Music Artists

Posts Tagged ‘Debut Album’

She might be the younger sister of superstar Jessica Simpson, but don’t confuse their tastes or style when it comes to music. Waco, Texas-born Ashlee Simpson always loved music. At age 11 she was the youngest person ever admitted into the School of American Ballet. At 14 she moved with her parents and older sister to Los Angeles and spent time dancing in Jessica’s stage show. Appearances on Malcolm in the Middle and The View led to a regular role on the television show Seventh Heaven but Ashlee’s heart was set on a music career. One of her songs, “Just Let Me Cry,” landed on the Freaky Friday soundtrack in 2003, and Ashlee continued work on her rocking and punky demos when Seventh Heaven wasn’t in production. Geffen was impressed and released her debut album, Autobiography, in 2004 as MTV was debuting Ashlee’s own reality show. During its first week of release, Autobiography went to number one on the Billboard album charts with sales of 398,000 copies. Her sophomore effort, I Am Me, which was also produced by John Shanks, was issued in October 2005. After touring to support the album, Simpson appeared as Roxie Hart in the London production of Chicago. In April of 2008 she announced her engagement to Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz. That same month her third album, Bittersweet World, landed featuring the singles “Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)” and “Little Miss Obsessive.” ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
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Five for Fighting has one main member, John Ondrasik, who considers himself mainly a singer and songwriter, though he is also competent as a guitarist and pianist. The name he picked for his band refers to a form of discipline used in the turbulent sport of hockey. Players who fight during the game are sent storming away to cool down for five minutes in a penalty box. In other words, they get Five For Fighting . Ondrasik, born and raised in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, started his musical training when he was only two years old. His mother, a piano teacher, gave him lessons. When he was around 13, he appropriated — which is a nicer way of putting it than saying stole — his sister’s guitar. He taught himself to use this instrument and soon to write music. Somewhere along the way, he also took vocal lessons in opera. He soon discovered that opera wasn’t his cup of tea, and Ondrasik leaned toward music by artists like Billy Joel, Journey, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and Earth, Wind & Fire.In 1997 Ondrasik, using the stage name Five For Fighting , released his debut album, Message for Albert, for Capitol. Five for Fighting followed it three years later with America Town, released through Columbia. It continued Ondrasik’s themes of love and life, but with a more political spin. The album might have been simply another strong outing from a talented singer/songwriter, were it not for the tragic events of September 11, 2001, and the nation’s embrace of Ondrasik’s delicate piano ballad “Superman (It’s Not Easy).” Five for Fighting performed the song at the Concert for New York City that winter, and America Town went platinum. While it was a bittersweet way to find fame, “Superman”‘s success gave Ondrasik the artistic license he’d always craved. When The Battle for Everything appeared in early 2004, it was Five for Fighting’s most stylistically ambitious and lyrically bold recording to date. 2006′s Two Lights continued Ondrasik’s exploration of blue-collar America, focusing on love, mortality, war, and family. The concert album Back Country Live arrived in 2007, followed by Slice in 2009. ~ Charlotte Dillon, All Music Guide
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Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer. She rose to fame as the winner of the third series of The X Factor, and became the first female winner of the show. Leona Lewis has gone on to become a multi-platinum selling artist and three time Grammy Award nominee, who is worth £10 million as of May 2009. She signed a £1 million recording contract to Simon Cowell’s record label, Syco Music and went on to sign a £5 million five album contract in the United States with Clive Davis’s record label, J Records. Her debut single “A Moment Like This”, went on to become the fastest selling UK single after it was downloaded over 50,000 times within thirty minutes of its release.

Her second single, “Bleeding Love”, was released worldwide and reached over thirty number one positions in charts around the world including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Mexico, the Republic of Ireland, France, Italy, Germany and Russia.

Her debut album Spirit, was released in the UK and Ireland, and went on to became the fastest-selling debut album and the biggest seller of 2007 in both countries. In early 2008 it was released throughout Europe and Asia. A revised edition of Spirit was released in North America in mid 2008, making its debut at number one on the United States’ Billboard 200 album chart. Lewis is the first British solo artist to top the chart with a debut album. The album also reached number one in ten other countries wordwide. To date the album has sold over 6.5 million copies worldwide and has a 9× platinum certification in the UK.
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John Legend (born John Stephens on December 28, 1978 in Springfield, Ohio) is an American Grammy winning R&B singer, songwriter, and pianist. His debut album, the platinum selling Get Lifted produced by Kanye West, was released in December 2004. Legend also played the piano on Lauryn Hill’s “Everything is Everything” and sang background vocals on Jay-Z’s “Encore” and Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name”. Legend frequently cites gospel, R&B, and hip hop music as his main musical influences.

Legend released his critically acclaimed and Billboard Top Ten second album, Once Again, in October 2006. Produced by Raphael Saadiq, Kanye West and will.i.am, it is again a mixture of gospel and classic soul showcasing his extraordinary voice, particularly on “Show Me”.

Grammy Award Wins:
*2005 Best New Artist
*2005 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: “Ordinary People”
*2005 Best R&B Album- Get Lifted
*2007 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: Heaven
*2007 Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group: Family Affair

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Neo-soul singer and pianist John Legend combined the raw fervor of contemporaries Cody ChesnuTT and the burning precision of D’Angelo. Born John Stephens, Legend was a child prodigy who grew up in Ohio, where he began singing gospel and playing piano at the tender age of five. Legend left Ohio at 16 to attend college in Philadelphia, and it was there that he first found a larger audience. Not yet out of his teens, Legend was tapped to play piano on Lauryn Hill’s “Everything Is Everything” in 1998. After completing college, he moved to New York, where he began to build a loyal following playing in nightclubs and releasing CDs that he would sell at shows. He also became an in-demand session musician, playing and occasionally writing for a wide array of artists, including Alicia Keys, Twista, Janet Jackson, and Kanye West. It wasn’t until West signed the young talent to his new label that he adopted the Legend name with 2004’s Solo Sessions Vol. 1: Live at the Knitting Factory. Get Lifted, his first studio album, was released later in the year. On the strength of enduring single “Ordinary People,” the album reached the Top Five of the Billboard 200. This led to three Grammy Awards: Best R&B Album, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance, and Best New Artist. Once Again, which peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and number one on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, followed in October 2006. Live from Philadelphia, sold exclusively at Target stores, was a successful stopgap release that predated October 2008’s Evolver. ~ Wade Kergan, All Music Guide
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Tramar Dillard (born December 16, 1979 in Miami, Florida), better known by his stage name Flo Rida , is an American rapper signed to Poe Boy Entertainment. He began his rap career with 2 Live Crew and was then featured on DJ Khaled’s album We The Best in 2006. He released his debut album Mail on Sunday in 2008 and it’s lead single, Low featuring T-Pain, held a run of 10 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2009, his released his second album R.O.O.T.S, and it’s first single, Right Round featuring Ke$ha, was #1 for six weeks. He so far spawned six top twenty singles in his career span on the Billboard Hot 100 chart within only 2 years.
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