Taylor Swift Biography

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of fourteen to pursue a career in country music. She signed to the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. The release of Swift's eponymous debut album in 2006 established her as a country music star. "Our Song", her third single, made her the youngest sole writer and singer to have a number one song on the country chart. She received a Best New Artist nomination at the 2008 Grammy Awards.
Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in late 2008. Buoyed by the chart success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless attracted a crossover audience and became the top-selling album of 2009. The record won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest ever Album of the Year winner. Fearless also received Album of the Year plaudits at the American Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards and Country Music Association Awards, making it the most awarded album in country music history. In 2010, Swift released her third album, Speak Now, which sold over one million copies in its first week. She then embarked on the 111-date Speak Now World Tour, which included eight stadium dates and was attended by over 1.6 million fans. The album's third single, "Mean", won two Grammy Awards for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. Swift's fourth studio album is due for release in October 2012.
Often described as America's Sweetheart, Swift is known for her hook-laden, narrative songs about her experiences as a teenager and young adult. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Swift's other achievements include six Grammy Awards, ten American Music Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, six Academy of Country Music Awards and 13 BMI Awards. She has sold over 22 million albums and 50 million song downloads worldwide. In addition to her music career, Swift has appeared as an actress in the crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2009), the romantic comedy Valentine's Day (2010), and the animated film The Lorax (2012). As a philanthropist, Swift has supported arts education, children's literacy, and natural disaster relief funds.

Vocal abilities

Swift's voice has been described as "sweet but soft".^[345] In studio recordings, the Los Angeles Times identifies Swift's "defining" vocal gesture as "the line that slides down like a contented sigh or up like a raised eyebrow, giving her beloved girl-time hits their air of easy intimacy".^[198] Rolling Stone, in a Speak Now review, remarked: "Swift's voice is unaffected enough to mask how masterful she has become as a singer; she lowers her voice for the payoff lines in the classic mode of a shy girl trying to talk tough".^[346] In another review of Speak Now, The Village Voice noted that her phrasing was previously "bland and muddled, but that's changed. She can still sound strained and thin, and often strays into a pitch that drives some people crazy; but she's learned how to make words sound like what they mean".^[201] Slate, reviewing Speak Now, described Swift as "a technically poor singer": "Though she does vary her phrasing in ways that attempt to mask her limited voice (the way she sneers, "She looks at me like I'm a trend/And she's so over it," on "Better Than Revenge" is especially effective), Swift is still noticeably off-pitch at least once on every song on the album".^[347] In a live setting, Swift, according to The Hollywood Reporter, "does her best, but certainly doesn't have the pipes to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Christina Aguilera or Carrie Underwood".^[345] Her live vocals have been described as "flat", “thin, and sometimes as wobbly as a newborn colt”.^[348][349] However, Swift has received praise for refusing to correct her pitch with Auto-Tune.^{[350][351][352]}
In an interview with The New Yorker, Swift characterized herself primarily as a songwriter: “I write songs, and my voice is just a way to get those lyrics across”.^[2][353] Scott Borchetta of Big Machine Records has conceded that Swift is "not the best technical singer" but describes her as the "best communicator that we’ve got".^[354] Swift's vocal presence is something that concerns her and she has "put a lot of work" into improving it.^[355] It was reported in 2010 that Swift continues to take vocal lessons.^[356][357] She has said that she only feels nervous performing "if I'm not sure what the audience thinks of me, like at award shows".^[358]

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Jason Mraz Biography

Jason Thomas Mraz ( /məˈræz/;^[1] born June 23, 1977), also known as Mr. AZ,and Mr. Raz is an American singer-songwriter. Mraz released his debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, which contained the hit single "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)", in 2002, but it was not until the release of his second album, "Mr. A-Z", in 2005, that Mraz achieved major commercial success. The album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and sold over 100,000 copies in the US. In 2008, Mraz released his third studio album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and was a commercial success worldwide, peaking in the top ten of many international charts.
Mraz's international breakthrough came with the release of the single "I'm Yours" from the album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. The single peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Mraz his first top ten single. The song was on the Hot 100 for 76 weeks, beating the previous record of 69 weeks held by LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live". The song was a huge commercial success in the US, receiving a 5x platinum certification from the RIAA for sales of over five million.^[2] The song was successful internationally, topping the charts in New Zealand and Norway and peaking in the top ten of multiple international charts.

Jason Mraz was born and raised in Mechanicsville, Virginia.[3]  He is of Czech descent through his grandfather, who moved to the United States from Austria-Hungary in 1915.[4]  His surname is Czech for "frost"[4]  (Czech: mráz). His parents, Tom(Tomáš) Mraz and June Mraz, divorced when he was four years old, but he asserts that he had an idyllic childhood, saying, "My hometown of Mechanicsville was very American. There were white picket fences, a church on every street corner, low crime and virtually no drug use. It was a good place to grow up.
Mraz attended Lee-Davis High School in Mechanicsville. As a teenager, Mraz participated in local theater with SPARC (School of the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community). He played Joseph in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

After graduating from high school in 1995, Mraz attended The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City, for a short time, studying musical theater. He dropped out of the school after taking up the guitar and focusing more on songwriting, and began performing at the world famous Java Joes. He had regular shows and was a favourite with audiences. He then briefly returned to Virginia before moving to San Diego, California.

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Miley Cyrus Biography

Miley Ray Cyrus (born Destiny Hope Cyrus; November 23, 1992) is an American actress and pop singer-songwriter. She achieved wide fame for her role as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana. Cyrus recorded music for the soundtracks, Hannah Montana (2006) and Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus (2007), released by Walt Disney Records. With the success of the Hannah Montana franchise she established herself as a teen idol. In 2007, Cyrus signed to Hollywood Records to pursue a solo career. She embarked upon the Best of Both Worlds Tour the same year, in which she performed as both herself and in character as Hannah Montana. The tour was eventually turned into a high-grossing concert film entitled Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert (2008). In July 2008, Cyrus released her first solo album, Breakout (2008), which was commercially successful.
She began her foray into film by providing the voice of "Penny" in the animated film Bolt (2008). Cyrus earned a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for her performance of Bolt's theme song, "I Thought I Lost You". She also reprised her role as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana in Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009). The Hannah Montana: The Movie' soundtrack introduced her to new audiences within country and adult contemporary markets.
She began to cultivate an adult image in 2009 with the release of The Time of Our Lives (2009), an extended play which presented a more mainstream pop sound, and by filming The Last Song (2010), a coming-of-age drama film. The former included Cyrus's best-selling single, "Party in the U.S.A." (2009). A studio album titled Can't Be Tamed was released in 2010 and presents a new dance-pop sound. The music video and lyrics of the album's lead single, "Can't Be Tamed", portrays a more sexualized image for the entertainer. Cyrus ranked number thirteen on Forbes' 2010 Celebrity 100.^[3] In April 2011, Cyrus was named the 64th hottest woman in the world on Maxim's Hot 100.^[4] In May 2011, Cyrus was also named the 89th sexiest woman in the world on FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the world.

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Bruno Mars Biography

Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), better known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age. After performing in various musical venues in his hometown throughout his childhood, he decided to pursue a musical career and moved to Los Angeles after graduating from high school. Mars began producing songs for other artists, joining production team The Smeezingtons.
After an unsuccessful stint with Motown Records, Mars signed with Atlantic Records in 2009. He became recognized as a solo artist after lending his vocals and co-writing the hooks for the songs "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B, and "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy. He also co-wrote the hits "Right Round" by Flo Rida featuring Ke$ha, and "Wavin' Flag" by K'naan. In October 2010, he released his debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans. Anchored by the worldwide number one singles "Just the Way You Are" and "Grenade", the album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200.^[2] He was nominated for seven Grammys at the 53rd Grammy Awards, winning Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Just the Way You Are".
Mars' music is noted for displaying a wide variety of styles and influences, and contains elements of many different musical genres. He has worked with an assortment of artists from different genres; Mars acknowledges the influences that his collaborations have had on his own music. As a child, he was highly influenced by artists such as Little Richard,^[3] Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson and would often impersonate these artists from a young age. Mars also incorporates reggae and Motown inspired sounds into his work. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times referred to Mars as "one of the most versatile and accessible singers in pop

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Mikey Way Biography

Mikey Way, born Michael James Way, on September 10, 1980 in Newark, New Jersey, where he grew up. He is the younger brother of Gerard Way, (whom he has a very close relationship with, and is also He is Scottish - Italian, like his brother). Way is related to Joe Rogan, Host of the NBC game/stunt show Fear Factor and former cast member of the sitcom News Radio (Joe is Mikey's mother's cousin's son).

Childhood

Growing up, Way worked for Barnes & Noble, in addition to being an intern at Eyeball Records (the company that put out My Chemical Romance's debut album, I brought You My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love in 2002). The first concert he ever went to was a Smashing Pumpkins concert.

My Chemical Romance

Mikey is the bassist of the band My Chemical Romance and only learned bass in order to play in his brother's band, as well as dropping out of college. He plays both A Highway 1 Precision Bass, and a Fender Standard Precision Bass. Mikey was also responsible for the band's name, which came from an Irvine Welsh novel Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance. He and Gerard's grandmother happened to buy them their first tour van. During the first show My Chemical Romance played, Mikey drank a lot of liquor to mask his extreme stage fright.

Asthma, injuries

Mikey is nearsighted and has asthma, in addition to the fact that he smokes, and is a recovering iPod junkie. He currently loves the band Anthrax, Schlock horror films, and sushi, claiming he could eat his body weight in it. Mikey has been pretty lucky, considering the only injuries he's ever gotten were liver damage, broken toes (an epic battle with a brick wall), and multiple respiratory infections, as well as being bassist in the top-charting band, "My Chemical Romance".

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Frank Iero

Frank Anthony Iero Jr (born October 31, 1981) is the rhythm guitarist, co-lead guitarist and backup vocalist of the alternative rock band My Chemical Romance as well as the vocalist of the hardcore punk band Leathermouth.

Early life

He was born in Belleville, New Jersey and grew up in Kearny, New Jersey.^[1] Iero attended Queen of Peace High School in North Arlington.^{[citation needed]} As a child he suffered numerous bouts of bronchitis and ear infections which meant he spent a lot of his childhood in hospital and to this day he still suffers from Epstein Barr Virus which is usually to blame for his illnesses and absences on tour.^[2] Frank is also lactose intolerant and has other various food allergies.^[3] He went to Rutgers University on a scholarship, but dropped out to go on tour with My Chemical Romance.
Iero's parents split when he was young and he grew up living with his mother, who lent out her basement to her son's many band practices; his father and grandfather were musicians and both were big influences on Iero when he was young. His father urged him to play drums, but Iero later began playing the guitar.

Music career

Frank started playing in local bands on the New Jersey punk scene at age 11. Before joining My Chemical Romance he served as frontman for the punk band Pencey Prep. The band released an album, Heartbreak in Stereo, on the independent Eyeball Records before disbanding. Whilst playing with Pencey Prep, he became friends with Gerard Way and the other My Chemical Romance members, became a fan of their original demo and helped them get their first shows. After his band broke up, Frank played in several bands, including I Am A Graveyard, Hybrid, Sector 12, and American Nightmare before being offered the slot of rhythm guitar in My Chemical Romance. Iero is also the frontman of hardcore punk quintet Leathermouth, who released their debut album XO in January 2009, on Epitaph Records. He is involved in a tribute band to The Cure named The Love Cats, after the song of the same name, and played bass with Reggie And The Full Effect on their farewell tour.
He was a judge for the 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.^[4]
On 7 December 2010, Iero parted ways with the record company Skeleton Crew he and his wife co-founded years earlier in order to concentrate on his family and his music with My Chemical Romance stating that, although he would have loved to carry on, he could not juggle his career with the band, the new additions to his family (newborn daughters) and co-running a business at the same time.^[5]

Equipment

In the earlier days of My Chemical Romance, Iero mainly used Gibson SG's & Epiphone Les Paul guitars (most notably his white Les Paul nicknamed 'Pansy' which proved popular amongst his fans but has since been broken while onstage) and Marshall amps. He has since switched to using Gibson Les Pauls (with the Neck Pick-up removed) and occasionally uses a Gibson SG. For the "World Contamination Tour" he has also been using an Epiphone Wilshire. He also used a Fender Stratocaster in the Desolation Row video.

Personal life and political views

On March 9, 2008 Iero married his long-term girlfriend Jamia Nestor after proposing during the recording of The Black Parade.^[6]
Iero has many tattoos including logos for the bands Black Flag and The Misfits, symbols of his love for his home state, New Jersey, a matching 'revenge' tattoo with James Dewees and others by acclaimed tattoo artist Kat Von D: a Frankenstein's monster and portraits of his grandmothers and grandfather, all of which were featured in Von D's book High Voltage Tattoo and the latter of which was done on an episode of her reality show LA Ink in which Iero featured.^[2] In the aforementioned book, Von D states that she was present at Iero's wedding indicating that the two have remained friends.
Iero has expressed his pro-gay rights stance on numerous occasions, including wearing a pro-gay marriage t-shirt on tour and his home-custom red 'Homophobia is gay' t-shirt which has become a fan favourite. He also revealed to Rock Sound magazine that he voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
He has been a vegetarian since childhood after discovering the mistreatment animals endure in slaughterhouses and rearing farms and in 2008 PETA dubbed Iero one of the World's Sexiest Vegetarians, alongside Alyssa Milano.^[7]
On September 7, 2010, Iero announced on the My Chemical Romance official website that he and his wife Jamia had become parents of twin girls named Cherry and Lily.

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Ray toro biography

Raymond Toro Ortiz was born July 15, 1977 in Newark, New Jersey. He was born with brown eyes, and grew up to be 6'1".

Childhood

Growing up, his mother was always very protective, and in junior high to impress a girl he stuck a piece of Runts candy in his nose (like a booger), but it ended up getting stuck in his nose and he had to go to the nurse to get it taken out. He went to the same high school as Gerard & Mikey, and they were 'loose friends'. He also used to have a pet dog called boy, growing up in a Puerto Rican household.

My Chemical Romance

Ray is the lead guitarist for My Chemical Romance and he and Gerard met while studying in a music school in New York and formed the band together. Toro is in large part responsible for all the My Chemical Romance instrumentals, as well as writing the majority of My Chemical Romance's music, and often helps Frank write his guitar music. He plays a SG Gibson Guitar: SG Series, which has a mahogany body with a rosewood fingerboard.

Favorite bands, injuries, girlfriend

His favorite band is Iron Maiden, but still makes time for classic music every now and then. A few injuries he's gotten over the years include "Guitar Burn". It's similar to rug burn, and generally affects the forearm area; some specialists attribute it to sweat, friction, and intense rocking. A large gash in the head, caused by getting cracked in the head with Frank's guitar. Oh, and one brutally nasty hangnail. He also says that My Chemical Romance are always writing material on tour because they are so eager to make a new album. Toro wears contacts and has a girlfriend named Christa. from www.imnotokay.net

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gerard way biography

Gerard Arthur Way (born April 9, 1977) is an American musician and comic book writer who has served as lead vocalist and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance since its formation in 2001. He is also the writer of the Eisner Award-winning comic book The Umbrella Academy.

Early life

Gerard Way was born April 9, 1977 in Summit, New Jersey^[1] to Donna Lee (née Rush) and Donald Way. He has Italian ancestry on his mother's side and Scottish ancestry on his father's. He was raised in Belleville, New Jersey and first began singing publicly in the fourth grade, when he played the role of Peter Pan in a school musical production. His maternal grandmother, Elena Lee Rush, was a great creative influence who taught him to sing, paint, and perform from a young age; he has said that "she has taught me everything I know".^[2]
At the age of 15, Way was held at gunpoint, as he said in an April 2008 Rolling Stone interview: "I got held up with a .357 Magnum, had a gun pointed to my head and put on the floor, execution-style." He went on to say that "no matter how ugly the world gets or how stupid it shows me it is, I always have faith."^[3]
Way attended Belleville High School until he graduated in 1995. Deciding to pursue a career in the comic-book industry,^[4] he attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999.^[2][5]

Career

Music

As teenagers Gerard and his brother Mikey Way, who later became the bassist of My Chemical Romance, were influenced by the bands Iron Maiden and The Misfits as well as British artists such as Pulp, Blur and Morrissey and The Smiths. Way originally wanted to be a guitarist. His grandmother bought him his first guitar at the age of eight and he played in short-lived bands such as Ray Gun Jones and Nancy Drew with future bandmate Ray Toro, but when he was not successful (one band kicking him out due to his lack of skill with the guitar), he chose to concentrate on his art career.^{[citation needed]}
Way was working as an intern for Cartoon Network in New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Seeing the effects of the attacks first-hand prompted Way to change his views on life in the following weeks. He told Spin magazine, "I literally said to myself, 'Fuck art. I’ve gotta get out of the basement. I’ve gotta see the world. I’ve gotta make a difference.'"^[6] To help deal with the emotional effects the attacks had on him, Way wrote the lyrics to the song "Skylines and Turnstiles", which has since been identified as the first song by My Chemical Romance.^[7] Soon after, My Chemical Romance began to assemble as a band.
Way has contributed vocally to bands such as Every Time I Die's 'Kill The Music', Head Automatica's 'Graduation Day', Say Anything's "In Defense Of The Genre", and The Oval Portrait's "From My Cold Dead Hands" and "Barnabus Collins Has More Skeletons In His Closet Than Vincent Price".
In many interviews Way has stated that music turned out to be an effective outlet to deal with his longtime battles against depression, alcoholism and prescription drug use. The use of music as a way to resolve personal battles has caused Way to create deeply personal songs such as "Helena,"^[8] which was written in memory of his late grandmother.
In early 2009, Way and Japanese rock singer Kyosuke Himuro co-produced the new theme song for Advent Children Complete, the Blu-Ray director's cut of the movie sequel to the popular video game franchise, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. He is also credited with writing the lyrics, and singing alongside Himuro. The song is entitled "Safe and Sound," and according to Himuro's website, will be available on iTunes on April 29, 2009.^[9] "Safe and Sound" is only heard on the Japanese release of the film; the English release uses Himuro's "Calling" (the original ending theme for Advent Children) in place of it.

Writing

Gerard Way's first attempt at writing a comic was at the age of 16, writing a short-lived comic series called 'On Raven's Wings', which was cancelled after Issue 2 due to losing the art team; he was credited as Garry Way.^[10]
In 2007, Way began writing the comic-book miniseries The Umbrella Academy. Way wrote the story and illustrated the original version, but cartoonist Gabriel Ba recreated all of Way's original drawings in the final version. A few of Way's first drawings of the characters can be seen in the last few pages of the first book in the series, "The Apocalypse Suite".
The Apocalypse Suite was first released by Dark Horse Comics in their Free Comic Book Day issue on May 5, 2007.^[11] Since then, an eight-page story has been published on MySpace, entitled "Safe & Sound".^[12] The first official issue was released on September 19, 2007.^[13] The first issue to sell out and consequently there was a second printing released on October 17, 2007.^[14] The next installment was released on November 26, 2008.^[15]
He and fellow artists Shaun Simon and Becky Cloonan are currently in the process of developing and creating a new comic-book series titled "The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys", which Way announced at Comic Con 2009.

Cartoons

In 2001 Way co-created a cartoon with Joe Boyle called The Breakfast Monkey. They pitched it to Cartoon Network, but the network declined to pick up the concept on the grounds that it was too similar to the existing property Aqua Teen Hunger Force.^[16]

Personal life

Way has struggled with alcoholism and prescription drug addiction for many years and has now been sober since August 2004.^[17] In a recent issue of Spin magazine, he said that, having become a happier person and feeling more in control, he has been able to enjoy the occasional recreational drink.
On September 3, 2007 after a concert in Colorado, Way married LynZ of Mindless Self Indulgence backstage on the final date of the Projekt Revolution tour. A member of Live Nation's touring staff that was also an ordained minister performed the low-key ceremony.^[18] He currently lives with his wife in Los Angeles, California.^[19] Their daughter, Bandit Lee Way, was born in California on May 27, 2009.

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Matt. Shadows Biography

Matthew Charles Sanders (born July 31, 1981), better known by his stage name M. Shadows, is the lead vocalist, songwriter, and founding member for the American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold.

Shadows was born Matthew Charles Sanders on July 31, 1981, in Huntington Beach, California. He attended Huntington Beach High School, where after a brief stint in the band Successful Failure, he went to an old friend James Sullivan and began to form the earliest incarnations of Avenged Sevenfold.
Shadows has made guest appearances on numerous albums by various artists. He also produced The Confession's 2007 album, Requiem, which, according to an interview, was one of the first steps which led to Avenged Sevenfold self-producing their 2007 self-titled album.

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