NELLY FURTADO

Nelly Furtado

Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Her second studio album, Folklore, was released. It was less commercially successful in the US but produced three international singles: "Powerless (Say What You Want)", "Try", and "Força" (the theme of the 2004 European Football Championship). Her third studio album, Loose was her biggest success worldwide. It produced the number-one hits "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Say It Right" and "All Good Things (Come to an End)". After a three-year break, she released her first full-length Spanish album, Mi Plan in September 2009. For Mi Plan, Furtado received the Latin Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. Furtado's fourth English-language studio album, The Spirit Indestructible, is set for release on September 11, 2012.

Birth name: Nelly Kim Furtado

Born: December 2, 1978

Origin: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Genres: Pop, rock, folk, R&B, Latin pop, hip hop, dance pop, world music

Occupations: Singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, actress

Instruments: Vocals, guitar, keyboards, ukulele, trombone

Years active: 1996–present

Labels: DreamWorks, Geffen, MMG, Universal Music Latino

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Nelly Furtado Festival de Viña 2008. Full Concert

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JANIS JOPLIN

Janis Joplin

Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and songwriter from Port Arthur, Texas. As a youth Joplin was ridiculed by her fellow students due to her unconventional appearance and personal beliefs. She later sang about her experience at school through her song "Ego Rock." Early in her life, Joplin cultivated a rebellious and unconventional lifestyle, becoming a beatnik poet. She began her singing career as a folk and blues singer in San Francisco, playing clubs and bars with her guitar and auto-harp.

Joplin first rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of the psychedelic-acid rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company, and later as a solo artist with her more soulful and bluesy backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band. She was one of the more popular acts at the Monterey Pop Festival and later became one of the major attractions to the Woodstock festival and the Festival Express train tour.

Janis Joplin only charted five singles in her life but her hits and other popular songs from throughout her four year career include "Down On Me", "Bye, Bye Baby", "Coo Coo", "Summertime", "Piece of My Heart," "Turtle Blues," "Ball 'n' Chain," "Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)," "Maybe," "To Love Somebody," "Kozmic Blues," "Work Me, Lord," "Move Over," "Cry Baby," "A Woman Left Lonely," "Get It While You Can," "My Baby," "Trust Me," "Mercedes Benz," "One Night Stand," "Raise Your Hand" and her only number one hit, "Me and Bobby McGee."

Joplin was well known for her performing abilities and her fans referred to her stage presence as electric. At the height of her career, she was known as "The Queen of Rock and Roll" as well as "The Queen of Psychedelic Soul" and became known as Pearl amongst her friends. She was also a painter, dancer and music arranger.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked Joplin number 46 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004, and number 28 on its 2008 list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Birth name: Janis Lyn Joplin

Also known as: Pearl, Mary Jane

Born: January 19, 1943. Port Arthur, Texas, United States

Died: October 4, 1970 (aged 27), Los Angeles, California, United States

Genres: Blues rock, soul, psychedelic rock, acid rock, country, folk, hard rock, jazz blues

Occupations: Singer, songwriter

Instruments: Vocals, guitar, auto-harp, harmonica, piano, percussion

Years active: 1962–1970

Labels: Columbia

Associated acts: Big Brother and the Holding Company, Kozmic Blues Band, Full Tilt Boogie Band, Grateful Dead.

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Janis Joplin - Cry Baby live in toronto 1970

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Janis Joplin - Pearl 1971 - FULL ALBUM

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NINA SIMONE

 Nina Simone

Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), better known by her stage name Nina Simone (/ˈniːnə sɨˈmoʊn/), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. Simone aspired to become a classical pianist while working in a broad range of styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.

Born the sixth child of a preacher's family in North Carolina, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist as a child. Her musical path changed direction after she was denied a scholarship to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, despite a well-received audition. Simone was later told by someone working at Curtis that she was rejected because she was black. She then began playing in a small club in Philadelphia to fund her continuing musical education to become a classical pianist and was required to sing as well. She was approached for a recording by Bethlehem Records, and her rendition of "I Loves You Porgy" became a smash hit in the United States in 1958. Over the length of her career, Simone recorded more than 40 albums, mostly between 1958 — when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue — and 1974.

Her musical style arose from a fusion of gospel and pop songs with classical music, in particular with influences from her first inspiration, Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied with her expressive jazz-like singing in her characteristic low tenor. She injected as much of her classical background into her music as possible to give it more depth and quality, as she felt that pop music was inferior to classical. Her intuitive grasp on the audience-performer relationship was gained from a unique background of playing piano accompaniment for church revivals and sermons regularly from the early age of six years.

After 20 years of performing, she became involved in the civil rights movement and the direction of her life shifted once again. Simone's music was highly influential in the fight for equal rights in the US.

Birth name: Eunice Kathleen Waymon

Born: February 21, 1933. Tryon, North Carolina, United States

Died: April 21, 2003 (aged 70), Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Genres: Jazz, blues, R&B, folk, gospel

Occupations: Singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, activist

Years active: 1954–2003

Labels: Bethlehem, Colpix, Philips, RCA Victor, CTI, Legacy Recordings.

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Nina Simone - Live at Ronnie Scott's 1985 full concert

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NINA SIMONE the second album Side One

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LEONARDO COHEN

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Norman Cohen, CC GOQ (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships. Cohen has been inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour.

While giving the speech at Cohen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 10 March 2008, Lou Reed described Cohen as belonging to the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters."

Birth name: Leonard Norman Cohen

Born: 21 September 1934 (age 77), Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Genres: Folk, folk rock, rock, pop rock, spoken word, synthpop

Occupations: Musician, singer-songwriter, poet, novelist

Instruments:  Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesizer

Years active: 1956 - present

Labels: Columbia

Associated acts: Sharon Robinson, Jennifer Warnes, Phil Spector, John Lissauer.

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JOHNNY CASH

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003), was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Although he is primarily remembered as a country music artist, his songs and sound spanned many other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll—especially early in his career—as well as blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal led to Cash being inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Late in his career, Cash covered songs by several rock artists.

Cash was known for his deep, distinctive bass-baritone voice; for the "boom-chicka-boom" sound of his Tennessee Three backing band; for his rebelliousness, coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor; for providing free concerts inside prison walls; and for his dark performance clothing, which earned him the nickname "The Man in Black". He traditionally started his concerts by saying, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." and usually following it up with his standard "Folsom Prison Blues."

Much of Cash's music, especially that of his later career, echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption. His signature songs include "I Walk the Line", "Folsom Prison Blues", "Ring of Fire", "Get Rhythm" and "Man in Black". He also recorded humorous numbers, including "One Piece at a Time" and "A Boy Named Sue"; a duet with his future wife, June Carter, called "Jackson"; as well as railroad songs including "Hey, Porter" and "Rock Island Line".

Cash, a troubled but devout Christian, has been characterized as a "lens through which to view American contradictions and challenges." A Biblical scholar, he penned a Christian novel titled Man in White, and he made a spoken word recording of the entire New King James Version of the New Testament. Even so, Cash declared that he was "the biggest sinner of them all", and viewed himself overall as a complicated and contradictory man. Accordingly, Cash is said to have "contained multitudes", and has been deemed "the philosopher-prince of American country music".

 Birth name:John R. Cash

Born:February 26, 1932. Kingsland, Arkansas, United States

Origin: Kingsland, Arkansas, United States

Died:  September 12, 2003 (aged 71), Nashville, Tennessee, United States

Genres: Country, rock and roll, folk, americana, gospel, blues, rockabilly

Occupations: Singer-songwriter, musician, actor

Instruments: Vocals, guitar, harmonica, mandolin

Years active: 1955–2003

Labels: Sun, Columbia, Mercury, American, House of Cash, Legacy Recordings

Associated acts: The Tennessee Three, The Highwaymen, June Carter Cash, The Statler Brothers, The Carter Family, The Oak Ridge Boys, Area Code 615, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

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BOB DYLAN

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and painter. He has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly reluctant figurehead of social unrest. A number of Dylan's early songs, such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'", became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements. Leaving his initial base in the culture of folk music behind, Dylan revolutionized perceptions of the limits of popular music in 1965 with the six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone". However, his recordings employing electric instruments attracted denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement.

Dylan's lyrics incorporated a variety of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed hugely to the then burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the songs of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, as well as the music and performance styles of Buddy Holly and Little Richard, Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres. His recording career, spanning fifty years, has explored numerous distinct traditions in American song—from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing.

Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards, and harmonica. Backed by a changing line-up of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. His accomplishments as a recording artist and performer have been central to his career, but his greatest contribution is generally considered to be his songwriting.

Since 1994, Dylan has published three books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. As a songwriter and musician, Dylan has received numerous awards over the years including Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Awards; he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2005, the street on which Dylan grew up in Hibbing, Minnesota, was formally re-named Bob Dylan Drive. In 2008, a road called the Bob Dylan Pathway was opened in the singer's honor in his birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota. The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2008 awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."

Birth name: Robert Allen Zimmerman

Also known as: Robert Dylan, Rob Dylan, Elston Gunnn, Blind Boy Grunt, Bob Landy, Robert Milkwood Thomas, Tedham Porterhouse, Lucky/Boo Wilbury, Jack Frost, Sergei Petrov

Born: May 24, 1941 (age 70),Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.

Origin: Hibbing, Minnesota, U.S.

Genres: Rock, folk, folk rock, blues, country, gospel, country rock

Occupations: Musician, singer-songwriter, producer, visual artist, poet, writer, director, screenwriter

Instruments: Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, harmonica

Years active: 1959–present

Labels: Columbia, Asylum

Associated acts: Joan Baez, The Band, The Byrds, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Traveling Wilburys.

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