Akon

Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973),^[1] better known as Akon (pronounced /ˈeɪkɒn/), is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, businessman, record producer and actor.^[3] He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of "Locked Up", the first single from his debut album Trouble.
He has since founded two successful record labels, Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution. His second album, Konvicted received three nominations for the Grammy Awards in two categories, Best Contemporary R&B Album for Konvicted album and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Smack That" and "I Wanna Love You".
He is the first solo artist to hold both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice.^[4] Akon has had four songs certified as 3× platinum, three songs certified as 2× platinum, more than ten songs certified as 1× platinum and more than ten songs certified as gold in digital sales. Akon has sung songs in other languages including Tamil, Hindi, and Spanish. He was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the #1 selling artist for master ringtones in the world.
Akon often provides vocals as a featured artist and is currently credited with over 300 guest appearances and more than 35 Billboard Hot 100 songs. He has worked with numerous performers such as Michael Jackson, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Whitney Houston, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and Gwen Stefani. He has had five Grammy Awards nominations and has produced songs for artists such as Lady Gaga, Colby O'Donis, Kardinal Offishall, Leona Lewis, and T-Pain.
Forbes ranked Akon 80th (Power Rank) in Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2010^[5] and 5th in 40 Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa list, in 2011.^[6] Billboard ranked Akon No. 6 on the list of Top Digital Songs Artists of the decade.



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Garth Brooks

Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962), known professionally as Garth Brooks, is an American country pop singer and songwriter.^[1] His integration of pop and rock and roll elements into the country genre through multi-platinum recordings and record-breaking live performances earned him immense worldwide popularity. This progressive approach has allowed Brooks to dominate the country single and album charts, while also crossing over into the mainstream pop arena.^[2]
According to the RIAA, he is the best-selling solo albums artist in the United States with 136 million domestic units sold, ahead of Elvis Presley, and is second only to The Beatles in total album sales overall.^[3] He is also one of the world's best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 160 million records.^[4]
Brooks has released six albums that achieved diamond status in the United States, those being: Garth Brooks (10× platinum), No Fences (17× platinum), Ropin' the Wind (14× platinum), The Hits (10× platinum), Sevens (10× platinum) and Double Live (21× platinum).^[5] Since 1989, Brooks has released 20 records in all, which include: 10 studio albums, 1 live album, 3 compilation albums, 3 Christmas albums and 3 box sets, along with 77 singles. He won several awards in his career, including 2 Grammy Awards, 17 American Music Awards (including the "Artist of the '90s") and the RIAA Award for best-selling solo albums artist of the century in the United States.
Troubled by conflicts between career and family, Brooks retired from recording and performing from 2001 until 2009.^[2] During this time, he sold millions of albums through an exclusive distribution deal with Walmart and sporadically released new singles.^[6][7] In 2005, Brooks started a partial comeback, giving select performances and releasing two compilation albums.
In 2009, he began Garth at Wynn, a periodic weekend residency show at Las Vegas' Encore Theatre from December 2009 to January 2014. Following the conclusion of the residency, Brooks announced his signing with Sony Music Nashville in July 2014.^[8] In September 2014, he began his comeback tour, The Garth Brooks World Tour, with wife and musician Trisha Yearwood. His most recent album, Man Against Machine, was released on November 11, 2014, exclusively to his online music store, GhostTunes.
Brooks was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on October 21, 2012.

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Trace Adkins

Tracy Darrell Adkins, known as Trace Adkins (born January 13, 1962), is an American country music singer and actor. He made his debut in 1995 with the album Dreamin' Out Loud, released on Capitol Records Nashville. Since then, Adkins has released ten more studio albums and two Greatest Hits compilations. In addition, he has charted more than 20 singles on the Billboard country music charts, including the Number One hits "(This Ain't) No Thinkin' Thing", "Ladies Love Country Boys", and "You're Gonna Miss This", which peaked in 1997, 2007, and 2008, respectively. "I Left Something Turned on at Home" went to No. 1 on Canada's country chart. All but one of his studio albums have received gold or platinum certification in the United States; his highest-selling to date is 2005's Songs About Me, which has been certified 2× Multi-Platinum for shipping two million copies. Adkins is widely known for his distinctive bass-baritone singing voice.

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Black Widow (band)

Black Widow were a rock band that formed in Leicester, England in September 1969. The band were mostly known for its early use of satanic and occult imagery in their music and stage act.

History

The band were often compared with the better-known Heavy metal band Black Sabbath, but the bands were only superficially similar.The band originally formed in 1966 as Pesky Gee! with Kay Garrett (lead vocals), Kip Trevor (lead vocals, guitar and harmonica), Chris Dredge (guitar), Bob Bond (bass guitar), Clive Box (drums and piano), Gerry "Zoot" Taylor (organ), Clive Jones (aka Clive Beer-Jones; saxophone and flute).^[1] Jim Gannon (guitar, vocals and vibes), replaced Dredge in Spring 1969. The band split in September 1969.

                          
                                   From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and author,^[2] who was widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century and one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide.^[3][4] Although primarily remembered as a country music icon, his genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal won Cash the rare honor of multiple inductions in the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame.
Cash was known for his deep, calm bass-baritone voice,^[a][6] the distinctive sound of his Tennessee Three backing band, a rebelliousness^[7][8] coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor,^[5] free prison concerts,^[9][10] and a trademark look, which earned him the nickname "The Man in Black".^[b] He traditionally began his concerts with the simple "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash"^[c], followed by his signature "Folsom Prison Blues".
Much of Cash's music echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption, especially in the later stages of his career.^[5][13] His best-known songs included "I Walk the Line", "Folsom Prison Blues", "Ring of Fire", "Get Rhythm" and "Man in Black". He also recorded humorous numbers like "One Piece at a Time" and "A Boy Named Sue"; a duet with his future wife, June Carter, called "Jackson" (followed by many further duets after their marriage); and railroad songs including "Hey, Porter", "Orange Blossom Special" and "Rock Island Line".^[14] During the last stage of his career, Cash covered songs by several late 20th century rock artists, most notably "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails.


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Jimmy Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music".^[1]
Born in Seattle, Washington, Hendrix began playing guitar at the age of 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the US Army and trained as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division; he was granted an honorable discharge the following year. Soon afterward, he moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, and began playing gigs on the chitlin' circuit, earning a place in the Isley Brothers' backing band and later with Little Richard, with whom he continued to work through mid-1965. He then played with Curtis Knight and the Squires before moving to England in late 1966 after being discovered by Linda Keith, who in turn interested bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals in becoming his first manager. Within months, Hendrix had earned three UK top ten hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary". He achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and in 1968 his third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, reached number one in the US; it was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his first and only number one album. The world's highest-paid performer, he headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 before his accidental death from barbiturate-related asphyxia on September 18, 1970, at the age of 27.

James Brown

James Joseph Brown^[1] (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer and bandleader. The founding father of funk music and a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance, he is often referred to as the "Godfather of Soul".^[2] In a career that spanned six decades, he influenced the development of several music genres.^[3]
Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He joined an R&B vocal group, the Avons (which later evolved into the Flames), in which he was the lead singer.^[4][5] First coming to national public attention in the late 1950s as a member of the singing group the Famous Flames with the hit ballads "Please, Please, Please" and "Try Me", Brown built a reputation as a tireless live performer with the Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes known as the James Brown Band or the James Brown Orchestra. His success peaked in the 1960s with the live album Live at the Apollo and hit singles such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "It's a Man's Man's Man's World". During the late 1960s he moved from a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly "Africanized" approach to music-making that influenced the development of funk music.^[6] By the early 1970s, Brown had fully established the funk sound after the formation of the J.B.s with records such as "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" and "The Payback". He also became noted for songs of social commentary, including the 1968 hit "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud". Brown continued to perform and record until his death from congestive heart failure in 2006.