Art And Literature » Producers

Biography of Ashanti

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:14:12 +0000

Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas (born October 13, 1980) is an American recording artist, record producer, actress, dancer and model who rose to fame in the early 2000s. Ashanti is most famous for her eponymous Grammy Award-winning debut album Ashanti which featured the hit song “Foolish”, and sold over 503,000 copies in its first week of release in the U.S. in April 2002. The album set a Soundscan record as the biggest opening week sales for a new female artist, outselling debuts by Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill. In the same week, she became the first female performer to simultaneously hold the top two places on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with “Foolish”, and “What’s Luv” (with Fat Joe). Ashanti broke records again by having three Top Ten songs Foolish, What’s Luv, and Always on Time, with Ja Rule, on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the same week, being the first female to accomplish this feat and being second only to The Beatles. As of 2007, She has sold more than 15 million records worldwide. Ashanti ended the decade (2000-09) as the third top new R&B artist behind Alicia Keys and Beyonce Knowles.

Ashanti has sung background vocals for Jennifer Lopez on “I’m Real (Murder Remix)” and wrote and sang background on the song “Ain’t It Funny” (Murder Remix) sung by Jennifer Lopez, both reaching number one on Billboard Hot 100 , which was also in the top 10 charts at the same time as “Foolish”, “Always on Time” (with Ja Rule), and “What’s Luv” (with Fat Joe). Later that year, she was acclaimed as the “Princess Of Hip-Hop & R&B” by her label and capped off her successful debut by winning eight Billboard awards and two American Music Awards. Within 7 yrs of Ashanti’s career, she has scored 15 top 40 hits on the Hot 100. Ashanti has endorsed numerous products including Gap, Herbal Essences and Mudd Jeans.

Ashanti cites Mary J. Blige, Ella Fitzgerald, Yolanda Adams, the Clark Sisters, and Blue Magic as her musical influences. Praised as a gifted songwriter by her peers and critics alike, Ashanti has written/co-written the bulk of all her music. She is currently working on her own publishing company entitled Written Entertainment. She released her fourth studio album entitled The Declaration on June 3, 2008 and is currently in the studio working on her fifth. She also performed the charity tune “Just Stand Up” alongside 14 other female singers for the “Stand Up to Cancer” live television special which helped raise $100 million dollars for cancer research.

Source: Wikipedia

Biography of Lauryn Hill

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:50:05 +0000

Lauryn Noel Hill was born on May 25, 1975. She is an American recording artist, musician, producer and actress.

She began singing at an early age, and was soon snagging minor roles on television in “As the World Turns” and in film “Sister Act II: Back in the Habit”.

Early in her career, she established her reputation in the hip-hop world as the lone female member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”. The recording earned Hill five Grammy Awards including Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Album; the most ever for a woman. Shortly after, she launched a highly praised national tour with Atlanta rappers Outkast.

Following the success of her debut album, Hill largely dropped out of public view, in part due to her displeasure with fame and the music industry. Hill also faced a lawsuit from two musicians who claim they were denied full credit for their work on the album.

After a four-year hiatus, she released MTV Unplugged No. 2.0, a live recording of “deeply personal songs.” The live recording was performed with an acoustic guitar played by Hill. Hill also participated in a short-lived Fugees reunion during the mid-2000s.

Hill has written and produced hit songs for Aretha Franklin and CeCe Winans. She has formed her own film production company and says she’s interested in creating black science-fiction films. She is also the founder of The Refugee Camp Youth Project which focuses on improving the quality of life for inner-city children. She currently lives in her hometown, South Orange, New Jersey with her husband Rohan Marley (Bob Marley’s son), their two children, Zion and Selah, and her parents.

Biography of Alanis Morissette

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:54:27 +0000

Alanis Nadine Morissette was born on June 1, 1974 in Ottawa, Canada. She is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She began playing piano and writing songs during her childhood years and also joined the cast of “You Can’t Do That” on Television, a children’s television program. Morissette recorded an independent single, “Fate Stay with Me,” which was released when she was only ten years old.

She has won 12 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards. Morissette began her career in Canada. She as a teenager recorded two dance-pop albums “Alanis” and “Now Is the Time”, under MCA Records. Her debut album was the rock-influenced “Jagged Little Pill”, which remains the best-selling debut album by a female artist in the U.S., and the highest selling debut album worldwide, selling 30 million units worldwide.

In February 2005, Morissette became a citizen of the United States while maintaining her Canadian citizenship.

Her much-anticipated follow-up, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, was released in the autumn of 1998, setting a record for the highest first-week sales by a female artist.
Morissette has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide.

She is not done yet and producing more material for the entertainment of the music lovers. In 2008, her seventh studio effort and fifth international release, “Flavors of Entanglement” attracted much adoration.

Biography of Aaliyah Haughton

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:26:27 +0000

Aaliyah Dana Haughton (January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001), who performed under the mononym Aaliyah was an American recording artist, actress and model. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Detroit, Michigan. At an early age, she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. At age 12, Aaliyah was signed to Jive Records and Blackground Records by her uncle, Barry Hankerson. He introduced her to R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number. The album sold two million copies in the United States and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After facing allegations of an illegal marriage with Kelly, Aaliyah ended her contract with Jive and signed to Atlantic Records. Aaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her second album, One in a Million; it sold two million copies in the United States and over eight million copies worldwide. In 2000, Aaliyah appeared in her first major film, Romeo Must Die. She contributed to the film’s soundtrack, which spawned the single “Try Again”. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 solely on airplay, making Aaliyah the first artist in Billboard history to achieve this feat. “Try Again” earned Aaliyah a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist. After filming Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah filmed her part in Queen of the Damned. She released her third and final album, Aaliyah, in 2001. On August 25, 2001, Aaliyah and eight others were killed in an airplane crash in The Bahamas after filming the music video for the single “Rock the Boat”. The pilot, Luis Morales III, was unlicensed at the time of the accident and had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his system. Aaliyah’s family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Blackhawk International Airways, which was settled out of court. Since then, Aaliyah has achieved commercial success with several posthumous releases. Selling over 24 million records worldwide, she has been credited for helping redefine R&B and hip hop and has been named the “Queen of Urban Pop”.

Source: Wikipedia

Biography of Mariah Carey

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:16:28 +0000

Mariah Carey on born March 27, 1970 in Long Island, New York, America. She is a singer, songwriter, record producer, and an actress. In June of 1990, Mariah made her debut with “Mariah Carey” which entered at #73, but on August 4, 1990, it reached #1. Following her marriage to Mottola in 1993, a series of hit records established her position as Columbia’s highest-selling act. According to Billboard magazine, she was the most successful artist of the 1990s in the United States.She separated from Mottola in 1997.

Carey introduced elements of hip hop into her album work, to much initial success, but her popularity was in decline when she left Columbia in 2001. She signed to Virgin Records but was paid to leave the label the following year after a highly publicized physical and emotional breakdown, as well as the poor reception given to Glitter, her film and soundtrack project. In 2002, Carey signed with Island Records, and after a relatively unsuccessful period, she returned to the top of pop music in 2005.

At the 2000 World Music Awards, Carey was named the best-selling female pop artist of the millennium . According to the Recording Industry Association of America, she is the third best-selling female artist and sixteenth overall recording artist with shipments of over 62.5 million albums in the US.[8] She is also ranked as the best-selling female artist of the U.S. Nielsen SoundScan era (third best-selling artist overall). On September 9, 2009, in an official press release for her 12th studio album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, Island Records stated that Carey has sold more than 175 million albums, singles and videos worldwide.

Carey has the most number-one singles for a solo artist in the United States (eighteen; second artist overall behind The Beatles). In addition to her commercial accomplishments, Carey has earned five Grammy Awards, and is well-known for her vocal range, power, melismatic style, and use of the whistle register.

Partial Source: Wikipedia