Rise Against is an American punk rock band formed in 1999 in Chicago, Illinois. It includes as members Tim McIlrath on vocals & guitar, Joe Principe on bass guitar, Brandon Barnes on drums, and Zach Blair on guitar. Rise Against released it’s debut album, The Unraveling, in April of 2001. It is the only Rise Against studio album where frontman Tim McIlrath does only lead vocals. Revolutions per Minute, their second album, was released in 2004. It features the singles "Heaven Knows" and "Like the Angel" as well as a cover of Journey’s single, "Any Way You Want It". Later that year they released their third album, Siren Song of the Counter Culture. The album sold very well, mainly due to the success of its single, "Swing Life Away", which reached #12 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks, making it the band’s highest-ranking single at the time. Rise Against has since released two more albums, The Sufferer & The Witness and Appeal to Reason. Both albums peaked at number ten and nuber three respectively. Appeal to Reason produced the singles, "Re-Education (Through Labor)", "Audience of One", and "Hero of War". Rise Against will embark on a North American tour with fellow punk rock bands Rancid, Billy Talent, and Riverboat Gamblers in June and July 2009.
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Lenny Kravitz was born on May 26, 1964 in New York City, New York. He is the son of Roxie Roker, an actress known for her character Helen Willis in the 1970s hit television sitcom The Jeffersons, and Sy Kravitz, an NBC television news producer. In 1985, Kravitz’s parents divorced, which had a profound impact on him. His relationship with his father became extremely strained. Kravitz focused on his music to help him get through this period. That year, Kravitz met actress Lisa Bonet backstage at a New Edition concert. Bonet worked on The Cosby Show, the number one rated show on television. They were close friends for two years before falling in love. Kravitz moved back to New York City where The Cosby Show was produced in 1987, moving in with now girlfriend Bonet. Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet eloped on November 16, 1987, her 20th birthday, in a Las Vegas ceremony. They had a daughter, Zoe Isabella Kravitz, born on December 1, 1988. Lenny Kravitz and Bonet divorced in 1993. Lenny Kravitz has released eight studio albums and 49 singles during his career. As of present, Kravitz has earned three gold albums, two platinum albums, two double platinum albums, and one triple platinum album.
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Joss Stone is the stage name of Jocelyn Eve Stoker. She was born on April 11, 1987 in Dover, Kent, and spent her teenage years in Ashill, a small village in Devon. She is the third of four children born to Richard and Wendy Stoker. In 2001, at the age of fourteen, Stone auditioned for the BBC Television talent show Star for a Night in London singing Franklin’s 1968 Goffin-King hit "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and Whitney Houston’s 1998 "It’s Not Right but It’s Okay". After passing her audition, she sang Donna Summer’s 1979 "On the Radio" for the broadcast, and eventually won the contest. Her debut album, The Soul Sessions was released on November 24, 2003. As the highest debut of the week, The Soul Sessions entered the UK Albums Chart at number forty-seven the week of January 17, 2004, and reached its peak position of number four three weeks later. It spent twelve non-consecutive weeks in the top ten and seventy weeks altogether in the top seventy-five, including three re-entries in 2005. In 2004, Joss Stone released her second studio album, Mind, Body & Soul. In 2007, she released her third studio album Introducing Joss Stone. While not as commercially successful as Stone’s previous albums in her native UK, Introducing Joss Stone debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 selling 118,000 units in its opening week.
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Lisa Marie Presley was born in Memphis, Tennessee, exactly nine months after her parents’ May 1, 1967, wedding. Until her parents’ divorce, she lived at Graceland, Elvis Presley’s Memphis estate. In her early twenties, she was managed by her father’s friend Jerry Schilling and recorded a demo in 1992. When Schilling told her he had negotiated a recording contract for her, she rejected it. In 1997, she recorded a duet of the song "Don’t Cry Daddy" with her father. It was never released for marketing, but the music video was shown at the 20th Anniversary Elvis concert in Memphis. In 1998, she signed a deal with Capitol Records. Her debut album was originally scheduled for release in 2000, though it took longer than expected for Lisa Marie Presley to write every song on the album. On April 8, 2003, Lisa Marie Presley released her debut album, To Whom It May Concern. It debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 albums chart and was certified gold in June 2003. She then released her sophomore album, Now What, on April 5, 2005. It debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was certified gold in November 2005. In August 2007, the single In the Ghetto was released. Elvis Presley originally released the single in 1969. In the new version, Lisa Marie "duets" with her father. The video that was simultaneously released with the single reached number one on the iTunes sales and number sixteen on Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 singles chart.
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Flyleaf is an alternative rock band that was formed in Temple, Texas in 2000. It consist of Lacey Mosley, Sameer Bhattacharya, Jared Hartmann, Pat Seals and James Culpepper. All five members of the band are of the Christian faith but they don’t necessarily regard themselves as a Christian rock band. In 2004, Flyleaf played a showcase for RCA Records in New York City in hopes of getting signed. RCA passed on the band, but the president of Octone Records was very interested in the band. They were signed after the showcase, and on January 7, 2004, Octone Record’s website announced their arrival to the label. In March 2004, Flyleaf traveled to Seattle, Washington to record an EP with Rick Parashar. Afterwards, they toured with Breaking Benjamin, Staind and 3 Doors Down to promote their self-titled EP. On October 4, 2005 they released their self titled debut, Flyleaf. It debuted at number eighty-eight on the Billboard 200. It has since sold over a million units. In 2007 they released the EP "Much Like Falling". They are currently working on their next album due to be released in August of 2009. It is tentatively titled Memento Mori.
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The Ying Yang Twins are an Atlanta-based American crunk rap duo consisting of Kaine and D-Roc. The group was formed in 1998 in Atlanta, Georgia. Ying Yang Twins debuted in 2000 with the single "Whistle While You Twurk", which was played on urban and pop radio stations and peaked at #16 on the US R&B/Hip-Hop chart. They grew even more famous when they toured with Juz tha King, Kat Nu and Demo Dil on the tour called King Me. Their full-length debut album, Thug Walkin’, came out later that year. In 2002, they released their sophomore album, Alley: The Return of the Ying Yang Twins. The same year, the group appeared on the album Kings of Crunk by Lil Jon on the single "Get Low". The song was a huge club and radio hit, and the duo subsequently signed a deal with TVT Records. They then released their third album, Me & My Brother. This album features their biggest hit, the Lil Jon-assisted "Salt Shaker", which reached #9 on the Hot 100. The Ying Yang Twins have since produced two more studio album which include Chemically Imbalanced in 2006 and Ying Yang Forever in 2009.
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Rascal Flatts is an country rock band founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1999. It features three core members,
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Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1990. Since its inception, the band’s line-up has included Eddie Vedder on lead vocals and guitar, Jeff Ament on bass guitar, Stone Gossard on rhythm guitar, and Mike McCready on lead guitar. The band’s current drummer is Matt Cameron, formerly of Soundgarden, who has been with the band since 1998. On August 27, 1991, Pearl Jam released it’s debut album, Ten through Epic records. By late 1992 it had reached number two on the Billboard 200 chart. The album produced three hit singles: "Alive", "Even Flow", and "Jeremy" and has been certified platinum thirteen times over. While Pearl Jam received four awards at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards for its video for "Jeremy", including Video of the Year and Best Group Video, the band refused to make a video for "Black" in spite of pressure by the label. They headed back to the studio and worked on their latest album. Released on October 19, 1993, Pearl Jam’s second album, Vs., sold a record 950,378 copies in its first week of release and outperformed all other entries in the Billboard top ten that week combined. Pearl Jam has since gone on to release seven more studio albums.
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The Veronicas was formed in 2005, in Brisbane, by twin sisters Jessica and Lisa Origliasso. In 2004, Lisa Origliasso and Jessica Origliasso were introduced to the Music Director of The Bell Hughes Music Group, Hayden Bell. After producing some demo recordings with the twins, Bell invited them to sign a publishing agreement with Excalibur Productions (a subsidiary of BHMG). To further develop their song writing skills, Bell connected them with internationally acclaimed songwriters and producers including Clif Magness, Billy Steinberg and Max Martin. Meetings were then arranged with Warner Bros. Records in the USA. Seymour Stein and senior executives recognized that Bell had indeed discovered and developed a musical talent, signing them quickly to a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records/Sire America. In 2005, The Veronicas released their debut album entitled "The Secret Life of… ". It reached #2 in Australia and also reached #5 in New Zealand and #3 in the Billboard Top Heatseekers. It has sold around 50,000 copies in the USA. The Veronicas then released their second album, Hook Me Up, in 2007. The singles released from the album were "Hook Me Up", "Untouched", "This Love", "Take Me on the Floor" and "Popular". The album nominated The Veronicas for three awards at the 2008 ARIA Awards including; "Highest Selling Album", "Highest Selling Single" and "Best Pop Release".
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Madonna Louise Ciccone, better known by her stage name Madonna is a world acclaimed singer,dancer, actress and entrepreneur. She was born on August 16,1958 in Bay City, Michigan. In 1977 she moved to New York and worked at various minumum wage jobs. Then in 1982, Sire Records signed her to a singles deal. The first single released was "Everybody". Though it failed to break into any music charts it did open the door for her 1983 debut album entitled Madonna. That album spawned several singles such as "Lucky Star" and "Borderline". Worldwide it has sold over eight million copies. Her sophomore album was Like A Virgin and it was released in 1984.It became a smash hit selling over twenty one million copies worldwide. During her career Madonna has released 11 studio albums with combined worldwide sales of two hundred million units.She has also starred in over twenty-two films, though most of them were comercial failures. And she has also written several books including the book Sex, which has sold over 1.4 million copies in it’s first six months. Madonna currently has an estimated worth of almost half a billion dollars.
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