:20th-century Czech people
Category:Academic staff of the Prague Conservatory
Category:American classical composers
Category:American male classical composers
Category:American musical theatre composers
Category:American opera composers
Category:Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States
Category:Broadway composers and lyricists
Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Category:Czech classical composers
Category:Czech male classical composers
Category:Czech musical theatre composers
Category:Czech opera composers
Category:Male opera composers
Category:Musicians from Prague
Category:Prague Conservatory alumni
Category:20th-century American composers
Category:20th-century American male musicians | [] | [
"Friml's greatest successes include his operettas Rose-Marie, The Vagabond King, and The Three Musketeers, all of which were written in the 1920s. Rose-Marie, which included songs like \"The Mounties\" and \"Indian Love Call\", was a global hit. The Vagabond King and The Three Musketeers were also successful operettas.",
"The context does not provide specific information on how these successes impacted Friml personally or financially.",
"Rose-Marie was notable for several reasons. First, it was a worldwide hit and a number of its songs, including \"The Mounties\" and \"Indian Love Call,\" also became popular. The operetta also stood out at the time for incorporating a murder into its plot, which was a ground-breaking move for operettas and musical theatre pieces at that time.",
"After the success of Rose-Marie, Friml wrote two other hit operettas: The Vagabond King in 1925 and The Three Musketeers in 1928. In 1930, he wrote a new operetta score for the film, The Lottery Bride.",
"Yes, besides his famous operettas, Friml also contributed to the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 and 1923. Additionally, he wrote music for many films during the 1930s, often adapting songs from his previous work. The Vagabond King, Rose-Marie, and The Firefly were all made into films and included at least some of Friml's music. His last stage musical was Music Hath Charms in 1934."
] | [
"Yes",
"no",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_9b35ab7051e44e6fbe0ec7d51a4b7ec7_1 | Serebro | Serebro (Russian: Serebro; English translation: Silver) (Stylized as SEREBRO) is a Russian girl group formed by their manager and producer Maxim Fadeev. | 2013-2015: New record label, new music projects and Anastasia/Elena's Departure | After the decline of their success after "Mama Lover", the group started to record songs for their third studio album. In January 2013, the group announced that they would release their further material in Japan after signing with EMI Music. They also announced that they plan to release a compilation entitled Serebration that includes songs from their first and second studio albums. The group traveled to Japan to promote the compilation album and to do a live concert tour. In March 2013, the group released their promotional single "Sexy Ass", but it failed to chart in Russia. In June 2013, the group released their single "Mi Mi Mi" which charted in Italy, peaking at 5 on the Italian iTunes chart. In July 2013, the group released the song "Malo Tebya". The song was released on Russian radio airplay on 10 July and marked a welcome return to the top ten in Russia for the band, ultimately peaking at number five. A new collaboration with DJ M.E.G., entitled "Ugar" (Ugar), has premiered on the band's Facebook page and the Promo DJ website on 18 September. The group announced that they signed a deal with Republic Records and Universal Music Group and discussed plans to re-release their single "Mi Mi Mi" as their first international single. On 28 September, member Anastasia Karpova confirmed her planned departure from the group. Karpova had told Fadeev months prior that she intended to leave the group. She noted that the decision was mutual with other members of the band and that her primary motivation was to pursue a solo career. A new member, named Dasha Shashina, was announced on 3 October 2013. Shashina had re-recorded Anastasia's recordings in the group's songs "Malo Tebya" and "Ugar", which is expected to release a video with Shashina featuring in it. Temnikova left the group in May 2014, ahead of her planned December exit, after having become pregnant. Karpova temporarily returned until newest member Polina Favorskaya was introduced on June 5, 2014. Serebro's 3rd studio album '925' was supposed to be released on iTunes Russia on 15 October 2015 but due to their studio harddrive being stolen, the album release had to be cancelled. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_9b35ab7051e44e6fbe0ec7d51a4b7ec7_1_q#0",
"C_9b35ab7051e44e6fbe0ec7d51a4b7ec7_1_q#1",
"C_9b35ab7051e44e6fbe0ec7d51a4b7ec7_1_q#2",
"C_9b35ab7051e44e6fbe0ec7d51a4b7ec7_1_q#3"
] | [
"What was Serebros new record label",
"Why did they decide to sign with EMI Music",
"Did they have new projects",
"Aside from Serebration what other plans did they have"
] | [
0,
0,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
119
],
[
0
],
[
242
],
[
479
]
],
"texts": [
[
"In January 2013, the group announced that they would release their further material in Japan after signing with EMI Music."
],
[
"After the decline of their success after \"Mama Lover\","
],
[
"They also announced that they plan to release a compilation entitled Serebration that includes songs from their first and second studio albums."
],
[
"In March 2013, the group released their promotional single \"Sexy Ass\", but it failed to chart in Russia."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
119,
0,
242,
479
],
"texts": [
"In January 2013, the group announced that they would release their further material in Japan after signing with EMI Music.",
"After the decline of their success after \"Mama Lover\",",
"They also announced that they plan to release a compilation entitled Serebration that includes songs from their first and second studio albums.",
"In March 2013, the group released their promotional single \"Sexy Ass\", but it failed to chart in Russia."
]
} | Serebro (; stylized as SEREBRO) was a Russian girl group formed by their manager and producer Maxim Fadeev. Serebro was formed in 2007, consisting of Marina Lizorkina, Olga Seryabkina, and Elena Temnikova as a submitted proposal for consideration by Channel One Russia for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Serebro was selected to represent Russia at the 2007 Contest with the song titled "Song #1". They subsequently placed third at the contest, scoring a total of 207 points. Serebro was then officially signed to Fadeev's record label Monolit Records, and in 2012, the group had additional releases produced by Sony Music Entertainment and Ego Music. In 2009, Lizorkina announced her departure from the group; she was subsequently replaced by Anastasia Karpova. Karpova left the group in 2013 and was replaced by Dasha Shashina, who left in 2016. Temnikova left the group in 2014 due to health reasons, and Polina Favorskaya, who replaced Temnikova, left the group in 2017. Favorskaya was later replaced by Morgunova. In 2019, the line-up Olga Seryabkina, Katya Kischuk, and Tatiana Morgunova, the last one to include the last original member, has been replaced by Elizaveta Kornilova, Marianna Kochurova and Irina Titova.
With Lizorkina at the time, the band recorded their debut studio album OpiumRoz. The album received critical acclaim and spawned other singles in addition to "Song #1", but it never became a commercial success. The band's second album, called Mama Lover, proved to be much more successful. It included the massive hit of the same name and went double platinum in Russia. The eponymous "Mama Lover" hit single received media attention worldwide, with reviewers commenting on both the raunchy music video and the song itself. The music video for the song received more than 20 million views on YouTube and became the subject of more than 250 parodies. After the success of "Mama Lover", the group began to garner commercial attention around the world. The group re-released Mama Lover in Japan (under the name Serebration) after signing a contract with EMI Music. Their first international single under Ego Music and Universal Music Group, "Mi Mi Mi", became a success on European music charts.
After their musical and image development, the group became known for a very sexually charged and over the top style. Some of their music videos have led to controversy in the media, including "Mama Lover" and "Mi Mi Mi".
History
Formation and Eurovision Song Contest 2007
In early 2007, producer Maxim Fadeev began preparing a concept for a new band titled Serebro. The concept began as a proposal for Channel One Russia for a new Russian entry into the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Despite original indications that the concept was for a solo singer, it morphed into a group around the former Star Factory participant Elena Temnikova who was paired with two newcomers: Marina Lizorkina and Olga Seryabkina. On 8 March 2007, the expert panel at Channel One Russia selected Serebro and the song "Song #1" as Russia's entry to the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. Due to Russia's successful result in the 2006 Contest, Serebro pre-qualified to compete directly in the final of the competition without having to participate in the semi-final.
On 12 May 2007, Serebro performed at the contest and placed third in a field of 24 musical acts from competing nations, scoring 207 points. Serebro later said: "We are happy because of our third place. But, the most important thing is that we weren't there because of ourselves, it was for our fans, for Russia and for the Russian people". The performance in Helsinki became their first official release and first concert for a large live audience.
2007—2008: Debut and OpiumRoz
After the success at Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Serebro rapidly became one of the most popular bands in Russia. Starting in the summer of 2007, the group gave a number of concerts and performed at events throughout Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Poland, Uzbekistan, and Belarus. All of the band's singles, without their real titles, are named Song #1, #2, #3, etc. According to the group and their management, this should make it easier to recall their songs.
Soon after the Eurovision contest, Serebro released "Song #1" as a single CD, which contained 13 different versions of "Song #1" marked by colours, as well as an extended version of the video. The girls then released a Russian version of "Song #1", called "Песня #1". It was Serebro's first Russian single. The song was a commercial success worldwide, particularly in European markets. The song charted in countries including Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom. As soon as the music video was release, the group received much commercial attention. In July 2007, the group released their second song, "Dyshi". Though the song was somewhat commercially successful in their native Russia, the song did not chart around the globe and the group saw a marked drop in the level of commercial attention globally. Later in October, a video for "Dyshi" was released.
At the MTV RMA 2007 Awards, Serebro performed a new song titled "What's Your Problem?", which was then rumored to be the third single from the then-forthcoming studio album, but this was denied in reports. Serebro was nominated in four categories at the MTV RMA 2007 awards: Best Pop-project, Best Debut, Best Song and Best Video, only to win the second nomination. In December 2007, Serebro won another award at the Russian Grammies. Serebro also won a World Music Award in 2007 as the best selling Russian artist. Unlike previous eastern European winners of a World Music Award (e.g. Ruslana from Ukraine in 2004 and Dima Bilan for Russia in 2006), Serebro did not perform at the event.
In late February, Serebro performed "Zhuravli" on Zvezda, a popular television programme in Russia, featuring artists singing patriotic songs. Originally written as a poem by Rasul Gamzatov "Zhuravli" is one of the most famous Russian songs coming out of World War II. On 13 May 2008 Serebro announced on their official website that they will be releasing their third official single, called "Opium". The song premiered on a Russian morning radio show BrigadaU on Europa Plus radio and until 17 March 2008 Europa Plus held exclusive rights to play the song. The girls also announced an English version of "Opium" titled "Why", but it was not released until its inclusion on their second studio album in 2012. The song did not enjoy worldwide success, but had success in their native Russia.
In 2008 the group continued their work on their first album, OpiumRoz, which had a projected release date of 17 October. Unfortunately, there was a delay in the release of their debut album as there were some problems in the track list. In November, the girls released the new song, "Skazhi, ne Molchi" ("Say, Don't be silent"). The song did not achieve worldwide success, but managed to score the top spots in their native Russia. A music video was also aired for the single not long after its final release. In November 2008, Serebro was awarded by MTV RMA Awards for the Best Group. After a number of delays with their debut album, OpiumRoz, it was finally released on 25 April 2009, and was presented at the band's concert on Poklonnaya Hill. Serebro was supported by other musicians, including Russian entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 Yulia Savicheva; OpiumRoz was the result of two years recording. Positive reactions came from both critics and the public alike. A public reviewer for Amazon.com awarded the album an all five stars calling it a "high quality" and that the "performance as well as style of music is good music." The album, however, did not chart anywhere and failed to make an impact on record charts.
2009—2012: Line-up change, experimental works and Mama Lover
On 18 June 2009 it was announced that Marina Lizorkina had left the band, due to both financial and personal reasons. Many reports around Russia reported that Lizorkina had left due to a recent pregnancy, but bandmate Olga denied these reports. Lizorkina was replaced by Anastasia Karpova. On 24 June 2009 Serebro announced they had finished work on their new music video for their fifth single "Сладко" (English: Sweet) which was released in Russian as well as in English under the title "Like Mary Warner". This single is not featured on the band's debut album and is the first single to feature the work of the latest Serebro member, Anastasia Karpova. Serebro participated in the New Wave Festival in Jūrmala, Latvia, on 29 July 2009 with their song "Skazhi, ne Molchi" and a cover version of "Get the Party Started" by Pink.
On 29 March 2010 Serebro's official website invited women between the ages of 18 and 30 with a "non-standard appearance (piercings, dreadlocks, braids, tattoos, vivid hair color, etc)" to send in applications to feature in their new video and are invited to do so until 3 April 2010 in preparation for the filming of a new music video which began on 4 April 2010. The title of the song was revealed to be "No Time" and was released to radio airplay in Russia on 13 April 2010. The song was written by Maxim Fadeev and the lyrics were written by member Olga Seryabkina. "Не Время" was released on 19 April 2010 and its English counterpart, "Sexing U", was later released on 18 September 2010.
On 26 September 2010, the group held their first solo concert in Prague, Czech Republic. The group then toured the Czech Republic and present gifts to children who reside in social rehabilitation centres. On 4 November 2010, Serebro released their seventh single, "Давай держаться за руки" ("Let's Hold Hands"). The band were also nominated for Best Russian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2010, ultimately losing out to Dima Bilan.
On 30 July 2011, Serebro premiered their eighth single, Mama Lover on Europa Plus Live. It is their third official English language release after Song #1 and Like Mary Warner. On 15 September 2011, the music video for Mama Luba (Russian version of "Mama Lover") was released. After the release of their single Mama Lover, media attention across Europe and other countries was piqued by the single. It became the group's first single to chart in different countries outside the Russian Federation, including Spain, Italy, Belgium and the Czech Republic. According to media outlets, more than 250 parodies of Serebro's music video for the single were uploaded to YouTube alone. The reaction made "Mama Lover" Serebro's most successful single to date and some media sources suggested the group was poised to capture markets beyond Russia. The song was certified Platinum in Italy, selling over 30,000 copies.
On 14 June 2012, Serebro released their second studio album Mama Lover on their label. The album was released in Russia, and was also slated for a European release. The fourth single from the album was Malchik, which was released on 16 June 2012. The single was unsuccessful for the group, peaking at 124 on the Russian Singles Chart and ended Serebro's run of consecutive top ten hits. Still, the album sold well and Mama Lover was later certified double platinum in Russia, selling more than 300,000 copies.
2013–2015: New record label, new music projects and Anastasia/Elena's Departure
After the decline of their success after "Mama Lover", the group started to record songs for their third studio album. In January 2013, the group announced that they would release their further material in Japan after signing with EMI Music. They also announced that they plan to release a compilation entitled Serebration that includes songs from their first and second studio albums. The group traveled to Japan to promote the compilation album and to do a live concert tour.<ref>About - Serebro.su Comment; In January 2013 the group SEREBRO signed a contract with the Japanese label - EMI JP and in March went to the promo-tour and presented her a platinum record in Japan [for Serebration]. They toured in Tokyo for two nights."</ref>
In March 2013, the group released their promotional single "Sexy Ass", but it failed to chart in Russia. In June 2013, the group released their single "Mi Mi Mi" which charted in Italy, peaking at 5 on the Italian iTunes chart. In July 2013, the group released the song "Malo Tebya". The song was released on Russian radio airplay on 10 July and marked a welcome return to the top ten in Russia for the band, ultimately peaking at number five. A new collaboration with DJ M.E.G., entitled "Угар" (Ugar), has premiered on the band's Facebook page and the Promo DJ website on 18 September. The group announced that they signed a deal with Republic Records and Universal Music Group and discussed plans to re-release their single "Mi Mi Mi" as their first international single.
On 28 September, member Anastasia Karpova confirmed her planned departure from the group. Karpova had told Fadeev months prior that she intended to leave the group. She noted that the decision was mutual with other members of the band and that her primary motivation was to pursue a solo career. A new member, named Dasha Shashina, was announced on 3 October 2013. Shashina had re-recorded Anastasia's recordings in the group's songs "Malo Tebya" and "Ugar", which is expected to release a video with Shashina featuring in it.
Temnikova left the group in May 2014, ahead of her planned December exit, after having become pregnant. Karpova temporarily returned until newest member Polina Favorskaya was introduced on 5 June 2014.
Serebro's 3rd studio album '925' was supposed to be released on iTunes Russia on 15 October 2015 but due to their studio harddrive being stolen, the album release had to be cancelled.
2016–2020: Sila tryokh, Seryabkina's departure, full reformation and disbandment
On 1 May 2016, Shashina left the group due to serious health issues and having to undergo two surgeries, and was replaced by Katya Kischuk.
On 26 April 2016, it was announced that the album '925' was renamed Sila tryokh (The Power of Three) and was put up on the Russian iTunes for pre-order and a release date for 27 May.
On 2 June 2016, Serebro announced on their Facebook that a new single titled "Slomana" (Broken), which was released on 6 June 2016.
On 25 August Serebro announced a new single called "Serdtse patsanki" (Tomboy's Heart), which is a soundtrack for the movie PATSANKI, and on 5 September 2016, Serebro premiered the full version of the song. Favorskaya announced she'd be leaving the group in August 2017, and an open casting was announced to find her replacement. The three finalists from the open casting were later revealed to be Anastasia Gribkhova, Tatiana Morgunova, and Anastasia Popova. Following several stages of auditions, Morgunova was announced as Favorskaya's replacement in November 2017. They performed live shows as a quartet until the end of 2017.
In October 2018, Seryabkina revealed that she'd be leaving Serebro in the beginning of 2019 in order to prioritize her solo career. Seryabkina was the only remaining original member of the group. The following month an open casting was announced for three new soloists, with Kischuk and Morgunova revealing that they would be leaving the group as well with Seryabkina.
On 30 October 2019 Maxim Fadeev announced that he terminated the contracts with all artists of the MALFA label. He noted that the performers received copyright for all content free of charge. The exception is two artists with whom litigation is ongoing. According to Fadeev, this is the most dramatic change in the entire existence of MALFA.
On 31 October 2019 Maxim Fadeev revealed in an interview that all of the songs under the Serebro name have been given to Olga Seryabkina. Although Olga was also released with all the artists the day prior, Serebro itself is still a global brand he controls, and Maxim will be thinking about how he will approach using the brand while keeping the popularity that it had when Seryabkina was a member.
On 7 June 2020, Maxim Fadeev confirmed the band’s disbandment through an Instagram comment: “ «Серебро» не будет никогда! Для меня это самые болезненные и мерзкие воспоминания! Будет, что то другое! “ / “ “Serebro” will never be! For me, these are the most painful and vile memories! There will be something else!”
Members
Elena Temnikova (, born 18 April 1985 in Kurgan, Russia) came to media prominence as a contestant on the Channel One talent show Star Factory in 2003. She was spotted by Maxim Fadeev, the main producer of Star Factory, and signed to his recording company Monolit Records. Although Temnikova released two disco singles, "Begi" and "Taina", she did not continue her solo career and joined Serebro instead. She married co-member of Star Factory Alexey Semenov; the two separated in 2007, before a settlement for divorce. She then had a brief conflict with Fedeev, after dating and subsequently leaving his brother. She currently resides in Moscow, Russia. On 15 May 2014 the official Serebro website reported that Elena had left the group due to ill health. She was replaced with Karpova who had left the band earlier the previous year until they find a replacement.
Olga Seryabkina (, born 12 April 1985 in Moscow, Russia) began to study ballet at the age of seven. She was awarded the rank of "Master of Sports Candidate". She took part in many international dancing competitions. Seryabkina graduated from the Department for Estrada and Pop Singing at the Art School, and in 2006 graduated from university with a degree in "Translation and Entrepreneurship". She was brought in to audition for Serebro by her friend Temnikova. In addition to performing, Seryabkina also contributed to producing and writing a number of the group's songs. She first contributed as a writer on the group's single "Like Mary Warner", and also wrote and composed some of the songs featured on Mama Lover. She left the group in the beginning of 2019 to focus on her solo career.
Marina Lizorkina (, born 9 June 1983 in Moscow, Russia) entered the Contemporary Art University in Moscow at the age of sixteen. She used to sing in a choir, before she became the lead singer of the group "Formula". In 2004, they released a few singles for the series Obrechennaya Stat Zvezdoy. Lizorkina was the last to join Serebro, after she saw an Internet announcement.
Anastasia Karpova (, born 2 November 1984 in Balakovo, Russia) was very interested in music since her early age, but dedicated herself to ballet. She was also attending singing classes and decided to pursue her singing career. Anastasia had replaced Lizorkina, after the latter announced her departure. She first had her debut with the group on their single "Like Mary Warner". Anastasia, along with Elena and Olga had recorded their second studio album Mama Lover, making it Karpova's first full-length studio album. Karpova decided to leave the group to pursue a solo career. The song "УГАР" was her last song with the group.
Dasha Shashina (, born 1 September 1990 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) is the replacement of Anastasia Karpova, who began performing with the group in October 2013. Shashina left the group in March 2016 due to serious health issues and having to undergo two surgeries.
Polina Favorskaya (, born 21 November 1991 in Volgograd, Russia) was the replacement of Elena Temnikova, who was introduced 5 June 2014. Favorskaya announced she was leaving the group in August 2017, but continued performing with them until the end of 2017.
Katya Kischuk (, born 13 December 1993 in Tula, Russia) was introduced in April 2016 to replace Dasha Shashina. She left the group in the beginning of 2019.
Tatiana Morgunova (; born 25 January 1998 in Aktobe, Kazakhstan) was introduced in November 2017 to replace Polina Favorskaya. She was cast following an open casting process. She left the group in the beginning of 2019.
Irina Titova (; born 22 January 1997 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan) was introduced in 2019 following the complete reformation of the group. She was born in Tashkent, lived in Belgium, and then moved to Russia.
Elizaveta Kornilova (; born 22 June 2000) was introduced in 2019 following the complete reformation of the group.
Marianna Kochurova (; born 6 July 1996 in Saint Petersburg, Russia) was introduced in 2019 following the complete reformation of the group.
Artistry
Musical style
Serebro's sound is primarily described as Europop. One review for their EP Izbrannoe suggested that the group was a successor to t.A.T.u and VIA Gra, other all-female Russian groups that experienced significant success both in Russia and internationally. On their first studio album, OpiumRoz, the group featured a more alternative rock style of music that incorporated other genres including dance-pop, grunge, punk rock and pop rock.
Awards
|-
! colspan="3" style="background: cyan;" | World Music Awards
|-
|-
Discography
2009: ОпиумRoz 2012: Mama Lover 2016: Сила трёх''
Tour dates
Tour (2007–09)
Tour (2010–12)
Tour (2013)
References
External links
Serebro at Forbes
Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Russia
Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007
Category:Russian girl groups
Category:Russian dance musicians
Category:World Music Awards winners
Category:Musical groups from Moscow
Category:English-language singers from Russia
Category:Russian National Music Award winners
Category:Winners of the Golden Gramophone Award | [] | [
"Serebro's new record label was EMI Music in Japan, and they also signed a deal with Republic Records and Universal Music Group.",
"The context does not provide information on why the group decided to sign with EMI Music.",
"Yes, Serebro had new projects. They planned to release a compilation entitled Serebration, which included songs from their first and second studio albums. The group also worked on their third studio album, and collaborated with DJ M.E.G. on a song entitled \"Ugar\". They had plans to re-release their single \"Mi Mi Mi\" as their first international single as well.",
"Aside from Serebration, the group planned to work on their third studio album and collaborated with DJ M.E.G. on a song entitled \"Ugar\". They also planned to re-release their single \"Mi Mi Mi\" as their first international single. They also intended to replace former member Anastasia Karpova with a new member, Dasha Shashina."
] | [
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_9b35ab7051e44e6fbe0ec7d51a4b7ec7_0 | Serebro | Serebro (Russian: Serebro; English translation: Silver) (Stylized as SEREBRO) is a Russian girl group formed by their manager and producer Maxim Fadeev. | Former | Polina Favorskaya (Russian: Polina Favorskaia, born 21 November 1991 in Volgograd, Russia) was the replacement of Elena Temnikova, who was introduced 5 June 2014. Favorskaya announced she was leaving the group in August 2017, but continued performing with them until the end of 2017. Anastasia Karpova (Russian: Anastasiia Karpova, born 2 November 1984 in Balakovo, Russia) was very interested in music since her early age, but dedicated herself to ballet. She was also attending singing classes and decided to pursue her singing career. Anastasia had replaced Lizorkina, after the latter announced her departure. She first had her debut with the group on their single "Like Mary Warner". Anastasia, along with Elena and Olga had recorded their second studio album Mama Lover, making it Karpova's first full-length studio album. Karpova decided to leave the group to pursue a solo career. The song "UGAR" was her last song with the group. Marina Lizorkina (Russian: Marina Lizorkina, born 9 June 1983 in Moscow, Russia) entered the Contemporary Art University in Moscow at the age of sixteen. She used to sing in a choir, before she became the lead singer of the group "Formula". In 2004, they released a few singles for the series Obrechennaya Stat Zvezdoy. Lizorkina was the last to join Serebro, after she saw an Internet announcement. Dasha Shashina (Russian: Dasha Shashina, born 1 September 1990 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) is the replacement of Anastasia Karpova, who began performing with the group in October 2013. Shashina left the group in March 2016 due to serious health issues and having to undergo two surgeries. Elena Temnikova (Russian: Elena Temnikova, born 18 April 1985 in Kurgan, Russia) came to media prominence as a contestant on the Channel One talent show Star Factory in 2003. She was spotted by Maxim Fadeev, the main producer of Star Factory, and signed to his recording company Monolit Records. Although Temnikova released two disco singles, "Begi" and "Taina", she did not continue her solo career and joined Serebro instead. She married co-member of Star Factory Alexey Semenov; the two separated in 2007, before a settlement for divorce. She then had a brief conflict with Fedeev, after dating and subsequently leaving his brother. She currently resides in Moscow, Russia. On 15 May 2014 the official Serebro website reported that Elena had left the group due to ill health. She was replaced with Karpova who had left the band earlier the previous year until they find a replacement. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_9b35ab7051e44e6fbe0ec7d51a4b7ec7_0_q#0",
"C_9b35ab7051e44e6fbe0ec7d51a4b7ec7_0_q#1",
"C_9b35ab7051e44e6fbe0ec7d51a4b7ec7_0_q#2",
"C_9b35ab7051e44e6fbe0ec7d51a4b7ec7_0_q#3",
"C_9b35ab7051e44e6fbe0ec7d51a4b7ec7_0_q#4"
] | [
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"Why was she replaced?",
"Why did she want to leave? Was it because of differences with others?",
"What did Polina add for the group?",
"What did they perform together?"
] | [
0,
0,
1,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
163
],
[
2520
],
[
2520
],
[
2520
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Polina Favorskaya (Russian: Polina Favorskaia, born 21 November 1991 in Volgograd, Russia) was the replacement of Elena Temnikova,"
],
[
"Favorskaya announced she was leaving the group in August 2017, but continued performing with them until the end of 2017."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
163,
2520,
2520,
2520
],
"texts": [
"Polina Favorskaya (Russian: Polina Favorskaia, born 21 November 1991 in Volgograd, Russia) was the replacement of Elena Temnikova,",
"Favorskaya announced she was leaving the group in August 2017, but continued performing with them until the end of 2017.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Serebro (; stylized as SEREBRO) was a Russian girl group formed by their manager and producer Maxim Fadeev. Serebro was formed in 2007, consisting of Marina Lizorkina, Olga Seryabkina, and Elena Temnikova as a submitted proposal for consideration by Channel One Russia for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Serebro was selected to represent Russia at the 2007 Contest with the song titled "Song #1". They subsequently placed third at the contest, scoring a total of 207 points. Serebro was then officially signed to Fadeev's record label Monolit Records, and in 2012, the group had additional releases produced by Sony Music Entertainment and Ego Music. In 2009, Lizorkina announced her departure from the group; she was subsequently replaced by Anastasia Karpova. Karpova left the group in 2013 and was replaced by Dasha Shashina, who left in 2016. Temnikova left the group in 2014 due to health reasons, and Polina Favorskaya, who replaced Temnikova, left the group in 2017. Favorskaya was later replaced by Morgunova. In 2019, the line-up Olga Seryabkina, Katya Kischuk, and Tatiana Morgunova, the last one to include the last original member, has been replaced by Elizaveta Kornilova, Marianna Kochurova and Irina Titova.
With Lizorkina at the time, the band recorded their debut studio album OpiumRoz. The album received critical acclaim and spawned other singles in addition to "Song #1", but it never became a commercial success. The band's second album, called Mama Lover, proved to be much more successful. It included the massive hit of the same name and went double platinum in Russia. The eponymous "Mama Lover" hit single received media attention worldwide, with reviewers commenting on both the raunchy music video and the song itself. The music video for the song received more than 20 million views on YouTube and became the subject of more than 250 parodies. After the success of "Mama Lover", the group began to garner commercial attention around the world. The group re-released Mama Lover in Japan (under the name Serebration) after signing a contract with EMI Music. Their first international single under Ego Music and Universal Music Group, "Mi Mi Mi", became a success on European music charts.
After their musical and image development, the group became known for a very sexually charged and over the top style. Some of their music videos have led to controversy in the media, including "Mama Lover" and "Mi Mi Mi".
History
Formation and Eurovision Song Contest 2007
In early 2007, producer Maxim Fadeev began preparing a concept for a new band titled Serebro. The concept began as a proposal for Channel One Russia for a new Russian entry into the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Despite original indications that the concept was for a solo singer, it morphed into a group around the former Star Factory participant Elena Temnikova who was paired with two newcomers: Marina Lizorkina and Olga Seryabkina. On 8 March 2007, the expert panel at Channel One Russia selected Serebro and the song "Song #1" as Russia's entry to the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. Due to Russia's successful result in the 2006 Contest, Serebro pre-qualified to compete directly in the final of the competition without having to participate in the semi-final.
On 12 May 2007, Serebro performed at the contest and placed third in a field of 24 musical acts from competing nations, scoring 207 points. Serebro later said: "We are happy because of our third place. But, the most important thing is that we weren't there because of ourselves, it was for our fans, for Russia and for the Russian people". The performance in Helsinki became their first official release and first concert for a large live audience.
2007—2008: Debut and OpiumRoz
After the success at Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Serebro rapidly became one of the most popular bands in Russia. Starting in the summer of 2007, the group gave a number of concerts and performed at events throughout Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Poland, Uzbekistan, and Belarus. All of the band's singles, without their real titles, are named Song #1, #2, #3, etc. According to the group and their management, this should make it easier to recall their songs.
Soon after the Eurovision contest, Serebro released "Song #1" as a single CD, which contained 13 different versions of "Song #1" marked by colours, as well as an extended version of the video. The girls then released a Russian version of "Song #1", called "Песня #1". It was Serebro's first Russian single. The song was a commercial success worldwide, particularly in European markets. The song charted in countries including Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom. As soon as the music video was release, the group received much commercial attention. In July 2007, the group released their second song, "Dyshi". Though the song was somewhat commercially successful in their native Russia, the song did not chart around the globe and the group saw a marked drop in the level of commercial attention globally. Later in October, a video for "Dyshi" was released.
At the MTV RMA 2007 Awards, Serebro performed a new song titled "What's Your Problem?", which was then rumored to be the third single from the then-forthcoming studio album, but this was denied in reports. Serebro was nominated in four categories at the MTV RMA 2007 awards: Best Pop-project, Best Debut, Best Song and Best Video, only to win the second nomination. In December 2007, Serebro won another award at the Russian Grammies. Serebro also won a World Music Award in 2007 as the best selling Russian artist. Unlike previous eastern European winners of a World Music Award (e.g. Ruslana from Ukraine in 2004 and Dima Bilan for Russia in 2006), Serebro did not perform at the event.
In late February, Serebro performed "Zhuravli" on Zvezda, a popular television programme in Russia, featuring artists singing patriotic songs. Originally written as a poem by Rasul Gamzatov "Zhuravli" is one of the most famous Russian songs coming out of World War II. On 13 May 2008 Serebro announced on their official website that they will be releasing their third official single, called "Opium". The song premiered on a Russian morning radio show BrigadaU on Europa Plus radio and until 17 March 2008 Europa Plus held exclusive rights to play the song. The girls also announced an English version of "Opium" titled "Why", but it was not released until its inclusion on their second studio album in 2012. The song did not enjoy worldwide success, but had success in their native Russia.
In 2008 the group continued their work on their first album, OpiumRoz, which had a projected release date of 17 October. Unfortunately, there was a delay in the release of their debut album as there were some problems in the track list. In November, the girls released the new song, "Skazhi, ne Molchi" ("Say, Don't be silent"). The song did not achieve worldwide success, but managed to score the top spots in their native Russia. A music video was also aired for the single not long after its final release. In November 2008, Serebro was awarded by MTV RMA Awards for the Best Group. After a number of delays with their debut album, OpiumRoz, it was finally released on 25 April 2009, and was presented at the band's concert on Poklonnaya Hill. Serebro was supported by other musicians, including Russian entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 Yulia Savicheva; OpiumRoz was the result of two years recording. Positive reactions came from both critics and the public alike. A public reviewer for Amazon.com awarded the album an all five stars calling it a "high quality" and that the "performance as well as style of music is good music." The album, however, did not chart anywhere and failed to make an impact on record charts.
2009—2012: Line-up change, experimental works and Mama Lover
On 18 June 2009 it was announced that Marina Lizorkina had left the band, due to both financial and personal reasons. Many reports around Russia reported that Lizorkina had left due to a recent pregnancy, but bandmate Olga denied these reports. Lizorkina was replaced by Anastasia Karpova. On 24 June 2009 Serebro announced they had finished work on their new music video for their fifth single "Сладко" (English: Sweet) which was released in Russian as well as in English under the title "Like Mary Warner". This single is not featured on the band's debut album and is the first single to feature the work of the latest Serebro member, Anastasia Karpova. Serebro participated in the New Wave Festival in Jūrmala, Latvia, on 29 July 2009 with their song "Skazhi, ne Molchi" and a cover version of "Get the Party Started" by Pink.
On 29 March 2010 Serebro's official website invited women between the ages of 18 and 30 with a "non-standard appearance (piercings, dreadlocks, braids, tattoos, vivid hair color, etc)" to send in applications to feature in their new video and are invited to do so until 3 April 2010 in preparation for the filming of a new music video which began on 4 April 2010. The title of the song was revealed to be "No Time" and was released to radio airplay in Russia on 13 April 2010. The song was written by Maxim Fadeev and the lyrics were written by member Olga Seryabkina. "Не Время" was released on 19 April 2010 and its English counterpart, "Sexing U", was later released on 18 September 2010.
On 26 September 2010, the group held their first solo concert in Prague, Czech Republic. The group then toured the Czech Republic and present gifts to children who reside in social rehabilitation centres. On 4 November 2010, Serebro released their seventh single, "Давай держаться за руки" ("Let's Hold Hands"). The band were also nominated for Best Russian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2010, ultimately losing out to Dima Bilan.
On 30 July 2011, Serebro premiered their eighth single, Mama Lover on Europa Plus Live. It is their third official English language release after Song #1 and Like Mary Warner. On 15 September 2011, the music video for Mama Luba (Russian version of "Mama Lover") was released. After the release of their single Mama Lover, media attention across Europe and other countries was piqued by the single. It became the group's first single to chart in different countries outside the Russian Federation, including Spain, Italy, Belgium and the Czech Republic. According to media outlets, more than 250 parodies of Serebro's music video for the single were uploaded to YouTube alone. The reaction made "Mama Lover" Serebro's most successful single to date and some media sources suggested the group was poised to capture markets beyond Russia. The song was certified Platinum in Italy, selling over 30,000 copies.
On 14 June 2012, Serebro released their second studio album Mama Lover on their label. The album was released in Russia, and was also slated for a European release. The fourth single from the album was Malchik, which was released on 16 June 2012. The single was unsuccessful for the group, peaking at 124 on the Russian Singles Chart and ended Serebro's run of consecutive top ten hits. Still, the album sold well and Mama Lover was later certified double platinum in Russia, selling more than 300,000 copies.
2013–2015: New record label, new music projects and Anastasia/Elena's Departure
After the decline of their success after "Mama Lover", the group started to record songs for their third studio album. In January 2013, the group announced that they would release their further material in Japan after signing with EMI Music. They also announced that they plan to release a compilation entitled Serebration that includes songs from their first and second studio albums. The group traveled to Japan to promote the compilation album and to do a live concert tour.<ref>About - Serebro.su Comment; In January 2013 the group SEREBRO signed a contract with the Japanese label - EMI JP and in March went to the promo-tour and presented her a platinum record in Japan [for Serebration]. They toured in Tokyo for two nights."</ref>
In March 2013, the group released their promotional single "Sexy Ass", but it failed to chart in Russia. In June 2013, the group released their single "Mi Mi Mi" which charted in Italy, peaking at 5 on the Italian iTunes chart. In July 2013, the group released the song "Malo Tebya". The song was released on Russian radio airplay on 10 July and marked a welcome return to the top ten in Russia for the band, ultimately peaking at number five. A new collaboration with DJ M.E.G., entitled "Угар" (Ugar), has premiered on the band's Facebook page and the Promo DJ website on 18 September. The group announced that they signed a deal with Republic Records and Universal Music Group and discussed plans to re-release their single "Mi Mi Mi" as their first international single.
On 28 September, member Anastasia Karpova confirmed her planned departure from the group. Karpova had told Fadeev months prior that she intended to leave the group. She noted that the decision was mutual with other members of the band and that her primary motivation was to pursue a solo career. A new member, named Dasha Shashina, was announced on 3 October 2013. Shashina had re-recorded Anastasia's recordings in the group's songs "Malo Tebya" and "Ugar", which is expected to release a video with Shashina featuring in it.
Temnikova left the group in May 2014, ahead of her planned December exit, after having become pregnant. Karpova temporarily returned until newest member Polina Favorskaya was introduced on 5 June 2014.
Serebro's 3rd studio album '925' was supposed to be released on iTunes Russia on 15 October 2015 but due to their studio harddrive being stolen, the album release had to be cancelled.
2016–2020: Sila tryokh, Seryabkina's departure, full reformation and disbandment
On 1 May 2016, Shashina left the group due to serious health issues and having to undergo two surgeries, and was replaced by Katya Kischuk.
On 26 April 2016, it was announced that the album '925' was renamed Sila tryokh (The Power of Three) and was put up on the Russian iTunes for pre-order and a release date for 27 May.
On 2 June 2016, Serebro announced on their Facebook that a new single titled "Slomana" (Broken), which was released on 6 June 2016.
On 25 August Serebro announced a new single called "Serdtse patsanki" (Tomboy's Heart), which is a soundtrack for the movie PATSANKI, and on 5 September 2016, Serebro premiered the full version of the song. Favorskaya announced she'd be leaving the group in August 2017, and an open casting was announced to find her replacement. The three finalists from the open casting were later revealed to be Anastasia Gribkhova, Tatiana Morgunova, and Anastasia Popova. Following several stages of auditions, Morgunova was announced as Favorskaya's replacement in November 2017. They performed live shows as a quartet until the end of 2017.
In October 2018, Seryabkina revealed that she'd be leaving Serebro in the beginning of 2019 in order to prioritize her solo career. Seryabkina was the only remaining original member of the group. The following month an open casting was announced for three new soloists, with Kischuk and Morgunova revealing that they would be leaving the group as well with Seryabkina.
On 30 October 2019 Maxim Fadeev announced that he terminated the contracts with all artists of the MALFA label. He noted that the performers received copyright for all content free of charge. The exception is two artists with whom litigation is ongoing. According to Fadeev, this is the most dramatic change in the entire existence of MALFA.
On 31 October 2019 Maxim Fadeev revealed in an interview that all of the songs under the Serebro name have been given to Olga Seryabkina. Although Olga was also released with all the artists the day prior, Serebro itself is still a global brand he controls, and Maxim will be thinking about how he will approach using the brand while keeping the popularity that it had when Seryabkina was a member.
On 7 June 2020, Maxim Fadeev confirmed the band’s disbandment through an Instagram comment: “ «Серебро» не будет никогда! Для меня это самые болезненные и мерзкие воспоминания! Будет, что то другое! “ / “ “Serebro” will never be! For me, these are the most painful and vile memories! There will be something else!”
Members
Elena Temnikova (, born 18 April 1985 in Kurgan, Russia) came to media prominence as a contestant on the Channel One talent show Star Factory in 2003. She was spotted by Maxim Fadeev, the main producer of Star Factory, and signed to his recording company Monolit Records. Although Temnikova released two disco singles, "Begi" and "Taina", she did not continue her solo career and joined Serebro instead. She married co-member of Star Factory Alexey Semenov; the two separated in 2007, before a settlement for divorce. She then had a brief conflict with Fedeev, after dating and subsequently leaving his brother. She currently resides in Moscow, Russia. On 15 May 2014 the official Serebro website reported that Elena had left the group due to ill health. She was replaced with Karpova who had left the band earlier the previous year until they find a replacement.
Olga Seryabkina (, born 12 April 1985 in Moscow, Russia) began to study ballet at the age of seven. She was awarded the rank of "Master of Sports Candidate". She took part in many international dancing competitions. Seryabkina graduated from the Department for Estrada and Pop Singing at the Art School, and in 2006 graduated from university with a degree in "Translation and Entrepreneurship". She was brought in to audition for Serebro by her friend Temnikova. In addition to performing, Seryabkina also contributed to producing and writing a number of the group's songs. She first contributed as a writer on the group's single "Like Mary Warner", and also wrote and composed some of the songs featured on Mama Lover. She left the group in the beginning of 2019 to focus on her solo career.
Marina Lizorkina (, born 9 June 1983 in Moscow, Russia) entered the Contemporary Art University in Moscow at the age of sixteen. She used to sing in a choir, before she became the lead singer of the group "Formula". In 2004, they released a few singles for the series Obrechennaya Stat Zvezdoy. Lizorkina was the last to join Serebro, after she saw an Internet announcement.
Anastasia Karpova (, born 2 November 1984 in Balakovo, Russia) was very interested in music since her early age, but dedicated herself to ballet. She was also attending singing classes and decided to pursue her singing career. Anastasia had replaced Lizorkina, after the latter announced her departure. She first had her debut with the group on their single "Like Mary Warner". Anastasia, along with Elena and Olga had recorded their second studio album Mama Lover, making it Karpova's first full-length studio album. Karpova decided to leave the group to pursue a solo career. The song "УГАР" was her last song with the group.
Dasha Shashina (, born 1 September 1990 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) is the replacement of Anastasia Karpova, who began performing with the group in October 2013. Shashina left the group in March 2016 due to serious health issues and having to undergo two surgeries.
Polina Favorskaya (, born 21 November 1991 in Volgograd, Russia) was the replacement of Elena Temnikova, who was introduced 5 June 2014. Favorskaya announced she was leaving the group in August 2017, but continued performing with them until the end of 2017.
Katya Kischuk (, born 13 December 1993 in Tula, Russia) was introduced in April 2016 to replace Dasha Shashina. She left the group in the beginning of 2019.
Tatiana Morgunova (; born 25 January 1998 in Aktobe, Kazakhstan) was introduced in November 2017 to replace Polina Favorskaya. She was cast following an open casting process. She left the group in the beginning of 2019.
Irina Titova (; born 22 January 1997 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan) was introduced in 2019 following the complete reformation of the group. She was born in Tashkent, lived in Belgium, and then moved to Russia.
Elizaveta Kornilova (; born 22 June 2000) was introduced in 2019 following the complete reformation of the group.
Marianna Kochurova (; born 6 July 1996 in Saint Petersburg, Russia) was introduced in 2019 following the complete reformation of the group.
Artistry
Musical style
Serebro's sound is primarily described as Europop. One review for their EP Izbrannoe suggested that the group was a successor to t.A.T.u and VIA Gra, other all-female Russian groups that experienced significant success both in Russia and internationally. On their first studio album, OpiumRoz, the group featured a more alternative rock style of music that incorporated other genres including dance-pop, grunge, punk rock and pop rock.
Awards
|-
! colspan="3" style="background: cyan;" | World Music Awards
|-
|-
Discography
2009: ОпиумRoz 2012: Mama Lover 2016: Сила трёх''
Tour dates
Tour (2007–09)
Tour (2010–12)
Tour (2013)
References
External links
Serebro at Forbes
Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Russia
Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007
Category:Russian girl groups
Category:Russian dance musicians
Category:World Music Awards winners
Category:Musical groups from Moscow
Category:English-language singers from Russia
Category:Russian National Music Award winners
Category:Winners of the Golden Gramophone Award | [] | [
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Elena Temnikova was replaced in the group due to her ill health.",
"The context does not provide specific reasons why Elena Temnikova wanted to leave the group, other than citing her ill health. It does not mention any differences with others as a reason for her departure.",
"The context does not provide specific information on what Polina Favorskaya added to the group.",
"The context does not provide specific information about what songs or performances Polina Favorskaya, Anastasia Karpova, Marina Lizorkina, Dasha Shashina, and Elena Temnikova did together."
] | [
"no",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes"
] |
C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_1 | Carousel (musical) | Carousel is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics). The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnar's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline. The story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs. He participates in a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child; after it goes tragically wrong, he is given a chance to make things right. | Act 1 | Two young female millworkers in 1873 Maine visit the town's carousel after work. One of them, Julie Jordan, attracts the attention of the barker, Billy Bigelow ("The Carousel Waltz"). When Julie lets Billy put his arm around her during the ride, Mrs. Mullin, the widowed owner of the carousel, tells Julie never to return. Julie and her friend, Carrie Pipperidge, argue with Mrs. Mullin. Billy arrives and, seeing that Mrs. Mullin is jealous, mocks her; he is fired from his job. Billy, unconcerned, invites Julie to join him for a drink. As he goes to get his belongings, Carrie presses Julie about her feelings toward him, but Julie is evasive ("You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan"). Carrie has a beau too, fisherman Enoch Snow ("(When I Marry) Mister Snow"), to whom she is newly engaged. Billy returns for Julie as the departing Carrie warns that staying out late means the loss of Julie's job. Mr. Bascombe, owner of the mill, happens by along with a policeman, and offers to escort Julie to her home, but she refuses and is fired. Left alone, she and Billy talk about what life might be like if they were in love, but neither quite confesses to the growing attraction they feel for each other ("If I Loved You"). Over a month passes, and preparations for the summer clambake are under way ("June Is Bustin' Out All Over"). Julie and Billy, now married, live at Julie's cousin Nettie's spa. Julie confides in Carrie that Billy, frustrated over being unemployed, hit her. Carrie has happier news--she is engaged to Enoch, who enters as she discusses him ("(When I Marry) Mister Snow (reprise))". Billy arrives with his ne'er-do-well whaler friend, Jigger. The former barker is openly rude to Enoch and Julie, then leaves with Jigger, followed by a distraught Julie. Enoch tells Carrie that he expects to become rich selling herring and to have a large family, larger perhaps than Carrie is comfortable having ("When the Children Are Asleep"). Jigger and his shipmates, joined by Billy, then sing about life on the sea ("Blow High, Blow Low"). The whaler tries to recruit Billy to help with a robbery, but Billy declines, as the victim--Julie's former boss, Mr. Bascombe--might have to be killed. Mrs. Mullin enters and tries to tempt Billy back to the carousel (and to her). He would have to abandon Julie; a married barker cannot evoke the same sexual tension as one who is single. Billy reluctantly mulls it over as Julie arrives and the others leave. She tells him that she is pregnant, and Billy is overwhelmed with happiness, ending all thoughts of returning to the carousel. Once alone, Billy imagines the fun he will have with Bill Jr.--until he realizes that his child might be a girl, and reflects soberly that "you've got to be a father to a girl" ("Soliloquy"). Determined to provide financially for his future child, whatever the means, Billy decides to be Jigger's accomplice. The whole town leaves for the clambake. Billy, who had earlier refused to go, agrees to join in, to Julie's delight, as he realizes that being seen at the clambake is integral to his and Jigger's alibi ("Act I Finale"). CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_1_q#0",
"C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_1_q#1",
"C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_1_q#2",
"C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_1_q#3",
"C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_1_q#4"
] | [
"What was act 1 about?",
"what was interesting about act 1?",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"was the musical popular?",
"was there anything interesting about the act 1?"
] | [
1,
2,
1,
1,
1
] | [
2,
2,
0,
2,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
1122
],
[
1947
],
[
3115
],
[
3115
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Two young female millworkers"
],
[
"neither quite confesses to the growing attraction they feel for each other"
],
[
"Jigger and his shipmates, joined by Billy, then sing about life on the sea"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
1122,
1947,
3115,
3115
],
"texts": [
"Two young female millworkers",
"neither quite confesses to the growing attraction they feel for each other",
"Jigger and his shipmates, joined by Billy, then sing about life on the sea",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"CANNOTANSWER"
]
} | Carousel is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics). The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline. The story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs. He participates in a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child; after it goes tragically wrong, he is given a chance to make things right. A secondary plot line deals with millworker Carrie Pipperidge and her romance with ambitious fisherman Enoch Snow. The show includes the well-known songs "If I Loved You", "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". Richard Rodgers later wrote that Carousel was his favorite of all his musicals.
Following the spectacular success of the first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma! (1943), the pair sought to collaborate on another piece, knowing that any resulting work would be compared with Oklahoma!, most likely unfavorably. They were initially reluctant to seek the rights to Liliom; Molnár had refused permission for the work to be adapted in the past, and the original ending was considered too depressing for the musical theatre. After acquiring the rights, the team created a work with lengthy sequences of music and made the ending more hopeful.
The musical required considerable modification during out-of-town tryouts, but once it opened on Broadway on April 19, 1945, it was an immediate hit with both critics and audiences. Carousel initially ran for 890 performances and duplicated its success in the West End in 1950. Though it has never achieved as much commercial success as Oklahoma!, the piece has been repeatedly revived, recorded several times and was filmed in 1956. A production by Nicholas Hytner enjoyed success in 1992 in London, in 1994 in New York and on tour. Another Broadway revival opened in 2018. In 1999, Time magazine named Carousel the best musical of the 20th century.
Background
Liliom
Ferenc Molnár's Hungarian-language drama, Liliom, premiered in Budapest in 1909. The audience was puzzled by the work, and it lasted only thirty-odd performances before being withdrawn, the first shadow on Molnár's successful career as a playwright. Liliom was not presented again until after World War I. When it reappeared on the Budapest stage, it was a tremendous hit.
Except for the ending, the plots of Liliom and Carousel are very similar. Andreas Zavocky (nicknamed Liliom, the Hungarian word for "lily", a slang term for "tough guy"), a carnival barker, falls in love with Julie Zeller, a servant girl, and they begin living together. With both discharged from their jobs, Liliom is discontented and contemplates leaving Julie, but decides not to do so on learning that she is pregnant. A subplot involves Julie's friend Marie, who has fallen in love with Wolf Biefeld, a hotel porter—after the two marry, he becomes the owner of the hotel. Desperate to make money so that he, Julie and their child can escape to America and a better life, Liliom conspires with lowlife Ficsur to commit a robbery, but it goes badly, and Liliom stabs himself. He dies, and his spirit is taken to heaven's police court. As Ficsur suggested while the two waited to commit the crime, would-be robbers like them do not come before God Himself. Liliom is told by the magistrate that he may go back to Earth for one day to attempt to redeem the wrongs he has done to his family, but must first spend sixteen years in a fiery purgatory.
On his return to Earth, Liliom encounters his daughter, Louise, who like her mother is now a factory worker. Saying that he knew her father, he tries to give her a star he stole from the heavens. When Louise refuses to take it, he strikes her. Not realizing who he is, Julie confronts him, but finds herself unable to be angry with him. Liliom is ushered off to his fate, presumably Hell, and Louise asks her mother if it is possible to feel a hard slap as if it was a kiss. Julie reminiscently tells her daughter that it is very possible for that to happen.
An English translation of Liliom was credited to Benjamin "Barney" Glazer, though there is a story that the actual translator, uncredited, was Rodgers' first major partner Lorenz Hart. The Theatre Guild presented it in New York City in 1921, with Joseph Schildkraut as Liliom, and the play was a success, running 300 performances. A 1940 revival with Burgess Meredith and Ingrid Bergman was seen by both Hammerstein and Rodgers. Glazer, in introducing the English translation of Liliom, wrote of the play's appeal:
And where in modern dramatic literature can such pearls be matched—Julie incoherently confessing to her dead lover the love she had always been ashamed to tell; Liliom crying out to the distant carousel the glad news that he is to be a father; the two thieves gambling for the spoils of their prospective robbery; Marie and Wolf posing for their portrait while the broken-hearted Julie stands looking after the vanishing Liliom, the thieves' song ringing in her ears; the two policemen grousing about pay and pensions while Liliom lies bleeding to death; Liliom furtively proffering his daughter the star he has stolen for her in heaven. ... The temptation to count the whole scintillating string is difficult to resist.
Inception
In the 1920s and 1930s, Rodgers and Hammerstein both became well known for creating Broadway hits with other partners. Rodgers, with Lorenz Hart, had produced a string of over two dozen musicals, including such popular successes as Babes in Arms (1937), The Boys from Syracuse (1938) and Pal Joey (1940). Some of Rodgers' work with Hart broke new ground in musical theatre: On Your Toes was the first use of ballet to sustain the plot (in the "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" scene), while Pal Joey flouted Broadway tradition by presenting a knave as its hero. Hammerstein had written or co-written the words for such hits as Rose-Marie (1924), The Desert Song (1926), The New Moon (1927) and Show Boat (1927). Though less productive in the 1930s, he wrote material for musicals and films, sharing an Oscar for his song with Jerome Kern, "The Last Time I Saw Paris", which was included in the 1941 film Lady Be Good.
By the early 1940s, Hart had sunk into alcoholism and emotional turmoil, becoming unreliable and prompting Rodgers to approach Hammerstein to ask if he would consider working with him. Hammerstein was eager to do so, and their first collaboration was Oklahoma! (1943). Thomas Hischak states, in his The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia, that Oklahoma! is "the single most influential work in the American musical theatre. In fact, the history of the Broadway musical can accurately be divided into what came before Oklahoma! and what came after it." An innovation for its time in integrating song, character, plot and dance, Oklahoma! would serve, according to Hischak, as "the model for Broadway shows for decades", and proved a huge popular and financial success. Once it was well-launched, what to do as an encore was a daunting challenge for the pair. Film producer Samuel Goldwyn saw Oklahoma! and advised Rodgers to shoot himself, which according to Rodgers "was Sam's blunt but funny way of telling me that I'd never create another show as good as Oklahoma!" As they considered new projects, Hammerstein wrote, "We're such fools. No matter what we do, everyone is bound to say, 'This is not another Oklahoma! "
Oklahoma! had been a struggle to finance and produce. Hammerstein and Rodgers met weekly in 1943 with Theresa Helburn and Lawrence Langner of the Theatre Guild, producers of the blockbuster musical, who together formed what they termed "the Gloat Club". At one such luncheon, Helburn and Langner proposed to Rodgers and Hammerstein that they turn Molnár's Liliom into a musical. Both men refused—they had no feeling for the Budapest setting and thought that the unhappy ending was unsuitable for musical theatre. In addition, given the unstable wartime political situation, they might need to change the setting from Hungary while in rehearsal. At the next luncheon, Helburn and Langner again proposed Liliom, suggesting that they move the setting to Louisiana and make Liliom a Creole. Rodgers and Hammerstein played with the idea over the next few weeks, but decided that Creole dialect, filled with "zis" and "zose", would sound corny and would make it difficult to write effective lyrics.
A breakthrough came when Rodgers, who owned a house in Connecticut, proposed a New England setting. Hammerstein wrote of this suggestion in 1945,
I began to see an attractive ensemble—sailors, whalers, girls who worked in the mills up the river, clambakes on near-by islands, an amusement park on the seaboard, things people could do in crowds, people who were strong and alive and lusty, people who had always been depicted on the stage as thin-lipped puritans—a libel I was anxious to refute ... as for the two leading characters, Julie with her courage and inner strength and outward simplicity seemed more indigenous to Maine than to Budapest. Liliom is, of course, an international character, indigenous to nowhere.
Rodgers and Hammerstein were also concerned about what they termed "the tunnel" of Molnár's second act—a series of gloomy scenes leading up to Liliom's suicide—followed by a dark ending. They also felt it would be difficult to set Liliom's motivation for the robbery to music. Molnár's opposition to having his works adapted was also an issue; he had famously turned down Giacomo Puccini when the great composer wished to transform Liliom into an opera, stating that he wanted the piece to be remembered as his, not Puccini's. In 1937, Molnár, who had recently emigrated to the United States, had declined another offer from Kurt Weill to adapt the play into a musical.
The pair continued to work on the preliminary ideas for a Liliom adaptation while pursuing other projects in late 1943 and early 1944—writing the film musical State Fair and producing I Remember Mama on Broadway. Meanwhile, the Theatre Guild took Molnár to see Oklahoma! Molnár stated that if Rodgers and Hammerstein could adapt Liliom as beautifully as they had modified Green Grow the Lilacs into Oklahoma!, he would be pleased to have them do it. The Guild obtained the rights from Molnár in October 1943. The playwright received one percent of the gross and $2,500 for "personal services". The duo insisted, as part of the contract, that Molnár permit them to make changes in the plot. At first, the playwright refused, but eventually yielded. Hammerstein later stated that if this point had not been won, "we could never have made Carousel."
In seeking to establish through song Liliom's motivation for the robbery, Rodgers remembered that he and Hart had a similar problem in Pal Joey. Rodgers and Hart had overcome the problem with a song that Joey sings to himself, "I'm Talking to My Pal". This inspired "Soliloquy". Both partners later told a story that "Soliloquy" was only intended to be a song about Liliom's dreams of a son, but that Rodgers, who had two daughters, insisted that Liliom consider that Julie might have a girl. However, the notes taken at their meeting of December 7, 1943 state: "Mr. Rodgers suggested a fine musical number for the end of the scene where Liliom discovers he is to be a father, in which he sings first with pride of the growth of a boy, and then suddenly realizes it might be a girl and changes completely."
Hammerstein and Rodgers returned to the Liliom project in mid-1944. Hammerstein was uneasy as he worked, fearing that no matter what they did, Molnár would disapprove of the results. Green Grow the Lilacs had been a little-known work; Liliom was a theatrical standard. Molnár's text also contained considerable commentary on the Hungarian politics of 1909 and the rigidity of that society. A dismissed carnival barker who hits his wife, attempts a robbery and commits suicide seemed an unlikely central character for a musical comedy. Hammerstein decided to use the words and story to make the audience sympathize with the lovers. He also built up the secondary couple, who are incidental to the plot in Liliom; they became Enoch Snow and Carrie Pipperidge. "This Was a Real Nice Clambake" was repurposed from a song, "A Real Nice Hayride", written for Oklahoma! but not used.
Molnár's ending was unsuitable, and after a couple of false starts, Hammerstein conceived the graduation scene that ends the musical. According to Frederick Nolan in his book on the team's works: "From that scene the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" sprang almost naturally." In spite of Hammerstein's simple lyrics for "You'll Never Walk Alone", Rodgers had great difficulty in setting it to music. Rodgers explained his rationale for the changed ending,
Liliom was a tragedy about a man who cannot learn to live with other people. The way Molnár wrote it, the man ends up hitting his daughter and then having to go back to purgatory, leaving his daughter helpless and hopeless. We couldn't accept that. The way we ended Carousel it may still be a tragedy but it's a hopeful one because in the final scene it is clear that the child has at last learned how to express herself and communicate with others.
When the pair decided to make "This Was a Real Nice Clambake" into an ensemble number, Hammerstein realized he had no idea what a clambake was like, and researched the matter. Based on his initial findings, he wrote the line, "First came codfish chowder". However, further research convinced him the proper term was "codhead chowder", a term unfamiliar to many playgoers. He decided to keep it as "codfish". When the song proceeded to discuss the lobsters consumed at the feast, Hammerstein wrote the line "We slit 'em down the back/And peppered 'em good". He was grieved to hear from a friend that lobsters are always slit down the front. The lyricist sent a researcher to a seafood restaurant and heard back that lobsters are always slit down the back. Hammerstein concluded that there is disagreement about which side of a lobster is the back. One error not caught involved the song "June Is Bustin' Out All Over", in which sheep are depicted as seeking to mate in late spring—they actually do so in the winter. Whenever this was brought to Hammerstein's attention, he told his informant that 1873 was a special year, in which sheep mated in the spring.
Rodgers early decided to dispense with an overture, feeling that the music was hard to hear over the banging of seats as latecomers settled themselves. In his autobiography, Rodgers complained that only the brass section can be heard during an overture because there are never enough strings in a musical's small orchestra. He determined to force the audience to concentrate from the beginning by opening with a pantomime scene accompanied by what became known as "The Carousel Waltz". The pantomime paralleled one in the Molnár play, which was also used to introduce the characters and situation to the audience. Author Ethan Mordden described the effectiveness of this opening:
Other characters catch our notice—Mr. Bascombe, the pompous mill owner, Mrs. Mullin, the widow who runs the carousel and, apparently, Billy; a dancing bear; an acrobat. But what draws us in is the intensity with which Julie regards Billy—the way she stands frozen, staring at him, while everyone else at the fair is swaying to the rhythm of Billy's spiel. And as Julie and Billy ride together on the swirling carousel, and the stage picture surges with the excitement of the crowd, and the orchestra storms to a climax, and the curtain falls, we realize that R & H have not only skipped the overture and the opening number but the exposition as well. They have plunged into the story, right into the middle of it, in the most intense first scene any musical ever had.
Casting and out-of-town tryouts
The casting for Carousel began when Oklahoma!s production team, including Rodgers and Hammerstein, was seeking a replacement for the part of Curly (the male lead in Oklahoma!). Lawrence Langner had heard, through a relative, of a California singer named John Raitt, who might be suitable for the part. Langner went to hear Raitt, then urged the others to bring Raitt to New York for an audition. Raitt asked to sing "Largo al factotum", Figaro's aria from The Barber of Seville, to warm up. The warmup was sufficient to convince the producers that not only had they found a Curly, they had found a Liliom (or Billy Bigelow, as the part was renamed). Theresa Helburn made another California discovery, Jan Clayton, a singer/actress who had made a few minor films for MGM. She was brought east and successfully auditioned for the part of Julie.
The producers sought to cast unknowns. Though many had played in previous Hammerstein or Rodgers works, only one, Jean Casto (cast as carousel owner Mrs. Mullin, and a veteran of Pal Joey), had ever played on Broadway before. It proved harder to cast the ensemble than the leads, due to the war—Rodgers told his casting director, John Fearnley, that the sole qualification for a dancing boy was that he be alive. Rodgers and Hammerstein reassembled much of the creative team that had made Oklahoma! a success, including director Rouben Mamoulian and choreographer Agnes de Mille. Miles White was the costume designer while Jo Mielziner (who had not worked on Oklahoma!) was the scenic and lighting designer. Even though Oklahoma! orchestrator Russell Bennett had informed Rodgers that he was unavailable to work on Carousel due to a radio contract, Rodgers insisted he do the work in his spare time. He orchestrated "The Carousel Waltz" and "(When I Marry) Mister Snow" before finally being replaced by Don Walker. A new member of the creative team was Trude Rittmann, who arranged the dance music. Rittmann initially felt that Rodgers mistrusted her because she was a woman, and found him difficult to work with, but the two worked together on Rodgers' shows until the 1970s.
Rehearsals began in January 1945; either Rodgers or Hammerstein was always present. Raitt was presented with the lyrics for "Soliloquy" on a five-foot long sheet of paper—the piece ran nearly eight minutes. Staging such a long solo number presented problems, and Raitt later stated that he felt that they were never fully addressed. At some point during rehearsals, Molnár came to see what they had done to his play. There are a number of variations on the story.Fordin, pp. 231–32 As Rodgers told it, while watching rehearsals with Hammerstein, the composer spotted Molnár in the rear of the theatre and whispered the news to his partner. Both sweated through an afternoon of rehearsal in which nothing seemed to go right. At the end, the two walked to the back of the theatre, expecting an angry reaction from Molnár. Instead, the playwright said enthusiastically, "What you have done is so beautiful. And you know what I like best? The ending!" Hammerstein wrote that Molnár became a regular attendee at rehearsals after that.
Like most of the pair's works, Carousel contains a lengthy ballet, "Billy Makes a Journey", in the second act, as Billy looks down to the Earth from "Up There" and observes his daughter. In the original production the ballet was choreographed by de Mille. It began with Billy looking down from heaven at his wife in labor, with the village women gathered for a "birthing". The ballet involved every character in the play, some of whom spoke lines of dialogue, and contained a number of subplots. The focus was on Louise, played by Bambi Linn, who at first almost soars in her dance, expressing the innocence of childhood. She is teased and mocked by her schoolmates, and Louise becomes attracted to the rough carnival people, who symbolize Billy's world. A youth from the carnival attempts to seduce Louise, as she discovers her own sexuality, but he decides she is more girl than woman, and he leaves her. After Julie comforts her, Louise goes to a children's party, where she is shunned. The carnival people reappear and form a ring around the children's party, with Louise lost between the two groups. At the end, the performers form a huge carousel with their bodies.
The play opened for tryouts in New Haven, Connecticut on March 22, 1945. The first act was well-received; the second act was not. Casto recalled that the second act finished about 1:30 a.m. The staff immediately sat down for a two-hour conference. Five scenes, half the ballet, and two songs were cut from the show as the result. John Fearnley commented, "Now I see why these people have hits. I never witnessed anything so brisk and brave in my life." De Mille said of this conference, "not three minutes had been wasted pleading for something cherished. Nor was there any idle joking. ... We cut and cut and cut and then we went to bed." By the time the company left New Haven, de Mille's ballet was down to forty minutes.
A major concern with the second act was the effectiveness of the characters He and She (later called by Rodgers "Mr. and Mrs. God"), before whom Billy appeared after his death. Mr. and Mrs. God were depicted as a New England minister and his wife, seen in their parlor.Block (ed.), p. 129. At this time, according to the cast sheet distributed during the Boston run, Dr. Seldon was listed as the "Minister". The couple was still part of the show at the Boston opening. Rodgers said to Hammerstein, "We've got to get God out of that parlor". When Hammerstein inquired where he should put the deity, Rodgers replied, "I don't care where you put Him. Put Him on a ladder for all I care, only get Him out of that parlor!" Hammerstein duly put Mr. God (renamed the Starkeeper) atop a ladder, and Mrs. God was removed from the show. Rodgers biographer Meryle Secrest terms this change a mistake, leading to a more fantastic afterlife, which was later criticized by The New Republic as "a Rotarian atmosphere congenial to audiences who seek not reality but escape from reality, not truth but escape from truth".
Hammerstein wrote that Molnár's advice, to combine two scenes into one, was key to pulling together the second act and represented "a more radical departure from the original than any change we had made". A reprise of "If I Loved You" was added in the second act, which Rodgers felt needed more music. Three weeks of tryouts in Boston followed the brief New Haven run, and the audience there gave the musical a warm reception. An even shorter version of the ballet was presented the final two weeks in Boston, but on the final night there, de Mille expanded it back to forty minutes, and it brought the house down, causing both Rodgers and Hammerstein to embrace her.
Synopsis
Act 1
Two young female millworkers in 1873 Maine visit the town's carousel after work. One of them, Julie Jordan, attracts the attention of the barker, Billy Bigelow ("The Carousel Waltz"). When Julie lets Billy put his arm around her during the ride, Mrs. Mullin, the widowed owner of the carousel, tells Julie never to return. Julie and her friend, Carrie Pipperidge, argue with Mrs. Mullin. Billy arrives and, seeing that Mrs. Mullin is jealous, mocks her; he is fired from his job. Billy, unconcerned, invites Julie to join him for a drink. As he goes to get his belongings, Carrie presses Julie about her feelings toward him, but Julie is evasive ("You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan"). Carrie has a beau too, fisherman Enoch Snow ("(When I Marry) Mister Snow"), to whom she is newly engaged. Billy returns for Julie as the departing Carrie warns that staying out late means the loss of Julie's job. Mr. Bascombe, owner of the mill, happens by along with a policeman, and offers to escort Julie to her home, but she refuses and is fired. Left alone, she and Billy talk about what life might be like if they were in love, but neither quite confesses to the growing attraction they feel for each other ("If I Loved You").
Over a month passes, and preparations for the summer clambake are under way ("June Is Bustin' Out All Over"). Julie and Billy, now married, live at Julie's cousin Nettie's spa. Julie confides in Carrie that Billy, frustrated over being unemployed, hit her. Carrie has happier news—she is engaged to Enoch, who enters as she discusses him ("(When I Marry) Mister Snow (reprise))". Billy arrives with his ne'er-do-well whaler friend, Jigger. The former barker is openly rude to Enoch and Julie, then leaves with Jigger, followed by a distraught Julie. Enoch tells Carrie that he expects to become rich selling herring and to have a large family, larger perhaps than Carrie is comfortable having ("When the Children Are Asleep").
Jigger and his shipmates, joined by Billy, then sing about life on the sea ("Blow High, Blow Low"). The whaler tries to recruit Billy to help with a robbery, but Billy declines, as the victim—Julie's former boss, Mr. Bascombe—might have to be killed. Mrs. Mullin enters and tries to tempt Billy back to the carousel (and to her). He would have to abandon Julie; a married barker cannot evoke the same sexual tension as one who is single. Billy reluctantly mulls it over as Julie arrives and the others leave. She tells him that she is pregnant, and Billy is overwhelmed with happiness, ending all thoughts of returning to the carousel. Once alone, Billy imagines the fun he will have with Bill Jr.—until he realizes that his child might be a girl, and reflects soberly that "you've got to be a father to a girl" ("Soliloquy"). Determined to provide financially for his future child, whatever the means, Billy decides to be Jigger's accomplice.
The whole town leaves for the clambake. Billy, who had earlier refused to go, agrees to join in, to Julie's delight, as he realizes that being seen at the clambake is integral to his and Jigger's alibi ("Act I Finale").
Act 2
Everyone reminisces about the huge meal and much fun ("This Was a Real Nice Clambake"). Jigger tries to seduce Carrie; Enoch walks in at the wrong moment, and declares that he is finished with her ("Geraniums In the Winder"), as Jigger jeers ("There's Nothin' So Bad for a Woman"). The girls try to comfort Carrie, but for Julie all that matters is that "he's your feller and you love him" ("What's the Use of Wond'rin'?"). Julie sees Billy trying to sneak away with Jigger and, trying to stop him, feels the knife hidden in his shirt. She begs him to give it to her, but he refuses and leaves to commit the robbery.
As they wait, Jigger and Billy gamble with cards. They stake their shares of the anticipated robbery spoils. Billy loses: his participation is now pointless. Unknown to Billy and Jigger, Mr. Bascombe, the intended victim, has already deposited the mill's money. The robbery fails: Bascombe pulls a gun on Billy while Jigger escapes. Billy stabs himself with his knife; Julie arrives just in time for him to say his last words to her and die. Julie strokes his hair, finally able to tell him that she loved him. Carrie and Enoch, reunited by the crisis, attempt to console Julie; Nettie arrives and gives Julie the resolve to keep going despite her despair ("You'll Never Walk Alone").
Billy's defiant spirit ("The Highest Judge of All") is taken Up There to see the Starkeeper, a heavenly official. The Starkeeper tells Billy that the good he did in life was not enough to get into heaven, but so long as there is a person alive who remembers him, he can return for a day to try to do good to redeem himself. He informs Billy that fifteen years have passed on Earth since his suicide, and suggests that Billy can get himself into heaven if he helps his daughter, Louise. He helps Billy look down from heaven to see her (instrumental ballet: "Billy Makes a Journey"). Louise has grown up to be lonely and bitter. The local children ostracize her because her father was a thief and a wife-beater. In the dance, a young ruffian, much like her father at that age, flirts with her and abandons her as too young. The dance concludes, and Billy is anxious to return to Earth and help his daughter. He steals a star to take with him, as the Starkeeper pretends not to notice.
Outside Julie's cottage, Carrie describes her visit to New York with the now-wealthy Enoch. Carrie's husband and their many children enter to fetch her—the family must get ready for the high school graduation later that day. Enoch Jr., the oldest son, remains behind to talk with Louise, as Billy and the Heavenly Friend escorting him enter, invisible to the other characters. Louise confides in Enoch Jr. that she plans to run away from home with an acting troupe. He says that he will stop her by marrying her, but that his father will think her an unsuitable match. Louise is outraged: each insults the other's father, and Louise orders Enoch Jr. to go away. Billy, able to make himself visible at will, reveals himself to the sobbing Louise, pretending to be a friend of her father. He offers her a gift—the star he stole from heaven. She refuses it and, frustrated, he slaps her hand. He makes himself invisible, and Louise tells Julie what happened, stating that the slap miraculously felt like a kiss, not a blow—and Julie understands her perfectly. Louise retreats to the house, as Julie notices the star that Billy dropped; she picks it up and seems to feel Billy's presence ("If I Loved You (Reprise)").
Billy invisibly attends Louise's graduation, hoping for one last chance to help his daughter and redeem himself. The beloved town physician, Dr. Seldon (who resembles the Starkeeper) advises the graduating class not to rely on their parents' success or be held back by their failure (words directed at Louise). Seldon prompts everyone to sing an old song, "You'll Never Walk Alone". Billy, still invisible, whispers to Louise, telling her to believe Seldon's words, and when she tentatively reaches out to another girl, she learns she does not have to be an outcast. Billy goes to Julie, telling her at last that he loved her. As his widow and daughter join in the singing, Billy is taken to his heavenly reward.
Principal roles and notable performers
° denotes original Broadway cast
Musical numbers Act I"List of Songs", Carousel at the IBDB Database. Retrieved July 18, 2012
"The Carousel Waltz" – Orchestra
"You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan" – Carrie Pipperidge and Julie Jordan
"(When I Marry) Mister Snow" – Carrie
"If I Loved You" – Billy Bigelow and Julie
"June Is Bustin' Out All Over" – Nettie Fowler and Chorus
"(When I Marry) Mister Snow" (reprise) – Carrie, Enoch Snow and Female Chorus
"When the Children Are Asleep" – Enoch and Carrie
"Blow High, Blow Low" – Jigger Craigin, Billy and Male Chorus
"Soliloquy" – BillyAct II "This Was a Real Nice Clambake" – Carrie, Nettie, Julie, Enoch and Chorus
"Geraniums in the Winder" – Enoch *
"There's Nothin' So Bad for a Woman" – Jigger and Chorus
"What's the Use of Wond'rin'?" – Julie
"You'll Never Walk Alone" – Nettie
"The Highest Judge of All" – Billy
Ballet: "Billy Makes a Journey" – Orchestra
"If I Loved You" (reprise) – Billy
Finale: "You'll Never Walk Alone" (reprise) – Company
Productions
Early productions
The original Broadway production opened at the Majestic Theatre on April 19, 1945. The dress rehearsal the day before had gone badly, and the pair feared the new work would not be well received. One successful last-minute change was to have de Mille choreograph the pantomime. The movement of the carnival crowd in the pantomime had been entrusted to Mamoulian, and his version was not working. Rodgers had injured his back the previous week, and he watched the opening from a stretcher propped in a box behind the curtain. Sedated with morphine, he could see only part of the stage. As he could not hear the audience's applause and laughter, he assumed the show was a failure. It was not until friends congratulated him later that evening that he realized that the curtain had been met by wild applause. Bambi Linn, who played Louise, was so enthusiastically received by the audience during her ballet that she was forced to break character, when she next appeared, and bow. Rodgers' daughter Mary caught sight of her friend, Stephen Sondheim, both teenagers then, across several rows; both had eyes wet with tears.
The original production ran for 890 performances, closing on May 24, 1947. The original cast included John Raitt (Billy), Jan Clayton (Julie), Jean Darling (Carrie), Eric Mattson (Enoch Snow), Christine Johnson (Nettie Fowler), Murvyn Vye (Jigger), Bambi Linn (Louise) and Russell Collins (Starkeeper). In December 1945, Clayton left to star in the Broadway revival of Show Boat and was replaced by Iva Withers; Raitt was replaced by Henry Michel in January 1947; Darling was replaced by Margot Moser.Hischak, p. 62
After closing on Broadway, the show went on a national tour for two years. It played for five months in Chicago alone, visited twenty states and two Canadian cities, covered and played to nearly two million people. The touring company had a four-week run at New York City Center in January 1949. Following the City Center run, the show was moved back to the Majestic Theatre in the hopes of filling the theatre until South Pacific opened in early April. However, ticket sales were mediocre, and the show closed almost a month early.
The musical premiered in the West End, London, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on June 7, 1950. The production was restaged by Jerome Whyte, with a cast that included Stephen Douglass (Billy), Iva Withers (Julie) and Margot Moser (Carrie). Carousel ran in London for 566 performances, remaining there for over a year and a half.
Subsequent productions
Carousel was revived in 1954 and 1957 at City Center, presented by the New York City Center Light Opera Company. Both times, the production featured Barbara Cook, though she played Carrie in 1954 and Julie in 1957 (playing alongside Howard Keel as Billy). The production was then taken to Belgium to be performed at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, with David Atkinson as Billy, Ruth Kobart as Nettie, and Clayton reprising the role of Julie, which she had originated.
In August 1965, Rodgers and the Music Theater of Lincoln Center produced Carousel for 47 performances. John Raitt reprised the role of Billy, with Jerry Orbach as Jigger and Reid Shelton as Enoch Snow. The roles of the Starkeeper and Dr. Seldon were played by Edward Everett Horton in his final stage appearance. The following year, New York City Center Light Opera Company brought Carousel back to City Center for 22 performances, with Bruce Yarnell as Billy and Constance Towers as Julie.
Nicholas Hytner directed a new production of Carousel in 1992, at London's Royal National Theatre, with choreography by Sir Kenneth MacMillan and designs by Bob Crowley. In this staging, the story begins at the mill, where Julie and Carrie work, with the music slowed down to emphasize the drudgery. After work ends, they move to the shipyards and then to the carnival. As they proceed on a revolving stage, carnival characters appear, and at last the carousel is assembled onstage for the girls to ride.Block, p. 175 Louise is seduced by the ruffian boy during her Act 2 ballet, set around the ruins of a carousel. Michael Hayden played Billy not as a large, gruff man, but as a frustrated smaller one, a time bomb waiting to explode. Joanna Riding (Julie) and Janie Dee (Carrie) won Olivier Awards for their performances, the production won Best Musical Revival, and Hytner won as director. Patricia Routledge played Nettie. Clive Rowe, as Enoch, was nominated for an Olivier Award. Enoch and Carrie were cast as an interracial couple whose eight children, according to the review in The New York Times, looked like "a walking United Colors of Benetton ad". The production's limited run from December 1992 through March 1993 was a sellout. It re-opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London in September 1993, presented by Cameron Mackintosh, where it continued until May 1994.
The Hytner production moved to New York's Vivian Beaumont Theater, where it opened on March 24, 1994, and ran for 322 performances. This won five Tony Awards, including best musical revival, as well as awards for Hytner, MacMillan, Crowley and Audra McDonald (as Carrie). The cast also included Sally Murphy as Julie, Shirley Verrett as Nettie, Fisher Stevens as Jigger and Eddie Korbich as Enoch. One change made from the London to the New York production was to have Billy strike Louise across the face, rather than on the hand. According to Hayden, "He does the one unpardonable thing, the thing we can't forgive. It's a challenge for the audience to like him after that." The Hytner Carousel was presented in Japan in May 1995. A U.S. national tour with a scaled-down production began in February 1996 in Houston and closed in May 1997 in Providence, Rhode Island. Producers sought to feature young talent on the tour, with Patrick Wilson as Billy and Sarah Uriarte Berry, and later Jennifer Laura Thompson, as Julie.
A revival opened at London's Savoy Theatre on December 2, 2008, after a week of previews, starring Jeremiah James (Billy), Alexandra Silber (Julie) and Lesley Garrett (Nettie). The production received warm to mixed reviews. It closed in June 2009, a month early. Michael Coveney, writing in The Independent, admired Rodgers' music but stated, "Lindsay Posner's efficient revival doesn't hold a candle to the National Theatre 1992 version". A production at Theater Basel, Switzerland, in 2016 to 2017, with German dialogue, was directed by Alexander Charim and choreographed by Teresa Rotemberg. Bryony Dwyer, Christian Miedl and Cheryl Studer starred, respectively, as Julie Jordan, Billy Bigelow and Nettie Fowler. A semi-staged revival by the English National Opera opened at the London Coliseum in 2017. The production was directed by Lonny Price, conducted by David Charles Abell, and starred Alfie Boe as Billy, Katherine Jenkins as Julie and Nicholas Lyndhurst as the Starkeeper. The production received mixed to positive reviews.
The third Broadway revival began previews in February 2018 at the Imperial Theatre and officially opened on April 12. It closed on September 16, 2018. The production starred Jessie Mueller, Joshua Henry, Renée Fleming, Lindsay Mendez and Alexander Gemignani. The production was directed by Jack O'Brien and choreographed by Justin Peck. The songs "Geraniums in the Winder" and "There's Nothin' So Bad for a Woman" were cut from this revival. Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times, "The tragic inevitability of Carousel has seldom come across as warmly or as chillingly as it does in this vividly reimagined revival. ... [W]ith thoughtful and powerful performances by Mr. Henry and Ms. Mueller, the love story at the show's center has never seemed quite as ill-starred or, at the same time, as sexy. ... [T]he Starkeeper ... assumes new visibility throughout, taking on the role of Billy's angelic supervisor." Brantley strongly praised the choreography, all the performances and the designers. He was unconvinced, however, by the "mother-daughter dialogue that falls so abrasively on contemporary ears", where Julie tries to justify loving an abusive man, and other scenes in Act 2, particularly those set in heaven, and the optimism of the final scene. Most of the reviewers agreed that while the choreography and performances (especially the singing) were excellent, characterizing the production as sexy and sumptuous, O'Brien's direction did little to help the show deal with modern sensibilities about men's treatment of women, instead indulging in nostalgia.
From July to September 2021 the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London is presenting a staging by its artistic director Timothy Sheader, with choreography by Drew McOnie. The cast includes Carly Bawden as Julie, Declan Bennett as Billy and Joanna Riding as Nettie.
Film, television and concert versions
[[File:Boothbay Harbor in Summer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where the location shots for Carousel'''s movie version were filmed]]
A film version of the musical was made in 1956, starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones. It follows the musical's story fairly closely, although a prologue, set in the Starkeeper's heaven, was added. The film was released only a few months after the release of the film version of Oklahoma! It garnered some good reviews, and the soundtrack recording was a best seller. As the same stars appeared in both pictures, however, the two films were often compared, generally to the disadvantage of Carousel. Thomas Hischak, in The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia, later wondered "if the smaller number of Carousel stage revivals is the product of this often-lumbering [film] musical".
There was also an abridged (100 minute) 1967 network television version that starred Robert Goulet, with choreography by Edward Villella.
The New York Philharmonic presented a staged concert version of the musical from February 28 to March 2, 2013, at Avery Fisher Hall. Kelli O'Hara played Julie, with Nathan Gunn as Billy, Stephanie Blythe as Nettie, Jessie Mueller as Carrie, Jason Danieley as Enoch, Shuler Hensley as Jigger, John Cullum as the Starkeeper, and Kate Burton as Mrs. Mullin. Tiler Peck danced the role of Louise to choreography by Warren Carlyle. The production was directed by John Rando and conducted by Rob Fisher. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times wrote, "this is as gorgeously sung a production of this sublime 1945 Broadway musical as you are ever likely to hear." It was broadcast as part of the PBS Live from Lincoln Center series, premiering on April 26, 2013.
Music and recordings
Musical treatment
Rodgers designed Carousel to be an almost continuous stream of music, especially in Act 1. In later years, Rodgers was asked if he had considered writing an opera. He stated that he had been sorely tempted to, but saw Carousel in operatic terms. He remembered, "We came very close to opera in the Majestic Theatre. ... There's much that is operatic in the music."
Rodgers uses music in Carousel in subtle ways to differentiate characters and tell the audience of their emotional state. In "You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan", the music for the placid Carrie is characterized by even eighth-note rhythms, whereas the emotionally restless Julie's music is marked by dotted eighths and sixteenths; this rhythm will characterize her throughout the show. When Billy whistles a snatch of the song, he selects Julie's dotted notes rather than Carrie's. Reflecting the close association in the music between Julie and the as-yet unborn Louise, when Billy sings in "Soliloquy" of his daughter, who "gets hungry every night", he uses Julie's dotted rhythms. Such rhythms also characterize Julie's Act 2 song, "What's the Use of Wond'rin'". The stable love between Enoch and Carrie is strengthened by her willingness to let Enoch not only plan his entire life, but hers as well. This is reflected in "When the Children Are Asleep", where the two sing in close harmony, but Enoch musically interrupts his intended's turn at the chorus with the words "Dreams that won't be interrupted". Rodgers biographer Geoffrey Block, in his book on the Broadway musical, points out that though Billy may strike his wife, he allows her musical themes to become a part of him and never interrupts her music. Block suggests that, as reprehensible as Billy may be for his actions, Enoch requiring Carrie to act as "the little woman", and his having nine children with her (more than she had found acceptable in "When the Children are Asleep") can be considered to be even more abusive.
The twelve-minute "bench scene", in which Billy and Julie get to know each other and which culminates with "If I Loved You", according to Hischak, "is considered the most completely integrated piece of music-drama in the American musical theatre". The scene is almost entirely drawn from Molnár and is one extended musical piece; Stephen Sondheim described it as "probably the single most important moment in the revolution of contemporary musicals". "If I Loved You" has been recorded many times, by such diverse artists as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Sammy Davis Jr., Mario Lanza and Chad and Jeremy. The D-flat major theme that dominates the music for the second act ballet seems like a new melody to many audience members. It is, however, a greatly expanded development of a theme heard during "Soliloquy" at the line "I guess he'll call me 'The old man' ".
When the pair discussed the song that would become "Soliloquy", Rodgers improvised at the piano to give Hammerstein an idea of how he envisioned the song. When Hammerstein presented his collaborator with the lyrics after two weeks of work (Hammerstein always wrote the words first, then Rodgers would write the melodies), Rodgers wrote the music for the eight-minute song in two hours. "What's the Use of Wond'rin' ", one of Julie's songs, worked well in the show but was never as popular on the radio or for recording, and Hammerstein believed that the lack of popularity was because he had concluded the final line, "And all the rest is talk" with a hard consonant, which does not allow the singer a vocal climax.
Irving Berlin later stated that "You'll Never Walk Alone" had the same sort of effect on him as the 23rd Psalm. When singer Mel Tormé told Rodgers that "You'll Never Walk Alone" had made him cry, Rodgers nodded impatiently. "You're supposed to." The frequently recorded song has become a widely accepted hymn.Rodgers, p. 240 The cast recording of Carousel proved popular in Liverpool, like many Broadway albums, and in 1963, the Brian Epstein-managed band, Gerry and the Pacemakers had a number-one hit with the song. At the time, the top ten hits were played before Liverpool F.C. home matches; even after "You'll Never Walk Alone" dropped out of the top ten, fans continued to sing it, and it has become closely associated with the soccer team and the city of Liverpool. A BBC program, Soul Music, ranked it alongside "Silent Night" and "Abide With Me" in terms of its emotional impact and iconic status.
Recordings
The cast album of the 1945 Broadway production was issued on 78s, and the score was significantly cut—as was the 1950 London cast recording. Theatre historian John Kenrick notes of the 1945 recording that a number of songs had to be abridged to fit the 78 format, but that there is a small part of "Soliloquy" found on no other recording, as Rodgers cut it from the score immediately after the studio recording was made.Fick, David. "The Best Carousel Recording", June 11, 2009. Retrieved on April 7, 2016
A number of songs were cut for the 1956 film, but two of the deleted numbers had been recorded and were ultimately retained on the soundtrack album. The expanded CD version of the soundtrack, issued in 2001, contains all of the singing recorded for the film, including the cut portions, and nearly all of the dance music. The recording of the 1965 Lincoln Center revival featured Raitt reprising the role of Billy. Studio recordings of Carousels songs were released in 1956 (with Robert Merrill as Billy, Patrice Munsel as Julie, and Florence Henderson as Carrie), 1962 and 1987. The 1987 version featured a mix of opera and musical stars, including Samuel Ramey, Barbara Cook and Sarah Brightman. Kenrick recommends the 1962 studio recording for its outstanding cast, including Alfred Drake, Roberta Peters, Claramae Turner, Lee Venora, and Norman Treigle.
Both the London (1993) and New York (1994) cast albums of the Hytner production contain portions of dialogue that, according to Hischak, speak to the power of Michael Hayden's portrayal of Billy. Kenrick judges the 1994 recording the best all-around performance of Carousel on disc, despite uneven singing by Hayden, due to Sally Murphy's Julie and the strong supporting cast (calling Audra McDonald the best Carrie he has heard). The Stratford Festival issued a recording in 2015.
Critical reception and legacy
The musical received almost unanimous rave reviews after its opening in 1945. According to Hischak, reviews were not as exuberant as for Oklahoma! as the critics were not taken by surprise this time. John Chapman of the Daily News termed it "one of the finest musical plays I have ever seen and I shall remember it always". The New York Timess reviewer, Lewis Nichols, stated that "Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein 2d, who can do no wrong, have continued doing no wrong in adapting Liliom into a musical play. Their Carousel is on the whole delightful." Wilella Waldorf of the New York Post, however, complained, "Carousel seemed to us a rather long evening. The Oklahoma! formula is becoming a bit monotonous and so are Miss de Mille's ballets. All right, go ahead and shoot!"Suskin, Steven. Opening Night on Broadway. Schirmer Trade Books, 1990, p. 147. . Dance Magazine gave Linn plaudits for her role as Louise, stating, "Bambi doesn't come on until twenty minutes before eleven, and for the next forty minutes, she practically holds the audience in her hand". Howard Barnes in the New York Herald Tribune also applauded the dancing: "It has waited for Miss de Mille to come through with peculiarly American dance patterns for a musical show to become as much a dance as a song show."
When the musical returned to New York in 1949, The New York Times reviewer Brooks Atkinson described Carousel as "a conspicuously superior musical play ... Carousel, which was warmly appreciated when it opened, seems like nothing less than a masterpiece now." In 1954, when Carousel was revived at City Center, Atkinson discussed the musical in his review:
Carousel has no comment to make on anything of topical importance. The theme is timeless and universal: the devotion of two people who love each other through thick and thin, complicated in this case by the wayward personality of the man, who cannot fulfill the responsibilities he has assumed. ... Billy is a bum, but Carousel recognizes the decency of his motives and admires his independence. There are no slick solutions in Carousel.
Stephen Sondheim noted the duo's ability to take the innovations of Oklahoma! and apply them to a serious setting: "Oklahoma! is about a picnic, Carousel is about life and death." Critic Eric Bentley, on the other hand, wrote that "the last scene of Carousel is an impertinence: I refuse to be lectured to by a musical comedy scriptwriter on the education of children, the nature of the good life, and the contribution of the American small town to the salvation of souls."New York Times critic Frank Rich said of the 1992 London production: "What is remarkable about Mr. Hytner's direction, aside from its unorthodox faith in the virtues of simplicity and stillness, is its ability to make a 1992 audience believe in Hammerstein's vision of redemption, which has it that a dead sinner can return to Earth to do godly good." The Hytner production in New York was hailed by many critics as a grittier Carousel, which they deemed more appropriate for the 1990s. Clive Barnes of the New York Post called it a "defining Carousel—hard-nosed, imaginative, and exciting."
Critic Michael Billington has commented that "lyrically [Carousel] comes perilously close to acceptance of the inevitability of domestic violence." BroadwayWorld.com stated in 2013 that Carousel is now "considered somewhat controversial in terms of its attitudes on domestic violence" because Julie chooses to stay with Billy despite the abuse; actress Kelli O'Hara noted that the domestic violence that Julie "chooses to deal with – is a real, existing and very complicated thing. And exploring it is an important part of healing it."
Rodgers considered Carousel his favorite of all his musicals and wrote, "it affects me deeply every time I see it performed". In 1999, Time magazine, in its "Best of the Century" list, named Carousel the Best Musical of the 20th century, writing that Rodgers and Hammerstein "set the standards for the 20th century musical, and this show features their most beautiful score and the most skillful and affecting example of their musical storytelling". Hammerstein's grandson, Oscar Andrew Hammerstein, in his book about his family, suggested that the wartime situation made Carousel's ending especially poignant to its original viewers, "Every American grieved the loss of a brother, son, father, or friend ... the audience empathized with [Billy's] all-too-human efforts to offer advice, to seek forgiveness, to complete an unfinished life, and to bid a proper good-bye from beyond the grave." Author and composer Ethan Mordden agreed with that perspective:
If Oklahoma! developed the moral argument for sending American boys overseas, Carousel offered consolation to those wives and mothers whose boys would only return in spirit. The meaning lay not in the tragedy of the present, but in the hope for a future where no one walks alone.
Awards and nominations
Original 1945 Broadway productionNote: The Tony Awards were not established until 1947, and so Carousel was not eligible to win any Tonys at its premiere. 1957 revival
1992 London revival
1994 Broadway revival
2018 Broadway revival
References
Bibliography
Block, Geoffrey. Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from Show Boat to Sondheim. New York: Oxford University Press US, 2004. .
Block, Geoffrey (ed.) The Richard Rodgers Reader. New York: Oxford University Press US, 2006. .
Bradley, Ian. You've Got to Have a Dream: The Message of the Broadway Musical. Louisville, Ky., Westminster John Knox Press, 2005. 978-0-664-22854-5.
Easton, Carol. No Intermission: The Life of Agnes DeMille. Jefferson, N.C.: Da Capo Press, 2000 (1st DaCapo Press edition). .
Fordin, Hugh. Getting to Know Him: A Biography of Oscar Hammerstein II. Jefferson, N.C.: Da Capo Press, 1995 reprint of 1986 edition. .
Hammerstein, Oscar Andrew. The Hammersteins: A Musical Theatre Family. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2010. .
Hischak, Thomas S. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. .
Hyland, William G. Richard Rodgers. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1998. .
Molnár, Ferenc. Liliom: A Legend in Seven Scenes and a Prologue. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1921.
Mordden, Ethan. "Rodgers & Hammerstein". New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1992. .
Nolan, Frederick. The Sound of Their Music: The Story of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2002. .
Rodgers, Richard. Musical Stages: An Autobiography. Jefferson, N.C. Da Capo Press, 2002 reprint of 1975 edition. .
Secrest, Meryle. Somewhere for Me: A Biography of Richard Rodgers. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2001. .
External links
Carousel at guidetomusicaltheatre.com
Carousel info page on StageAgent.com – Carousel'' plot summary and character descriptions
(1967 TV adaptation)
Category:1945 musicals
Category:Broadway musicals
Category:Musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein
Category:West End musicals
Category:Musicals based on plays
Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
Category:Maine in fiction
Category:Fiction set in 1873
Category:Fiction about the afterlife
Category:Musicals set in Maine
Category:Musicals set in the 1870s
Category:Tony Award-winning musicals | [] | [
"Act 1 is about the evolving relationship between Julie Jordan and Billy Bigelow in a small Maine town in 1873. Julie, a millworker, catches the eye of Billy, a barker at the carousel. Despite Billy losing his job and Julie being fired due to their interactions, the two of them develop feelings for each other, which they discuss without openly admitting (\"If I Loved You\"). They later get married and live at Julie's cousin's spa. Julie confesses to her friend Carrie that Billy, who is frustrated by his unemployment, has hit her. Meanwhile, Billy meets with his whaler friend, Jigger, who tries to entice Billy into a robbery, though Billy initially declines. Billy also faces temptation from his former boss, Mrs. Mullin, who wants him to return to the carousel. Julie tells Billy she is pregnant, leading Billy to abandon thoughts of returning to his old job and to consider joining the robbery to provide for his child. The act ends with the whole town, including Billy and Julie, preparing to attend a clambake.",
"The interesting aspects of Act 1 could include the evolving relationship between Julie and Billy, their facing adversity and making complex decisions about their futures, the tension between social classes and job statuses in a small town, the exploration of love and conflict, and the anticipation of a planned crime. The revelation of Julie's pregnancy and Billy's consequent decision to provide for his future child at all costs add intrigue to the plot. The romantic relationships and character dynamics, along with the interspersed music and exploration of societal expectations, add to the drama's appeal.",
"The context focuses on a synopsis of Act 1 from a play or musical. Several interesting aspects are evident, such as social and economic dynamics in 1873 Maine, the pivotal role certain emotions and character interactions play in driving the narrative, and the use of music numbers to further enhance and express the evolving relationships and complex emotions. Additionally, the plot's tension derives from a balance between hopeful events (like anticipated marriages and pregnancies) and darker aspects (like suggested robbery and domestic violence), making it a rich and layered narrative.",
"The context does not provide information on whether the musical was popular.",
"Yes, there are several interesting aspects about Act 1. It introduces the characters and their relationships, such as the complex love story between Julie and Billy, and Carrie and Enoch. The act also addresses complex issues, such as unemployment, domestic violence, temptations and coming responsibilities. There is also suspense built around Billy's potential involvement in a robbery, and the news of Julie's pregnancy which changes the course of events. The use of song and dance throughout the act to portray the emotions also adds an interesting layer."
] | [
"No",
"No",
"No",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_0 | Carousel (musical) | Carousel is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics). The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnar's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline. The story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs. He participates in a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child; after it goes tragically wrong, he is given a chance to make things right. | Early productions | The original Broadway production opened at the Majestic Theatre on April 19, 1945. The dress rehearsal the day before had gone badly, and the pair feared the new work would not be well received. One successful last-minute change was to have de Mille choreograph the pantomime. The movement of the carnival crowd in the pantomime had been entrusted to Mamoulian, and his version was not working. Rodgers had injured his back the previous week, and he watched the opening from a stretcher propped in a box behind the curtain. Sedated with morphine, he could see only part of the stage. As he could not hear the audience's applause and laughter, he assumed the show was a failure. It was not until friends congratulated him later that evening that he realized that the curtain had been met by wild applause. Bambi Linn, who played Louise, was so enthusiastically received by the audience during her ballet that she was forced to break character, when she next appeared, and bow. Rodgers' daughter Mary caught sight of her friend, Stephen Sondheim, both teenagers then, across several rows; both had eyes wet with tears. The original production ran for 890 performances, closing on May 24, 1947. The original cast included John Raitt (Billy), Jan Clayton (Julie), Jean Darling (Carrie), Eric Mattson (Enoch Snow), Christine Johnson (Nettie Fowler), Murvyn Vye (Jigger), Bambi Linn (Louise) and Russell Collins (Starkeeper). In December 1945, Clayton left to star in the Broadway revival of Show Boat and was replaced by Iva Withers; Raitt was replaced by Henry Michel in January 1947; Darling was replaced by Margot Moser. After closing on Broadway, the show went on a national tour for two years. It played for five months in Chicago alone, visited twenty states and two Canadian cities, covered 15,000 miles (24,000 km) and played to nearly two million people. The touring company had a four-week run at New York City Center in January 1949. Following the City Center run, the show was moved back to the Majestic Theatre in the hopes of filling the theatre until South Pacific opened in early April. However, ticket sales were mediocre, and the show closed almost a month early. The musical premiered in the West End, London, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on June 7, 1950. The production was restaged by Jerome Whyte, with a cast that included Stephen Douglass (Billy), Iva Withers (Julie) and Margot Moser (Carrie). Carousel ran in London for 566 performances, remaining there for over a year and a half. CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_0_q#0",
"C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_0_q#1",
"C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_0_q#2",
"C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_0_q#3",
"C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_0_q#4",
"C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_0_q#5",
"C_1d0dee1535b2411dad7ea7ed844caf3f_0_q#6"
] | [
"What year was production?",
"Who was the producer?",
"Where was this first performed?",
"Who played in it?",
"Who wrote this?",
"were there any issues during early production?",
"What else interesting happened during this time?"
] | [
0,
1,
0,
0,
1,
0,
0
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
77
],
[
2510
],
[
1696
],
[
1193
],
[
2510
],
[
395
],
[
1118
]
],
"texts": [
[
"1945."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"It played for five months in Chicago alone,"
],
[
"The original cast included John Raitt (Billy), Jan Clayton (Julie), Jean Darling (Carrie), Eric Mattson (Enoch Snow),"
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Rodgers had injured his back the previous week, and he watched the opening from a stretcher propped in a box behind the curtain."
],
[
"The original production ran for 890 performances, closing on May 24, 1947."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
77,
2510,
1696,
1193,
2510,
395,
1118
],
"texts": [
"1945.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"It played for five months in Chicago alone,",
"The original cast included John Raitt (Billy), Jan Clayton (Julie), Jean Darling (Carrie), Eric Mattson (Enoch Snow),",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Rodgers had injured his back the previous week, and he watched the opening from a stretcher propped in a box behind the curtain.",
"The original production ran for 890 performances, closing on May 24, 1947."
]
} | Carousel is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics). The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline. The story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs. He participates in a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child; after it goes tragically wrong, he is given a chance to make things right. A secondary plot line deals with millworker Carrie Pipperidge and her romance with ambitious fisherman Enoch Snow. The show includes the well-known songs "If I Loved You", "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". Richard Rodgers later wrote that Carousel was his favorite of all his musicals.
Following the spectacular success of the first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma! (1943), the pair sought to collaborate on another piece, knowing that any resulting work would be compared with Oklahoma!, most likely unfavorably. They were initially reluctant to seek the rights to Liliom; Molnár had refused permission for the work to be adapted in the past, and the original ending was considered too depressing for the musical theatre. After acquiring the rights, the team created a work with lengthy sequences of music and made the ending more hopeful.
The musical required considerable modification during out-of-town tryouts, but once it opened on Broadway on April 19, 1945, it was an immediate hit with both critics and audiences. Carousel initially ran for 890 performances and duplicated its success in the West End in 1950. Though it has never achieved as much commercial success as Oklahoma!, the piece has been repeatedly revived, recorded several times and was filmed in 1956. A production by Nicholas Hytner enjoyed success in 1992 in London, in 1994 in New York and on tour. Another Broadway revival opened in 2018. In 1999, Time magazine named Carousel the best musical of the 20th century.
Background
Liliom
Ferenc Molnár's Hungarian-language drama, Liliom, premiered in Budapest in 1909. The audience was puzzled by the work, and it lasted only thirty-odd performances before being withdrawn, the first shadow on Molnár's successful career as a playwright. Liliom was not presented again until after World War I. When it reappeared on the Budapest stage, it was a tremendous hit.
Except for the ending, the plots of Liliom and Carousel are very similar. Andreas Zavocky (nicknamed Liliom, the Hungarian word for "lily", a slang term for "tough guy"), a carnival barker, falls in love with Julie Zeller, a servant girl, and they begin living together. With both discharged from their jobs, Liliom is discontented and contemplates leaving Julie, but decides not to do so on learning that she is pregnant. A subplot involves Julie's friend Marie, who has fallen in love with Wolf Biefeld, a hotel porter—after the two marry, he becomes the owner of the hotel. Desperate to make money so that he, Julie and their child can escape to America and a better life, Liliom conspires with lowlife Ficsur to commit a robbery, but it goes badly, and Liliom stabs himself. He dies, and his spirit is taken to heaven's police court. As Ficsur suggested while the two waited to commit the crime, would-be robbers like them do not come before God Himself. Liliom is told by the magistrate that he may go back to Earth for one day to attempt to redeem the wrongs he has done to his family, but must first spend sixteen years in a fiery purgatory.
On his return to Earth, Liliom encounters his daughter, Louise, who like her mother is now a factory worker. Saying that he knew her father, he tries to give her a star he stole from the heavens. When Louise refuses to take it, he strikes her. Not realizing who he is, Julie confronts him, but finds herself unable to be angry with him. Liliom is ushered off to his fate, presumably Hell, and Louise asks her mother if it is possible to feel a hard slap as if it was a kiss. Julie reminiscently tells her daughter that it is very possible for that to happen.
An English translation of Liliom was credited to Benjamin "Barney" Glazer, though there is a story that the actual translator, uncredited, was Rodgers' first major partner Lorenz Hart. The Theatre Guild presented it in New York City in 1921, with Joseph Schildkraut as Liliom, and the play was a success, running 300 performances. A 1940 revival with Burgess Meredith and Ingrid Bergman was seen by both Hammerstein and Rodgers. Glazer, in introducing the English translation of Liliom, wrote of the play's appeal:
And where in modern dramatic literature can such pearls be matched—Julie incoherently confessing to her dead lover the love she had always been ashamed to tell; Liliom crying out to the distant carousel the glad news that he is to be a father; the two thieves gambling for the spoils of their prospective robbery; Marie and Wolf posing for their portrait while the broken-hearted Julie stands looking after the vanishing Liliom, the thieves' song ringing in her ears; the two policemen grousing about pay and pensions while Liliom lies bleeding to death; Liliom furtively proffering his daughter the star he has stolen for her in heaven. ... The temptation to count the whole scintillating string is difficult to resist.
Inception
In the 1920s and 1930s, Rodgers and Hammerstein both became well known for creating Broadway hits with other partners. Rodgers, with Lorenz Hart, had produced a string of over two dozen musicals, including such popular successes as Babes in Arms (1937), The Boys from Syracuse (1938) and Pal Joey (1940). Some of Rodgers' work with Hart broke new ground in musical theatre: On Your Toes was the first use of ballet to sustain the plot (in the "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" scene), while Pal Joey flouted Broadway tradition by presenting a knave as its hero. Hammerstein had written or co-written the words for such hits as Rose-Marie (1924), The Desert Song (1926), The New Moon (1927) and Show Boat (1927). Though less productive in the 1930s, he wrote material for musicals and films, sharing an Oscar for his song with Jerome Kern, "The Last Time I Saw Paris", which was included in the 1941 film Lady Be Good.
By the early 1940s, Hart had sunk into alcoholism and emotional turmoil, becoming unreliable and prompting Rodgers to approach Hammerstein to ask if he would consider working with him. Hammerstein was eager to do so, and their first collaboration was Oklahoma! (1943). Thomas Hischak states, in his The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia, that Oklahoma! is "the single most influential work in the American musical theatre. In fact, the history of the Broadway musical can accurately be divided into what came before Oklahoma! and what came after it." An innovation for its time in integrating song, character, plot and dance, Oklahoma! would serve, according to Hischak, as "the model for Broadway shows for decades", and proved a huge popular and financial success. Once it was well-launched, what to do as an encore was a daunting challenge for the pair. Film producer Samuel Goldwyn saw Oklahoma! and advised Rodgers to shoot himself, which according to Rodgers "was Sam's blunt but funny way of telling me that I'd never create another show as good as Oklahoma!" As they considered new projects, Hammerstein wrote, "We're such fools. No matter what we do, everyone is bound to say, 'This is not another Oklahoma! "
Oklahoma! had been a struggle to finance and produce. Hammerstein and Rodgers met weekly in 1943 with Theresa Helburn and Lawrence Langner of the Theatre Guild, producers of the blockbuster musical, who together formed what they termed "the Gloat Club". At one such luncheon, Helburn and Langner proposed to Rodgers and Hammerstein that they turn Molnár's Liliom into a musical. Both men refused—they had no feeling for the Budapest setting and thought that the unhappy ending was unsuitable for musical theatre. In addition, given the unstable wartime political situation, they might need to change the setting from Hungary while in rehearsal. At the next luncheon, Helburn and Langner again proposed Liliom, suggesting that they move the setting to Louisiana and make Liliom a Creole. Rodgers and Hammerstein played with the idea over the next few weeks, but decided that Creole dialect, filled with "zis" and "zose", would sound corny and would make it difficult to write effective lyrics.
A breakthrough came when Rodgers, who owned a house in Connecticut, proposed a New England setting. Hammerstein wrote of this suggestion in 1945,
I began to see an attractive ensemble—sailors, whalers, girls who worked in the mills up the river, clambakes on near-by islands, an amusement park on the seaboard, things people could do in crowds, people who were strong and alive and lusty, people who had always been depicted on the stage as thin-lipped puritans—a libel I was anxious to refute ... as for the two leading characters, Julie with her courage and inner strength and outward simplicity seemed more indigenous to Maine than to Budapest. Liliom is, of course, an international character, indigenous to nowhere.
Rodgers and Hammerstein were also concerned about what they termed "the tunnel" of Molnár's second act—a series of gloomy scenes leading up to Liliom's suicide—followed by a dark ending. They also felt it would be difficult to set Liliom's motivation for the robbery to music. Molnár's opposition to having his works adapted was also an issue; he had famously turned down Giacomo Puccini when the great composer wished to transform Liliom into an opera, stating that he wanted the piece to be remembered as his, not Puccini's. In 1937, Molnár, who had recently emigrated to the United States, had declined another offer from Kurt Weill to adapt the play into a musical.
The pair continued to work on the preliminary ideas for a Liliom adaptation while pursuing other projects in late 1943 and early 1944—writing the film musical State Fair and producing I Remember Mama on Broadway. Meanwhile, the Theatre Guild took Molnár to see Oklahoma! Molnár stated that if Rodgers and Hammerstein could adapt Liliom as beautifully as they had modified Green Grow the Lilacs into Oklahoma!, he would be pleased to have them do it. The Guild obtained the rights from Molnár in October 1943. The playwright received one percent of the gross and $2,500 for "personal services". The duo insisted, as part of the contract, that Molnár permit them to make changes in the plot. At first, the playwright refused, but eventually yielded. Hammerstein later stated that if this point had not been won, "we could never have made Carousel."
In seeking to establish through song Liliom's motivation for the robbery, Rodgers remembered that he and Hart had a similar problem in Pal Joey. Rodgers and Hart had overcome the problem with a song that Joey sings to himself, "I'm Talking to My Pal". This inspired "Soliloquy". Both partners later told a story that "Soliloquy" was only intended to be a song about Liliom's dreams of a son, but that Rodgers, who had two daughters, insisted that Liliom consider that Julie might have a girl. However, the notes taken at their meeting of December 7, 1943 state: "Mr. Rodgers suggested a fine musical number for the end of the scene where Liliom discovers he is to be a father, in which he sings first with pride of the growth of a boy, and then suddenly realizes it might be a girl and changes completely."
Hammerstein and Rodgers returned to the Liliom project in mid-1944. Hammerstein was uneasy as he worked, fearing that no matter what they did, Molnár would disapprove of the results. Green Grow the Lilacs had been a little-known work; Liliom was a theatrical standard. Molnár's text also contained considerable commentary on the Hungarian politics of 1909 and the rigidity of that society. A dismissed carnival barker who hits his wife, attempts a robbery and commits suicide seemed an unlikely central character for a musical comedy. Hammerstein decided to use the words and story to make the audience sympathize with the lovers. He also built up the secondary couple, who are incidental to the plot in Liliom; they became Enoch Snow and Carrie Pipperidge. "This Was a Real Nice Clambake" was repurposed from a song, "A Real Nice Hayride", written for Oklahoma! but not used.
Molnár's ending was unsuitable, and after a couple of false starts, Hammerstein conceived the graduation scene that ends the musical. According to Frederick Nolan in his book on the team's works: "From that scene the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" sprang almost naturally." In spite of Hammerstein's simple lyrics for "You'll Never Walk Alone", Rodgers had great difficulty in setting it to music. Rodgers explained his rationale for the changed ending,
Liliom was a tragedy about a man who cannot learn to live with other people. The way Molnár wrote it, the man ends up hitting his daughter and then having to go back to purgatory, leaving his daughter helpless and hopeless. We couldn't accept that. The way we ended Carousel it may still be a tragedy but it's a hopeful one because in the final scene it is clear that the child has at last learned how to express herself and communicate with others.
When the pair decided to make "This Was a Real Nice Clambake" into an ensemble number, Hammerstein realized he had no idea what a clambake was like, and researched the matter. Based on his initial findings, he wrote the line, "First came codfish chowder". However, further research convinced him the proper term was "codhead chowder", a term unfamiliar to many playgoers. He decided to keep it as "codfish". When the song proceeded to discuss the lobsters consumed at the feast, Hammerstein wrote the line "We slit 'em down the back/And peppered 'em good". He was grieved to hear from a friend that lobsters are always slit down the front. The lyricist sent a researcher to a seafood restaurant and heard back that lobsters are always slit down the back. Hammerstein concluded that there is disagreement about which side of a lobster is the back. One error not caught involved the song "June Is Bustin' Out All Over", in which sheep are depicted as seeking to mate in late spring—they actually do so in the winter. Whenever this was brought to Hammerstein's attention, he told his informant that 1873 was a special year, in which sheep mated in the spring.
Rodgers early decided to dispense with an overture, feeling that the music was hard to hear over the banging of seats as latecomers settled themselves. In his autobiography, Rodgers complained that only the brass section can be heard during an overture because there are never enough strings in a musical's small orchestra. He determined to force the audience to concentrate from the beginning by opening with a pantomime scene accompanied by what became known as "The Carousel Waltz". The pantomime paralleled one in the Molnár play, which was also used to introduce the characters and situation to the audience. Author Ethan Mordden described the effectiveness of this opening:
Other characters catch our notice—Mr. Bascombe, the pompous mill owner, Mrs. Mullin, the widow who runs the carousel and, apparently, Billy; a dancing bear; an acrobat. But what draws us in is the intensity with which Julie regards Billy—the way she stands frozen, staring at him, while everyone else at the fair is swaying to the rhythm of Billy's spiel. And as Julie and Billy ride together on the swirling carousel, and the stage picture surges with the excitement of the crowd, and the orchestra storms to a climax, and the curtain falls, we realize that R & H have not only skipped the overture and the opening number but the exposition as well. They have plunged into the story, right into the middle of it, in the most intense first scene any musical ever had.
Casting and out-of-town tryouts
The casting for Carousel began when Oklahoma!s production team, including Rodgers and Hammerstein, was seeking a replacement for the part of Curly (the male lead in Oklahoma!). Lawrence Langner had heard, through a relative, of a California singer named John Raitt, who might be suitable for the part. Langner went to hear Raitt, then urged the others to bring Raitt to New York for an audition. Raitt asked to sing "Largo al factotum", Figaro's aria from The Barber of Seville, to warm up. The warmup was sufficient to convince the producers that not only had they found a Curly, they had found a Liliom (or Billy Bigelow, as the part was renamed). Theresa Helburn made another California discovery, Jan Clayton, a singer/actress who had made a few minor films for MGM. She was brought east and successfully auditioned for the part of Julie.
The producers sought to cast unknowns. Though many had played in previous Hammerstein or Rodgers works, only one, Jean Casto (cast as carousel owner Mrs. Mullin, and a veteran of Pal Joey), had ever played on Broadway before. It proved harder to cast the ensemble than the leads, due to the war—Rodgers told his casting director, John Fearnley, that the sole qualification for a dancing boy was that he be alive. Rodgers and Hammerstein reassembled much of the creative team that had made Oklahoma! a success, including director Rouben Mamoulian and choreographer Agnes de Mille. Miles White was the costume designer while Jo Mielziner (who had not worked on Oklahoma!) was the scenic and lighting designer. Even though Oklahoma! orchestrator Russell Bennett had informed Rodgers that he was unavailable to work on Carousel due to a radio contract, Rodgers insisted he do the work in his spare time. He orchestrated "The Carousel Waltz" and "(When I Marry) Mister Snow" before finally being replaced by Don Walker. A new member of the creative team was Trude Rittmann, who arranged the dance music. Rittmann initially felt that Rodgers mistrusted her because she was a woman, and found him difficult to work with, but the two worked together on Rodgers' shows until the 1970s.
Rehearsals began in January 1945; either Rodgers or Hammerstein was always present. Raitt was presented with the lyrics for "Soliloquy" on a five-foot long sheet of paper—the piece ran nearly eight minutes. Staging such a long solo number presented problems, and Raitt later stated that he felt that they were never fully addressed. At some point during rehearsals, Molnár came to see what they had done to his play. There are a number of variations on the story.Fordin, pp. 231–32 As Rodgers told it, while watching rehearsals with Hammerstein, the composer spotted Molnár in the rear of the theatre and whispered the news to his partner. Both sweated through an afternoon of rehearsal in which nothing seemed to go right. At the end, the two walked to the back of the theatre, expecting an angry reaction from Molnár. Instead, the playwright said enthusiastically, "What you have done is so beautiful. And you know what I like best? The ending!" Hammerstein wrote that Molnár became a regular attendee at rehearsals after that.
Like most of the pair's works, Carousel contains a lengthy ballet, "Billy Makes a Journey", in the second act, as Billy looks down to the Earth from "Up There" and observes his daughter. In the original production the ballet was choreographed by de Mille. It began with Billy looking down from heaven at his wife in labor, with the village women gathered for a "birthing". The ballet involved every character in the play, some of whom spoke lines of dialogue, and contained a number of subplots. The focus was on Louise, played by Bambi Linn, who at first almost soars in her dance, expressing the innocence of childhood. She is teased and mocked by her schoolmates, and Louise becomes attracted to the rough carnival people, who symbolize Billy's world. A youth from the carnival attempts to seduce Louise, as she discovers her own sexuality, but he decides she is more girl than woman, and he leaves her. After Julie comforts her, Louise goes to a children's party, where she is shunned. The carnival people reappear and form a ring around the children's party, with Louise lost between the two groups. At the end, the performers form a huge carousel with their bodies.
The play opened for tryouts in New Haven, Connecticut on March 22, 1945. The first act was well-received; the second act was not. Casto recalled that the second act finished about 1:30 a.m. The staff immediately sat down for a two-hour conference. Five scenes, half the ballet, and two songs were cut from the show as the result. John Fearnley commented, "Now I see why these people have hits. I never witnessed anything so brisk and brave in my life." De Mille said of this conference, "not three minutes had been wasted pleading for something cherished. Nor was there any idle joking. ... We cut and cut and cut and then we went to bed." By the time the company left New Haven, de Mille's ballet was down to forty minutes.
A major concern with the second act was the effectiveness of the characters He and She (later called by Rodgers "Mr. and Mrs. God"), before whom Billy appeared after his death. Mr. and Mrs. God were depicted as a New England minister and his wife, seen in their parlor.Block (ed.), p. 129. At this time, according to the cast sheet distributed during the Boston run, Dr. Seldon was listed as the "Minister". The couple was still part of the show at the Boston opening. Rodgers said to Hammerstein, "We've got to get God out of that parlor". When Hammerstein inquired where he should put the deity, Rodgers replied, "I don't care where you put Him. Put Him on a ladder for all I care, only get Him out of that parlor!" Hammerstein duly put Mr. God (renamed the Starkeeper) atop a ladder, and Mrs. God was removed from the show. Rodgers biographer Meryle Secrest terms this change a mistake, leading to a more fantastic afterlife, which was later criticized by The New Republic as "a Rotarian atmosphere congenial to audiences who seek not reality but escape from reality, not truth but escape from truth".
Hammerstein wrote that Molnár's advice, to combine two scenes into one, was key to pulling together the second act and represented "a more radical departure from the original than any change we had made". A reprise of "If I Loved You" was added in the second act, which Rodgers felt needed more music. Three weeks of tryouts in Boston followed the brief New Haven run, and the audience there gave the musical a warm reception. An even shorter version of the ballet was presented the final two weeks in Boston, but on the final night there, de Mille expanded it back to forty minutes, and it brought the house down, causing both Rodgers and Hammerstein to embrace her.
Synopsis
Act 1
Two young female millworkers in 1873 Maine visit the town's carousel after work. One of them, Julie Jordan, attracts the attention of the barker, Billy Bigelow ("The Carousel Waltz"). When Julie lets Billy put his arm around her during the ride, Mrs. Mullin, the widowed owner of the carousel, tells Julie never to return. Julie and her friend, Carrie Pipperidge, argue with Mrs. Mullin. Billy arrives and, seeing that Mrs. Mullin is jealous, mocks her; he is fired from his job. Billy, unconcerned, invites Julie to join him for a drink. As he goes to get his belongings, Carrie presses Julie about her feelings toward him, but Julie is evasive ("You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan"). Carrie has a beau too, fisherman Enoch Snow ("(When I Marry) Mister Snow"), to whom she is newly engaged. Billy returns for Julie as the departing Carrie warns that staying out late means the loss of Julie's job. Mr. Bascombe, owner of the mill, happens by along with a policeman, and offers to escort Julie to her home, but she refuses and is fired. Left alone, she and Billy talk about what life might be like if they were in love, but neither quite confesses to the growing attraction they feel for each other ("If I Loved You").
Over a month passes, and preparations for the summer clambake are under way ("June Is Bustin' Out All Over"). Julie and Billy, now married, live at Julie's cousin Nettie's spa. Julie confides in Carrie that Billy, frustrated over being unemployed, hit her. Carrie has happier news—she is engaged to Enoch, who enters as she discusses him ("(When I Marry) Mister Snow (reprise))". Billy arrives with his ne'er-do-well whaler friend, Jigger. The former barker is openly rude to Enoch and Julie, then leaves with Jigger, followed by a distraught Julie. Enoch tells Carrie that he expects to become rich selling herring and to have a large family, larger perhaps than Carrie is comfortable having ("When the Children Are Asleep").
Jigger and his shipmates, joined by Billy, then sing about life on the sea ("Blow High, Blow Low"). The whaler tries to recruit Billy to help with a robbery, but Billy declines, as the victim—Julie's former boss, Mr. Bascombe—might have to be killed. Mrs. Mullin enters and tries to tempt Billy back to the carousel (and to her). He would have to abandon Julie; a married barker cannot evoke the same sexual tension as one who is single. Billy reluctantly mulls it over as Julie arrives and the others leave. She tells him that she is pregnant, and Billy is overwhelmed with happiness, ending all thoughts of returning to the carousel. Once alone, Billy imagines the fun he will have with Bill Jr.—until he realizes that his child might be a girl, and reflects soberly that "you've got to be a father to a girl" ("Soliloquy"). Determined to provide financially for his future child, whatever the means, Billy decides to be Jigger's accomplice.
The whole town leaves for the clambake. Billy, who had earlier refused to go, agrees to join in, to Julie's delight, as he realizes that being seen at the clambake is integral to his and Jigger's alibi ("Act I Finale").
Act 2
Everyone reminisces about the huge meal and much fun ("This Was a Real Nice Clambake"). Jigger tries to seduce Carrie; Enoch walks in at the wrong moment, and declares that he is finished with her ("Geraniums In the Winder"), as Jigger jeers ("There's Nothin' So Bad for a Woman"). The girls try to comfort Carrie, but for Julie all that matters is that "he's your feller and you love him" ("What's the Use of Wond'rin'?"). Julie sees Billy trying to sneak away with Jigger and, trying to stop him, feels the knife hidden in his shirt. She begs him to give it to her, but he refuses and leaves to commit the robbery.
As they wait, Jigger and Billy gamble with cards. They stake their shares of the anticipated robbery spoils. Billy loses: his participation is now pointless. Unknown to Billy and Jigger, Mr. Bascombe, the intended victim, has already deposited the mill's money. The robbery fails: Bascombe pulls a gun on Billy while Jigger escapes. Billy stabs himself with his knife; Julie arrives just in time for him to say his last words to her and die. Julie strokes his hair, finally able to tell him that she loved him. Carrie and Enoch, reunited by the crisis, attempt to console Julie; Nettie arrives and gives Julie the resolve to keep going despite her despair ("You'll Never Walk Alone").
Billy's defiant spirit ("The Highest Judge of All") is taken Up There to see the Starkeeper, a heavenly official. The Starkeeper tells Billy that the good he did in life was not enough to get into heaven, but so long as there is a person alive who remembers him, he can return for a day to try to do good to redeem himself. He informs Billy that fifteen years have passed on Earth since his suicide, and suggests that Billy can get himself into heaven if he helps his daughter, Louise. He helps Billy look down from heaven to see her (instrumental ballet: "Billy Makes a Journey"). Louise has grown up to be lonely and bitter. The local children ostracize her because her father was a thief and a wife-beater. In the dance, a young ruffian, much like her father at that age, flirts with her and abandons her as too young. The dance concludes, and Billy is anxious to return to Earth and help his daughter. He steals a star to take with him, as the Starkeeper pretends not to notice.
Outside Julie's cottage, Carrie describes her visit to New York with the now-wealthy Enoch. Carrie's husband and their many children enter to fetch her—the family must get ready for the high school graduation later that day. Enoch Jr., the oldest son, remains behind to talk with Louise, as Billy and the Heavenly Friend escorting him enter, invisible to the other characters. Louise confides in Enoch Jr. that she plans to run away from home with an acting troupe. He says that he will stop her by marrying her, but that his father will think her an unsuitable match. Louise is outraged: each insults the other's father, and Louise orders Enoch Jr. to go away. Billy, able to make himself visible at will, reveals himself to the sobbing Louise, pretending to be a friend of her father. He offers her a gift—the star he stole from heaven. She refuses it and, frustrated, he slaps her hand. He makes himself invisible, and Louise tells Julie what happened, stating that the slap miraculously felt like a kiss, not a blow—and Julie understands her perfectly. Louise retreats to the house, as Julie notices the star that Billy dropped; she picks it up and seems to feel Billy's presence ("If I Loved You (Reprise)").
Billy invisibly attends Louise's graduation, hoping for one last chance to help his daughter and redeem himself. The beloved town physician, Dr. Seldon (who resembles the Starkeeper) advises the graduating class not to rely on their parents' success or be held back by their failure (words directed at Louise). Seldon prompts everyone to sing an old song, "You'll Never Walk Alone". Billy, still invisible, whispers to Louise, telling her to believe Seldon's words, and when she tentatively reaches out to another girl, she learns she does not have to be an outcast. Billy goes to Julie, telling her at last that he loved her. As his widow and daughter join in the singing, Billy is taken to his heavenly reward.
Principal roles and notable performers
° denotes original Broadway cast
Musical numbers Act I"List of Songs", Carousel at the IBDB Database. Retrieved July 18, 2012
"The Carousel Waltz" – Orchestra
"You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan" – Carrie Pipperidge and Julie Jordan
"(When I Marry) Mister Snow" – Carrie
"If I Loved You" – Billy Bigelow and Julie
"June Is Bustin' Out All Over" – Nettie Fowler and Chorus
"(When I Marry) Mister Snow" (reprise) – Carrie, Enoch Snow and Female Chorus
"When the Children Are Asleep" – Enoch and Carrie
"Blow High, Blow Low" – Jigger Craigin, Billy and Male Chorus
"Soliloquy" – BillyAct II "This Was a Real Nice Clambake" – Carrie, Nettie, Julie, Enoch and Chorus
"Geraniums in the Winder" – Enoch *
"There's Nothin' So Bad for a Woman" – Jigger and Chorus
"What's the Use of Wond'rin'?" – Julie
"You'll Never Walk Alone" – Nettie
"The Highest Judge of All" – Billy
Ballet: "Billy Makes a Journey" – Orchestra
"If I Loved You" (reprise) – Billy
Finale: "You'll Never Walk Alone" (reprise) – Company
Productions
Early productions
The original Broadway production opened at the Majestic Theatre on April 19, 1945. The dress rehearsal the day before had gone badly, and the pair feared the new work would not be well received. One successful last-minute change was to have de Mille choreograph the pantomime. The movement of the carnival crowd in the pantomime had been entrusted to Mamoulian, and his version was not working. Rodgers had injured his back the previous week, and he watched the opening from a stretcher propped in a box behind the curtain. Sedated with morphine, he could see only part of the stage. As he could not hear the audience's applause and laughter, he assumed the show was a failure. It was not until friends congratulated him later that evening that he realized that the curtain had been met by wild applause. Bambi Linn, who played Louise, was so enthusiastically received by the audience during her ballet that she was forced to break character, when she next appeared, and bow. Rodgers' daughter Mary caught sight of her friend, Stephen Sondheim, both teenagers then, across several rows; both had eyes wet with tears.
The original production ran for 890 performances, closing on May 24, 1947. The original cast included John Raitt (Billy), Jan Clayton (Julie), Jean Darling (Carrie), Eric Mattson (Enoch Snow), Christine Johnson (Nettie Fowler), Murvyn Vye (Jigger), Bambi Linn (Louise) and Russell Collins (Starkeeper). In December 1945, Clayton left to star in the Broadway revival of Show Boat and was replaced by Iva Withers; Raitt was replaced by Henry Michel in January 1947; Darling was replaced by Margot Moser.Hischak, p. 62
After closing on Broadway, the show went on a national tour for two years. It played for five months in Chicago alone, visited twenty states and two Canadian cities, covered and played to nearly two million people. The touring company had a four-week run at New York City Center in January 1949. Following the City Center run, the show was moved back to the Majestic Theatre in the hopes of filling the theatre until South Pacific opened in early April. However, ticket sales were mediocre, and the show closed almost a month early.
The musical premiered in the West End, London, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on June 7, 1950. The production was restaged by Jerome Whyte, with a cast that included Stephen Douglass (Billy), Iva Withers (Julie) and Margot Moser (Carrie). Carousel ran in London for 566 performances, remaining there for over a year and a half.
Subsequent productions
Carousel was revived in 1954 and 1957 at City Center, presented by the New York City Center Light Opera Company. Both times, the production featured Barbara Cook, though she played Carrie in 1954 and Julie in 1957 (playing alongside Howard Keel as Billy). The production was then taken to Belgium to be performed at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, with David Atkinson as Billy, Ruth Kobart as Nettie, and Clayton reprising the role of Julie, which she had originated.
In August 1965, Rodgers and the Music Theater of Lincoln Center produced Carousel for 47 performances. John Raitt reprised the role of Billy, with Jerry Orbach as Jigger and Reid Shelton as Enoch Snow. The roles of the Starkeeper and Dr. Seldon were played by Edward Everett Horton in his final stage appearance. The following year, New York City Center Light Opera Company brought Carousel back to City Center for 22 performances, with Bruce Yarnell as Billy and Constance Towers as Julie.
Nicholas Hytner directed a new production of Carousel in 1992, at London's Royal National Theatre, with choreography by Sir Kenneth MacMillan and designs by Bob Crowley. In this staging, the story begins at the mill, where Julie and Carrie work, with the music slowed down to emphasize the drudgery. After work ends, they move to the shipyards and then to the carnival. As they proceed on a revolving stage, carnival characters appear, and at last the carousel is assembled onstage for the girls to ride.Block, p. 175 Louise is seduced by the ruffian boy during her Act 2 ballet, set around the ruins of a carousel. Michael Hayden played Billy not as a large, gruff man, but as a frustrated smaller one, a time bomb waiting to explode. Joanna Riding (Julie) and Janie Dee (Carrie) won Olivier Awards for their performances, the production won Best Musical Revival, and Hytner won as director. Patricia Routledge played Nettie. Clive Rowe, as Enoch, was nominated for an Olivier Award. Enoch and Carrie were cast as an interracial couple whose eight children, according to the review in The New York Times, looked like "a walking United Colors of Benetton ad". The production's limited run from December 1992 through March 1993 was a sellout. It re-opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London in September 1993, presented by Cameron Mackintosh, where it continued until May 1994.
The Hytner production moved to New York's Vivian Beaumont Theater, where it opened on March 24, 1994, and ran for 322 performances. This won five Tony Awards, including best musical revival, as well as awards for Hytner, MacMillan, Crowley and Audra McDonald (as Carrie). The cast also included Sally Murphy as Julie, Shirley Verrett as Nettie, Fisher Stevens as Jigger and Eddie Korbich as Enoch. One change made from the London to the New York production was to have Billy strike Louise across the face, rather than on the hand. According to Hayden, "He does the one unpardonable thing, the thing we can't forgive. It's a challenge for the audience to like him after that." The Hytner Carousel was presented in Japan in May 1995. A U.S. national tour with a scaled-down production began in February 1996 in Houston and closed in May 1997 in Providence, Rhode Island. Producers sought to feature young talent on the tour, with Patrick Wilson as Billy and Sarah Uriarte Berry, and later Jennifer Laura Thompson, as Julie.
A revival opened at London's Savoy Theatre on December 2, 2008, after a week of previews, starring Jeremiah James (Billy), Alexandra Silber (Julie) and Lesley Garrett (Nettie). The production received warm to mixed reviews. It closed in June 2009, a month early. Michael Coveney, writing in The Independent, admired Rodgers' music but stated, "Lindsay Posner's efficient revival doesn't hold a candle to the National Theatre 1992 version". A production at Theater Basel, Switzerland, in 2016 to 2017, with German dialogue, was directed by Alexander Charim and choreographed by Teresa Rotemberg. Bryony Dwyer, Christian Miedl and Cheryl Studer starred, respectively, as Julie Jordan, Billy Bigelow and Nettie Fowler. A semi-staged revival by the English National Opera opened at the London Coliseum in 2017. The production was directed by Lonny Price, conducted by David Charles Abell, and starred Alfie Boe as Billy, Katherine Jenkins as Julie and Nicholas Lyndhurst as the Starkeeper. The production received mixed to positive reviews.
The third Broadway revival began previews in February 2018 at the Imperial Theatre and officially opened on April 12. It closed on September 16, 2018. The production starred Jessie Mueller, Joshua Henry, Renée Fleming, Lindsay Mendez and Alexander Gemignani. The production was directed by Jack O'Brien and choreographed by Justin Peck. The songs "Geraniums in the Winder" and "There's Nothin' So Bad for a Woman" were cut from this revival. Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times, "The tragic inevitability of Carousel has seldom come across as warmly or as chillingly as it does in this vividly reimagined revival. ... [W]ith thoughtful and powerful performances by Mr. Henry and Ms. Mueller, the love story at the show's center has never seemed quite as ill-starred or, at the same time, as sexy. ... [T]he Starkeeper ... assumes new visibility throughout, taking on the role of Billy's angelic supervisor." Brantley strongly praised the choreography, all the performances and the designers. He was unconvinced, however, by the "mother-daughter dialogue that falls so abrasively on contemporary ears", where Julie tries to justify loving an abusive man, and other scenes in Act 2, particularly those set in heaven, and the optimism of the final scene. Most of the reviewers agreed that while the choreography and performances (especially the singing) were excellent, characterizing the production as sexy and sumptuous, O'Brien's direction did little to help the show deal with modern sensibilities about men's treatment of women, instead indulging in nostalgia.
From July to September 2021 the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London is presenting a staging by its artistic director Timothy Sheader, with choreography by Drew McOnie. The cast includes Carly Bawden as Julie, Declan Bennett as Billy and Joanna Riding as Nettie.
Film, television and concert versions
[[File:Boothbay Harbor in Summer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where the location shots for Carousel'''s movie version were filmed]]
A film version of the musical was made in 1956, starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones. It follows the musical's story fairly closely, although a prologue, set in the Starkeeper's heaven, was added. The film was released only a few months after the release of the film version of Oklahoma! It garnered some good reviews, and the soundtrack recording was a best seller. As the same stars appeared in both pictures, however, the two films were often compared, generally to the disadvantage of Carousel. Thomas Hischak, in The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia, later wondered "if the smaller number of Carousel stage revivals is the product of this often-lumbering [film] musical".
There was also an abridged (100 minute) 1967 network television version that starred Robert Goulet, with choreography by Edward Villella.
The New York Philharmonic presented a staged concert version of the musical from February 28 to March 2, 2013, at Avery Fisher Hall. Kelli O'Hara played Julie, with Nathan Gunn as Billy, Stephanie Blythe as Nettie, Jessie Mueller as Carrie, Jason Danieley as Enoch, Shuler Hensley as Jigger, John Cullum as the Starkeeper, and Kate Burton as Mrs. Mullin. Tiler Peck danced the role of Louise to choreography by Warren Carlyle. The production was directed by John Rando and conducted by Rob Fisher. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times wrote, "this is as gorgeously sung a production of this sublime 1945 Broadway musical as you are ever likely to hear." It was broadcast as part of the PBS Live from Lincoln Center series, premiering on April 26, 2013.
Music and recordings
Musical treatment
Rodgers designed Carousel to be an almost continuous stream of music, especially in Act 1. In later years, Rodgers was asked if he had considered writing an opera. He stated that he had been sorely tempted to, but saw Carousel in operatic terms. He remembered, "We came very close to opera in the Majestic Theatre. ... There's much that is operatic in the music."
Rodgers uses music in Carousel in subtle ways to differentiate characters and tell the audience of their emotional state. In "You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan", the music for the placid Carrie is characterized by even eighth-note rhythms, whereas the emotionally restless Julie's music is marked by dotted eighths and sixteenths; this rhythm will characterize her throughout the show. When Billy whistles a snatch of the song, he selects Julie's dotted notes rather than Carrie's. Reflecting the close association in the music between Julie and the as-yet unborn Louise, when Billy sings in "Soliloquy" of his daughter, who "gets hungry every night", he uses Julie's dotted rhythms. Such rhythms also characterize Julie's Act 2 song, "What's the Use of Wond'rin'". The stable love between Enoch and Carrie is strengthened by her willingness to let Enoch not only plan his entire life, but hers as well. This is reflected in "When the Children Are Asleep", where the two sing in close harmony, but Enoch musically interrupts his intended's turn at the chorus with the words "Dreams that won't be interrupted". Rodgers biographer Geoffrey Block, in his book on the Broadway musical, points out that though Billy may strike his wife, he allows her musical themes to become a part of him and never interrupts her music. Block suggests that, as reprehensible as Billy may be for his actions, Enoch requiring Carrie to act as "the little woman", and his having nine children with her (more than she had found acceptable in "When the Children are Asleep") can be considered to be even more abusive.
The twelve-minute "bench scene", in which Billy and Julie get to know each other and which culminates with "If I Loved You", according to Hischak, "is considered the most completely integrated piece of music-drama in the American musical theatre". The scene is almost entirely drawn from Molnár and is one extended musical piece; Stephen Sondheim described it as "probably the single most important moment in the revolution of contemporary musicals". "If I Loved You" has been recorded many times, by such diverse artists as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Sammy Davis Jr., Mario Lanza and Chad and Jeremy. The D-flat major theme that dominates the music for the second act ballet seems like a new melody to many audience members. It is, however, a greatly expanded development of a theme heard during "Soliloquy" at the line "I guess he'll call me 'The old man' ".
When the pair discussed the song that would become "Soliloquy", Rodgers improvised at the piano to give Hammerstein an idea of how he envisioned the song. When Hammerstein presented his collaborator with the lyrics after two weeks of work (Hammerstein always wrote the words first, then Rodgers would write the melodies), Rodgers wrote the music for the eight-minute song in two hours. "What's the Use of Wond'rin' ", one of Julie's songs, worked well in the show but was never as popular on the radio or for recording, and Hammerstein believed that the lack of popularity was because he had concluded the final line, "And all the rest is talk" with a hard consonant, which does not allow the singer a vocal climax.
Irving Berlin later stated that "You'll Never Walk Alone" had the same sort of effect on him as the 23rd Psalm. When singer Mel Tormé told Rodgers that "You'll Never Walk Alone" had made him cry, Rodgers nodded impatiently. "You're supposed to." The frequently recorded song has become a widely accepted hymn.Rodgers, p. 240 The cast recording of Carousel proved popular in Liverpool, like many Broadway albums, and in 1963, the Brian Epstein-managed band, Gerry and the Pacemakers had a number-one hit with the song. At the time, the top ten hits were played before Liverpool F.C. home matches; even after "You'll Never Walk Alone" dropped out of the top ten, fans continued to sing it, and it has become closely associated with the soccer team and the city of Liverpool. A BBC program, Soul Music, ranked it alongside "Silent Night" and "Abide With Me" in terms of its emotional impact and iconic status.
Recordings
The cast album of the 1945 Broadway production was issued on 78s, and the score was significantly cut—as was the 1950 London cast recording. Theatre historian John Kenrick notes of the 1945 recording that a number of songs had to be abridged to fit the 78 format, but that there is a small part of "Soliloquy" found on no other recording, as Rodgers cut it from the score immediately after the studio recording was made.Fick, David. "The Best Carousel Recording", June 11, 2009. Retrieved on April 7, 2016
A number of songs were cut for the 1956 film, but two of the deleted numbers had been recorded and were ultimately retained on the soundtrack album. The expanded CD version of the soundtrack, issued in 2001, contains all of the singing recorded for the film, including the cut portions, and nearly all of the dance music. The recording of the 1965 Lincoln Center revival featured Raitt reprising the role of Billy. Studio recordings of Carousels songs were released in 1956 (with Robert Merrill as Billy, Patrice Munsel as Julie, and Florence Henderson as Carrie), 1962 and 1987. The 1987 version featured a mix of opera and musical stars, including Samuel Ramey, Barbara Cook and Sarah Brightman. Kenrick recommends the 1962 studio recording for its outstanding cast, including Alfred Drake, Roberta Peters, Claramae Turner, Lee Venora, and Norman Treigle.
Both the London (1993) and New York (1994) cast albums of the Hytner production contain portions of dialogue that, according to Hischak, speak to the power of Michael Hayden's portrayal of Billy. Kenrick judges the 1994 recording the best all-around performance of Carousel on disc, despite uneven singing by Hayden, due to Sally Murphy's Julie and the strong supporting cast (calling Audra McDonald the best Carrie he has heard). The Stratford Festival issued a recording in 2015.
Critical reception and legacy
The musical received almost unanimous rave reviews after its opening in 1945. According to Hischak, reviews were not as exuberant as for Oklahoma! as the critics were not taken by surprise this time. John Chapman of the Daily News termed it "one of the finest musical plays I have ever seen and I shall remember it always". The New York Timess reviewer, Lewis Nichols, stated that "Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein 2d, who can do no wrong, have continued doing no wrong in adapting Liliom into a musical play. Their Carousel is on the whole delightful." Wilella Waldorf of the New York Post, however, complained, "Carousel seemed to us a rather long evening. The Oklahoma! formula is becoming a bit monotonous and so are Miss de Mille's ballets. All right, go ahead and shoot!"Suskin, Steven. Opening Night on Broadway. Schirmer Trade Books, 1990, p. 147. . Dance Magazine gave Linn plaudits for her role as Louise, stating, "Bambi doesn't come on until twenty minutes before eleven, and for the next forty minutes, she practically holds the audience in her hand". Howard Barnes in the New York Herald Tribune also applauded the dancing: "It has waited for Miss de Mille to come through with peculiarly American dance patterns for a musical show to become as much a dance as a song show."
When the musical returned to New York in 1949, The New York Times reviewer Brooks Atkinson described Carousel as "a conspicuously superior musical play ... Carousel, which was warmly appreciated when it opened, seems like nothing less than a masterpiece now." In 1954, when Carousel was revived at City Center, Atkinson discussed the musical in his review:
Carousel has no comment to make on anything of topical importance. The theme is timeless and universal: the devotion of two people who love each other through thick and thin, complicated in this case by the wayward personality of the man, who cannot fulfill the responsibilities he has assumed. ... Billy is a bum, but Carousel recognizes the decency of his motives and admires his independence. There are no slick solutions in Carousel.
Stephen Sondheim noted the duo's ability to take the innovations of Oklahoma! and apply them to a serious setting: "Oklahoma! is about a picnic, Carousel is about life and death." Critic Eric Bentley, on the other hand, wrote that "the last scene of Carousel is an impertinence: I refuse to be lectured to by a musical comedy scriptwriter on the education of children, the nature of the good life, and the contribution of the American small town to the salvation of souls."New York Times critic Frank Rich said of the 1992 London production: "What is remarkable about Mr. Hytner's direction, aside from its unorthodox faith in the virtues of simplicity and stillness, is its ability to make a 1992 audience believe in Hammerstein's vision of redemption, which has it that a dead sinner can return to Earth to do godly good." The Hytner production in New York was hailed by many critics as a grittier Carousel, which they deemed more appropriate for the 1990s. Clive Barnes of the New York Post called it a "defining Carousel—hard-nosed, imaginative, and exciting."
Critic Michael Billington has commented that "lyrically [Carousel] comes perilously close to acceptance of the inevitability of domestic violence." BroadwayWorld.com stated in 2013 that Carousel is now "considered somewhat controversial in terms of its attitudes on domestic violence" because Julie chooses to stay with Billy despite the abuse; actress Kelli O'Hara noted that the domestic violence that Julie "chooses to deal with – is a real, existing and very complicated thing. And exploring it is an important part of healing it."
Rodgers considered Carousel his favorite of all his musicals and wrote, "it affects me deeply every time I see it performed". In 1999, Time magazine, in its "Best of the Century" list, named Carousel the Best Musical of the 20th century, writing that Rodgers and Hammerstein "set the standards for the 20th century musical, and this show features their most beautiful score and the most skillful and affecting example of their musical storytelling". Hammerstein's grandson, Oscar Andrew Hammerstein, in his book about his family, suggested that the wartime situation made Carousel's ending especially poignant to its original viewers, "Every American grieved the loss of a brother, son, father, or friend ... the audience empathized with [Billy's] all-too-human efforts to offer advice, to seek forgiveness, to complete an unfinished life, and to bid a proper good-bye from beyond the grave." Author and composer Ethan Mordden agreed with that perspective:
If Oklahoma! developed the moral argument for sending American boys overseas, Carousel offered consolation to those wives and mothers whose boys would only return in spirit. The meaning lay not in the tragedy of the present, but in the hope for a future where no one walks alone.
Awards and nominations
Original 1945 Broadway productionNote: The Tony Awards were not established until 1947, and so Carousel was not eligible to win any Tonys at its premiere. 1957 revival
1992 London revival
1994 Broadway revival
2018 Broadway revival
References
Bibliography
Block, Geoffrey. Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from Show Boat to Sondheim. New York: Oxford University Press US, 2004. .
Block, Geoffrey (ed.) The Richard Rodgers Reader. New York: Oxford University Press US, 2006. .
Bradley, Ian. You've Got to Have a Dream: The Message of the Broadway Musical. Louisville, Ky., Westminster John Knox Press, 2005. 978-0-664-22854-5.
Easton, Carol. No Intermission: The Life of Agnes DeMille. Jefferson, N.C.: Da Capo Press, 2000 (1st DaCapo Press edition). .
Fordin, Hugh. Getting to Know Him: A Biography of Oscar Hammerstein II. Jefferson, N.C.: Da Capo Press, 1995 reprint of 1986 edition. .
Hammerstein, Oscar Andrew. The Hammersteins: A Musical Theatre Family. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2010. .
Hischak, Thomas S. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. .
Hyland, William G. Richard Rodgers. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1998. .
Molnár, Ferenc. Liliom: A Legend in Seven Scenes and a Prologue. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1921.
Mordden, Ethan. "Rodgers & Hammerstein". New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1992. .
Nolan, Frederick. The Sound of Their Music: The Story of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2002. .
Rodgers, Richard. Musical Stages: An Autobiography. Jefferson, N.C. Da Capo Press, 2002 reprint of 1975 edition. .
Secrest, Meryle. Somewhere for Me: A Biography of Richard Rodgers. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2001. .
External links
Carousel at guidetomusicaltheatre.com
Carousel info page on StageAgent.com – Carousel'' plot summary and character descriptions
(1967 TV adaptation)
Category:1945 musicals
Category:Broadway musicals
Category:Musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein
Category:West End musicals
Category:Musicals based on plays
Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
Category:Maine in fiction
Category:Fiction set in 1873
Category:Fiction about the afterlife
Category:Musicals set in Maine
Category:Musicals set in the 1870s
Category:Tony Award-winning musicals | [] | [
"The production began with the Broadway opening on April 19, 1945.",
"The text does not provide information on who the producer of the production was.",
"The production was first performed at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway.",
"The original cast included John Raitt as Billy, Jan Clayton as Julie, Jean Darling as Carrie, Eric Mattson as Enoch Snow, Christine Johnson as Nettie Fowler, Murvyn Vye as Jigger, Bambi Linn as Louise, and Russell Collins as Starkeeper.",
"The text does not provide information on who wrote the production.",
"Yes, there were issues during early production. The dress rehearsal the day before the Broadway opening had gone badly which led to fears that the new work would not be well received. Another issue was with the movement of the carnival crowd in the pantomime, originally entrusted to Mamoulian, which was not working until de Mille was brought in last-minute to choreograph. Composer Rodgers had also injured his back the previous week and had to watch the opening from a stretcher, unable to fully see the stage and unable to hear the audience's applause and laughter.",
"An interesting incident during the opening of the Broadway production was that Bambi Linn, who played Louise, was so enthusiastically received by the audience during her ballet that she broke character in her next appearance to bow. Another interesting note is Rodgers, under sedation and thinking the show was a failure due to not being able to hear the audience's applause and laughter, was surprised to realize later that evening that the curtain had been met by wild applause. Rodgers' daughter Mary also spotted her friend Stephen Sondheim, both teenagers at the time, across several rows with tears in their eyes."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"No"
] |
C_1c86596840164a0da428e736517345ea_1 | Ahmad Shah Durrani | Ahmad Shah Durrani (c. 1722 - 16 October 1772) (Pashto: Hmd shh drny), also known as Ahmad Khan Abdali (Hmd khn bdly), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan. He began his career by enlisting as a young soldier in the military of the Afsharid kingdom and quickly rose to become a commander of the Abdali Regiment, a cavalry of four thousand Abdali Pashtun soldiers. After the assassination of Nader Shah Afshar in 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani was chosen as King of Afghanistan. | Early years | Durrani was born in or about 1722 to Mohammad Zaman Khan, chief of the Abdali tribe and Governor of Herat, and Zarghuna Alakozai. There has been some debate about Durrani's exact place of birth. Most believe that he was born in Herat, Afghanistan. He was born as Ahmed Khan. Abdali's father suffered "Persian captivity for many years" at Kirman before being released from prison in 1715. As a refugee, he "made his way to India" and joined his kinsmen at Multan. After he raised his family there, he was recognized as the "scion of hereditary Sadozai chiefs". It is believed that Zaman Khan returned to Afghanistan to fight the Persians and his Afghan rivals, but left one of his wives at Multan because she was "in the family way". So other sources believe that, Abdali was born at Multan in 1722, after which she returned to Afghanistan to reunite with her husband. He lost his father during his infancy. Durrani's forefathers were Sadozais but his mother was from the Alakozai tribe. In June 1729, the Abdali forces under Zulfiqar had surrendered to Nader Shah Afshar, the rising new ruler of Persia. However, they soon began a rebellion and took over Herat as well as Mashad. In July 1730, he defeated Ibrahim Khan, a military commander and brother of Nader Shah. This prompted Nader Shah to retake Mashad and also intervene in the power struggle of Harat. By July 1731, Zulfiqar returned to his capital Farah where he had been serving as the governor since 1726. A year later Nadir's brother Ibrahim Khan took control of Farah. During this time Zulfiqar and the young Durrani fled to Kandahar where they took refuge with the Ghiljis. They were later made political prisoners by Hussain Hotak, the Ghilji ruler of the Kandahar region. Nader Shah had been enlisting the Abdalis in his army since around 1729. After conquering Kandahar in 1738, Durrani and his brother Zulfiqar were freed and provided with leading careers in Nader Shah's administration. Zulfiqar was made Governor of Mazandaran while Durrani remained working as Nader Shah's personal attendant. The Ghiljis, who are originally from the territories east of the Kandahar region, were expelled from Kandahar in order to resettle the Abdalis along with some Qizilbash and other Persians. Durrani proved himself in Nader Shah's service and was promoted from a personal attendant (yasawal) to command the Abdali Regiment, a cavalry of four thousand soldiers and officers. The Abdali Regiment was part of Nader Shah's military during his invasion of the Mughal Empire in 1738. Popular history has it that the Shah could see the talent in his young commander. Later on, according to Pashtun legend, it is said that in Delhi Nader Shah summoned Durrani, and said, "Come forward Ahmad Abdali. Remember Ahmad Khan Abdali, that after me the Kingship will pass on to you. Nader Shah recruited him because of his "impressive personality and valour" also because of his "loyalty to the Persian monarch". CANNOTANSWER | [
"C_1c86596840164a0da428e736517345ea_1_q#0",
"C_1c86596840164a0da428e736517345ea_1_q#1",
"C_1c86596840164a0da428e736517345ea_1_q#2",
"C_1c86596840164a0da428e736517345ea_1_q#3",
"C_1c86596840164a0da428e736517345ea_1_q#4",
"C_1c86596840164a0da428e736517345ea_1_q#5",
"C_1c86596840164a0da428e736517345ea_1_q#6",
"C_1c86596840164a0da428e736517345ea_1_q#7"
] | [
"When was he born?",
"Where was he born?",
"Where did he attend school?",
"When did he join the military?",
"What happened after they were freed?",
"What was their position in his administration?",
"Was Nader ever promoted?",
"Was there anything else interesting in the article?"
] | [
0,
0,
1,
1,
0,
2,
1,
2
] | [
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
2,
0,
2
] | {
"answer_starts": [
[
0
],
[
130
],
[
2963
],
[
1741
],
[
1849
],
[
1959
],
[
2257
],
[
2833
]
],
"texts": [
[
"Durrani was born in or about 1722"
],
[
"There has been some debate about Durrani's exact place of birth. Most believe that he was born in Herat, Afghanistan."
],
[
"CANNOTANSWER"
],
[
"Nader Shah had been enlisting the Abdalis in his army since around 1729. After conquering Kandahar in 1738, Durrani and his brother Zulfiqar were freed"
],
[
"Durrani and his brother Zulfiqar were freed and provided with leading careers in Nader Shah's administration."
],
[
"Zulfiqar was made Governor of Mazandaran while Durrani remained working as Nader Shah's personal attendant."
],
[
"Durrani proved himself in Nader Shah's service and was promoted from a personal attendant (yasawal) to command the Abdali Regiment, a cavalry of four thousand soldiers and officers."
],
[
"Nader Shah recruited him because of his \"impressive personality and valour\" also because of his \"loyalty to the Persian monarch\"."
]
]
} | {
"answer_starts": [
0,
130,
2963,
1741,
1849,
1959,
2257,
2833
],
"texts": [
"Durrani was born in or about 1722",
"There has been some debate about Durrani's exact place of birth. Most believe that he was born in Herat, Afghanistan.",
"CANNOTANSWER",
"Nader Shah had been enlisting the Abdalis in his army since around 1729. After conquering Kandahar in 1738, Durrani and his brother Zulfiqar were freed",
"Durrani and his brother Zulfiqar were freed and provided with leading careers in Nader Shah's administration.",
"Zulfiqar was made Governor of Mazandaran while Durrani remained working as Nader Shah's personal attendant.",
"Durrani proved himself in Nader Shah's service and was promoted from a personal attendant (yasawal) to command the Abdali Regiment, a cavalry of four thousand soldiers and officers.",
"Nader Shah recruited him because of his \"impressive personality and valour\" also because of his \"loyalty to the Persian monarch\"."
]
} | Ahmad Shāh Durrānī (; ), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern Afghanistan. In July 1747, Ahmad Shah was appointed as King of the Afghans by a loya jirga in Kandahar, where he set up his capital. Primarily with the support of the Pashtun tribes, Ahmad Shah pushed east towards the Mughal and Maratha Empires of India, west towards the disintegrating Afsharid Empire of Iran, and north towards the Khanate of Bukhara of Turkestan. Within a few years, he extended his control from Khorasan in the west to North India in the east, and from the Amu Darya in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south.
Soon after accession, Ahmad Shah adopted the epithet Shāh Durr-i-Durrān, "King, Pearl of Pearls", and changed the name of his Abdali tribe to "Durrani" after himself. The Tomb of Ahmad Shah Durrani is located in the center of Kandahar, adjacent to Kirka Sharif (Shrine of the Cloak), which contains a cloak believed to have been worn by the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Afghans often refer to Ahmad Shah as Ahmad Shāh Bābā, "Ahmad Shah the Father."
Early years
Ahmad's father, Mohammad Zaman Khan, was the Governor of Herat and chief of the Pashtun Abdali tribe, while his mother, Zarghona Anaa, was daughter of Khalu Khan Alakozai and belonged to the Alakozai tribe. Ahmad was born in Herat (then Sadozai Sultanate of Herat, present-day Afghanistan), or Multan (then Mughal Empire, present-day Pakistan) in 1720–1722 around the time of his father's death, when the Abdali leadership still controlled the Herat region.
In June 1729, the Abdali forces under Zulfiqar had surrendered to Nader Shah Afshar, the rising new ruler of Persia. However, they soon began a rebellion and took over Herat as well as Mashad. In July 1730, he defeated Ibrahim Khan, a military commander and brother of Nader Shah. This prompted Nader Shah to retake Mashad and also intervene in the power struggle of Harat. By July 1731, Zulfiqar returned to his capital Farah where he had been serving as the governor since 1726. A year later Nadir's brother Ibrahim Khan took control of Farah. During this time Zulfiqar and the young Durrani fled to Kandahar where they took refuge with the Ghiljis. They were later made political prisoners by Hussain Hotak, the Ghilji ruler of the Kandahar region.
Nader Shah had been enlisting the Abdalis in his army since around 1729. After conquering Kandahar in 1738, Durrani and his brother Zulfiqar were freed and provided with leading careers in Nader Shah's administration. Zulfiqar was made Governor of Mazandaran while Durrani remained working as Nader Shah's personal attendant. The Ghiljis, who are originally from the territories east of the Kandahar region, were expelled from Kandahar in order to resettle the Abdalis along with some Qizilbash and other Persians.
Durrani proved himself in Nader Shah's service and was promoted from a personal attendant (yasāwal) to command the Abdali Regiment, a cavalry of four thousand soldiers and officers. The Abdali Regiment was part of Nader Shah's military during his invasion of the Mughal Empire in 1738.
Popular history has it that the Shah could see the talent in his young commander. Later on, according to Pashtun legend, it is said that in Delhi Nader Shah summoned Durrani, and said, "Come forward Ahmad Abdali. Remember Ahmad Khan Abdali, that after me the Kingship will pass on to you. Nader Shah recruited him because of his "impressive personality and valour" also because of his "loyalty to the Persian monarch".
Rise to power
Nader Shah's rule abruptly ended in June 1747 when he was assassinated by his own guards. The guards involved in the assassination did so secretly so as to prevent the Abdalis from coming to their King's rescue. However, Durrani was told that the Shah had been killed by one of his wives. Despite the danger of being attacked, the Abdali contingent led by Durrani rushed either to save the Shah or to confirm what happened. Upon reaching the Shah's tent, they were only to see his body and severed head. Having served him so loyally, the Abdalis wept at having failed their leader, and headed back to Kandahar. Before the retreat to Kandahar, he had "removed" the royal seal from Nader Shah's finger and the Koh-i-Noor diamond tied "around the arm of his deceased master". On their way back to Kandahar, the Abdalis had "unanimously accepted" Durrani as their new leader. Hence he "assumed the insignia of royalty" as the "sovereign ruler of Afghanistan".
One of Durrani's first acts as chief was to adopt the epithet Shāh Durr-i-Durrān, "King, Pearl of Pearls."
Forming the last Afghan empire
Although Ahmad Shah appointed his fellow Durrani (Abdali) clansmen for most senior military posts, his army was otherwise ethnically diverse with soldiers also from various other ethnic and tribal groups, including non-Durrani Pashtun tribes like the Ghilji, and non-Pashtun groups such as Qizilbash, Hazaras, Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Baloch. He began his military conquest by capturing Qalati Ghilji from its governor Ashraf Tokhi and installed his own governor in Ghazni. He then wrestled Kabul and Peshawar from Mughal-appointed governor Nasir Khan, and conquered the area up to the Indus River. On 15 July 1747, Ahmad Shah appointed Muhammad Hashim Afridi as chief of the Afridi of Peshawar. Ahmad Shah conquered Herat in 1750, Balkh and Badakhshan in 1751, and Kashmir in 1752.
He also made two campaigns into Khorasan (1750–51 and 1754–55). During the first campaign he besieged Mashhad in July 1750 but retreated after four months and on November 10 moved onto Nishapur. His forces suffered heavy casualties and were forced to retreat in early 1751. In 1754 he invaded again. In June 1754 he took Tun and on July 23 had besieged Mashhad. Mashhad fell on December 2 and although Shahrokh Shah was re-appointed as leader of Khorasan in May 1755 he was forced to cede Torshiz, Bakharz, Jam, Khaf, and Turbat-e Haidari to the Afghans. He invaded Nishapur again and after a 7-day siege the city fell on June 24, 1755, and was utterly destroyed.
Indian invasions
Early invasions
Peshawar served as a convenient point for Ahmad Shah for his military conquests in Hindustan. From 1748 to 1767, he invaded Hindustan eight times. He first crossed the Indus River in 1748, the year after his ascension – his forces sacked and absorbed Lahore. In 1749, Ahmad Shah captured the area of Punjab around Lahore. In the same year, the Mughal ruler was induced to cede Sindh and all of the Punjab including the vital trans-Indus River to him, in order to save his capital from being attacked by the forces of the Durrani Empire Having thus gained substantial territories to the east without a fight, Ahmad Shah and his forces turned westward to take possession of Herat, which was ruled by Nader Shah's grandson, Shah Rukh. The city fell to the Afghans in 1750, after almost a year of siege and bloody conflict; the Afghan forces then pushed on into present-day Iran, capturing Nishapur and Mashhad in 1751. Following the recapture of Mashhad in 1754, Ahmad Shah visited the eighth Imam's sepulchre and ordered repairs to be made. Ahmad Shah then pardoned Shah Rukh and reconstituted Khorasan, but a tributary of the Durrani Empire. This marked the westernmost border of the Afghan Empire as set by the Pul-i-Abrisham, on the Mashhad-Tehran road.
Third battle of Panipat
The Mughal power in northern India had been declining since the reign of Aurangzeb, who died in 1707. In 1751–52, the Ahamdiya treaty was signed between the Marathas and Mughals, when Balaji Bajirao was the Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. Through this treaty, the Marathas controlled large parts of India from their capital at Pune and Mughal rule was restricted only to Delhi (Mughals remained the nominal heads of Delhi). Marathas were now straining to expand their area of control towards the Northwest of India. Durrani sacked the Mughal capital and withdrew with the booty he coveted. To counter the Afghans, Peshwa Balaji Bajirao sent Raghunathrao. He succeeded in ousting Timur Shah and his court from India and brought northwest of India up to Peshawar under Maratha rule. Thus, upon his return to Kandahar in 1757, Durrani chose to return to India and confront the Maratha forces to regain northwestern part of the subcontinent.
In 1761, Durrani set out on his campaign to win back lost territories. The early skirmishes ended in victory for the Afghans against the Maratha garrisons in northwest India. By 1759, Durrani and his army had reached Lahore and were poised to confront the Marathas. By 1760, the Maratha groups had coalesced into a big enough army under the command of Sadashivrao Bhau. Once again, Panipat was the scene of a battle for control of northern India. The Third battle of Panipat was fought between Durrani's Afghan forces and the Maratha forces in January 1761, and resulted in a decisive Durrani victory.
Central Asia
The Afaqi brothers died in Badakhshan and the ruler Sultan Shah delivered their bodies to the Qing. Ahmad Shah Durrani accused Sultan Shah of having caused the Afaqi brothers to die.
Durrani dispatched troops to Kokand after rumours that the Qing dynasty planned to launch an expedition to Samarkand, but the alleged expedition never happened and Ahmad Shah subsequently withdrew his forces when his attempt at an anti-Qing alliance among Central Asian states failed. Durrani then sent envoys to Beijing to discuss the situation regarding the Afaqi Khojas.
Death and legacy
Ahmad Shah may have suffered a wound on his nose during a horse-riding accident in Kabul in 1768, or he may have developed a cancerous injury due to a flying brick striking his nose when the Harimandir Sahib was destroyed with gunpowder, which gradually worsened and spread to other parts of his face, including his left eye. Following the advice of his physicians, he would spend part of the summer in the cooler climate of the Margha plain in the Toba Achakzai range during the last few years of his life. He died of his illness on 4 June 1772 (2 Rabi' al-Awwal 1186) in Maruf, Toba Achakzai, east of Kandahar.
He was buried in the city of Kandahar adjacent to the Shrine of the Cloak, where a large mausoleum was built. It has been described in the following way:
In his tomb his epitaph is written:
Durrani's victory over the Marathas influenced the history of the subcontinent and, in particular, the policies of the East India Company in the region. His refusal to continue his campaigns deeper into India prevented a clash with the company and allowed them to continue to acquire power and influence after they established complete control over the former Mughal province of Bengal in 1793. However, fear of another Afghan invasion would influence Company policy-makers for almost half a century after the Battle of Panipat. The acknowledgment of Durrani's military accomplishments is reflected in an intelligence report made by Company officials on the Battle of Panipat, which referred to Ahmad Shah as the 'King of Kings'. This fear led in 1798 to a Company envoy being sent to the Persian court in part to instigate the Persians in their claims on Herat to forestall a possible Afghan invasion of India that might have halted Company expansion. Mountstuart Elphinstone wrote of Ahmad Shah:
His successors, beginning with his son Timur Shah and ending with Shuja Shah Durrani, proved largely incapable of governing the last Afghan empire and faced with advancing enemies on all sides. Much of the territory conquered by Ahmad Shah fell to others by the end of the 19th century. Timur Shah would consolidate the holdings of the Durrani Empire, and fight off civil war and rebellion throughout his reign, he would also lead multiple campaigns into Punjab to try and repeat his fathers success. After the death of Timur Shah, his son, Zaman Shah Durrani ascended to the throne, throughout his reign he would lose the outlying territories but also alienated some Pashtun tribes and those of other Durrani lineages. Zaman Shah would lead campaigns into Punjab, capturing Lahore, however due to internal strife, he was forced to withdraw on all attempts. Zaman Shah would later be deposed by Mahmud Shah Durrani, his brother, and the Durrani Realm would continue to disintegrate in the following years from progressive succession crises, usually between Timur Shah's sons, with Mahmud Shah Durrani, Zaman Shah Durrani, and Shah Shuja Durrani. Afghanistan would remain disunited Until Dost Mohammad Khan's ascendancy in 1826, chaos reigned in Afghanistan, which effectively ceased to exist as a single entity, disintegrating into a fragmented collection of small countries or units. Dost Mohammad throughout his reign had focused on re-uniting Afghanistan and had succeeded in doing so, with the Herat Campaign of 1862-63 in the recapture of Herat, and the eventual conquest of the Principality of Qandahar.
In Pakistan, a short-range ballistic missile Abdali-I, is named in the honour of Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Date of death
Some sources state he died on 4 June 1772 whilst others give 16 October 1772 as the date of his demise.
Durrani's poetry
Durrani wrote a collection of odes in his native Pashto. He was also the author of several poems in Persian. One of his most famous Pashto poems was Love of a Nation:
Personal life
During Nader Shah's invasion of India in 1739, Ahmad Shah also accompanied him and stayed some days in the Red Fort of Delhi. When he was standing "outside the Jali gate near Diwan-i-Am", Asaf Jah I saw him. He was "an expert in physiognomy" and predicted that Ahmad Shah was "destined to become a king". When Nader Shah learned of it, he "purportedly clipped" his ears with his dagger and made the remark "When you become a king, this will remind you of me". According to other sources, Nader Shah did not believe in it and asked him to be kind to his descendants "on the attaintment of royalty".
In popular culture
In the 1994 television series The Great Maratha, the character of Ahmad Shah Durrani is portrayed by Bob Christo.
In the 2019 Bollywood war drama Panipat film, Ahmad Shah Abdali appears as the primary antagonist who invaded Maratha Empire, and is portrayed by Sanjay Dutt.
In 'Panipat' 1988 novel written by Vishwas Patil about Third Battle of Panipat (1761) Ahamed Shah Abdali appears as a notorious invading Afgani Shah. Patil later wrote a stage play on his this novel titled Ranagan ().
See also
List of monarchs of Afghanistan
References
Notes
Bibliography
Caroe, Olaf (1958). The Pathans: 500 B.C.–A.D. 1957. Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints. Oxford University Press, 1983. .
Clements, Frank. Conflict in Afghanistan: a historical encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2003. .
Dupree, Nancy Hatch. An Historical Guide to Afghanistan. 2nd Edition. Revised and Enlarged. Afghan Air Authority, Afghan Tourist Organization, 1977.
Elphinstone, Mountstuart. 1819. An account of the kingdom of Caubul, and its dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India: Comprising a view of the Afghaun nation, and a history of the Dooraunee monarchy. Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, and J. Murry, 1819.
Griffiths, John C. (1981). Afghanistan: a history of conflict. Carlton Books, 2001. .
Habibi, Abdul Hai. 2003. "Afghanistan: An Abridged History." Fenestra Books. .
Hopkins, B. D. 2008. The Making of Modern Afghanistan. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. .
Malleson, George Bruce (1878). History of Afghanistan, from the Earliest Period to the Outbreak of the War of 1878. Elibron Classic Replica Edition. Adamant Media Corporation, 2005. .
Romano, Amy. A Historical Atlas of Afghanistan. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2003. .
Singh, Ganda (1959). Ahmad Shah Durrani, father of modern Afghanistan. Asia Publishing House, Bombay. (PDF version archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207183925/https://web.archive.org/web/20130207183925/http://www.khyber.org/books/pdf/ahmad-shah-baba.pdf 66 MB)
Vogelsang, Willem. The Afghans. Wiley-Blackwell, 2002. Oxford, UK & Massachusette, US. .
Alikuzai, Hamid Wahed: A Concise History of Afghanistan A Concise History of Afghanistan in 25 Volumes in 25 Volumes, US. 2013, Vol. 14, p. 62,
Further reading
External links
Abdali Tribe History
Third Battle of Panipat, 1761
Famous Diamonds: The Koh-I-Noor
Invasions of Ahmad Shah Abdali
The story of the Koh-i Noor
Category:1722 births
Category:1772 deaths
Category:18th-century Afghan monarchs
Category:Emirs of Afghanistan
Ahmad Shah
Category:18th-century Afghan poets
Category:Afsharid generals
Category:Pashtun people
Category:Pashto-language poets
Category:People from Herat
Category:People from Kandahar
Category:People from Multan
Category:Afghan Muslims
Category:18th-century monarchs in Asia | [
{
"text": "Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes bibliography as a word having two senses: one, a list of books for further study or of works consulted by an author (or enumerative bibliography); the other one, applicable for collectors, is \"the study of books as physical objects\" and \"the systematic description of books as objects\" (or descriptive bibliography).\n\nEtymology \nThe word was used by Greek writers in the first three centuries CE to mean the copying of books by hand. In the 12th century, the word started being used for \"the intellectual activity of composing books.\" The 17th century then saw the emergence of the modern meaning, that of description of books. Currently, the field of bibliography has expanded to include studies that consider the book as a material object. Bibliography, in its systematic pursuit of understanding the past and the present through written and printed documents, describes a way and means of extracting information from this material. Bibliographers are interested in comparing versions of texts to each other rather than in interpreting their meaning or assessing their significance.\n\nField of study \nBibliography is a specialized aspect of library science (or library and information science, LIS) and documentation science. It was established by a Belgian, named Paul Otlet (1868–1944), who was the founder of the field of documentation, as a branch of the information sciences, who wrote about \"the science of bibliography.\" However, there have recently been voices claiming that \"the bibliographical paradigm\" is obsolete, and it is not today common in LIS. A defence of the bibliographical paradigm was provided by Hjørland (2007).\n\nThe quantitative study of bibliographies is known as bibliometrics, which is today an influential subfield in LIS and is used for major collection decisions such as the cancellation of big deals, through data analysis tools like Unpaywall Journals.\n\nBranches \nCarter and Barker describe bibliography as a twofold scholarly discipline—the organized listing of books (enumerative bibliography) and the systematic description of books as physical objects (descriptive bibliography). These two distinct concepts and practices have separate rationales and serve differing purposes. Innovators and originators in the field include W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, Philip Gaskell and G. Thomas Tanselle.\n\nBowers (1949) refers to enumerative bibliography as a procedure that identifies books in “specific collections or libraries,” in a specific discipline, by an author, printer, or period of production (3). He refers to descriptive bibliography as the systematic description of a book as a material or physical artefact. Analytical bibliography, the cornerstone of descriptive bibliography, investigates the printing and all physical features of a book that yield evidence establishing a book's history and transmission (Feather 10). It is the preliminary phase of bibliographic description and provides the vocabulary, principles and techniques of analysis that descriptive bibliographers apply and on which they base their descriptive practice.\n\nDescriptive bibliographers follow specific conventions and associated classification in their description. Titles and title pages are transcribed in a quasi-facsimile style and representation. Illustration, typeface, binding, paper, and all physical elements related to identifying a book follow formulaic conventions, as Bowers established in his foundational opus, The Principles of Bibliographic Description. The thought expressed in this book expands substantively on W. W. Greg's groundbreaking theory that argued for the adoption of formal bibliographic principles (Greg 29). Fundamentally, analytical bibliography is concerned with objective, physical analysis and history of a book while descriptive bibliography employs all data that analytical bibliography furnishes and then codifies it with a view to identifying the ideal copy or form of a book that most nearly represents the printer's initial conception and intention in printing.\n\nIn addition to viewing bibliographic study as being composed of four interdependent approaches (enumerative, descriptive, analytical, and textual), Bowers notes two further subcategories of research, namely historical bibliography and aesthetic bibliography. Both historical bibliography, which involves the investigation of printing practices, tools, and related documents, and aesthetic bibliography, which examines the art of designing type and books, are often employed by analytical bibliographers.\n\nD. F. McKenzie extended previous notions of bibliography as set forth by Greg, Bowers, Gaskell and Tanselle. He describes the nature of bibliography as \"the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the processes of their transmission, including their production and reception\" (1999 12). This concept broadens the scope of bibliography to include \"non-book texts\" and an accounting for their material form and structure, as well as textual variations, technical and production processes that bring sociocultural context and effects into play. McKenzie's perspective contextualizes textual objects or artefacts with sociological and technical factors that have an effect on production, transmission and, ultimately, ideal copy (2002 14). Bibliography, generally, concerns the material conditions of books [as well as other texts] how they are designed, edited, printed, circulated, reprinted, collected.\n\nBibliographic works differ in the amount of detail depending on the purpose and can generally be divided into two categories: enumerative bibliography (also called compilative, reference or systematic), which results in an overview of publications in a particular category and analytical or critical bibliography, which studies the production of books. In earlier times, bibliography mostly focused on books. Now, both categories of bibliography cover works in other media including audio recordings, motion pictures and videos, graphic objects, databases, CD-ROMs and websites.\n\nEnumerative bibliography \n\nAn enumerative bibliography is a systematic list of books and other works such as journal articles. Bibliographies range from \"works cited\" lists at the end of books and articles, to complete and independent publications. A notable example of a complete, independent publication is Gow's A. E. Housman: A Sketch, Together with a List of His Classical Papers (1936). As separate works, they may be in bound volumes such as those shown on the right, or computerized bibliographic databases. A library catalog, while not referred to as a \"bibliography,\" is bibliographic in nature. Bibliographical works are almost always considered to be tertiary sources.\n\nEnumerative bibliographies are based on a unifying principle such as creator, subject, date, topic or other characteristic. An entry in an enumerative bibliography provides the core elements of a text resource including a title, the creator(s), publication date and place of publication. Belanger (1977) distinguishes an enumerative bibliography from other bibliographic forms such as descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography or textual bibliography in that its function is to record and list, rather than describe a source in detail or with any reference to the source's physical nature, materiality or textual transmission. The enumerative list may be comprehensive or selective. One noted example would be Tanselle's bibliography that exhaustively enumerates topics and sources related to all forms of bibliography. A more common and particular instance of an enumerative bibliography relates to specific sources used or considered in preparing a scholarly paper or academic term paper.\n\nCitation styles vary.\nAn entry for a book in a bibliography usually contains the following elements:\n creator(s)\n title\n place of publication\n publisher or printer\n date of publication\n\nAn entry for a journal or periodical article usually contains:\n creator(s)\n article title\n journal title\n volume\n pages\n date of publication\n\nA bibliography may be arranged by author, topic, or some other scheme. Annotated bibliographies give descriptions about how each source is useful to an author in constructing a paper or argument. These descriptions, usually a few sentences long, provide a summary of the source and describe its relevance. Reference management software may be used to keep track of references and generate bibliographies as required.\n\nBibliographies differ from library catalogs by including only relevant items rather than all items present in a particular library. However, the catalogs of some national libraries effectively serve as national bibliographies, as the national libraries own almost all their countries' publications.\n\nDescriptive bibliography \nFredson Bowers described and formulated a standardized practice of descriptive bibliography in his Principles of Bibliographical Description\n(1949). Scholars to this day treat Bowers' scholarly guide as authoritative. In this classic text, Bowers describes the basic function of bibliography as, \"[providing] sufficient data so that a reader may identify the book described, understand the printing, and recognize the precise contents\" (124).\n\nDescriptive bibliographies as scholarly product \nDescriptive bibliographies as a scholarly product usually include information on the following aspect of a given book as a material object:\nFormat and Collation/Pagination Statement—a conventional, symbolic formula that describes the book block in terms of sheets, folds, quires, signatures, and pages\n\nAccording to Bowers (193), the format of a book is usually abbreviated in the collation formula:\nBroadsheet: I° or b.s. or bs.\nFolio: 2° or fol.\nQuarto: 4° or 4to or Q° or Q\nOctavo: 8° or 8vo\nDuodecimo: 12° or 12mo\nSexto-decimo: 16° or 16mo\nTricesimo-secundo: 32° or 32mo\nSexagesimo-quarto: 64° or 64mo\nThe collation, which follows the format, is the statement of the order and size of the gatherings.\nFor example, a quarto that consists of the signed gatherings:\n2 leaves signed A, 4 leaves signed B, 4 leaves signed C, and 2 leaves signed D\nwould be represented in the collation formula:\n4°: A2B-C4D2\nBinding—a description of the binding techniques (generally for books printed after 1800)\nTitle Page Transcription—a transcription of the title page, including rule lines and ornaments\nContents—a listing of the contents (by section) in the book\nPaper—a description of the physical properties of the paper, including production process, an account of chain-line measurements, and a description of watermarks (if present)\nIllustrations—a description of the illustrations found in the book, including printing process (e.g. woodblock, intaglio, etc.), measurements, and locations in the text\nPresswork—miscellaneous details gleaned from the text about its production\nCopies Examined—an enumeration of the copies examined, including those copies' location (i.e. belonging to which library or collector)\n\nAnalytical bibliography \nThis branch of the bibliographic discipline examines the material features of a textual artefact—such as type, ink, paper, imposition, format, impressions and states of a book—to essentially recreate the conditions of its production. Analytical bibliography often uses collateral evidence—such as general printing practices, trends in format, responses and non-responses to design, etc.—to scrutinize the historical conventions and influences underlying the physical appearance of a text. The bibliographer utilizes knowledge gained from the investigation of physical evidence in the form of a descriptive bibliography or textual bibliography. Descriptive bibliography is the close examination and cataloging of a text as a physical object, recording its size, format, binding, and so on, while textual bibliography (or textual criticism) identifies variations—and the aetiology of variations—in a text with a view to determining \"the establishment of the most correct form of [a] text\" (Bowers 498[1]).\n\nBibliographers \n\nA bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. A person who limits such efforts to a specific field or discipline is a subject bibliographer.\"\n\nA bibliographer, in the technical meaning of the word, is anyone who writes about books. But the accepted meaning since at least the 18th century is a person who attempts a comprehensive account—sometimes just a list, sometimes a fuller reckoning—of the books written on a particular subject. In the present, bibliography is no longer a career, generally speaking; bibliographies tend to be written on highly specific subjects and by specialists in the field.\n\nThe term bibliographer is sometimes—in particular subject bibliographer—today used about certain roles performed in libraries and bibliographic databases.\n\nOne of the first bibliographers was Conrad Gessner who sought to list all books printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in Bibliotheca Universalis (1545).\n\nNon-book material \nSystematic lists of media other than books can be referred to with terms formed analogously to bibliography:\n Discography—recorded music\n Filmography—films\n Webography (or webliography)—websites\n Arachniography, a term coined by NASA research historian Andrew J. Butrica, which means a reference list of URLs about a particular subject. It is equivalent to a bibliography in a book. The name derives from arachne in reference to a spider and its web.\n\nSee also \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (in Wikipedia)\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n Blum, Rudolf. (1980) Bibliographia. An Inquiry in Its Definition and Designations, Dawson, American Library Association.\n Bowers, Fredson. (1995) Principles of Bibliographical Description, Oak Knoll Press.\n Duncan, Paul Shaner. (1973) How to Catalog a Rare Book, 2nd ed., rev., American Library Association.\n \n Gaskell, Philip. (2000) A New Introduction to Bibliography, Oak Knoll Press.\n McKerrow, R. B. (1927) An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford: Clarendon Press\n Schneider, Georg. (1934) Theory and History of Bibliography, New York: Scarecrow Press.\n National Library of Canada, Committee on Bibliography and Information Services for the Social Sciences and Humanities, Guidelines for the Compilation of a Bibliography (National Library of Canada, 1987). N.B.: This is a brief guide to accurately practical bibliography, not a study concerning more precise and systematic bibliography.\n \nRobinson, A. M. Lewin (1966) Systematic Bibliography; rev. ed. London: Clive Bingley\n\nExternal links \n\n Oxford Bibliographies Online, in-depth annotated bibliographies by scholars in selected fields\n Introduction to Bibliography, a comprehensive syllabus by G. Thomas Tanselle\n The Bibliographical Society of America, a resource for information about current work in the field of bibliography\n Studies in Bibliography, the journal of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia\n A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology, (University of Zaragoza) includes thousands of listings on literary, philological and other subjects\n\n \nCategory:Book design\nCategory:Book terminology\nCategory:Textual scholarship",
"title": "Bibliography"
},
{
"text": "Ahmed Shah or Ahmad Shah is the name of:\n\nKings\nShamsuddin Ahmad Shah (r. 1433–1435), Sultan of Bengal\nAhmad Shah Durrani (r. 1722–1772), founder of the Durrani dynasty and also known as Ahmad Shah Abdali\nAhmad Shah Bahadur (r. 1748–1775), a Mughal emperor of northern India\nAhmad Shah Qajar (r. 1898–1930), last ruler of Iran's Qajar dynasty\nAhmad Shah (Sultan of Malacca)\n\nRulers of Pahang\nAhmad Shah I of Pahang (r. 1475–1495)\nAhmad Shah II of Pahang (r. 1590–1592)\nAhmad Shah of Pahang (r. 1974–2019), 5th Sultan of modern Pahang and one of the heads-of-state of Malaysia\n\nRulers of Gujarat Sultanate during the rule of Muzaffarid dynasty were named Ahmad Shah\nAhmad Shah I (1411-1442) who founded Ahmedabad, India\nAhmad Shah II (1451-1458)\nAhmad Shah III (1554-1567)\n\nOther individuals\nAhmad Shah (Taliban) (nom de guerre Mohammad Ismail, died 2008), Taliban leader in northeastern Afghanistan; the focus of Operation Red Wings\nAhmad Shah Khan, claimant to the abolished throne of Afghanistan\nAhmad Shah Massoud (1953–2001), leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance\nAhmed Shah (Afghan cricketer) born 1983, Afghan cricketer\nAhmed Shah (Indian cricketer) born 1995, Indian cricketer\n\nSee also\n Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I (reigned 1480–1509, died 1510), Nizam of Ahmadnagar",
"title": "Ahmad Shah"
}
] | [
"Durrani was born in or about 1722.",
"There is some debate about Durrani's exact place of birth. Most sources believe he was born in Herat, Afghanistan, while others believe he was born in Multan.",
"The text does not provide information on where Durrani attended school.",
"The text does not provide a specific date for when Durrani joined the military. However, it mentions that Nader Shah had been enlisting the Abdalis, including Durrani, in his army since around 1729.",
"After Durrani and his brother Zulfiqar were freed, they were provided with leading careers in Nader Shah's administration. Zulfiqar was made Governor of Mazandaran while Durrani worked as Nader Shah's personal attendant. The Ghiljis were expelled from Kandahar to resettle the Abdalis along with some Qizilbash and other Persians. Durrani was then promoted from a personal attendant to command the Abdali Regiment, a cavalry of four thousand soldiers and officers, which was part of Nader Shah's military during his invasion of the Mughal Empire in 1738.",
"In Nader Shah's administration, Zulfiqar was made Governor of Mazandaran while Durrani was his personal attendant. Later, Durrani was promoted to command the Abdali Regiment.",
"The text does not provide information on Nader Shah being promoted.",
"Yes, there are several interesting points in the article. For instance, there's a detail about a popular legend which says that Nader Shah had once summoned Durrani and told him, \"Remember Ahmad Khan Abdali, that after me the Kingship will pass on to you.\" It is also mentioned that Durrani's father was held captive for many years in a Persian prison and that Durrani himself was held as a political prisoner later in his life. It's interesting as well how Durrani demonstrated his talent and loyalty in Nader Shah's service and rose through the military ranks to command a cavalry of four thousand soldiers and officers."
] | [
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"Yes",
"no",
"No"
] |