Posts Tagged ‘New York City’
Top Young Women Pop Music Artists
Many women’s names come to mind when we think of pop music. Today, many new faces are showing up on the pop music scene, many of whom are women under the age of 30. Who are some of these top women artists?
1. Amy Lee (b. 1981) – You may know Lee more as the lead singer of Evanescence. With an almost angelic voice along with some heavy metal music, Lee is known for “Bring Me To Life”, which received 2004 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. Lee, a classically trained pianist, founded Evanescence in 1995 and by the late 90’s the group had released its major-label debut, Fallen, which featured not only the award winning single “Bring Me To Life” but also “Going Under” and “My Immortal.” Fallen went on to sell fourteen million copies worldwide. Amy Lee was born to parents John Lee, a disc jockey and TV personality, and Sara Cargill.
2. Amy Winehouse (b. 1983) – Winehouse’s notoriety has more to do with her personality at times than her voice. Winehouse is most noted for her song Rehab, where she won 2008 Grammy Awards in the categories of Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Her album Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year and won the Record of the Year award. Amy Jade Winehouse (born 14 September 1983) is known for her eclectic mix of various musical genres including R&B, soul, jazz, and rock & roll.
3. Joss Stone (b. 1987) – Stone, another British rocker, is likened to Aretha Franklin. Stone became a familiar name in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album The Soul Sessions. Her second album, which also received multi-platinum awards, Mind, Body & Soul, topped UK Album charts and led with its top ten hit “You Had Me”. Stone has sold over 10 million albums worldwide. Joss Stone, born Jocelyn Eve Stoker, is considered a soul and R&B singer–songwriter and actress. She also made her acting debut in late 2006 with the fantasy adventure film Eragon, as the witch Angela, and she made her television debut portraying Anne of Cleves in the Showtime series The Tudors in 2009.
4. Rihanna (b. 1988) After moving to the United States at age of 16, she pursued her recording career and signed with Def Jam Recordings. In 2005, Rihanna released her debut studio album, Music of the Sun, which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard 200 and features the Billboard Hot 100 hit single “Pon de Replay”. Success was instant for Rihanna as within the same year she released her second studio album, A Girl Like Me (2006), which peaked within the top five of the Billboard albums chart. Singles for Rihanna include “Umbrella”, “Take a Bow”, “Disturbia”, and “Don’t Stop The Music”. Rihanna has sold over 12 million albums worldwide in her four-year career span. Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born in Saint Michael, Barbados.
5. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (b. 1986) is better known by her stage name Lady Gaga. After being signed to and quickly dropped from Def Jam Records at age 19, she began performing in the rock music scene of New York City’s Lower East Side. Her debut album The Fame, was released in August 2008 and achieved instant access, topping the Billboard with singles “Just Dance” and “Poker Face”. To date, Lady Gaga has sold over 20 million digital singles and more than four million albums worldwide.
6. Avril Lavigne (b. 1984) – Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter, fashion designer, and actress. Lavigne became most notorious her debut album, Let Go, released in 2002. As of 2009, over 16 million copies were sold worldwide, more than 6 million of which were sold in the United States. Her second and third album, Under My Skin and The Best Damn Thing, reached number one on the Global charts. Lavigne has scored five number-one singles worldwide, including “Complicated”, “Sk8er Boi”, “I’m With You”, “My Happy Ending” and “Girlfriend”. Lavigne has sold more than 30 million copies of her albums worldwide.
7. Katy Perry (b. 1984) was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in Santa Barbara, California. The second child of two pastors, she has an older sister and younger brother. Perry is most notorious for her single “Kissed A Girl”, released in 2008 and “Hot N Cold”. “Kissed A Girl” peaked at number one on the Hot Digital Songs charts, the Pop 100, and the Billboard Hot 100. “Hot N Cold” peaked at number three on the Hot Digital Songs charts, number one on the Pop 100, and number three on the Billboard Hot 10.
8. Leona Lewis (b. 1985) Leona Louise Lewis, an English pop and R&B singer–songwriter. Lewis debut single “A Moment Like This” became the fastest selling UK single followed quickly by her single “Bleeding Love”, which reached number one over thirty singles charts around the world. Lewis is also known for her work on the British television series The X Factor. Lewis has sold over 6.5 million albums worldwide.
9. Natsha Bedingfield (b. 1981) Natasha Anne is also a British pop singer and songwriter. Bedingfield is known for her first album “Unwritten” in 2004 which sold 2.3 million copies worldwide. This was followed in 2008 by her successful single “Pocketfull of Sunshine” Bedingfield was born in Surrey to New Zealand-born Molly and John Bedingfield who are both charity workers.
Jeff Bachmeier is owner of 977music.com, an online music and online radio station network providing live streaming Internet Radio channels with music from the 50’s thru Today. Users can also choose to create their own customized on demand playlist through their own social media profile. For more information please visit http://www.977music.com.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/top-young-women-pop-music-artists-1411552.html
The Age of Hip Hop
Hip hop music, or as it is also called, loop, rapping, freestyle, DJing, scratching, sampling and beatboxing, stemmed from the Bronx during the 1970s. Professionals say that even though the term rap is used synonymously with hip hop, it denotes its own practices of an entire subculture.
To differentiate the terms, rapping, also called MCing, is a vocal style in which the artist speaks lyrically, in rhyme and verse, generally to an instrumental or synthesized beat. Beats are almost always in 4/4 time signatures and can be created by looping portions of other songs, usually by a DJ. Modern beats incorporate synthesizers, drum machines, and live bands. A rapper may write, memorize or improvise their lyrics.
The father of the term hip hop is Keith Cowboy, a rapper from the 70s who performed with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Cowboy came up with the word when teasing a friend who was in the U.S. Army, mimicking the cadence of marching soldiers he sang hip/hop/hip/hop. The term was quickly picked up by others during the time and it stuck.
Hip hop grew in popularity in the 70s with the increase in block parties, especially in New York City’s Bronx. At these block parties, a DJ was used, spinning popular genres of music. Getting creative, the DJ began isolating the percussion breaks of popular songs. This style was drawn out to include funk, soul and disco, drawing out the then short percussion breaks with an audio mixer and two records.
This in turn created various turntable techniques such as beat mixing and matching, scratching, beat juggling and remixing. DJ’s and MCs would then often add call and response chants, often comprised of a basic chorus, which allowed the performer to gather his thoughts. This evolved into the MC getting more varied in their vocal and rhythmic approach, incorporating brief rhymes with a sexual or scatological theme.
By the 80s, the usage of drum machines influenced the sound of hip hop. What was called over time sampling technology became more advanced. Lyrics began to change as well with words that were more metaphorical and complex. Some rappers brought the sound to mainstream audiences with appearances in commercials. Artists like LL Cool J also became a household name due to his success.
Hip hop was primarily an American sound and was almost completely unknown outside of the United States during the early 80s. When breakdancing became popular in places like Germany, Japan, Australia and South Africa, rapping and hip hop followed.
In the late 90s, hip hop started to diversify. The 90s is primarily known though for its hip hop rap artist Eminem. Eminem brought hip hop even further into main stream culture with his successful platinum album The Slim Shady. In the year 2000, Eminem sold over ten million copies of The Marshall Mathers album. Alternative hip hop became popular as well with artists such as The Roots, Gnarls Barkley and Mos Def.
By 2005, sales of hip hop music in the United States took a dive. Many questioned whether mainstream hip hop was dying. Speculation of the decline was that people were tired of the violence, degrading and negative lyrics.
Will hip hop continue to survive or will it evolve into another form and style of music as most music already has?
Jeff Bachmeier is owner of 977music.com, an online music and online radio station network providing live streaming Internet Radio channels with music from the 50’s thru Today. Users can also choose to create their own customized on demand playlist through their own social media profile. For more information please visit http://www.977music.com.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/the-age-of-hip-hop-1347474.html