The Dream
Terius Youngdell Nash (born December 22, 1978), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American R&B and pop singer-songwriter and record producer. He was born in Rockingham, North Carolina, and raised by his mother Reva Nash until her death at age 35. The-Dream moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he was raised by his grandfather.
The-Dream met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001, who helped him sign a publishing deal. He spent two years working on Nivea’s second album Complicated, and continued to write and produce with Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Laney’s brother. Together, The-Dream and Tricky produced Rihanna‘s 2007 smash hit “Umbrella“, which boosted The-Dream’s music career. He signed a deal with Def Jam Records in 2007, and released his debut studio album Love Hate later that year. In March 2009, The-Dream released his sophomore album Love vs. Money, and is currently working on his third album titled Love King, which is targeted for a 2010 release.
The-Dream married now ex-wife Nivea in 2004, and had three children together. However, he filed for divorce in December 2007 and has since married singer Christina Milian. As of July 2009 The-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album, however he will still be producing, writing, and featuring for other artists. He later retracted this statement, stating that he is already working on a fourth album.
Background
The-Dream met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001; Stewart helped him get a publishing deal after writing “Everything” from B2K‘s album Pandemonium!.[1] Under the pen name “The-Dream”, he began writing lyrics for many popular artists. He spent two years working on Nivea’s second album Complicated, which he executive produced, and continued to write and produce with Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Laney’s brother, which led to Rihanna‘s 2007 smash hit “Umbrella“. The success of “Umbrella” boosted Dream’s music career, and in 2007, he signed a deal with Def Jam Records.[2]
Usher’s New “Raymond v. Raymond” Album !!!
R&B crooner Usher is on his way to the top of the Billboard charts! His newly released album Raymond v. Raymond is poised for a strong debut on next week’s Billboard 200 albums chart, with early sales predictions coming in saying that the album could sell about 330k – 350k copies, putting it in the No. 1 position in its opening week.
But despite this predicted success, we are getting word that his label LaFace isn’t too happy with these projections and actually expected better numbers. We personally don’t understand how they expected any better. While Usher has several singles playing on the radio stations right now, none of them have really been huge hits compared to some of his singles released for previous albums.
Overall, it looks like 2010 may likely be a good year for Mr. Raymond so congratz to him!
Chris Brown
Christopher Maurice “Chris” Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American recording artist and actor.[1] He made his recording debut in late 2005 with the self-titled album Chris Brown at the age of 16. The album featured the hit single “Run It!“, which topped the Billboard Hot 100, making Brown the first male artist since Montell Jordan to have his debut single top the chart in 1995.[2] The album has sold over two million copies in the United States and was certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[3]
Brown’s second studio album, Exclusive was released worldwide in November 2007. It spawned two successful singles; his second U.S. number one hit, “Kiss Kiss” featuring T-Pain and “With You“, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.[4][5] Brown has released a deluxe version of his album called The Forever Edition. The first single from it, “Forever“, was released in May 2008 and reached number two on Billboard Hot 100.[6] Exclusive has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.[3]
The third studio album, titled Graffiti, was released on December 15, 2009. The first official single was “I Can Transform Ya“, featuring Lil Wayne and Swizz Beatz, which peaked at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Brown’s eighth Top 20 hit on that chart. “Crawl” was released as the second single from the album. It was released as a digital download on November 24, 2009. The song premiered on October 21, 2009. Since then it debuted at #68 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at #53 in its fifth week.[7] The third official single, “Sing Like Me”, was released on February 16, 2010, replacing “Pass Out”, which had originally been confirmed to serve in that position. It peaked at #84 on the US R&B/hip-Hop chart.
In addition to his solo commercial success, Brown has been featured on several hits such as “No Air“, a duet with singer Jordin Sparks, “Shortie like Mine” with the rapper Bow Wow and “Shawty Get Loose” alongside Lil Mama and T-Pain. The songs have peaked on number three, number nine and number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively.[8][9][10] Due to his dance routines, Brown has been compared to renowned R&B artists such as Usher and Michael Jackson, citing both as large influences on his music.[11] In 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault of singer Rihanna, and was sentenced to five years probation and six months of community service.
from widipedia
Musiq Soulchild
Musiq was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is the eldest of nine children. At an early age, Musiq decided he would discontinue his high school education, and left home at 17. It was during that time Musiq started to build a reputation for being musically gifted, beat boxing for MC’s, free styling on the open mic circuit, scatting at a jazz club, or just performing a cappella in the streets of Philadelphia, which is where he got the name “Musiq” and later added “Soulchild”, which is intended to respect and represent the legacy and traditions of past soul artists. He cites as his inspiration such icons as Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Patti LaBelle, Billie Holiday, Sly & the Family Stone and Ray Charles.[1][2]
Musiq has also earned award nominations from Moard, BET, ASCAP, BMI, and Soul Train.[1]. Musiq Soulchild has had 2 platinum albums, 2 gold albums and 7 hit singles. He has received awards from BillbMTV, American Music Awards, NAACP, and 11 Grammy nominations, including 3 for his 2007 album Luvanmusiq. Besides being a successful recording artist, Musiq is notable for his creative and unique way of titling his albums and songs by ignoring the rules of capitalization, punctuation and spelling.[citation needed] He is managed by Victor Grieg.[3]
“There were people who knew of me but they didn’t really know me; they just knew me as ‘that music dude.’ So after getting that so much, I was like ‘Just call me Musiq.’ It was so fresh to me because if I had to be called anything, I would have wanted to be called Music. That’s how much I dug it; when you see me, I want you to automatically think of music.”[1] The nickname Soulchild came from two ideas. Musiq quotes it as, “Musiq Soulchild is technically two ideas. ‘Musiq’ is the front man and ‘Soulchild’ is the idea behind it. It’s basically me as an artist in this generation, representing the traditions and the legacies of the past soul stars.”[1]
Musiq Soulchild released his debut album, Aijuswanaseing, in 2000. Its lead single was “Just Friends (Sunny)”. Musiq’s second single “Love” spent 22 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Musiq’s sophomore album, 2002′s Juslisen, debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Charts and went platinum. The singles were “Halfcrazy” and “Dontchange”.
In 2003, Musiq released his 3rd album, Soulstar. It included the singles “Forthenight” and “Whoknows”.
Musiq took a four year break and changed his management to Solqi Management ; as well as his record label from Def Soul to Atlantic Records.
In March 2007, Musiq’s released his fourth album Luvanmusiq. Its singles were “B.U.D.D.Y.”, “Teachme”, and “Makeyouhappy”.
At his September 18 concert at the Warfield in San Francisco he announced his fifth album OnMyRadio. It was released on December 2, 2008. The lead single “Radio” was a complete contrast to the usual smooth soul and R&B Musiq fans were accustomed to. The following singles were the duet IfULeave featuring Mary J Blige; and the ballad SoBeautiful. “SoBeautiful” marked the first collaboration between Musiq and the producer JR Hutson, after Hutson had spent “about eight months” trying to get Musiq to come by his studio.[3] According to Hutson, the two plan to work together again.[3]
from widipedia
T PAIN
Faheem Rasheed Najm (born September 30, 1985), better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor. He began his career as a rapper in the group Nappy Headz. In 2005, he became a singer and released his debut album Rappa Ternt Sanga with the hits “I’m Sprung” and “I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper)“. Throughout his career as a singer, T-Pain has extensively used the Auto-Tune pitch correction effect. Since the release of his debut album, T-Pain has produced numerous hits of his own and for other rappers and R&B singers. T-Pain has also had many top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2008, he won a Grammy with rapper Kanye West for the single “Good Life“. In 2010 he won another Grammy with Jamie Foxx for the single “Blame It“. T-Pain is also the founder of the record label Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005.
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AKON
Akon (born Aliaune Badara Akon Thiam), (pronounced /ˈeɪkɒn/),[1] is a Senegalese-American R&B singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of “Locked Up”, the first single from his debut album Trouble. His second album, Konvicted, earned him a Grammy Award nomination of the single “Smack That“. He has since found two record labels, Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution. He is known as one of the most successful and versatile R&B singers of the 21st century, grossing over 30 million dollars a year according to Forbes. Akon often sings hooks for other artists and is currently accredited with over 300 guest appearances and 40 Billboard Hot 100 songs. He is the first solo artist to hold both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice.[2] He has had 6 Grammy Awards nominations and has produced many hits for artists such as Lady Gaga, Colby O’Donis and Leona Lewis. Lady Gaga and T-Pain are two artists who were given their chance at fame by Akon.
Background
Akon has claimed in interviews that his full name is Aliaune Damala Akon Thiam and he is Muslim; that is why he doesn’t drink[3] although there is some ambiguity and debate about Akon’s legal name and birth date. Akon is usually credited as Aliaune Thiam.[4][5] In addition to the longer form, Akon’s full name has been reported both as Aliaune Badara Thiam and Alioune Badara Thiam [6] and About.com claims that this middle name has never been independently verified.[7] In regards to his birth date, some media institutions have reported that Akon was born in 1981. Other sources, including the AP, have indicated that Akon was born in 1973 and was delivered by Senegalese doctor Magueye Seck.
Legal documents released by The Smoking Gun list Akon’s name as Aliaune Damala Thiam and his date of birth as April 30,
1973[8] or April 16, 1973,[9] however the BBC states he was born on October 14, 1981. It has since been reported by various media sources that he was born in 1977.
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Ne-Yo
Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), better known by his stage name Ne-Yo, is an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, and occasional rapper. Since his debut, Ne-Yo has had five top ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100 as a lead artist and two number-one albums on the Billboard 200. Ne-Yo has also amassed a catalog of chart-topping songs that he has written for other artists.
Ne-Yo broke into the recording industry as a songwriter, penning the hit “Let Me Love You” for singer Mario. The single’s successful release in the United States prompted an informal meeting between Ne-Yo and Def Jam‘s label head, and signing a recording contract.
In 2006, he released his debut album, In My Own Words, which contained the US number one hit “So Sick“. Then in 2007, he released his sophomore album, Because of You which contained the US top 3 hit, “Because of You“. In 2008, he released his third album, Year of the Gentleman, which contained the top 10 hits “Closer” and “Miss Independent“
from wikipedia
Usher(亞瑟小子)
Usher Raymond IV (born October 14, 1978), who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American recording artist and actor. Usher rose to fame in the 1990s and after releasing his albums My Way (1997) and 8701 (2001). My Way has been certified 6 times platinum by the RIAA.[1] 8701 has been certified 4 times platinum by the RIAA.[1] Each album sold over 8 million copies worldwide.[2] His success continued with Confessions (2004), which has sold over ten million copies in the United States, and been certified diamond by the RIAA. Confessions has the highest first week sales for an R&B artist in history,[3] has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, and was named the best selling R&B album of the 2000s decade.[4] His 2008 album Here I Stand has been certified platinum by the RIAA.[citation needed]
Usher has won numerous awards and accolades for his musical work. Including 5 Grammy Awards,[5] 4 World Music Awards, 4 American Music Awards, 8 Soul Train Music Awards, and 19 Billboard Music Awards.[6] In 2008, Usher was ranked as the 21st most successful Hot 100 Singles Artist of all-time by Billboard magazine.[7] The RIAA ranks Usher as one of the best-selling artists in American music history, having sold 22 million copies in the United States alone.[8] Billboard Magazine ranked Usher the #1 Hot 100 artist of the 2000s decade.[9] They also named him the most successful singer and second most successful artist of the 2000s decade.[10] His 2004 album Confessions was ranked as the top solo album and second most successful overall album of the last decade.[11]
On March 30, 2010, Usher released his sixth studio album Raymond v. Raymond, which became his third consecutive album to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart.[12] Usher has achieved ten #1 singles worldwide, including nine on the Billboard Hot 100.[13] He has also achieved fifteen Top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, thirteen as a lead artist, two as a featured artist.[14] In the UK he has achieved 11 Top 10 singles on the UK Singles Chart, as a lead artist.[15] Usher is also the first artist to have a number-one single on the UK Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 during the 1990s, 2000s, and the 2010s.
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